I am a little unusual to the freelunch room forum, as I spent close to three months reading the rules and asking questions. There's a lot of money changing hands here, and I wanted to become as educated about this as possible.
First of all, everything that I mention here, I have CONCRETE EVIDENCE to back up my claim.
While I question the integrity of the free lunch room forum, my main focus is on a company called Macrobucks. They are one of the (umhhh) legit companies in the free lunch room forum.
To make this as short as possible, most IFW's, (the companies who get paid from their advertisers for traders, (such as I) and the 50,0000 other traders on the free lunch room forum. The rules in the forum are generally made clear, BUT the little tactics used by the IFW's to clearly steal your money unfortunitely, are not made very clear as well.
In order to get credit for the offers you complete for the company, you have to successfully complete an offer, go through checkout to pay. (normally with a credit card) During this time, you must let the "Confirmation Page, " (proof that you made an offer purchase, " load. This enables the "Tracking Cookies, " to load successfully on your PC, so the company selling the products and services can track your order. If successful, the company will forward the successful transaction to the IFWs, so you can receive the credit. (this basically, is how it's designed) I don't want to get too "Wordy, " on this. But anyone can read this in more detail on any freebie website address. (www.freelunchroom.com) is one of the biggest. It also, Is promoted by www.projectpayday.com.
I placed my first order, (after close to 3 months of careful reading) No one on this forum has waited anywhere nearly as long as I did. I signed up on 12/16/07, and made my first trade (ever) at the free lunch room on 2/24/08.
This is where the beloved Macrobucks comes to play. First of all every IFW has their own rules, as far as crediting. A lot of IFWs, (most) have several, what they're called, "Networks." For an example, Macrobucks has several networks under their name. For example... 40Macrobucks, 60 Macrobucks etc. Etc. Most of the names just represent the payouts that the particular IFW "Pays Out." (Generally speaking... More info if need be, on the various trading forums like the FLRoom)
Now, this is where "The Hammer Falls." (Again... I'll try to be brief AND to the point)
I did my first trade at 60Macrobucks. Their rules, (as well as all of them here) is that in order to receive FULL CREDIT for an offer, you must have a confirmation e-mail, along withy FULL E_MAIL HEADERS. Another prerequisite, is that you have to wait a certain number of days, before you can ask for a MCR. (manual credit from the IFW to the sponsoring company for a manual credit to your account)
Macrobucks required 1 credit to complete the site. (so you can turn around and sell the website to the poor souls who did as I have done... Get screwed!)
At first, I done 3 offers for a total of 1 credit. All three offers clearly stated that they credit instantly. (believe me, they rarely do, if at all... AND THEY DID NOT FOR ME, NOT ALL ANYWAY)
First order was for 1/4 credit. It credited instantly. (I truly, was elated) The second order was again, for 1/4 credit. It took nearly three days. (o.K. Not instant, but it's my first trade, right???)
The third, was for 1/2 credit. Generally the more credit, the higher the price tag to get it. (hence, 1/2 cost me 10 bucks... No major biggie. My 2 1/4's... A buck)
Now, Macrobuck's policy is that they cannot guarantee a credit. (oh really) They state if you wait (5) days after you order, you can file a MCR. (I did after 7 days) I finally received info yesterday, (3/17/08) that my credit was rejected)
I was cautious as not to do any other offers during this time, as it has been known that it can take awhile for offers to credit.
Anyone who does any reading of forum rules would know this. (and I did) I was a "Veteran Newbie, " who digested everything on various trading forums.
Now, the remainder of this (sorry) lengthly e-mail is from my angle only, regarding the FLR and Macrobucks...
Over the last 3 months FLR shut down a section where the new traders could post to veteran traders, that they wanted to trade with them. (newbies are the life-blood of trading... More info, if need be) Well, recently they shut that down, and had nearly 100% of vetaeran traders p'd off!!! (that is the bread and butter of trading, as I have stated before) The overall, demeanor of the FLR was different from the rest, as it was a lot more subdues, as far as traders asking the real tough questions, or traders speaking more of their piece of mind. Other forums such as Free Ipods and A4free were a lot more loose, (not rude... Just a little less "staged" as the FLR forum) Anyone spending more than an hour on each, could immediately pick that up. (I was a member of 5-6 forums) You could tell the little FLR suckups, because ALL their questions or comments sounded like they were reading from a book. (really obvious folks!)
