Guest PsychoDave Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Just spotted this on ircspy.com. It seems www.metronomy.com want to give away free computers in the UK. :D The catch is that for every hour of time you spend at the PC you have to watch 3 mins of adverts. The PC is free apart from that and is replaced every 3 years if you want to remain in the scheme. What do you reckon? Sounds well dodgy but might be worth a look. :)
Guest FrankyG Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Interesting indeed....I can't help thinking that someone will be able to circumvent the advert displays, or at least fool their system into thinking that the ads have actually been watched.
Guest PsychoDave Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Bound to happen sooner or later, wonder what will happen to the PC's when the company eventually goes bust?
Guest FrankyG Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 I'm thinking more along the lines of pulling the good bits out of the PC they provide, replacing with my existing older stuff and letting those ads display as and when they should. No worries though, as I've just upgraded my own PC with new bits :) Wonder if that would work...
Guest PsychoDave Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Maybe just a HDD swap would do it. Rip out the advert ridden one and leave it on an old machine somewhere and then use the free one with a new HDD. Still, don't really want to be tied to any kind of contract for three years and by the looks of it nothing concrete has actually happened yet. Could still just be a data gathering exercise for someone. Who knows, I'm generally too lazyforgetful to do anything about these type of things anyways :)
Guest FrankyG Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 It's possibly worth giving it a go, if your suggestion above didn't work then the worst thing would be having to shell out £25 to return the PC...or just keep it as a backup machine. I'm like you though...a bit lazy for this kinda stuff. My mate bought a laptop from Time (I did warn him) with the interest free promotion. Condition being that you pay if off before a certain date and avoid the interest. Him being like us, missed the date by one day and now has to cough up £1500 :!: He's gutted, and furious! I'm lazy, but I wouldn't make that mistake...and I don't think he will again :?
Guest PsychoDave Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Ouch now thats gotta hurt...buying a Time PC :) Lol, reckon I would be gutted too if I had to pay £1500 for the sake of one day. Bet you're right though, he'll never do that again. :?
Guest Syphon Filter Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 maybe its a ploy to get all ur name and address details?
Guest PsychoDave Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Yeah I thought that it might be some sort of Data gathering scam. They ask a lot of questions anyways and they say that the first delivery won't be until febmarch time so there's a good amount of time for them to stop the deal and sell the mailing list. Not that I'm suggesting thats what might happen, just what my corrupted pessimistic side was thinking. :twisted:
Guest samo123_uk Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 if u wanna free pc, do a Open University course and you can apply for a free pc. My mum got a 1.4ghz celeron pc with 256MB DDR ram, winxp home, office xp, scanner,printer and other goodies all for free last year.
Guest benzo Posted December 23, 2003 Report Posted December 23, 2003 Samo, can you provide more details, as my mother is currently doing an OU degree. Thanks. Benzo
Guest spacecowboy6982 Posted December 24, 2003 Report Posted December 24, 2003 Its all ligit this free PC stuff - saw it on the news so its gotta be lol. THose adverts would become soooo annoying after a while that you wouldnt actually want the PC :!: Similar scheme was trialed in America - failed miserably....
Guest Gorskar Posted January 1, 2004 Report Posted January 1, 2004 I notice they're advertising for staff as well. High salaries, but what kind of Job security I wonder... :)
Guest Mr_Protozoa Posted January 2, 2004 Report Posted January 2, 2004 I signed up - what's the worst that can happen? More spam?! I'm sure you can just set all the adverts running whilst you pop off for food/drink/toilet/sleep. How can they know you're looking at the screen?!
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted January 2, 2004 Report Posted January 2, 2004 Annoying if you're watching a DVD or playing a game though. Still, might sign up and see what happens. Edit- And as i fill out the form my synical side kicks in, i wonder how many people will have signed up before they announce it was a big hoax... ;p
Guest Mr_Protozoa Posted January 2, 2004 Report Posted January 2, 2004 I'd probally not use it for games anyway - just have it in the kitchen so I can listen to mp3's and browse suicidegirls.com whilst I cook pasta. Probally just use it for the disc space really.
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted January 3, 2004 Report Posted January 3, 2004 One of the best idea's i saw in the comments on the ircspy link was to nuke it and reload the adverts onto a virtual machine, then it can run in the background and never disturb you.
Guest squall Posted January 16, 2004 Report Posted January 16, 2004 i remember in da olden days when i was a wee boy a company called smarttalk offered a similar scheme. The deal was if you paid them £150 (approx, was along time ago, can really remember) you got a pc. but had to fill out a monthly questionaire. anyways months past and no sign of pc, then got a letter from a liquidator saying the company had went bust, after taking on alot of customers, and no money had ever been put aside for buying of pc's. I was skeptical when i first signed up, but it was recomended by computer active so i chanced it. in the end noone got a computer, i did get some money back so i took it as a warning.
Guest Monolithix [MVP] Posted January 16, 2004 Report Posted January 16, 2004 They're getting no CC info or cash out od me before it's up and running in my room ;p
Guest spacecowboy6982 Posted January 18, 2004 Report Posted January 18, 2004 I might just sign up for this and get my Grandparents computer literate :lol: It's definitly free and all yeah :?: They dont have any hidden agendas, other than to bombard you with adverts that pollute our minds :?
Guest squall Posted January 18, 2004 Report Posted January 18, 2004 its the bit about an advert every 20 minutes, i cant finnish a game of worms in 20 minutes!
Guest kyrkesmith Posted January 18, 2004 Report Posted January 18, 2004 Got coverage in Personal Computer World (the magazine, not the shop) this month. Apparently you have to connect to the internet once a month to tell them the ads have been watched. Still think the best way, rather than any more complex tricks is just to go to the bog during the break - kinda like with telly ads. Provided they don't check you've moved the mouse in the time, or something stupid like that, it'd be alright. Not going to bother myself, PCs probably crap, and will probably get seized when they inevitably go bust.
Guest Mr_Protozoa Posted February 10, 2004 Report Posted February 10, 2004 I got an email off metronomy last night - they want me to confirm my order! Dear Mr Phelps, Thank you for your interest in the Metronomy free PC offer. Your registration and delivery details are confirmed below. Name: Mr Chris Phelps Postcode: ******* Customer Number: **** Scheduled Delivery: April 15-25, 2004 IMPORTANT: If your details are correct and you wish to proceed with your order, simply press the reply button on your e-mail application and return this message to us. PLEASE NOTE: If you do not reply we will be unable to progress your order. Should you wish to cancel your delivery, please click here: mailto:[email protected] We apologise in advance if this message is received on more than one occasion, but please disregard duplications and only reply once. 30 days prior to your scheduled delivery, you will receive a unique reference number and link to our secure website, where you can complete our on-line agreement and confirm precise delivery details. Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us. Regards, Jacco Van Seventer Customer Operations Director Metronomy Desktop Marketing Limited 18 Soho Square London W1D 3QL E: [email protected] Shall I give it a go?
Guest pisquee Posted February 13, 2004 Report Posted February 13, 2004 YES! My brother in law is signing up. I would sign up, but I'm out of the UK for over half the year.
Guest Pulse Posted February 13, 2004 Report Posted February 13, 2004 Dont you have to sign up for thir internet service though? Which costs x amount a momth/year?
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