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“I Was Out”: 50 Times People Found A Loophole And Reaped The Benefits After Exploiting It
Life isn’t always black and white. There exist gray areas that are often ambiguous and can be exploited, for better or worse. However, if you can circumvent the rules to your benefit without harming anyone, you win.
Take these people, for example. They are proudly patting themselves on the back after stumbling upon flaws in the system and taking advantage of them. Some received a free plate of fries for their efforts, while others were more fortunate and saved a significant amount of money in the process.
If you have similar experiences, feel free to share them in the comments below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I got this nonsense job, something to do with running a country, anyhow the job comes with lots of perks, I get loads of free stuff like holidays, my house decorated, takeaways etc. All I have to do is tell my underlings to give contracts to my pals without any normal competitive checks and balances.
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#2
I wanted out of my mobile phone contract without paying so after researching areas where my mobile phone provider didn't have coverage, I called them and let them know that I was moving to that exact area. I refused to pay for a service they couldn't provide me with and BAM, I was out.
Tobias Reaper 3 months ago
I wanted to cancel my phone contract but had to pay it off it would cost £600 so i changed my tariff to one half the cost and canx the next day it only cost me £300
Jacquie Carr 1 month ago
I was leasing a TV years ago and wanted out so got my bestie who worked in a travel agent to give me a letter saying I was moving abroad on a one way ticket
moggiemoo 3 months ago
I had a phone contract for 1 year, 1995-6. It cost me £25 pm just to have, plus calls. They were so expensive I didn't dare use it. Been on PAYG ever since. About £20 pa, even after scrapping the landline.
#3
My prepay electric meter freaked out after the pavement outside my house was dug up for some reason (nothing to do with me...was by open reach). Anyway, screen went blank and wouldn't load my credit. I called the provider and told them. They said we will send someone out to replace it. I said well it won't accept my credit, are you going to bill me? The guy said "we have no way of knowing what we are using so we can't bill you! We will get it fixed asap". Well a guy came out to replace it but they gave him the wrong meter so he couldn't replace it. He said he will have to get a new one and they would call and book a new appointment. I said "no rush as long as I still get free electricity!" And I haven't heard from them in nearly a year.
That's how I'm getting free electricity. Not my fault, I did what I had to and notified the company. Company is actually about to go bust too.
Robert T 3 months ago
Yeah, but no. My gas meter stopped registering gas usage and it took several months before anyone read it and noticed. I had to come to an agreement with them on how much I'd used based on my previous average usage. The only way you are getting out of paying is if the company does go bust, and even then, the supply will be passed to another provider and they will spend 12 months figuring our how much you owe them. You might get away with using more electricity than normal whilst it is not registering, but unless you're planning a grow-room, it ain't going to save you much.
Thunder 3 months ago
My gas meter stopped working correctly and weights and measures red tagged it. Took 8 months for them to replace it and I never had to pay a cent for the 8 month period. That was 25 years ago and yes they are still in business. Sounds like you fell for their corporate bs.
Load More Replies... Jacquie Carr 1 month ago
Don't be surprised if the receivers issue legal proceedings against you
Nikki Angulo 3 months ago
My parents owned a rental (our former house that wouldn’t sell for what they wanted at the time.) When I got married and we moved in, my mom called the cable company to disconnect the cable. They never did. Got free cable the entire year we were there.
#4
One time in like, fifth grade, my English teacher gave us an online test that we were supposed to do by ourselves for homework. At the end of the test, you're supposed to enter your teacher's email so that they get the results. Long story short, I rushed through the test and put in my own email. I then got an email that told me all the correct answers. Then I used that email to retake the test and get 100%.
Robert T 3 months ago
One of my university lecturers handed out some sheets labelled "Examples", with example exam questions. When we got to the exam, it was more or less "Examples" minus the "ples", with a few numbers changed. What annoyed me is that this meant everyone got good marks, but those that could actually solve the problems properly, got no additional credit.
