Evian is naive spelled backward

No, for those of you who know the movie back to front, this isn't going to be about Reality Bites- sorry... Ok, so you know that state of coffee-induced wakefulness we find ourselves at 1.30 in the morning, where your body is convinced it's asleep but your synapses tell you you're awake? That was me last night, except it was probably closer to 2.30am. Anyway, I thought to surprise Jude with an IPod, considering I only gave him an Alice in Wonderland pop-up book for his birthday- which by the way, I highly recommend (see Random Fodder sidebar for Flash version- imagine that!). So I go into one of those free IPod websites (I'm not providing the link- if you want to get scammed, you can do it without my help...) that say all you had to do is to refer 5 friends and sign up for one on-line offer in order to get the new 20GB IPod shipped free to your doorstep.

That sounds harmless enough- between Jude & myself, we have 6 email addresses so the referrals were easily filled in without incurring the wrath of any of our friends who might not talk to us again if we SPAM their mail boxes. I chose an on-line offer for the Sunday edition of the NY Times, which is great considering 1) the ironic dearth of good journalism here in Ann Arbor; and 2) although we get NY Times online everyday, it takes alot, especially on a Sunday to sit in front of the PC going through more than 5 pounds worth of articles. And the Sunday Edition comes with the NY Times Magazine too...*yum*

Anyway, back to my original story... I process everything and then the system tells me I haven't completed all the steps necessary for the free product. They claim I haven't signed-up for an online offer, which I did. I also find out, in the infinitesmal fine print, that I only get the IPod if all 5 of my referrals sign up for offers too! Great! Now I have to go through all our email boxes and respond with 5 fake addresses and credit-card numbers? Thanks, but no thanks. I'll save up for the IPod.

To makes things worse, I come across this article from Wired.com. While it doesn't go as far as to say that the whole thing is a scam, it clearly isn't the most reliable service in the world. And so I go back to the website and try cancelling everything, and they haven't gotten back to me except with an automated customer service reply to tell me to be patient... I kid you not, it actually says, "You have to be really patient." Who's their business consultant? Grandpa Bob?

In the end, I know I really don't have anyone to blame but myself, and here's where the Reality Bites quote comes in. So now, I don't forsee a free IPod anytime soon, and I tried cancelling the NY Times subscription, but figure that even if I can't, at least I come out from this with 12 weeks worth of good journalism. Imagine the people who signed up for a trial of Ancestry.com...