Anyway, back to my offer. I had a total of 1/2 credit. The other half I needed to complete the site, was declined. I had e-mail confirmations from all offers i had done.in addition, i had full e-mail confirmation headers as well. (all this, I currently have in my possession) But it gets better. Two days ago, I decided to try whatever it took to receive my "green, " (getting a full credit worth of offers for the IFW, so I could cash out... 50 bucks) I did a 62 dollar flowers order for my wonderful mom. (god I love her) Well, it has been two days ago, and I was in the process of e-mailing Macrobucks, when I decided to check up on a dvd order I placed two days ago as well. The dvd order credited (1/4 credit) so I just needed i/4 credit from the flower purchase to go green for 60 Macrobucks. I called the "Girls Gone Wild" Company (sorry. If I offended anyone) to cancel my upcoming dvds. (see... I'm not so bad after all huh). Please note, the extra dvds WERE NOT REQUIRED to obtain my green (only the one/initial one for $9.99) They stated that they had a "glitch, " in the system, and that the order DID NOT go through.in addition, my credit card WAS NOT CHARGED either. (which also raised a flag, because my flowers order already was charged to my cc) I asked the rep, if he was familiar with freebie website trading, and he replied YES. He also knew of all the "bells and whistles, " associated with it as well.in the meantime, I was already credited with that offer from Macrobucks. I posted my overall discontent with Macrobucks "SHADY, " handling of my account in front of 50/000 traders. Clearly, in my opinion, they wanted to give me credit for the cheap offers, and not the expensive ones. (Gee... Imagine that)
In short, I was credited for a total of 3/4 credits, 1/4 of which I never "really" ended up not paying for. Now, this would not of been so bad... But it gets better!!!
I never received an official e-mail confirmation, stating my credit card was billed for GirlsGW Therefore, there was no e-mail confirmation HEADER TRACKING INFO AS WELL!!! BUT MACROBUCKS (60) GAVE ME INSTANT CREDIT!!!
In my opinion, Macrobucks intent... They credited me an actual 1/2 credit... $1.00 total out of my pocket for the trial period.
But I lost $10.59 from Blockbuster (1/2 credit) Plus an additional $61.90 for the flowers that I bought for my wonderful mother! (did I tell you how much I love that woman!) a total of 3/4 credit PLUS 1/4 CREDIT that Macrobucks credited me w/o paying/or receiving an e-mail confirmation page supporting my purchase.
I really should of read the "TALL TALE SIGNS, " of Macrobucks. There has been an increasing discontent, for the way they have been handling their credits. Every trader who has complained, has had all the necessary credentials needed to obtain their credit. (confirmation e-mail headers etc. Etc.) Macrobucks has always been on the offensive side, stating that there was always something wrong with a person's browser etc. Etc. (which is clearly BULL Everyone knows what browsers to use.) In addition, I find it very hard to believe, that I'm the only one who does any "Bill Paying, " on the internet. Come on Macrobucks, in the day of 128 bit encryption and high speed internet access, you're gonna use the excuse of somebody not being able to use their browser??? (really... It's just that plain and simple!!!) o.K. You have to clear your cookies. I'll give you that much credit. (or non-credit... Catch my drift?)
I personally pay all my bills on the net. I've never had any problem. (sometimes with the product, but NEVER with the transaction) FLR clearly has all these rules laid out. Some people don't read all the rules. (actually, a lot) But you wouldn't last two minutes trading, if you didn't know how to "surf witha browser, essentially. (as my college teacher use to say... This is a "given.")
FLR also has these (little green monsters I call it) who are brand new, going from one end of the forum to the other, shouting out the rules to everyone. (no one in particular) If you sign up to more than one trading forum, you'll know what I mean. As far as Project Payday... I signed up through them. (yes, I spent 35 bucks, but I knew the options.) I just wanted to read the rules first, before I jumped in. Don't bother asking them any questions... If you live long enough, you may get a response, but you may not. Twice I asked. Three days later, I received a response that did not answer my question. The other instance was a day later, with a real arrogant response.."WELL GREG THAT WOULD BE CONTRADICTING YOURSELF!!! WELL GAG ME WITH A PITCHFORK)
In short... I'm done. With the additional new laws of paying 50 bucks to get a "Sticky, " (truly geared for the little sucka&s who try to act like good samaritans, and exploit the newbies. You know, the one's who get the high trade counts, because they keep their mods happy by licking their shoestrings every five minutes. (It's real pathetic)
But my real beef is with Macrobucks. Things that go on in the forums are pretty straightforward, meaning that you can kind of get the flow of what's going on, because of the trader's post, as well as the overall demeonor of the forum itself.
... But what you don't know is the IFW's. (the one's that keep everything... AND I MEAN EVERYTHING, away from the public eye.) And with a trading forum much bigger than the other trading forums, who have been around a long time as well, the FREE LUNCH ROOM WHO SLEEPS SOUNDLY WITH PROJECT PAYDAY, probably have a thing or two up their sleeve as well! (If it looks like a duck, walks like a... OH WELL!!! You know what I mean)
In closing, stay away, common sense should tell you if you have made several successfull purchases over the internet with no problem, AND all of a sudden, these successfull purchases cease, once you hit the trading floor, that should send up a flag right there. (especially when you receive a receipt/e-mail conf. With no payment/prize/credit what have you!)
No biggie! I have a regular job. Just wanted to pick up a few extra "GREENS"
Total spent for this education... Approximately 74 bucks!
No biggie! But am I done with Macrobucks???
Nope. It was my very first trade with a highly popular rating from FLR exclusively!!! (but with several several complaints nevertheless)
I believe in "first Impressions." I'll just cherish the second one!!!
Good Day!!!
0 comments