Tom Banks 3 months ago
I lived abroad when I was a kid, and we returned to the UK during school term. I was in a Geography class and we did a mock exam. I looked at the paper, and it was the exact same one I had sat about 2 weeks earlier. It was multiple choice, so I zoomed through it in 10 minutes and put my pen down. Teacher noticed and got everyone to stop and turn their sheets over. He bawled at me as to what I was doing. I said I'd finished. He looked at the clock, then asked me the answer of Q1. Right answer. Q2 - right answer. Q3 right answer - other kids could tell from his face I'd given the right answers. Place was in uproar. He ordered me out of the room. Everyone was coming up and slapping me on the back later - he wasn't well liked. He never found out the turth as to why I got 100%.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Chiefly in the way Donald Trump uses the word "smart".
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highwaycrossingfrog 3 months ago
Like it or not (pun intended), it's a legitimate use of the word. Language, vernacular and meaning change all the time, and there's little use in being annoyed when the usage of a word changes. If someone uses a word and the majority of those hearing or seeing the weird understand what is meant by it, that's how language works.
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#5
My grade three teacher told me to fill up a page of text from "here" to "here" and she drew two dots on each corner of the page, so i wrote it diagonally across the page in big letters. she was having a hard time keeping a straight face when telling me off.
Eggwodd 3 months ago
Instead of writing from left to right, line by line, the kid turned the page 1/2 way and wrote a short line from corner to corner.
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#6
Unfortunately, I never got to take advantage of this, but I used to work as a supermarket cashier, and noticed that the way certain offers worked on the computer could mean people got free stuff in certain situations.
Once, there was a deal on melons, buy one get one free. They were £2 each, so they till would register 2x £2 melons, then take off £2 for the deal. One evening, there was a massive surplus of melons, so they were reduced to 50p to get rid of them. This meant, if you bought 2, it would cost you 2 x 50p - £2 = -£1 One guy had realised this, and came up to the till with 2 trolleys full of shopping. One was his normal weekly shop, and the other, just a shitload of melons. Ended up getting £300 worth of stuff plus an excessive amount of melons for about £1. I called the supervisor to point out that this was obviously a mistake, but he was too stupid to work it out, and told me that the computer was displaying the correct amount, and let the guy basically walk out with free stuff.
Diane Underwood 3 months ago
Get a truck and sell them from the back of truck to neighborhood Mums, sell them at their own small grocery, open a roadside stand on a country road, donate to the food bank, and eat a few himself and give some to extended family. lol
Load More Replies... Robert T 3 months ago
Depends on the way that reduced items are processed. They used be just an unspecified reduced item at whatever price was on it, so this wouldn't work. Now they barcode them so that the system knows what the original item and price was. If some plonker codes offers so that they work on reductions, the onus is on them. We had a similarly stupid offer here with vouchers for a trial pack of something and it was supposed to be up-to the price of the item, but some places put them through for the max price and gave you the difference in change!!!
#7
It turns out that you don't have to take an AP course in order to take the AP test. And if you pass the test, it's worth college credit.
So I signed up for the AP Psychology one, read the book and took the test earlier today. I think I just bypassed an entire year of class.
I'm pretty happy right now.
Ace 3 months ago
Had to look this up, something called Advanced Placement, lets high school students do some university-level exams, but it's exactly as described, it's just the exam, that is the whole point of it. No loophole here, just using the system exactly as it's intended to be used.
Lost Panda 3 months ago
Except most high schools in the US will not just give the test. You have to dedicate one of your courses to an AP class. To take just the test, you have to go through outside means, and I believe it may cost money that way if it is anything like a CLEP (College Level Examination Program).
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QueerAxolotls 3 months ago
American here; AP/Advanced Placement are classes that are "college level" that high schoolers can take. They're run and distributed by a company called CollegeBoard, who you pay for the exam (and then they take your name and email and sell it to colleges who want to recruit). They also administer the PSAT and SAT (two big standardized tests for American kids). Theoretically, this works, but you have to get a 3 or higher (scores go from 1-5) to pass and get college credit. Some students do this strategy (often called self-study), but some schools don't let you take the test if you're not enrolled in the class. You can't just take the test, unfortunately, because you pay CollegeBoard to administer it, and there are specific days for each test, where EVERY enrolled student in the whole country takes it. I won't deny that it's helpful, but CollegeBoard has a monopoly on American high school testing at this point, and it makes me annoyed to fork over hundreds of dollars a year for tests.
