Scam Website Complaint
Review of Product Test Panel, www.productevaluationservice.com, Consumer Research Corporation
"Get a Free Garmin Nuvi GPS by acting as a product evaluator"
Have you used Product Test Panel, www.productevaluationservice.com, Consumer Research Corporation? We have received a report that it is a scam,
and provide our review below. We'd like your experiences (good or bad)
about Product Test Panel, www.productevaluationservice.com, Consumer Research Corporation, as well.
When we receive an inquiry about a website, like Product Test Panel, www.productevaluationservice.com, Consumer Research Corporation, we
first look for the signs of both a scam and a reputable company. There is
no one indicator that is proof positive of a scam, but if a website exhibits a
number of these, we rate it is a likely scam.
See this page for our checklist of
some of the things we look for.
We heard that Product Test Panel, www.productevaluationservice.com, Consumer Research Corporation,
was giving away Garmin Nuvi GPS units, just for acting as a product tester /
evaluator.
Our investigation
This seems simply too good to be true. Their Google
advertisement posted on a GPS website says you can have a FREE Garmin GPS,
simply for acting as a tester / evaluator, and meeting a few qualifying
conditions.
We clicked on the ad, and saw this page, which said nothing
about being a "product evaluator", but rather said it would be "free with reward
offer purchases":
The fine print says (we highlighted key passages):
THE FOLLOWING IS A SUMMARY OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. SEE
TERMS FOR COMPLETE DETAILS. Members are being accepted subject to the
following Program Requirements: 1) Must be a legal US resident; 2) must be
at least 18 years old or older; 3) must have a valid email and shipping
address; 4) Eligible members can
receive the incentive gift package by completing two reward offers from each
of the Top, Prime and Premium reward offer page options. Various
types of reward offers are available.
Completion of reward offers most
often requires a purchase or filing a credit application and being accepted
for a financial product such as a credit card or consumer loan. The
following link illustrates a Representative Sample of reward offers by group
along with monetary and non-monetary obligations. Failure to submit accurate
registration information will result in loss of eligibility. This promotion
is administered solely by this website. The manufacturers and retailers of
the gift items offered through our programs have not endorsed this promotion
and are not affiliated with the promotion in anyway. All trademarks, service
marks, logos, and/or domain names (including the names of products and
retailers) are property of their respective owners. This promotion is not
valid to residents of Ohio and is void where prohibited by law. Please read
the Terms and Conditions for complete program details. Your information will
be shared with our marketing partners. Please read the Privacy Policy for
more details.
We entered a zip code and saw this page:
Notice the fine print at the bottom of the page:
Various types of sponsor offers are
available. Completion of sponsor offers most often requires a purchase or filing
a credit application and being accepted for a financial product such as a credit
card or consumer loan. Participants must be residents of the United States and
at least 18 years of age in order to be eligible for the program. Failure to
submit accurate registration information will result in loss of eligibility.
This promotion is administered solely by this website. The manufacturers and
retailers of the gift items offered through our programs have not endorsed this
promotion and are not affiliated with the promotion in anyway. All trademarks,
service marks, logos, and/or domain names (including the names of products and
retailers) are property of their respective owners. This promotion is not valid
to residents of Ohio and is void where prohibited by law.
Their terms include:
"In cases of a financial offer such as a
credit card, the card must be activated by making a purchase, balance
transfer or cash advance in order for the offer to be considered
"completed", and the user must
remain a card holder for at least 60 days. For paid retail offers you
must accept the item/service and pay in full. Additional terms and
conditions may apply to participation in select marketing offers. You should
read the terms of each offer as provided by the advertiser for an
explanation of these terms where they exist.
PTP reserves the right to require individuals to provide
documentation demonstrating they have completed the advertiser requirements
prior to incentive gift redemption in cases where that information is
unavailable from the advertiser.
You have up to
ninety days from the original date of your membership registration to
complete the membership incentive program and redeem your incentive gift.
Your gift eligibility is secured as soon as you complete two offers
from each of the three offer groups and submit your Redemption Request Form.
Once you meet the offer completion requirements, you will need to login to
your account to print off your redemption certificate. Once we have received
your verification, your gift will be sent within thirty days. Gift
redemptions are limited to one gift per household. If you have registered
for multiple membership incentive gift promotions, you will be given your
choice of gift items upon the submission of your Redemption Request Form.
Please note that
it may take up to eight weeks for our marketing partners to report to us
that you have completed their offer. "
Whois information:
Registrant:
SubscriberBASE Holdings Inc.
3830 Forest Drive #207
Columbia, SC 29204
US
(803)790-8381
Domain Name: PRODUCTEVALUATIONSERVICE.COM
Administrative Contact:
Admin, System contact@dnshandler.net
3830 Forest Drive #207
Columbia, SC 29204
US
(803)790-8381
Record expires on 12-21-2008
Record created on 12-21-2007
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.ONLINEINCENTIVEDIRECT.COM 208.38.152.6
NS2.ONLINEINCENTIVEDIRECT.COM 208.38.152.7
Conclusions:
"Free, with purchases"? That's an oxymoron - a
contradiction in terms. Either something is free or it isn't. Free,
but you must by something isn't free; instead it is a disguised cost!
Haven't we seen this before? Yes, it's the old Shopper's
Saving Center bait and switch!
See this page about
that scam.
This is clear misrepresentation - their Google ad and the web
landing page lead you to believe that you can get a Garmin Nuvi GPS for free.
Only in the fine print do their terms state you must successfully complete
several offers, which include signing up for and using a new credit card and or
taking out a loan. Somehow, we suspect neither of those offer the best rates!
Look at the terms. If we are doing the math correctly, it is
almost impossible to comply. You must have and use the credit cards for 60
days BEFORE they are qualifying. Their partners may take up to 56 days to
report that you successfully completed an "offer".
But you have only 90 days from sign up to complete the offers.
Which means if they reject any, for any reason, you have to start all over
again. But by then you are stuck with loans and credit cards you probably
didn't want!
For these reasons, we rate this "offer" a SCAM!
Get-Rich Scams and Work-From-Home Schemes Unmasked!
See our page
that lists the most common get-rich schemes like
Berman, Isackson and
49GetMoney.com, others
Reporting a Fraudulent Business Website
Of course, in all cases,
you can start by reporting it to us, using this form. We will use the
information to warn other consumers and help you to direct it to law enforcement
agencies.
A catch-all for bringing internet scams to the attention of the
FBI and FTC is the U.S. government's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at
Internet Fraud Complaints
Center. If you are looking for your
local FBI Office Listings to report a
crime or scam, click here.
Do you want to report a fraud, scam or crime to the FBI (the
Federal Bureau of Investigation), but
can't find the phone number for your nearest local FBI office?
See this page to find the closest office!
For other government
agencies to report scams, see this page. And of course,
write us! We are always interested in
hearing about any potential scams!
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