Credit Card
Around our uni we used to always have stalls set up giving out ‘freebies’ if you signed your life away to one thing or another. One company, Barclaycard, would always be giving out free stuff to try and entice poor naïve students into the murky world of credit card debt.
One day they were giving out cameras, and wanting one quite badly at the time I decided to sign up and get one. However, since I had already got a Barclay card from when I set up my student account I knew there was nothing to lose.
I took my camera and thought nothing more about til I received a letter from Barclay thanking me for applying for a new card, but apologetic as it turns out I can’t have a card as it appears I already have one. Oh dear, I must have forgotten.
I decided to see how far I could push it. If they were going to take advantage of students, I was going to take advantage of them! Everytime they turned up I would sign up for whatever they were giving away. Sometimes more than once a time if they were gullible enough. By the end of the year I had collected: 8 cameras (not great, but they were reuseable, and came with a free film), a Discman, 2 alarm clocks, 2 pop corn makers (why on earth I wanted 2 I don’t know), a ride in a limo, 3 shower radios, a million pens, and mouse mats galore. Not to mention a wall of letters from Barclay Card telling me I already have a card.
Apparently they have changed it now so that if you sign up for a gift and you already have a card, you will be charged for the ‘free’ gift. I know it probably wasn’t just me, but I feel proud that my actions have help change corporate policy…
Length? Smaller than my creditcard bills at least…
(ab1kenobe, Wed 14 Nov 2007, 17:52, Reply)