Originally Posted by
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.