Free Pringles– Illegitimate Facebook Offer

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Last night, I laid in bed and tossed and turned for much of the night… not because my husband was snoring loudly as usual, not because my 3 year old daughter was squeezed in between the both of us (yes, I hate to admit it, but she seems to find her way into our bed way too often), and not because I ate an entire bag of M&M’s minutes before I headed to bed (yes, I am a chocolate addict).

I could not sleep because I was thinking about the free Pringles Extreme Facebook offer that I posted on Hip2Save 2 days ago. The offer was live on Hip2Save for a few hours until I became aware of the fact that it could potentially be an illegitimate/spam offer. In the last couple days, I have received many emails from readers concerned about how their privacy may have been affected by this spam offer. First, let me say that I am not Facebook savvy, however, I have attempted to do some research to provide you with information to help protect yourself on Facebook. Second, please keep in mind that at this time, I have not been able to fully confirm that this was a “fake freebie;” however, I am making the assumption that it is indeed an illegitimate offer.

Here’s what you need to do to protect yourself specifically from this Pringles Extreme Application…
* Log into your Facebook Account
* Click on Account (top right corner)
* Click on Application Settings
* Scroll down the list and find “Pringles Extreme”; click on the “x” to permanently remove it from the application page; be sure to hit the “remove” button and the “okay” button. Pringles Extreme will no longer have access to your data and will be removed from your profile and bookmarks.

Please be assured that I work VERY hard to ensure that all the samples and freebies posted on Hip2Save are from legitimate companies. I receive hundreds of emails for new sample offers and freebies on a weekly basis and only end up posting a small percentage of them. Unfortunately, I am human and was caught up in the excitement surrounding this offer… with Facebook offers, especially, there is always a sort of urgency to hurry and post the offer before it has expired as freebies are usually limited to a small number of people.

From here on out, I pledge not to get caught up in those “Hurry up and post em’ before they are gone” offers; instead I will take that extra little bit of time to verify the legitimacy of the offer, although, I can’t guarantee that I will always be right. I also urge all of you to spend those extra few seconds reviewing an offer to be sure that you are comfortable sharing your personal information.  And finally, don’t let this Pringles episode ruin your whole outlook on freebies/samples… there are many legitimate companies out there who provide great opportunities to try their products at no cost.

Do you have any other suggestions/tips/concerns? Let us know in the comment section below.

Join The Discussion

Comments 236

  1. Kim

    I LOVE COLLIN! You’re doing a GREAT job!

  2. Kelly

    I think what it really boils down to here is that when you clicked on this offer, a screen popped up saying “do you want to allow this application access to your page?” Did I click on allow? YES. Is that Collin’s fault? NO. You were warned. Doesn’t do any good to shuffle the blame to someone else.

    • Tami

      Totally agree!

  3. pattil24

    Colin you ROCK!! Thank you for all you do – half of which we never see or know about — to help us save money and support our fams! I just cleaned out all my cupboards of stuff I’ve gotten with your help for $1 or less and was AMAZED and all of it. My grown kids had a hey day and love not having to buy shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, shaving cream, etc! So thank you! I’m sorry you lost sleep over the whole Pringles thing. Its like you say YMMV . . . we ALL know that anything on the internet is dicey and it’s ‘buyer be ‘ware’, so we all have to take responsiblity for the stuff we download and sign up for. PS — we must be twins . . . totally related to the mms and kiddo in bed!! šŸ™‚ Love you!!

  4. Lindsey

    You are too sweet! We all choose what offers pursue you’re just out there being helpful. Have a few more M&M’s and don’t worry about it! šŸ™‚

  5. Collin (Mrs. Hip)

    Collin, I appreciate you honesty & humility! We all know you do your BEST to post great offers for us & that you can NOT be 100% sure they are all legit all the time. No one can. It is the consumers job to decide if they want to participate in any of the offers you post.

    Thanks for all the great post!!!!

  6. Priya

    Collin, I appreciate all the HARD work you do to bring us great deals! Furthermore, I appreciate your honesty. Thank you for letting us know. šŸ™‚

  7. Morganne

    Aw..sweetie! Don’t worry about it. NOT you’re fault. I love what you are doing and I LOVE love all the stuff you post. šŸ™‚

  8. Collin (Mrs. Hip)

    we <3 you, Collin !!! Keep up the great deals !!!

