Last summer, I received a flyer in the mail from a local car company that offered $300 in free gas just to come out and test drive one of their cars. I knew I couldn't afford to buy a car right now, but since gas prices were high, I thought I would see what the free gas was about. I am not revealing the car dealership name because I don't think they were aware that the company they are dealing with is a fraud, and I don't blame them for the scam.
The dealership gave me a card with a membership id number on it and instructions to enroll online. I went online to Freebeegas.com and read over everything listed in their rules and still took a couple of days to think it over before deciding to try it out. Here is the gist of what you are required to do and what you get in return:
You first must send them a $5.00 refundable deposit. Then they email you a voucher for each month you can claim a gift card (different promotions offer different amounts of money). During each month, you are required to fill your car with at least $100.00 of gas at a particular company that you have chosen, and turn in the original receipts.in return, you will receive a $25.00 gift card for that company that can be used to purchase more gas from them, or items in their store. If you send your receipts in prior to the 20th of the month, you will receive your gift card in 28 days, otherwise it will take somewhere in the neighborhood of 56 days (I'm not as sure on that because I turned all mine in prior to the 20th).
This sounded good to me because I have a big gas tank in my car, and at that time it was costing $76.00 to fill the car up and I fill it up twice a month (it has a 24 gallon tank), so I was spending well over the required $100.00 in gas anyways, and if it were a scam, I would only be out the $5.00.
I began in June started keeping my receipts on July 1, and mailed the receipts in around the 15th so they would receive them prior to the 20th. Because they stressed to use "original" receipts, I made copies and sent them the original so they could not say I just sent copies. They emailed me when they received the receipts, so I knew they received them in time.
In August, I again sent in my receipts. At the end of August, I emailed them to find out when I would receive my card - it was more than 28 days. They responded that July's gas would be processed in August, and it wasn't enough time. This didn't sound right, but I decided to go ahead and wait another month.
In September, I again sent in my receipts. At the end of September, I again emailed them (by replying to their previous email so that a chain of communication was kept). This time they told me that there was a definite problem and I should have received my cards by now. The person said they will look into it and I will be contacted later.
It is now November 2. I still have heard nothing from them, nor have I received any gas cards. I did not send in receipts for October, although I am still putting in more than $100.00 per month in my car even with the gas price dropping to under $2.00/gallon.
I will again contact them about this and will ask for my $5.00 back. I doubt I will get anywhere with it, and I doubt I will ever see my $5.00. But I knew this was a risk when I sent it to them, and did not have the expectation of seeing it again. I gave them a chance, I did things exactly as they stated, and I got screwed. I'm writing this report so you don't have to get screwed too. Please don't send them any money, and don't let those "Free Gas" incentives lure you into any company - that company might be alright, but their gas offer won't fly.
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