Spedia - A Scam In Disguise!
Written: Dec 19 '02 (Updated Dec 19 '02)
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Spedia is used to make money while surfing the internet with an ad bar located on the bottom of the screen. By changing URL's every 30 seconds, you earn 1 point, or that's what is supposed to happen. Spedia also lets you make points by joining sponsor websites, reading e-mails, and playing games. For every hour of surfing, or 60 points, you get $0.49. Active members who gain a certain amount of ad bar points within a certain time limit for a certain amount of days in a month (which is 2 hours a day for 14 days in a month), receive a special rate of $0.70 an hour. A check is sent to you after your account reaches $30.00. This may seem like a dream come true, but words can be quite deceiving.
Spedia is practically a scam in disguise. I have been a Spedia user for over a year, using the Spedia ad bar quite frequently. Yet, I have never been rewarded with a $30.00 check.
COMPLAINTS
Spedia ad bar - This is supposedly the main way to earn points, yet it does not function properly. Many times I attempt start the Spedia ad bar, it crashes, sometimes forcing my computer to restart without authorization.* This can be a great problem when there are unsaved files open, which are obviously now lost. If Spedia does manage to start up, my computer slows down a considerable amount.** My current open browser window is automatically redirected to one of Spedia's sponsors.*** The default browser home page is also changed to a Spedia sponsor site. Though that option can be changed, it is very difficult to navigate through the menu. At this point, the Spedia ad bar does one of two possible things:
1. The screen freezes or the ad bar stops responding.
2. The bar works "properly," meaning annoying but operating.
There are three lights located on the Spedia ad bar.
Green: You are supposedly making money right now.
Yellow: Your browser is the selected window, but you haven't changed the URL recently. (The Spedia server may also be down, which happens quite often.) Yellow means you are not making money.
Red The browser window is not open (not making money). (Red also appears if you have been idle for a while.)
After hours and hours of green light at a time, I check my account to see how many points I have earned. To my surprise and dismay, the account summary read that I only earned 5 points today! After a few experiments, I figured out that the Spedia ad bar only generates points at an increment of 5 points. 5 points seemed the limit for earning each day using the Spedia ad bar. So after this incident, I used the Spedia ad bar for ten minutes to earn the daily 5 points thinking that my main source of points would be playing the games on their site.
Spedia games - These games are probably the worst games I have ever played, even worse than a 4-bit version of 2-D tic-tac-toe. That says a lot about Spedia games. Getting to the game section of Spedia.com is a hard task itself. If you know anything about Spedia.com, the first thing that comes to mind is the LONG loading times. After signing in, you must trek to the games section. That itself may take you 15 minutes. Note: The cookie used to identify your user name and password is deleted after 30 minutes. This leaves me 15 minutes to load a game and beat it and earn enough points in the game to earn Spedia points. Lucky me, I have a cable modem to help me in the game loading process, but I have no control over the game speed. Many Spedia games are too simple and respond to commands when it is already too late. For example, there is a game called "Hidden Colors" that resembles the classic board game "Mastermind." The point of "Hidden Colors" is to guess the hidden color combination only having ten or so attempts. Using the clues properly, you can't lose, but when playing, you must set aside five minutes to let the game respond to your commands, leaving you with about 10 minutes to think. This time may be more than enough to beat the game before the sign in cookie is deleted. Yet when your score is being processed, the window never loads and you are never awarded the Spedia points.
I have inquired about this issue (about six months ago) and many others, but the only response I ever got from Spedia involved this issue (which took a month). They said that they are having technical difficulties, but the games will operate properly soon, making a warning unneeded. up to this date, the games have never awarded me any points.
E-mails - The e-mails were the only source of points for me now. Rarely ever being sent, e-mails are supposed to credit your Spedia account with 5-10 points, though I only get credited for half the points that I am supposed to receive . (At least it works! It actually works!)
General - By now, you have probably been convinced not to join or continue using Spedia. So now I will only address my main concern under this category. One day, I turned on the Spedia ad bar, my web browser was directed toward a Maxim magazine advertisement page! Adult content on Spedia? I couldn't believe it. I went to my e-mail account to write another letter to Spedia regarding this advertisement in hopes of they will respond and take action. As I was about to compose a letter, I saw that I had received a letter from Spedia. Upon opening it, I realized it contained even more adult content. That was the last straw. I quickly deleted all Spedia software from my computer and scanned and rescanned it for any remaining components.
NOTES:
* My computer is a Dell Dimension 4200 series loaded with Windows XP, 512 MB of RAM, 40 GB of hard drive space, 1.4 GHZ, and a top-notch cable modem to go with it. In short, these problems had no relation with my computer.
** The computer slow down can be credited to the spyware software downloaded with the Spedia ad bar. This software tracks what you do on your computer and sends it via internet to advertisers.
*** I have been informed from reliable sources that the Spedia ad bar doesn't work with Netscape, even though it is said to be Netscape compatible at the Spedia site. I think the only other option is Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Recommended:
No
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