A warning to those who are wise

You may have already been a victim of this, a banner "pops" or you see an offer to get a "free" item. Perhaps you even had a good intention, saw or heard of a website that offered lots of "free" things. Whatever the reason, once you entered, you gave your information, and then forgot about it. The company that put those banners, and free things up didn't forget about you. Then sent your information into a main system, that then checked to make sure you hadn't registered before, and set your phone number and information onto a screen that was then given to an agent working for the company. That agent will most likely have a computer calling you, because the company tracks all it's calls. If you receive a call like this you will know, because there will be a small pause, and then the person will be saying hello. The pause is from what the industry calls a predictive dialer. Once you answer the call, you will find a nice person on the other end, and they will ask you to verify your information, or will verify it for you. Once done, they will then go through offers of items that the company wants you to take. These can be very useful things, I've gotten coupons for food, lotions, and so on. However there is a catch, and if your saying, "I thought so." Then you are very wise indeed. Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who will not care about the catch, or may not know that it's out there. And if the agent handling the call is really good, they can find a way to get the listener so excited about the offer that the listener will want to get it immediately! Which is what the agent wants, and the company that hires the agent wants. What is happening is that these people are using our desire to have things immediately to give us clubs that "can give the receiver incredible gift cards, grocery coupons, or something of that sort that and all for a small shipping and handling fee."



Are these clubs legit? Yes. Are the savings real? There are people that will say that they got enough savings to pay for the clubs. Which on the average run about $20.00 monthly. Is is worth your time to listen to these agents, and have them go through their script in order for you to buy it? Only you can decided. So here are a list of clubs I know about, there monthly cost, and the savings you will get, after you read this then you can decide if it's worth your time to listen, or better to just hang up.



At Home Rewards, this club is offered at the end of many sales calls, those that someone has see a product on TV and decided they want to buy it. What they get is the product and any up sells the agent can get them to agree to, and this club, or another. Sometimes both. At Home Rewards offers savings on home improvement, decorating, entertaining and cooking; at nationally known retailers. According to the agent who talked to me about this club I could save "up to $2,500." In exchange for trying the "free" trial, the customer is offered a $50 Wal-mart gift card. If after the 30 days I decide to keep this card, the monthly charge is somewhere around $20.00 As to getting the gift card, this is not automatically in the club information. instead you have to fill out a claim form, send it in, and then do some other paper work, in order to actually get the physical card in hand. I guess a $50 card is worth that.



Shopping Essentials, sometimes offered with At home rewards, is a club that can save on a wide variety of purchases that you are probably already making on a regular basis, such as movie tickets, restaurants, hotels, etc. According to the agent who offered me this one, my savings on this "free" trial would be "up to $4,400". This has a monthly fee of approximately $20.00



Next is Easy saver, offered with a second card called American Leisure. For a small shipping and handling fee, $1.95 each, you can get these cards in your hot hands. In exchange for "looking over the cards" you get to "claim" a $25 gift card from Babies-R-us, and a $25 gift card from Wall mart. These programs allow you to use the club's "risk free" for 30 days. And after that there is a monthly fee, of approximately $20.00 per card.

Need the services of a doctor? 24/7 Call MD can help, this card along with American True Savings offers the customer a $1000 in grocery coupons to try their program for 10 days. These clubs offer the opportunity to look them over for the cost of $1.95 each shipping and handling. After the 10 days, these clubs cost $19.95 a piece.

The last one is a tug on the pride strings, offering a club called US Patriot card it goes hand and hand with a club called Liberty fun pass. This club offers a free club to members of the military, along with assistance for veterans who have been traumatized during their tour of duty. This club goes for 14 days, and costs $1.95 for US Patriot, and $1.97 for Liberty. The person getting the card gets a $25 Wal-mart gift card, for checking the club out. And of course the knowledge that this club is helping a veteran, or military person. Final cost on this one is almost over $40.00.

I'm sure there is some questions about what to do if your offered one of these clubs. My answer is to go ahead and try them out. Especially if they get you discounts at stores you already shop at, but be careful. The agent who is presenting these clubs has been told to do their best to push the club at you. They will listen to you objections, they will seem to respond in an empathic manner. This however is just something they've been taught to do. They will then represent the offer, answering your objections and retrying the sale. They do this, because every club they sign on is an extra $1.00 in their pocket. The scary thing is, many of these agents are told that we the buying public are lier's. They believe that we really want these offers, what ever they offer, and use every selling method at their fingertips to get us to buy. So though the programs are good, the agents trying to sell it to me often turned me off, by pretending to listen and retrying to sell the club to me again. I learned to not give a explanation, as these agents are trained to perceive that as a buying sign. A one word no, and stick to it. If you really want the club, and don't mind being led into the purchase of it, go ahead and get it, you will be helping the agent who sold it to you get a nice commission.

If though you are like me, and don't enjoy people not listening to you, than get the web address, and sign on without the agents assistance.

Have you ever had one of these clubs? Or maybe you've heard of one I didn't mention here. If so, please post me and tell me about your experience, or the club I didn't mention.