I WIN!!!

I've always been of the philosophy that Tuesday is the worst day of the work/school week. So many people claim Monday should hold this title, but here's my argument: You come to work Monday, and if you had a good weekend then you have a lot to talk about and the morning goes by quickly and before you know it afternoon is there. If you had a bad weekend, then chances are you're glad it's Monday and you want the weekend over. Wednesday is Hump Day and not at all bad, on Thursday you can almost taste the weekend (hopefully good) and of course, Friday is Friday. But Tuesdays suck. I wake up most Tuesdays and the first thought that goes through my head is, "Fuck, it's only Tuesday."

What is the point of my story, you may ask? There is no point except to show just how one event can change your outlook on anything. I woke up this morning with that same curse going through my head. I struggled into work, and sat at my desk doing my best to pass time. However, in the back of my mind I knew this day had a silver lining. For over the weekend, I got a slip on my door. And on this slip was my key to becoming a big winner: a $500 Best Buy Gift Card was waiting for me in a FedEx Office, and today they delivered it to the office at my apartment. So at lunch, I went and picked it up, and behold: it was a "Great Day."

There are certain websites that make seemingly outrageous offers. "Click here to claim your free gift." "Want a new laptop? Just click here." And so on and so on. I don't know about all of these sites, but I found one that was legit. The Prize Center.

Through this site, you need to complete certain "offers" in order to claim your free gift. The gift I chose was this Best Buy gift card. Now before I started, I read all the fine print. Some of these sites make you complete all their offers, only to require you to refer other people to complete all the offers as well before they give you anything. This prize, however, required only 8 offers to be completed; 2 "Silver", 2 "Gold" and 4 "Platinum" offers. Each level of offers are composed of about 20-30 things you may need to do, such as subscribe to a magazine, get a free trial of something and only pay shipping, or subscribe to an online service.

What I did was look at each level (and they mostly consisted of the same lists of offers) and decide on eight that I could legitimately do without having to invest too much money. Then I signed up for the offers, usually for a trial period of 2 weeks or a month. Near the end of each month, I would cancel my offer and not pay another penny. Once you click on the offer on The Prize Center's site, it automatically goes into your account as a "Pending" offer. So in the end, just by looking I had about 20 pending offers. The Prize Center then contacts the company giving the offer to be sure you paid your due and fulfilled the obligations of the offer. Now I know personally I was worried so I kept a few of these offers past the free trial and paid for an extra month. My original plan was to spend about $50. In the end I probably spent probably about $150. Now that may sound bad, but remember I still got my $500 Best Buy Gift Card.

Here are the offers I completed (I don't have links to the sites, but I'll give some of the companies and an overview of the offer).

Netflix: 2 week trial for free, then fulfill a full month. This cost me $14 for the month. One thing about Netflix is I am still using it, but I only count the first month toward this because I am willingly paying for the service now.

Blockbuster Online: Month Trial for $9.99 I think. I stopped this after a month, but got many a free movie.

GreatFun: This is a site that gives you coupons for great deals at many main-stream restaurants and stores. I paid $3 for the first month and stayed on another month for $15, but never used it...but this could be a useful service.

Critics Choice Entertainment Club (I think that's the name)...paid $2 I think for the offer and gave it up after the trial because I didn't use it. Similar to Great Fun.

Ultimate Nutraceuticals: 12-in-one Vitamins. This is also called Klee Irwin's Health Products. This is the company that screwed me, as they got about $80 or more from me by being kind of shady and not canceling all my services when I asked. However I didn't feel like fighting since I was still profiting despite these assholes. But I wouldn't recommend this service at all...stay away.

VistaPrint: Possibly my favorite of the offers. 250 FREE business cards, you only pay like $8 S&H. And I made custom business cards that I use as a joke...but a damn funny joke. Also, no obligations for this one. I got my cards and I was done with them. Highly recommended.

EMusic: Another easy one. 99 cent month trial, and you can cancel online so you don't have to argue with some salesperson.

3 In 1 Credit Report: This is a subsidiary of FreeCreditReport.com (you know, the company with the commercial of the guy in a pirate suit.) This is a legit company. I had a problem giving out my Social Security Number but I checked into the site before I did any of that and they were legit. Paid like $3 I think for the first month, and the people were very nice when I canceled. No arguing and they told me I could use the site until my month trial was up all I wanted, no hassles at all. Recommended if you haven't gotten a credit report recently.

I also did a 9th offer that I can't remember just to be safe, as my Netflix offer never got approved (which is funny seeing that it's the only one I kept.)

So after all my offers were approved, I was told to click on a link that brought up an application form. I had about 2 weeks to get this form into the company through the mail. One problem I had here was they made you fill out a tax form, so I gave them my SSN, but I figured at this point it was worth the risk (I don't have much of an identity to steal anyway). So I send it in well before the deadline and then get a major scare...the envelope comes back to me in the mail, saying the address didn't exist. Problem? HELL NO!! I emailed them immediately telling them what happened, and within a day they emailed me back with a fax number. I sent them the fax (note this was after the deadline but I also sent a copy of the envelope with the early postmark on it). And they immediately approved it. You can keep track of all of this on their website. The approval was dated February 25, and it said to wait 6-8 weeks to get your gift. Well, about 7 weeks later....I WIN!!!