In case you didn't already know that free stuff on the Internet can be expensive, here's another cautionary tale. As one reader recently discovered, a "free" freeware CD could possibly cost you more than just hefty shipping charges.
"It appears that Manay Software is a gotcha' web retailer charging high shipping fees for free software," the reader wrote. "They say on their order form that you'll get $20 rebated back to cover the shipping cost, but it doesn't actually work that way. It's all classic bait-and-switch and smoke-and-mirrors."
The reader had been interested in Manay's offer for four "free" software CDs because it included a suite of OpenOffice applications. Of course, the CDs weren't really free, and the reader was momentarily taken aback by the shipping charges of $19.92, which seemed rather steep. But the order form promised that he'd get that money back:
GET $20 CASH BACK: Complete this final secure Yahoo! form and click "Send Order" on the next page to get your 4 FREE CDs packages plus 2 $10 Cash Back towards shipping & handling.
Seeing that Manay was a Yahoo Store, the reader thought nothing could go too wrong with the deal, so he went ahead and ordered the four-CD set with his credit card. "It arrived, and the two $10 'cash-back' vouchers, rebate checks, coupons or whatever were nowhere to be seen," the reader wrote. "I wrote to Manay, and they finally e-mailed me a link they said I must have missed on the confirmation page."
The link was to the sign-up page for something called "Reservation Rewards." In order to receive his two $10 "cash-back" checks, he would have to fill out an online marketing survey and provide the mysterious Reservation Rewards complete billing information including a credit or debit card. The real kicker was way down in the fine print:
Offer Details: Get all the valuable benefits of Reservation Rewards, including your two $10.00 Cash Back Awards on your next purchases and Money-Saving Discounts FREE for the next 30 days, with our compliments. It's a special Thank You Reward for your purchase and filling out our survey today! If you are 100% satisfied during your trial, do nothing. All your Reservation Rewards discounts and protection will automatically continue for just $9 a month billed by Reservation Rewards to the credit card or deducted from the debit card you registered. In the event your monthly membership fee were to ever change, you would be notified before you are billed. Reservation Rewards benefits may be enhanced or modified at any time without prior notice.
The reader had been had, and he knew it. "No way I was going to wrestle in that pigsty," he wrote. Since Reservation Rewards was not a Yahoo Store, he was not about to trust them with any of his information, much less sign up for a program the main benefit of which appeared to be deducting $9 from his credit card every month.
In that sense, the reader could judge himself lucky to just be out $19.92. "I did get one CD with an OpenOffice.org 1.1.1, along with three unknown utilities that Manay hypes loudly," he wrote. "But when I ordered the CDs from Manay, nothing at all was said about having to sign up for some kind of discount membership club, and providing them with a credit card, in order to get the $20 rebate. Yahoo should take a look at the way some of their merchants operate. One rotten potato can make the whole sack stink."
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10:06:22 AM 
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