Is this some sort of pyramid scheme?

[HappyPuppy]

One of the other techs that works in my area called me a little while ago all excited about this. He was telling me how I can save money on gas and we should let the other techs know about it.

He gave me a website to check out, which I did. It looks like a pyramid scheme/ripoff to me.

Before you look at the site, I HAVE NO AFFILIATION WITH THESE PEOPLE. I am merely asking for your opinions/experience.


GasUpUSA

Let me know what you think. I need to talk this guy out of it.

 

[RossMAN]

I did a search for GasUpUSA Scam on Google and found a few websites such as this.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
I did a search for GasUpUSA Scam on Google and found a few websites such as this.

Thanks, Ross. I'm going to check it out.

 

[Grasshopper27]

Yes, it is...

Gas is bought and sold in such large quantities (billions and billions of gallons), they cannot possibly have enough buying power to have an impact.

PriceLine tried this and found that out the hard way...

There is almost no markup in gas, no real room to drop the price, no matter how much you buy.

Grasshopper

 

[HappyPuppy]

Originally posted by: grasshopper26
Yes, it is...

Gas is bought and sold in such large quantities (billions and billions of gallons), they cannot possibly have enough buying power to have an impact.

PriceLine tried this and found that out the hard way...

There is almost no markup in gas, no real room to drop the price, no matter how much you buy.

Grasshopper

Thanks. I'm getting ammunition to convince this guy with.

 

[kranky]

I checked out their web site, and it just doesn't add up.

The gas savings is supposedly funded by "diverting a portion of corporate revenue" to support it. It sounds like you get a debit card which you use to buy your gas. You are supposed to be able to buy $25 of gas by paying only $19.75, up to certain limits. The way I figure it, they rake in all the money they can ($150/year to be a member, and no refunds!) and for a short time everyone will be happy. Then one day, the debit cards will fail to work because the company has gone under.

They keep referring to a "stored value" card, but from the description of how it works, it sounds like a debit card. If the funds aren't there to cover the debit, that's all folks.

And also notice that on their web site, they push a bunch of different ways you allegedly save money, but the gas thing is obviously the hook that pulls people in.

 

[MrBond]

PriceLine tried this and found that out the hard way...

I had a priceline gas card . It was kind of a pain, but then sometimes it was really nice. The summer before I went to college was when gas prices were hitting $2 a gallon here in Ohio. That happened to be around when I got my priceline card I believe (maybe it was before that). Anyway, that summer (and even now to a lesser extent) it seemed like EVERY gas station in Toledo was price fixing. Gas would be $1.30 or so until thursday morning. At the open of business, gas would go up AT LEAST $0.20/gallon at EVERY station. It'd stay like that until sunday night, then it'd drop again.

So anyway, with my priceline card, it was really nice. I'd buy a bunch of gas at like $1.20-1.40 a gallon with my card (usually whatever the max was) and then wait for a big increase. I remember using my card for gas at $1.40/gallon when the station was selling it at 10-20 cents higher then that .

I really miss it now though. My BP Visa is almost as good, but its nowhere near the crazy deals I got with the priceline card

 

[Grasshopper27]

Folks, kranky has figured it out.

Yea, that is how these things work...

Originally posted by: kranky
I checked out their web site, and it just doesn't add up.

The gas savings is supposedly funded by "diverting a portion of corporate revenue" to support it. It sounds like you get a debit card which you use to buy your gas. You are supposed to be able to buy $25 of gas by paying only $19.75, up to certain limits. The way I figure it, they rake in all the money they can ($150/year to be a member, and no refunds!) and for a short time everyone will be happy. Then one day, the debit cards will fail to work because the company has gone under.

They keep referring to a "stored value" card, but from the description of how it works, it sounds like a debit card. If the funds aren't there to cover the debit, that's all folks.

And also notice that on their web site, they push a bunch of different ways you allegedly save money, but the gas thing is obviously the hook that pulls people in.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Thanks for your replies. I knew it was a scam, but I didn't know how to word it as succinctly as kranky.

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you want a last bit of ammo for your friend, show him "Ponzi scheme" from Google or any decent dictionary.