I have a colleage that said he got a "free" 360 on www.freegameconsoles.net buy signing up for some offers and spending a total of about $50 bucks.  I've also read of numerous people saying they are legit but they take time and effort to make work...  That said, I decided to try it out and see if it was a scam or not.

First, let me state a couple of things:  I don't NEED a free PS3 console.  I can very much afford it.  I just thought it would be interesting to see if these are for real or not.  This is purely a "can this really be true?"  I'm not desperate and please lay off the "these things are a scam emails as some are indeed legit".  So, here is how I started and how far I have progressed:

First, I created a new email on yahoo email for the inevitable FLOOD of spam from them selling my email address.  Let me tell you... It is a lot... This email account is ruined once I'm done, lol.  About 500 new spam messages/day.

Second, I reviewed everything VERY, VERY, VERY carefully.  I read all the terms and conditions and made sure I knew what I was signing up for before I signed up.

Third I kept very copious notes on usernames, passwords, etc. on things I signed up for so I wouldn't lose something and get trapped in a long contract.  You do have to stay signed up long enough for them to "confirm" that you completed the offer so I chose carefully soas to avoid big fees for a couple of months.

Now, with all of that aside, I signed up and reviewed the offers.  There were a few good ones and a few not so good.  I had to sign up for 1 in the first tier, 2 in the second, and 2 in the third for a total of 5.  I reviewed all tiers and planned my attack accordingly since some of the items are in more than one tier.

I signed up for 2 credit cards.  I got instant approval and the cards in the mail.  I had to activate them and buy something.  No cost to me as I used them on items I was gong to buy anyway.

I signed up for "great fun" which has a bunch of entertainment coupons.  It's like 10 bucks a month or so and can be cancelled any time.  With signup, I got a free $20 gas card which I have already used so I'm in the green on this one unless I don't cancel.  I'm approaching 60 days so I'll have to cancel soon.

I signed up for "yourmusic.com" which did require a 6.95/month fee but you get a CD of your choice from that.  It auto bills 6.95/month and as long as you keep your music queue filled, they will send out a CD for $6.95.  I queud up several CDs that I'd like to have (6.95 is cheap, mind you, and it's free shipping always)...  

Last, but not least, I signed up for "free credit report.com".  It was free for 30 days and gave me a free look at my report.  It is 12.95 month to "monitor" my credit...

Once signed up you have to wait "approximately" 45 days for "final confirmation" of offer sign up status.  This is where patience pays off and attention to detail is important... I checked every few days for a status update...

So, 45ish days later, here is where I am:

3 of my 5 "offers" have been verified and I have little certificates I downloaded and printed.  Once I have the other 2, I will send all 5 certificates to the "gift redemption center" and they will supposedly send me a PS3 within 6-8 weeks.  I recieved certificates on the free credit report, one of the credit cards and great fun so I've cancelled them.

So far I am out some time and the following cash: 12.95 for a credit report and a month of monitoring, 13.90 for two CDs, and $9.95 for a month of "Great Fun".   I also got a $20 exxon gas card that I've used for free gas so i'm netting out $16.80 out of pocket at this point.  Since I have not yet recieved my certificate yet on your music, I have to leave that one open still...

I'll update again when I'm closer to finished as it will be interesting to see if this really can be pulled off.  If it doesn't, I'll not be too terribly disappointed as I didn't hold a whole lot of belief that this is legit...

If anyone has had any success with one of these, please let me know. 

I did once when I was about to graduate from the UofA and knew my email was going away. All it did was get me about 300 spam every day or more. I thought I completed 3 offers but never saw my free TV I think it was. They are all the same, just different prizes.

I've never tried one, by my friend got screwed hard on it. Never got his free 360, but got a bunch of crap he didn't want, and a ton of spam. He tried e-mailing them repeatedly to get the status of his 360, but he always got the same automated response saying they appreciated his patience and they would get back to him soon....for months.

I did this before to get a free DS. I wanted the console but didn't feel like paying for it, regardless of the fact that I had the money. I did the offers, completed them, they were updated as completed, and I got a message from the place stating that, at that time, they no longer had any DS's. Sucks right?

Not so bad, cause they sent me a check for 149.99 instead.

You just have to be careful. There are a few scam ones out there. You definitely need to read all the fine print for the offer, as well as all the fine print for the offers you sign up for. It's a decent system you can get over on, it just takes patience and diligence, which many people who try don't have, which is why they never complete everything.

 The patience, diligence, and attention to detail probably causes 75% plus to fail somewhere along in the process.  I suspect the agency counts on this failure rate and the "referral fees" they are being paid to sell spam email and sign up for offers can't total the cost of a new system...  I guess we'll find out because so far everything is working as it states...

Where's Cadence? Wasn't she doing this?

I would try doing it, but unfortunatelly most of them are for U.S. residents only...

EDIT: If someone knows about one that applies to non-U.S. people, please tell me about it :)

Ok, I just got another update. The last two offers show up as "completed" so I now have all 5 certificates downloaded and printed. The certificates are detailed pieces of paper with my gift (PS3), my contact information, and a bar code with a very long, unique number on it. There are instructions on it that say where to mail it in Mountain View, CA. I just dropped it in the mail about 30 minutes ago. The document says 6-8 weeks for delivery of my "gift". We'll see... This is where the rubber meets the road, lol.

Again, I'll udpate as I learn anything new. I have now cancelled what I signed up for except for the credit cards as I can use them in the future. I'm out about 20 bucks plus some postage. If it pans out -- deal of the century...

I just thought I'd drop back in with an update. I have sent in everything requested and verified by phone that they have received everything required as of OCT 22. They said it takes 6-8 weeks to ship the "gift" at which time they will update my online account. She encouraged me to contact them in 6 weeks for an update... I'll update as everything progresses along, but I'm going to laugh my ass off if I get a free PS3! (well, actually it will end up being about $20-30 bucks or so)

Also.... The company behind the scenes is Netblue...  They have been acquired by Connexxus and both appear to be legit companies from what I can find.

I know a lot of people complain about being "scammed" by the system but so far everythin has gone exactly as they say.  Getting the offers signed up for, monitored, and shut down without incurring cost (or incurring minimal cost) was rather time consuming and I suspect that for many, they won't invest the time as, after all, time is money....  If you drop the ball anywhere in the process and don't follow through, you are hosed, though and I'm sure 90% or more never complete the offers properly and don't get their "gift".

I'm always a little cautious with these things though mainly because I'm not always that organized and opening up multiple credit cards isn't always the best idea. Personally, it would probably be a lot easier to do the referral thing and trick people into referring you.

super awesome jubbly video

Are you a good person test?

Just make the above your sig and make an account on every forum you can think of and just start posting like you're a normal member. You'll get your clicks (though I've never done this but people click interesting looking links without seeing where they're going).

Gamefly does these offers from time to time...there's usually an offer for a DS Lite or Wii going on at any given time.

It's how I got a Wii for $40.

Yes that's right. You just get 5 friends to sign up for Gamefly for a month through your referral link, and you get a free Wii, that's it. So obviously, a few of my friends didn't really want the service, so I paid them, thus costing me about $40.

I got my friends to sign up in June, and after having the service for a month, and after waiting a couple weeks for verification, Gamefly shipped my free Wii, brand new in box with Sports and all, the first week of August.

A great deal I must say...and it's much more trustworthy than the getafreeWii type places.