  9. Collin (Mrs. Hip)

    I think this is a fantastically run site and that the deals here are generally well researched and legitimate and I can appreciate all the hard work that’s put into keeping the site updated. However, I feel that most of the comments here are completely gratuitous. Do people not realize that this is a business? Collin, though she does a fantastic job of it, does not do this work for free. She is clearly an excellent businesswoman and deserves to get paid, but this is still a service that she is providing for a price. It may be free to us, but so are dozens of other bargain blogs. I think it’s more than reasonable for people to voice whatever concerns they may have. After all, how is it any different than saying to any other business “I prefer a ____ that does ____, otherwise I’ll take my business elsewhere”. All some of the commenters said was “I prefer that you research the deals better, otherwise I’ll take the ad profits and referral bonuses that you get from me and give them to another bargain blogger”. There’s no reason to get so emotional about it, it’s just business.
    Anyway, the bottom line is that I did not sign up for the Pringles deal because it felt sketchy to me, and I chose what deals to sign up for and which to pass on. I don’t have any problem with the Pringles deal being posted in the first place. I just think that people should realize that it’s perfectly legitimate for people to voice concerns about the way Collin runs the site. It doesn’t mean she’ll listen, she certainly doesn’t have to listen, but it would be in her best interest to hear what people have to say.

    • annon

      Well said.

    • Tami

      I like how you worded this! Very professionally worded, with no emotion and you made your points very clear. Good for you for voicing your opinion in a constructive way.

    • jen

      I agree well said and thank you for all you do for us..

  10. Sarah

    Collin,
    Thanks for the update. Really appreciate your site, and I think you should sleep well tonight.

    Do you (or anyone else out there) know what info someone gave if we signed up for this coupon? Was it just a matter of liking them on FB? or did we have to fill out a form with our mailing address on it?

    I’m usually really good at keeping track of what I do, but I don’t remember in this scenario. Figures, the one I didn’t keep track of is the one I’m now concerned about. Good lesson for the future.
    Thanks again.

    • Leslie

      Yes, we gave out our address as well.

      • Sarah

        Oh brother. Thanks, Leslie. I thought that was the case. Should we be worried about that?

  11. Angie

    Thanks for being so loyal to and concerned about your fans. You’re nice.

  12. Kari

    The only person(s) to blame is the people creating and producing the scam and possibly yourself for “falling for it”. Blaming sites that help share “Freebies and coupons” etc, is wasted blame. It’s not their fault they were also “lied” to. More sites actually attempt and try to sort through fraudulent sites. Hip2Save is one of them. I’ve seen quite a few that even when told (email/comment) that they are sharing a scam offer they CONTINUE to do so and don’t seem to care. Hip2Save is a site that you can count on to not share such scams, and if they do they do something about it. Of course some slip through, it will happen. All you can do is try to protect yourself. If some thing seems fishy hold back. If you are willing to possibly be scammed than that’s on you.
    You should not just be in the “rush” because you see “HURRY!” “act NOW!” do a little research first… Is this company legit? or Is this non-profit organization actually exist? If the site is different than the companies then Is the “actual” company supporting this offer? Is this a fake site made to mimic and copy the real site? etc. and use a fake name and/or not important email if you want to sign up. It’s all up to you to decide whether you have to RUSH to get the offer. or say hey, I’d rather protect myself and my information than to try rush without thinking and get a free “something”.

    Honestly I think a lot of scams pray on this need to “RUSH” if a person takes the time to think, that only brings them trouble. I suggest to everyone to “slow down”, think, and be safe šŸ™‚

  13. Debby

    Not your fault at all. We all must be more careful from now on. There was another
    offer that was not legit-Ginnero chocolate recently. Alot of us got fooled on Mojo
    savings site. That offer’s address, phone numbers was all bogus. Got to do the research
    and analyze the offer for yourself. Be careful of the weasels! I not trusting anything from
    not on.

  14. Martina

    Thanks for watching out for us Collin. You just provide us with the deals – it is our job to do the research. Thanks for all that you do!

