There's no such thing as free

[Daredevil]

This is something that I have wanted to post about for a long time. There is a common saying "well, you can't complain, it's free". Nothing in life is free. Everything either costs money or makes money, in most cases things that cost money now, are done with the intent that grater money will be made back later.

So, you absolutely have the right to complain about promotions that companies run, such as casino free play promotions, if they are misleading or in any way waste your time. You have the right to complain about a shitty radio or television show if you don't like it. Anyone who responds to a complaint and says: "you can't complain because it's free", is just lazy and or stupid.

This is something that really drives me crazy about certain podcasts, they make a point to say in every episode how they provide free entertainment so you should never say anything critical about how terrible the show is. Well, most podcasts are either actively seeking donations and or advertisers, so they are not free. They are either getting paid to do the podcast, or they are paying money for a web page, server, etc with the intent of making money in the future.

I suppose between people there really is such a thing as free, as in: "I'll give you a free hug if you need it". But in terms of a company, from the biggest corporation to the smallest upstart, there is no such thing as "free".

[LLL]

[limitles]

How about we change it to "free for some" .

[Dan Druff]

You always have the right to complain no matter what. You don't always have the right for people to listen to your complaints or take them seriously, but you can always complain.

I agree partially with the original post.

There are three kinds of "free" things:

1) Totally legitimately free things. For example, free software you download from the internet (provided there's no push to get you to upgrade to a pay version). If the guy who wrote the software just did so out of the goodness of his heart (or just because he enjoys writing software, and likes people using it), you can complain if it sucks, but he would have the right to come back with, "This is free, so I don't know why you're insulting me for not making it better."

2) Free things with ads or promotions attached to them. These are not actually free. The most common form of this is "free" television and radio. You don't pay anything to receive them, but their sponsors pay to advertise, and their sponsors are only paying because people like you are listening. So you definitely have a right to complain if it sucks, and they have no right to respond that you are getting it for free, because in reality you aren't (since your time listening to their sponsors isn't free.)

3) Free things as a loss-leader to get you into a place where you spend money on other things. This includes "free play" at casinos, free food at the supermarket, free booths at a fair provided by a company that wants you to try their product/service, etc. Again, they are not giving you free things as a favor, but are doing it to promote themselves. Again, you have much more of a moral right to complain here if things aren't good, though they could legitimately respond with, "This is a sample. If you don't like what we're offering, don't buy our product." The exception is when you are misled in some way and your time is wasted. For example, if a casino promotion says you will get $100 in free slot play, but in reality it's a shady thing with almost no value, you have just been scammed out of your time.

[4Dragons]

This is something that I have wanted to post about for a long time. There is a common saying "well, you can't complain, it's free". Nothing in life is free. Everything either costs money or makes money, in most cases things that cost money now, are done with the intent that grater money will be made back later.

So, you absolutely have the right to complain about promotions that companies run, such as casino free play promotions, if they are misleading or in any way waste your time. You have the right to complain about a shitty radio or television show if you don't like it. Anyone who responds to a complaint and says: "you can't complain because it's free", is just lazy and or stupid.

This is something that really drives me crazy about certain podcasts, they make a point to say in every episode how they provide free entertainment so you should never say anything critical about how terrible the show is. Well, most podcasts are either actively seeking donations and or advertisers, so they are not free. They are either getting paid to do the podcast, or they are paying money for a web page, server, etc with the intent of making money in the future.

I suppose between people there really is such a thing as free, as in: "I'll give you a free hug if you need it". But in terms of a company, from the biggest corporation to the smallest upstart, there is no such thing as "free".

In the business world there is also a saying: It's free to you, but it cost me plenty. It's about giving more value than what your time is worth. If you walk away saying it wasn't worth your time, then you didn't receive any value.

[Daredevil]

You always have the right to complain no matter what. You don't always have the right for people to listen to your complaints or take them seriously, but you can always complain.

I agree partially with the original post.

There are three kinds of "free" things:

1) Totally legitimately free things. For example, free software you download from the internet (provided there's no push to get you to upgrade to a pay version). If the guy who wrote the software just did so out of the goodness of his heart (or just because he enjoys writing software, and likes people using it), you can complain if it sucks, but he would have the right to come back with, "This is free, so I don't know why you're insulting me for not making it better."

2) Free things with ads or promotions attached to them. These are not actually free. The most common form of this is "free" television and radio. You don't pay anything to receive them, but their sponsors pay to advertise, and their sponsors are only paying because people like you are listening. So you definitely have a right to complain if it sucks, and they have no right to respond that you are getting it for free, because in reality you aren't (since your time listening to their sponsors isn't free.)

3) Free things as a loss-leader to get you into a place where you spend money on other things. This includes "free play" at casinos, free food at the supermarket, free booths at a fair provided by a company that wants you to try their product/service, etc. Again, they are not giving you free things as a favor, but are doing it to promote themselves. Again, you have much more of a moral right to complain here if things aren't good, though they could legitimately respond with, "This is a sample. If you don't like what we're offering, don't buy our product." The exception is when you are misled in some way and your time is wasted. For example, if a casino promotion says you will get $100 in free slot play, but in reality it's a shady thing with almost no value, you have just been scammed out of your time.

I guess I was only talking about 2 and 3 in that I said if it's from any sort of company than it's not free. So 1 is not a company, just a person who decides that he/she wants to let you use software they created.
Also for myself I pretty much never complain about anything, I just complain with my wallet and don't patronize any company that I feel is dishonest or a waste of my time. But the few times I have said something only to here "well, it's free, so...." really pisses me off.