Dear LPG, 

Have you ever walked into your local supermarket only to find a shop assistant offering you a free taste of some new product?  I have tried all sorts of random things from cheese to chocolate and from biscuits to the odd ointment over the years. 

I remember this happening in the distant past and as far back as when I first started work in the late 1960s.  The then larger stores and sometimes the small shops, would offer some new product designed to provoke your taste buds into buying a packet or jar of the stuff.    But back then, if you did not like it or want it that was accepted.  The shop learned more about what we consumers wanted while we worked out what we didn’t, but when you accepted the free sample it really was free. 

In this day of distance shopping we are not only being offered free food, people who call on the phone and the websites that we come across on the internet often appeared to offer us quite a few products for free too although the products in question are now more likely to be programmes or apps.  We have always accepted the internet as being a place where free products are offered too although, we need to be aware of what we are having to give in exchange for our freebies these days.

It is interesting that many websites will have you complete an online form which invites you to add bank details before you can get the free trial and the phone advisor will get you to do the same with the assurance that all you have to do is cancel your free trial before the free period of the offer ends to be charged nothing at all.

Let’s be honest, time has a habit of passing by while we do other things, and checking what is happening with your bank statement is often not at the top of your priority list, so before you know it, it is so simple to find yourself paying for the free ‘no obligation’ trial even if you don’t really want it.

I just want to remind readers not to let this happen unless you really want to commit to the freebie, so please remember that it is really important to check those direct debit payments to make sure you are really paying out for only those things that you want to be paying for.

AN, Lewisham