Comments on: Microsoft Tricks Its Way To A Search Scam

By: Date Ideas

Date Ideas — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:32:28 +0000

Dodgy… remember the days when the big companies didn't care about search and google was a small fry. It's amazing that Microsoft is going to these lengths to gain market share in search.

By: CrosswordPuzzles

CrosswordPuzzles — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 03:25:31 +0000

Well, its pretty bad of Microsoft/Incentive Logic not to be paying out before closing down the promotion due to the spam.

Still, having a search box handy for a crossword site gives me an idea…

By: todd1

todd1 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:06:17 +0000

i am getting very nervous from reading about these nightmares…i was supposed to get my zune shipped to me on 11-28-07 which has came and went already…i have no way to contact them and my two emails has gone unanswered….can you say fraud???

By: Hogpaynter

Hogpaynter — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:33:34 +0000

I agree this is a scam. I aquired 34,000 points toward the XBOX which requirs 35,000. Just to see it is no longer offered as a prize. Should have known Microsoft would do something like that. I am done with MSN period. I cancelled my a email and switched to yahoo and will no longer use explorer as a browser.

By: CMLPRD

CMLPRD — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:16:03 +0000

PlasmaStorm, I did read the rules before playing (and after playing, more than once). At the time, that stipulation was not part of the user agreement and was only added a month or two AFTER both I and the other person had already won our copies of Vista (a fact YOU should be aware of if you really won a copy of Vista Ultimate, meaning that you had begun playing before the ex post facto alteration of the user agreement). The fact remains that neither of us broke the rules and still have not received our prizes. Yes, it is Microsoft's fault that they're running a scam.

By: PlasmaStorm

PlasmaStorm — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:18:17 +0000

If you read the user agreement, there is a Limit of 1 user per household, or address. By having more than one user at an address you violated the terms of playing and therefore are disqualified from participation. Don't blame Microsoft for not reading the full rules before you started to play…it's not their fault.

I have gotten every prize I have ordered including, the Lifecam, Life chat headset, wireless keyboard and mouse, several games, music downloads, and windows Vista Ultimate that you say they won't send. They send the prizes if you play by the rules…break the rules and you cna forget your prizes.

By: PlasmaStorm

PlasmaStorm — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:14:05 +0000

By: CAD

CAD — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:37:32 +0000

I agree with CMLPRD. This is a scam. They have some wonderful prizes that require 35,000 tickets. The problem is, you can't get that high. I've been playing since around May. I've completed all the puzzles and keep getting the message that new puzzles are added regularly. Some of them even say they add new puzzles daily. It's been months since I saw new puzzles and I do check daily. If you look at their leaderboard, it shows people who have gotten several thousand more tickets in all the games and it's not even possible to get that many. This is a total scam. You will not get your prizes or even enough tickets to get the prizes you want. Microsoft has stooped to a new low!

By: CMLPRD

CMLPRD — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 01:01:27 +0000

Well, I've decided to comment to warn against participation in this scam since it's now highly unlikely that I'm going to get the prize I ordered back on June 21st. I played the Live Search Club games mid-June and got enough points (6,000) to order Vista Ultimate (no longer offered on the site) over the course of about a week. The projected shipping date came and went with no word from Live Search Club so I've attempted contacting them twice, to no avail. I've never received a response. However, another person in the house who ordered a couple of days before me has received notification that her order has been canceled due to "unfair activities." The problem with this is that neither of us cheated at any point in accruing our points. From what I've read on forums devoted to Live Search Club, botters have their accounts zeroed (points removed and they are no longer able to accrue points); neither of us has had this happen. We are both still able to play and accrue points, and more importantly, searches for Live Search Club.

The reality is that this is a fly-by-night operation. Microsoft has farmed administration of this scam to a company called Incentive Logic. If you play their games you should not expect to receive any prizes. It's a scam on both ends – to drum up searches for Windows Live and to con users into doing it for them without recompense.