  15. CHRISTINA

    OK I THINK WE ALL NEED TO RELAX…HERE IS WHAT WAS POSTED ON THE ACTUAL PRINGLES FACEBOOK:
    Pringles To those of you who clicked on our app and got a screenful of nonsense when you were signing up for a coupon for a free Pringles Xtreme sample, our apologies: No nonsense now. Itā€™s real and itā€™s going fast!
    GO LOOK FOR YOURSELF:
    https://www.facebook.com/Pringles

    • CHRISTINA

      I GIVE UP

      • Kari

        Thanks for alerting us to it. Their statement really doesn’t answer much.

        • Kari

          I strongly believe their site has gotten hacked

    • ec

      i don’t see the link…

    • Jennifer

      *shakes head* You are either a troll, or you are being willfully stupid. Just click on the “info” tab of Pringles’ facebook page – that says it ALL. It’s either been faked, or hacked, and either way, I am NOT falling for it again. This newest post should have been informative on EXACTLY what happened – it didn’t address concerns over hacker or phisher, and only FUELED the “Hurry, give us your info NOW!” insanity.

      Which you are now unwisely fueling as well.

      • prinzessleahe

        considering i specifically asked on the pringles estreme FB page.. and was answered by them that it was not their offer.. im very iffy on this…either they got hacked or im done with pringles for creating mass hysteria. Also.. its really not hard to “hack” a fb page.. all you need it the log in info..so dude who made the ap was prob fully capable

    • anastacia

      what people seem to be missing is that this is all over FB and nothing on pringles.com. On fb pringles says yes and one says no… but its FB, and its a much easier hack than the .com .For some reason they wont acknowledge the link at all so we cant tell if we were at a right link or not even if it was legit:) so again better safe than sorry:)

  16. Matt

    You provide an amazing service, the fact that only one questionable offer has made it through over the several months I (and many others) have been following your blog is a testament to the efforts. Please don’t let this impair your sleep, though the fact that it did really shows how seriously you take this blog. Thank you and I hope there is much happiness in your life.

  17. Rebecca

    Collin- thank you so much for all the hard work you do for us! Nobody is perfect- so NO WORRIES! šŸ™‚ I agree with Kelly- you were not the one that pressed ALLOW on the page that popped up! KEEP UP THE AWESOME WORK!

  18. Stephanie F.

    I LOVE your site Collin, and you were not the only one that was tricked by this – we all were…and MANY other blogs. I feel so sad when I read that you are feeling stressed by this site~you have helped our family in such a great way and I really get upset that you get your feelings hurt so often. Do what you do and keep yourself happy~and thank you so much for all that you do for so many!

  19. Chris D

    Thanks for your honesty. I followed your steps exactly to remove the application from my FB account —- it was easy-peasy! Love your site! Carry on…

  20. ec

    it really wasn’t your fault, i got swept away in the excitement too.
    thank you for posting everyday! & keep up the great work! šŸ™‚

  21. karen

    hi girl, i posted a comment earlier but things get to me too, so i feel the need to post again, there was a time when money was really tight for me , i have three kids too and at that time i worked 24 hours a day for six months, i worked at a healthcare facilty for eight night hours and then went to give morning care to a disabled lady, and then home to drop kids off at school and then at home i gave end of life care to a hospice patient as a live in caregiver, money was tight because i was starting over, if i had known everything that i know now thanks to you we would have breezed through that situation and still been able to help those with less than ourselves, as it is my kids refer to that period as the wonder year because of so many meals just consisting of wonder bread, we are really well now i can take it easy but i appreciate you and have referred so many women and college students to your site that they think i must get a kicktback for referrals (i dont), but i hope that thru you i have helped others who are struggling to at least feed their kids and still be able to pay daycare, gas etc wish i had known about your site earlier and please dont ever stop, you are helping in ways that arent going to be posted, the ones that are benefiting the most are problably too tired to do more than hit print, but you are doing good so ignore the ignorance of others for the benefit of those who would not complain over being inconvenienced by a simple spam scam youhad no intent be a part of, smart people appreciate you, i do

  22. Xenia

    Eh, Collin, not a biggie, dont sweat it , really šŸ˜€

    • Christine

      TOTALLY AGREE!!!

  23. shirley

    Collin, thank you so much for all you do. I took your advice and went to my face book page, (which by the way, I have NO pictures yet, do not know how. I am so knew to couponing and still have alot to learn. Thanks to you and all your readers, I’m getting there and loving every minute of it, good and bad. Love you and ALL who respond to this site, thanks alot…

    • Jennifer

      Apparently, Rose doesn’t do her homework. And a lot of other people haven’t been, either.

