Saveology - You're Out

Scam alert!  I saw a deal for a $15 ExxonMobil gift card for $7.50 from Saveology.com a few weeks back.  Went ahead and bought it.  Got the e-mail that it was ready to be redeemed.  Then I downloaded the voucher, and it is not really a voucher per se, it's a PDF file with a super long code that has to be activated by calling them and giving them the voucher number.  Thought that was a little weird, just send me the darn gift card. Why go through the extra step? I would soon find out....

Anyway, called, short wait time and the lady was friendly.  Gave her my info so she can send me my card.  At the end, she told me I'm getting e-mailed a $100 gift card for $4.95, for use at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Red Lobster, etc.  Obviously sounds too good to be true, but who doesn't love Red Lobster? Seriously, where did they all go? I LOVE Red Lobster.  Went there a lot as a kid, and wish I still did.  Sorry getting off topic, so she offers me this thing, and it sounds a little odd, so I start asking all sorts of questions like I am super confused.  In actuality? I am confused, but I'm also stalling so I can research this so called "deal" on the internet.  Go to Yahoo!, search engine of choice (sorry Ne-l).  Finally find a "Ripoff Report" that describes exactly what I'm being offered.

Basically, they aren't giving you a $100 gift card, they are giving you a bunch of random coupons.  But the way she was wording it, made it totally sound like a gift card.  Saying they want me to say good things about Saveology to my friends, so they are offering me this sweet deal.  First off, I have no friends.  So this whole "two-way street" thing won't work.  Secondly, even if this was a real deal and I told people about it on this blog, there would only be three people that knew about it, and 2 of them stopped reading when they got to the second paragraph because this sounds like a waste of time.  Okay back to topic:
So I start saying, "Can I bring this voucher into Best Buy, and use it like cash just like I would if I bought a gift card from them?" She was careful in how she answered: "yes, well, it's similar to that...but you would have vouchers with excellent benefits to save, for example, 40% on your purchase, etc etc." So after I asked the "right" questions, I realize the random post on the internet is right.  They are trying to sell you a bunch of useless coupons.  I passed on it, but was still friendly as I still want them to send me my ExxonMobil gift card.

So here are some rules in life, in case you didn't know better:
- "If it sounds too good to be true, then it is too good to be true" People who seem like they are trustworthy, aren't ALWAYS trustworthy. People who are in a position to take advantage of people, most like have done so at some point in their lives.  That's why I treat people as if they are spies.  Haven't you seen Salt before? With Angelina Jolie? Yeah, spies.  Everyone.  Right under your nose.  TRUST NO ONE.
- "Trust no one, even people you think you know" - Because if you haven't seen Mission Impossible, there are machines out there that can make masks of people's faces and you will think it is your friend, but really it's not, but if the people with the machines forgot to get the voice synthesizer machine too, then they won't say anything, they'll just nod their heads, and that should be a dead giveaway that the person who you are talking to, who you think you know, is not really that person, and that person you don't know forgot to buy or use the voice synthesizer.

Sounds kinda crazy to go through life like that, always worrying and not trusting people.  But if I wasn't like that, then I'd be the proud owner of $100 worth of garbage coupons, out $4.95, and this post would be twice as long.  I also would have made one man very happy, a man who stands by the gas station by my apartment and has told me on multiple occasions he's from the suburbs and needs bus money to get back there today, although I see him all the time.  Must be one expensive bus ticket.

- "Give a man a good job, he'll stay on that ish, but when the job get hard, the coward gon quit.  Everybody show you love when they thinkin you rich, but you can see they true colors when the smoke get thick..." - Papoose, Rapper / Philosopher
- There are so many people out there trying to take advantage of others.  That's why I always nod my head and show signs of agreement when people talk to me, but really in my head, I think "I don't believe you..in fact, this conversation might not even be real, I am probably in a dream, a dream about someone lying to my face, I might not even be typing this because it's a dream"
- "If a deal website tries to trick you (cough...Saveology..cough), then trick them back.  Buy one deal then never buy from them again. And then see who's laughing all the way to the gas station as they get their almost 2 free gallons of gas...suckaaaaaaas" - Real talk.

So what is the point of this post? The point is, you probably shouldn't listen to word I say, because you shouldn't trust anyone, including me.  I don't even exist.  If you fall too easily for people's deceptions, you need get your koreanvention on. Now I've been duped before, but lesson learned.  Somehow a company got my credit card info from Chase and was charging me $20 for coupons every month as a recurring charge, then I finally figured it out.  Add that to the list: look through your credit card statements.  I know that if it isn't Subway, discounted electronics, Subway, or some sort of media with the words "Harry" and "Potter" in the description, then I'm going to investigate like Lucy Liu in that new Sherlock Holmes TV show that looks like it will probably not be that good.

Another thing, remember to ask the right questions.  Going back to the guy at the gas station who says he needs money for a bus ticket to the suburbs. If that happens to you? Turn the tables.  Say, "which suburb? Oh, really? I don't have any cash on me, but guess what? I'm from that suburb and I'm headed there soon! I'm going to go pick up my grandmother, our pitbull named LiarBiter, and my DEA brother-in-law named Hank, and I'll be back to pick you up. We are running out of room in the back seat though, so do you mind riding in the trunk? Did someone say "ROADTRIP!" Yayyyy!"

Then see what he says.