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Step 3How to beat the system
I should add at this point that you are not "cheating" the system in any way. If they give you a free gift for nine referrals, then that's exactly what they get. They are perhaps making an implicit assumption that your eight referrals will then go on and recruit their own, but that's not in the rules.
YOU WILL NEED:
- an internet connection
- a number of friends, equal to the number of referrals required for your chosen gift, who live locally to you
- trust and common sense
- A large piece of paper and a pen
Firstly, you need to choose a gift that can be shared. Obviously mobile phones don't work too well in this- a console such as a Wii would work well, that was what I chose for my (sadly failed) attempt at this. If your scheme doesn't have any suitable gifts, ditch it and find another.
Secondly, make sure that the scheme you have chosen has a non-onerous option you can sign up for. Ideally it should not involve spending any money, or signing up for excessive spam. We found one that just involved signing up for a trial video rental scheme, and rent one video that could be cancelled before it was shipped and your money would be refunded. If the scheme doesn't have a quick and cheap or free referral option, ditch it and find another. There are plenty around.
Thirdly, you need to write up an agreement. This should be something along the lines of
"We, the undersigned, agree to partake in the below mentioned free gift referral scheme in order to get one _(gift). _ (organiser) will keep said gift but it will be made available to any member of this agreement on request.
We agree to partake in _(easy referral option). In the event that any members of the group do not fulfil their referral requirements, they shall be liable for the cost of buying an equivalent _(gift) to be split equally between them."
This means that if only one or two people don't bother to do the referral, they are required to split the cost of buying the item between themselves, and the more people who sign up, the more it would cost them not to sign up. If the terms are made clear at the start, this isn't an onerous requirement, and surely they would rather spend 20 minutes filling in an online registration form and maybe registering a free email address than paying for half of a PS3?
Missing out this step was the crucial part I missed when I tried this. I got five people to refer, but three lamed out and said they couldn't be bothered to spend ten minutes filling in a form for a part share in a Wii, then the rest got disillusioned and I was left with a shattered dream and an inbox full of marketing spam about video rental. (sniff)
Moral of the story is, have a firm agreement to all sign up for the scheme, don't just say "hey you guys, wouldn't it be cool if we did this and got a Wii for the house?"
If you write up this contract, and everyone goes away and does their referral, and the scheme you chose was genuine, the scheme organiser should receive one shiny gift in the mail. Take the money you saved on not buying the item new, get some beers and have your friends over to enjoy your new shiny consumer electronics.
YOU WILL NEED:
- an internet connection
- a number of friends, equal to the number of referrals required for your chosen gift, who live locally to you
- trust and common sense
- A large piece of paper and a pen
Firstly, you need to choose a gift that can be shared. Obviously mobile phones don't work too well in this- a console such as a Wii would work well, that was what I chose for my (sadly failed) attempt at this. If your scheme doesn't have any suitable gifts, ditch it and find another.
Secondly, make sure that the scheme you have chosen has a non-onerous option you can sign up for. Ideally it should not involve spending any money, or signing up for excessive spam. We found one that just involved signing up for a trial video rental scheme, and rent one video that could be cancelled before it was shipped and your money would be refunded. If the scheme doesn't have a quick and cheap or free referral option, ditch it and find another. There are plenty around.
Thirdly, you need to write up an agreement. This should be something along the lines of
"We, the undersigned, agree to partake in the below mentioned free gift referral scheme in order to get one _(gift). _ (organiser) will keep said gift but it will be made available to any member of this agreement on request.
We agree to partake in _(easy referral option). In the event that any members of the group do not fulfil their referral requirements, they shall be liable for the cost of buying an equivalent _(gift) to be split equally between them."
This means that if only one or two people don't bother to do the referral, they are required to split the cost of buying the item between themselves, and the more people who sign up, the more it would cost them not to sign up. If the terms are made clear at the start, this isn't an onerous requirement, and surely they would rather spend 20 minutes filling in an online registration form and maybe registering a free email address than paying for half of a PS3?
Missing out this step was the crucial part I missed when I tried this. I got five people to refer, but three lamed out and said they couldn't be bothered to spend ten minutes filling in a form for a part share in a Wii, then the rest got disillusioned and I was left with a shattered dream and an inbox full of marketing spam about video rental. (sniff)
Moral of the story is, have a firm agreement to all sign up for the scheme, don't just say "hey you guys, wouldn't it be cool if we did this and got a Wii for the house?"
If you write up this contract, and everyone goes away and does their referral, and the scheme you chose was genuine, the scheme organiser should receive one shiny gift in the mail. Take the money you saved on not buying the item new, get some beers and have your friends over to enjoy your new shiny consumer electronics.
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