If you bring a friend with you to Denny’s April 8 between 6am and 2pm and order a Grand Slam, your friend will get a free Grand Slamwich. Not quite the same as their totally free breakfast promo after the Superbowl, but there’s still free food involved. Besides, going to Denny’s by yourself is a little depressing.
Walgreen Health Clinics Now Free For Unemployed
By April 1, 2009
Walgreen has announced that if you’re willing to provide proof of unemployment and sign a form that says you lost your health benefits along with your job, you and your uninsured family members can receive free treatment at any of their 300+ in-store health clinics. What’s covered: “respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments.” What’s not: checkups, vaccinations or other injections, and prescriptions.
People Who Complained About Quiznos Million Sub Giveaway Imbroglio Get $5 Gift Cards
By March 31, 2009
Readers who had problems with the Quiznos million free sub campaign and wrote in to the email address the sandwichery supplied to Consumerist report they’re receiving $5 gift card in the mail along with a letter of apology from the marketing director. One reader reports that on the back of the card it says that a $1 service charge gets applied to it each month you don’t use it. To see what some franchisees are saying are the *real* reasons for the problems, check out the comments section on this post at UnhappyFranchisee. Quiznos’ letter is posted inside.
Walgreens Doesn't Want You To Print Your Own Passport Photos
By March 23, 2009
Walgreens charges a hefty $7.99 for passport photos. Is it because they’re super fancy, or technically challenging to create, or the paper is strawberry scented? The answer to all of these questions is no. It’s because it’s an easy way to make a quick buck. That’s why they hate it when you find a cheaper online solution and try to print out your own 4×6 layout of passport photos via their stores.
No Manual? Look For A Digital Copy Online, Or Simply Ask For One
By March 19, 2009
Stephanie writes, “I’m guessing I’m not the only Consumerist reader to ever get a sewing machine hand-me-down or buy one from a garage sale sans operating manual.” In fact, there are all sorts of devices that require some level of instruction before you can get the maximal use out of them. The problem is, people lose manuals, and companies don’t always make them available for download once they’ve been pulled off the market. Stephanie almost paid $35 for a digital copy when she decided she’d try asking the company directly.
By March 10, 2009
Today only, FedEx Office (formerly FedEx Kinko’s) will print up to 25 copies of your resume for free. You can submit as a digital file or in person, but must pick up the resumes at a FedEx Office location. [FedEx] (Thanks to ingaraundquist !)
CareerBuilder's Free Resume Review Is Bot-Driven Junk
By March 7, 2009
Sometimes”‘free” means “wow what a great bargain,” and sometimes it just mean worthless. CareerBuilder offers a free resume review on their site—enter your email address, upload your resume, and “we’ll email you the results of your free evaluation, including tips on writing a resume that will help you land the interview.” All it really does is collect your address so it can send you unsolicited email (we got spammed 30 minutes later), and your “review” is just a boilerplate page of generic advice.
Watch Out For Payment Date Errors—And Related Finance Charges—From Chase
By March 4, 2009
Mike used an Office Depot Visa card issued through Chase to take advantage of a pay-no-interest deal through 2008. He paid off the remaining balance a couple of days before the offer period ended, but Chase still slapped him with a nearly $40 interest charge. Why? Because they’ve been “having problems like that” with Office Depot cards.
Find Free Mp3s On Music Blogs
By March 2, 2009
I posted recently about how I like HypeMachine, a reader/player/finder of free mp3s on music blogs and some readers chimed in with their favorite ways to find free mp3s on blogs:
Why The Quiznos Free Sandwich Promo Burnt Some Customers
By February 27, 2009
According to tipster Rich Piotrowski, a former Quiznos franchise owner who won a counter-suit against the company, the big reason why some Quiznos were being jerks about taking the free sandwich coupon is that at first corporate was making the franchises pay for all the sandwiches. (Quiznos mandates franchises buy all their ingredients from HQ, often at above-market rates…). Then it looks like they decided to reimburse up to 400 coupons, then bumped that up to 700 to meet the demand, and now they’re going to reimburse all coupons. Don’t give away free stuff in these times unless you’re ready for an onslaught of interest, at the outset. Corporate seems to have realized this and contacted us to say that if you have any problems redeeming coupons you can email millionsubs@quiznos.com. Tipster’s comment, and an internal Quiznos memo, inside…
Free Quiznos Subs
By February 23, 2009
Quiznos is giving out free sub coupons. All you have to do is give your first name, last name, zip, birthday, and email address for their marketing database and tell them what your favorite sub is. Once the email arrives in your box, it will be equipped with some kind of send-to-a-friend function so they can also exchange their personal information for sandwiches. Order up one for JackB Nimble at mrmixelpixle9292@gmail.com please.
Hypemachine Saves Your Ears With Free Tunes From Music Blogs
By February 20, 2009
Hypemachine, an aggregator of the latest free songs posted on music blogs, has been around for years but I started using it with gusto this week and it’s tight. It scans all those blogs and then streams them for you in a popup radio player, which you can narrow by popular, new, or from the top 25 music blogs. If you like a track you can click through to the source blog and download the mp3. (Most of the time the mp3s have been released onto the internet by the artists themselves. If there’s ever a question, most have an option to buy the song on Amazon or iTunes). A great way to freshen up your music mix without having to think too hard or shell out. [Hypemachine]
By February 13, 2009
It looks like Ikea is stepping up where Denny’s failed; breakfast will be served for free in many Ikea locations starting today, before 10:30. It expires on the 16th, so grab as much of the free Swedish grub as you can! [MainStreet]
Don't Fall For The Job Hunting Credit Report Scam
By February 11, 2009
Christine is looking for a new job, and she found this neat little credit report scam. The scam is pretty transparent in this case, but we thought we’d put it out there as a reminder anyway. Remember, if you want a truly free credit report, only use annualcreditreport.com. Everything else comes with a hidden cost or enrollment in a billed membership—and if a potential employer inists on a specific “free” service that isn’t free when you read the fine print, you can be pretty sure it’s a scam.
Use Google's M-Lab To Test Your Internet Connection
By February 9, 2009
Google has assembled a suite of free tools (developed by researchers, not by Google itself) that let you measure things like BitTorrent throttling, upload/download speeds, and last mile snafus. In exchange for “free,” the test data is being made public to enable further study of broadband connections. You might want to bookmark the site for future reference when you’re trying to figure out what’s going on with your ISP.
Get Free Overnight Shipping For Life At Zappos
By February 4, 2009
Get guaranteed overnight shipping for life from awesome-opossum online shoe store Zappos simply by signing up here before noon PST today. To use it, remember that you’ll need to shop through the vip.zappos.com portal from now on. (Thanks to Dena!)
The Word 'Free' Makes People Lose Their Minds
By February 3, 2009
Seriously? It’s stay-indoors weather, we keep seeing that our food safety system is fundamentally broken, and people still lined up outside Denny’s today like soup kitchen hoboes for the chance to nosh on some flour+watermilk discs, HFCS syrup, and a little pig meat? (And also eggs, a reader points out.) We hope you left a tip, at least. As Naomi, who took photos of her local Denny’s, reminds us, “If ever there were a day where Denny’s employees have to work hard, this is it.”