  24. Amy

    The status on the main Pringles page says this:

    To those of you who clicked on our app and got a screenful of nonsense when you were signing up for a coupon for a free Pringles Xtreme sample, our apologies: No nonsense now. Itā€™s real and itā€™s going fast!

    https://www.facebook.com/Pringles

    • Jennifer

      Yes, but if you click on their “info” tab, that REALLY says it all.

    • Kari

      I really hope you didn’t fall for that vague, ill-thought out announcement that basically said NOTHING.

      See here this is why I thought and still think highly of hip2save. There’s a coupon/freebie site that took this announcement and RAN with it saying that the “pringlextreme sampling” site was a REAL offer. Why ? Why did they say that? How did they get that information? I see nothing in that announcement and nothing on their site saying or linking the” PringleXtreme Sampling” has a legit offer. I pointed this out to them and they still don’t care they just redirected me back to the announcement, which says nothing specific.

      This site is # 1 in my book for that reason. It doesn’t take a vague thing and run with it like its the gospel. She fact checks as best as she can and sticks with it. +1 Colleen. (spelling? sorry xD)

  25. Julianne

    Yea, we love u Colleen! hahahaha sorry, it made me smile big when someone mis-spelled ur name. I love the name Collin, its unique. And i too appreciate all the hard work that u do!

    • anastaciab

      it was me that mispelled it.. sorry! my daughter is just with 1 L:)

  26. Julianne

    aw, nah someone actually spelled it Colleen… but it was cute… Colin spelled tht way is cute too…i love unique names…i named my son, Talan… haven’t met another one of those yet…but i did steal it frm a show on MTV back in the day called Laguna Beach. lol. now, ya’ll reading this, don’t steal this awesome name and go naming ur future sons Talan. haha. šŸ˜€

  27. Serah

    Thanks for all you do šŸ™‚

  28. Collin (Mrs. Hip)

    I want to applaud you on doing the right thing and informing your readers about the scam. I have an RSS reader full of feeds of the Pringles offer and only 3 so far have written after the fact warning their readers on what actions to take. Most have deleted their original post hoping nobody noticed. One such blog was one of the big popular blogs which I will be deleting their feed as this is the second time they have taken no action informing their readers on a scam they posted. You have earned my respect by tackling this head on.

    I would like to add that I have also read that it might be wise to change your facebook password so it wont get hacked by the perpetrators of this scam. I have a Facebook acct that I only use for doing freebies and offers with the mininum of info and I a variation on my name. And Facebook seems to change their privacy settings all the time so make sure you go through those settings to have it at it’s safest level.

    We all need to be a bit more wary of these freebies as they come up and question their authenticity. I saw on the news once that ‘FREE’ was the number one search on the web that will get you scammed or virus/scamware/malware etc.

    I hope you get some good nite’s rest tonite. šŸ™‚

    • Karen

      sorry…that was me…I thought I put my name in already.

    • Susan

      OTHER sites deleted the original post? THIS site did as well, along with another post that had comments asking Collin to please inform everyone.

      I started seeing comments like that at least 24 hours before she finally posted this, and well over 24 hours after she deleted the original post.

      Collin makes a beautiful website, and I’m sure is a wonderful person, but get your facts right, people. She said last night she was busy posting other deals and would get to this in a day or two. Seemed more urgent to me, so that’s where my beef lies.

      • Kari

        Susan, honestly I can see where you are coming from.
        If one site realizes its a fake offer different sites do different things. They update it (take out links) say its fake or most likely fake etc. and some do take it off completely while others leave it on. Now those that take the offer away some people might go to another site SEE it there and be like “OOOH This is new, lets sign up.” when they could of seen oh it was a scam and been warned about it.
        But in the end people handle things differently. I could never do a site like this as I have no time, doing this sort of thing takes up a huge amount of time on a person’s life, and they handle scenarios differently.
        And in the end it just boils down to you have to protect yourself, don’t expect others to do that for you.

  29. kim

    oh my!!! thank you so much for posting this, thank GOD I check your blog every day…. what do you think the hackers do with our info????????

  30. Andrea Hinmon

    Thanks so much!!

