BEWARE OF THE WORD "FREE"

Yes, finally I have given in.  I found a reason to sound off!  I wonder just how many get caught in this nasty little web of lies and deceit called 'UPSELLING'.  It is not that I didn't wish to contribute to my blog - it's just that who the dickens would be interested anyway?  Nothing exciting has happened.  At my age who would expect it to?  The book cover shown here was published just about the time I was born,   So there!  Is anyone still alive out there?  Well OK so I have got started .  Now what?  I'll start with today.  And what a morning! This is how it all began.

Last evening, at about 5pm,I had switched off my computer and retired for the evening to a load of boring television which I very soon tired of.   I have a second laptop in my sitting room, so I thought I'd switch that one on and see if anyone had written to me lately.  Yes a couple of old emails from a week or so ago.  And a few spam mails and another that I thought I'd open.  So I did.  A presentaion from a young man being very persuasive about the fact that he was giving away his system of making money on the Internet.  Yes, giving it away.  I actually listened to it right the way through.  Hmm, thought I, not bad, I'll take another look tomorrow on my proper computer, so I sent the mail through to myself and switched off.  This morning I woke up, had breakfast, did the usual odd chores (such an exciting life these days) and went to start up my computer to see what the day would bring.  And yes, there it was, the mail I had sent to myself last night with all the info from that nice young man about a jolly good way to earn a few bob (actually quite a few million bob) on the internet with a little effort and precious little money.  In fact no money at all.  It was free.  Take note - FREE!  And soon I would be rich.

So I was 'sucked in'.  I opened it up again and listened to the sales pitch to be sure I really did like what I was hearing.  I then did what was asked of me, I put in my name and email address and lo!  Up came what was to be the start of a villainous route to ruin (had I not been so Internet savvy finally).  First of all I considered that whatever I was to get, I would of course need a domain name and a hosting company and for this I was prepared to pay, up to a small amount anyway.  So I filled in my details, chose my name for the website which was to be full of lovely freebies and arranged for a year's hosting.  (So you see it wasn't really FREE at all)  That done I hit the final button for my credit card to be debited and to be taken to my lovely new website which they said would follow and my business would start immediately bringing me in lots of money.  And that's when the trouble started.  Up came a page which said "wait you must have one of the following packages"  - these showed how many hits would be guaranteed over what period of time.  And the price?  $997 reduced to $197 just for me!  I scrolled down in a panic and found a tiny message 'no thanks - take me to my site'  I clicked again and up came another offer This time for fewer hits over a lesser time and costing $90.  I scrolled again and hit the 'take me to my site button.  But it kept on and on.  Another offer and another, each one making it clear to me that without at least a few of these packages there was no hope of my ever making a sale from this wondrous new site I had spent $166 for.  So I signed out and searched for the company and their address which I found.  I emailed them saying I had obviously been mistaken in purchasing this item and stating that I was not prepared to spend any more money in the present financial climate and please would they cancel my order.  Details of which I had carefully put into notebook and was able to give clearly.  Within a few minutes I received a reply stating that they would help with the offers by reducing the prices for shorter times, or would I please give my reasons for wishing to cancel.  I explained that I had been 'taken in' by the presentation by the young man, who had been so convincing that I had believed him that everything was 'FREE' This must have been accepted and to their credit they cancelled the order and I breathed a sigh of relief. 

But all this just goes to show how easy it is to be taken in by a good presentation.  I can't tell you how many times I have kicked myself for falling for it.  It was just too good to be true.  How many times have we heard that said?  An old codger like me?  Taken in like that?  Well now I can get on with things that matter and these I will tell you about shortly because they all concern what is going on in my greenhouse and with the atrocious weather I am at daggers with!  'Bye for now!