Samples News Update: Horizon Supply Gaming Mouse, Peterbilt Hat, Vitafive Vitamin Gummies, Brushee, eb5 Skincare, Isotonic Energy Gels, Field To Cup Tea, Splenda Mug + Sample, “I got all up in it!” T-Shirt, fujiKale, Emoji Pillows, InstaNatural Facial Cleanser, SamplesAndSavings.com Scam & More

Hello fellow freebie hunters,

Welcome to another update on my mailbox, what freebies worked and what didn’t work out so well. I also have a higher than normal amount of nearly freebies or deals because I am gathering together more prizes for for an upcoming giveaway. And as usual I’m doing with the Clint Eastwood theme of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” for this update. Let’s start with the good news.

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The Good:

Samples & Deals from July 27th 2016 through August 11th 2016:

Psst.. you can click on the image above to open the image full-size in a new tab.

• Freebies received:

  • The deals (not free): Just wanted to point out the items that were not nearly free or free. The BBQ Mat (ReviewKick), Dream Catcher ($1.40- posted in FB group only), Re-usable Filter (ReviewKick), Harvest Snaps + Rice Ramen (Thrive Market, paid for with Perdue Gift Card), Target Beauty Box ($7) and Tea Filter (Elite Deal Club) were all a couple dollars making them deals but not freebies.

  • The rest of the freebies: Feel free to email me or preferably just ask on the Facebook group post about this photo here if you want to know any specifics. Keep in mind most of these are not still active however, I am always glad to share how I got each one of them in detail. When the updates are on the lighter side I’ll fill (fluff) this section in item-by-item but there is plenty more to this update so let’s move on to the real news.

• Fivesso Coffee Scrub: The good news is that it is coming, the bad news is that if you missed the less than 24-hour period to fill out this form a 2nd time according to this email, it isn’t going to come. A little sketchy on their part but sampling programs can get up to 200,000+ requests which is a rough cost of $100,000 – $1,000,000 to ship the samples alone depending on the size/weight and that can sink a business so I don’t blame them for doing this.

• eb5 Skincare Samples: If you got in before the waitlist, they sent out an email letting everyone know they haven’t forgotten about us and the samples will be shipping “shortly” and we’ll receive another email letting us know.

• Field To Cup Tea: Oh sweet communication, looks like they will be sending out claim codes for their store if you earned a prize. Will their be a shipping cost? That is not clear at this moment but here is the email if you are curious for more information or to contact them about your prize.

• fujiKale: I got an email that is shipped on 8/11/16 via UPS. Still waiting but it should be here soon, check your email for a shipment notice too if you haven’t seen one already.

• InstaNatural Facial Cleanser: Another company is delighting us with fast communication, this time a few days after requesting the sample. They let us know that: “It’s been a few days since you submitted your sample request for our Vitamin C Moisturizer. You may be starting to wonder, where is it and will it even work for me? Rest assured, we received your request and will be shipping your sample in the next 2-4 weeks.” This offer is still active too if you want to give it a shot.

The Bad (Maybe / Not Coming):

• Emoji Pillows (deal): A few readers had complaints about this one not coming or being the wrong size. Amazon was happy to offer a refund so if this happened to you don’t forget to do that. Sorry about that!

• Peterbilt Hat: I got an email stating that “The [free hat] survey is intended for those who have visited our locations and done business with us. The link to the survey is now disabled due to people just requesting a free hat outside the guidelines of the survey.” – so in short this isn’t coming and I removed it from this site too.

• “I got all up in it!” T-Shirt: If you filled out the form here on other freebie sites, it isn’t going to come. It was a red flag when I saw it was from 2015 so I reached out to the author and confirmed that it’s expired plus they won’t be honoring the requests either.

• Vitafive Vitamin Gummies: The SamplerApp events are usually very likely you will get the samples. Not this time though. If you ordered vitafive gummies, they are not coming. Here is their email stating why: Sooooooo. Because of logistical reasons we are not going to be able to send you your sample. I know…it sucks, but what we can do is give you 50% off your first month. One of our most popular products is the essential pack ($24). If you order right now you can get it for $12! Again I wish we were able to send you samples, but I hope that 50% off allows us to redeem ourselves. – at least they gave out a decent coupon.

• Splenda Mug + Sample: This was a very limited promotion that I saw taking off on other sites a few days after it ended. I also confirmed this with Splenda. If you emailed them you hopefully got the same response or if you were lucky, a mug + sample!

• Brushee: No go as well. A few people got approved to review but most did not. Here was their explanation email: Thank you so much for your patience in testing out Brushee. We’ve received an overwhelming amount of submissions, so many that we simply weren’t prepared to ship out that many. In exchange for your patience, we’d like to offer you Brushee at cost, if you ever feel inclined to purchase. Feel free to use coupon code “tester40” at checkout to receive 40% off & free shipping on a Brushee Family Pack. – again least we got a coupon!

• Horizon Supply Gaming Mouse: The free gaming mouse with free shipping was too good to be true. This is their email explaining the glitch that happened if you ordered this.

• Herbal Essences Tousle Me Softly Tousling Spray Gel: I promoted a deal where you could get a 4-pack for very cheap, most of us only got a single 5.7 oz bottle. Not a bad deal still, but not what was advertised. The Amazon seller apparently made a mistake and you can ask for a refund or another bottle from Amazon if you are not happy about it still. I personally won’t be because it’s a deal for even the single bottle however others have gotten refunds I spoke with about this.

• Isotonic Energy Gels: A day or so after posting this I found out you need to pay $7.99 to redeem this “free sample pack” – not exactly cheap shipping either for a small sample pack, not a fan of this one. Feels bait and switchy.

The Ugly (Fakes):

• Cammile Castor Oil: I saw this going around other freebie sites again, when will this crap end, ugh! This one is still fake, still has an affiliate offer pop up after you fill out the form (or if you don’t fill out anything it still pops up, a clear red flag). URL to avoid: http://salonanddayspa.org/freecastoroil.html

• SamplesAndSavings.com: I hate to call out other freebie sites but this one I couldn’t say “no” after finding out what they do with your information. They are literally building profiles on you and selling it to third parties which is not cool. And it’s not even clear they are feeding your personal information to their parent company on their website. Stay clear of this one. Here is the Bloomberg article that tipped me off about this scummy behavior. They also operate AllAmericanSavings.com too if you have ever been there, your personal information is up for sale most likely.

• Kelo-Cote: This one doesn’t pop up an affiliate offer but I’ve filled this out many times and never have seen the sample over the years. I’m writing this one off as fake. The form also submits without entering anything, a clear red flag. URL to avoid it: http://www.scartreatment.co.uk/freesample.html

• Oreo’s Fake: I ran across this one from a reader who posted it. Then I clicked through, entered my email and found out it’s an offer run by “coolsavings” which is notorious for sending you down those “yes, no, skip” paths that never end. And they never end in a freebie unless you sign up for Netflix, car insurance and a bunch of other stuff you do not need. URL to avoid it: http://www.oreo.bigdeal.lt/

• 3M Microfiber Electronics Cleaning Cloth: Another clear fake, you fill out the form, it asks you to ‘do them a favor’. Riiiighht. That favor took me to JustFab.com. JustFab still hasn’t responded the numerous times I’ve asked them why they allow their name to be tied to this. Oh well, I guess they like to be associated with fake free samples. URL to avoid: http://fastcamerastore.com/index.php?main_page=page_4

That is all I have for the sample update today! Do you have any updates to contribute, send me an email at [email protected]

– John ‘Samples’ Clark