  31. Nicole Dz.

    I have read on a few blog posts that people have contacted pringles directly over the phone and they have said pringles is not offering any such promotion. So i do indeed believe this was spam. Thanks for letting all of your readers know. We all highly appreciate your posts everyday as we look forward to it. Your blog is the highlight of my day everyday! It is so great to have a place we all can go to relate & join in on deal seeking freebies and such. Thank you and thanks to all these wonderfull comments! I enjoy being apart of this huge blog family! šŸ˜‰

  32. Mitchell Wischmann

    I heard from SwagGrabber that this is not a fake freebie! I have no idea where she got this information, but I just thought I would pass this along.

    Also, while you’re on Facebook deleting the application, I recommend that you also visit the privacy settings page.

    • Mitchell Wischmann

      Never mind! I didn’t see that the application had been deleted from Facebook! It also automatically deleted from my Facebook Application Settings list.

  33. Christa K.

    And as you indicated, a lot of these Facebook offers that companies put out are REALLY good deals/freebies. So the idea that Pringles would have such a FB freebie offer is not unheard of in today’s FB offer climate!

  34. Tracy

    No problem, Collin! Thanks for your hard work!

  35. Amanda

    Collin, thanks for putting up the post. I wasn’t upset at all that this offer was posted. I was upset that yesterday the post was removed entirely once you got wind of the offer not being legitimate. I was expecting that you would relay the information that you learned to your readers rather than just deleting the post. But, I do thank you for later putting this post up letting us know šŸ™‚

  36. Jill

    Good to know!
    I’ve also been questioning and unsure of your giveaways for the restaurant.com gift cards. There was a story regarding them on my local news this evening and I specifically watched it because you always post their offers or free gift cards from your giveaways, and since I’ve been questioning them. I wanted to give you, and other readers the link to the news story:
    https://www.wcpo.com/dpp/money/consumer/dont_waste_your_money/is-there-a-catch-with-restaurant.com%3F
    I guess the bottom line is to read the fine print.

    • Amanda

      Jill, thanks for the article. I personally don’t like Restaurant.com. Last Christmas I bought 2 certificates for my parents for their favorite restaurant. When they got there the owner told them that they don’t accept the certificates at all. He a said a lot of people had been coming in with them, but the owner never gave restaurant.com permission to sell the certificates. Restaurant.com gave me my couple of dollars back, but it doesn’t make up for the inconvenience my parents went through and the embarrassment of a fake gift.

  37. Lorrie

    I LOVE your site and think you are doing an amazing job. I know you get paid for it but for how much time you spend on it I think you should. It’s a great way for you to be a stay at home mom and still help provide monetarily for your family, via coupons, savings and payment. Thanks for all you do!!

  38. croche

    Collin, please don’t lose any more sleep. You are doing a wonderful job and we love you! I have so much free shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, etc. that I’ll never have to buy those items again. Now I give my “extras” to my neighbor who is a social worker. They are going to put those items in gift bags for their clients for Christmas. It wouldn’t have been possible without your blog. And the clients will be thrilled, and my neighbor and staff won’t have to put out any money. Win, win situation. Keep it up girl!

  39. Janel

    I’ve read on other blogs this morning that they found out that the pringles offer wasn’t a scam now. I’m not sure what to believe anymore. šŸ˜›

  40. shawna

    Hey,

    I wanted to tell you about pure sleep. My husb snores really bad and we got this and ever since then I sleep so much better. Check it out, it works really well.

  41. CHRISTINA

    Thanks for contacting Pringles [ ref:00D7JViV.5007DjS1m:ref ]
    Friday, September 24, 2010 3:52 PM
    From:
    “”P&G North America” ”
    Add sender to Contacts
    To:
    “christinaannchurch@yahoo.com”
    Dear Christina,

    Thanks for contacting Pringles and we appreciate your interest in our promotions.

    The offer was legitimate but it’s no longer available. We regret the inconvenience and I will be reporting your experience with the rest of my team.

    Since your satisfaction and loyalty to our products means a lot to us Iā€™m going to send you a coupon by postal mail. But in order to do so I would like for you to reply to me with your complete address after which it will take 2-3 weeks to be delivered.

    Thanks for your support and we truly appreciate your business.

    St. Peter B.
    Pringles Team

  42. Natasha Hughes

    I received my pringles coupon in the mail today! So happy to get it!

  43. Lauren W

    Figured I’d update and say I got my Q too šŸ˜€

  44. Megan

    I just my coupon today. Did not notice my FB account being hacked…..

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