Jonas Fisher 3 months ago
This is why, as a teacher, I tell people what a joke AP is. Just a big money-grab from a business called "The College Board."
pjg237 3 months ago
I teach AP and I agree it is not an ideal situation. However, the flip side is essentially getting college credit for $100 instead of $1000 a class. Our Universities and Colleges are also a big 'money-grab' as well. We should have free higher education or at least reduced cost like other countries on our planet.
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Michael Largey 3 months ago
A good number of top colleges think the AP test is rubbish and won't give you college credit for passing it. If you do very well on, say, the AP Calculus BC, they may exempt you from the requirement for taking that course, but often no credit.
#8
Not a loophole as such, but a broken meter.
I was a student down in Newquay in 2003.I lived in a flat that had a electric meter that took pound coins. It was an old meter with a little clock looking thing on it, you put the pound, turned a dial, and the hand on the clock moved a bit, put in another pound, turn the dial, hand moved a bit and so on. You could do this until the little hand went all the way round to full. A full meter lasted about a week, and cost about 20quid to fill. One day my flatmate discovered that if we put a pound in and just carried on turning the dial, it would fill up all the way.
My mates kept complaining how cold their student houses and flats were, when me and my flatmate had a three bar fire on and were spending about 5 quid a week on leccy. We told the landlord, but he never came to fix it.
Eggwodd 3 months ago
Pandas...I'm in U.S., I don't think we have "pay as you go" for electricity, if we do, I'm curious as to where... this is the 2nd submission on this thread, so I'm guessing it's a U.K. thing.
Kirsti-Tina Thompson 3 months ago (edited)
U can get pay as u go leccy in Ireland too. Have one downstairs
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#9
When you use your gmail address to sign up an account, you can place a full stop anywhere in the part before the “@“ and gmail will ignore it, so you can set up multiple accounts for things without having to create a new email, whilst still receiving any emails to the same address (useful if you need to validate the sign up). This works really well for stuff like fast food apps where you get a sign up bonus or a freebie.
So, as an example, if my gmail address is janebloggs@googlemail.com I could get away with making new accounts under “Jane.bloggs”, “J.anebloggs” or “Janeb.loggs”.
Etc etc. Gmail will ignore those full stops!
I’ve used this method to set up multiple Costa accounts as you get a little something for setting up, and also I copy and paste the friend codes on to new accounts for another reward haha.
EDIT: a couple of redditers have blown my mind and also said you can use a “+” in a similar way - it will also get ignored, so you could have
Janebloggs+costa@googlemail.com
Janebloggs+kfc@googlemail.com
Great for keeping track of what you’re using for each app!
Robert T 3 months ago
Pretty sure that dots are significant, or at least are just stripped out. The useful part is that everything AFTER the '+' is ignored. This means that you can use it to make a unique email address for everything you sign up for, but all the email will be delivered to your one and only email address. I also remember that years ago when we had issues with routing emails, you could put a % in the email address to route it via another domain/mailserver. Won't work now, as almost all email servers are setup with relaying disabled.
Rogue Trooper 1 month ago
Doesn't always work. A couple of places I've registered with will not let me use a Gmail account with a +. I had to just use the plain email address.
Sam Trudeau 3 months ago
There's another trick: Google used to not have a requirement to add cell phone number before making new accounts. Easy way of making alt accounts without needing cell data.
Rod 3 months ago
This is not aliases, it's just gmail ignoring full stops for security reasons.
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Chris 3 months ago
this has got to be old as f cause its not googlemail its just gmail and what the hell is a FULL STOP is it the (,) splain this to me...
Jenny 2 months ago
A punctuation mark. People in the US refer to it as a 'period'.
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Robert Benson 3 months ago
Those are completely different addresses that go to different people. The suggestion goes to the same person, but it makes it simple to create a filter to sort different types of incoming email. somename+spam@gmail.com could be used to register for sites that generate a lot of spam, but require that you register
Load More Replies... #10
I had a kobo e-reader bought from WHSmith. It packed up after a little over 12 months. I took it back and after a little to and for (sale of goods act, etc.) the manager agreed to swap it for a new one. Thing is they had reduced by £20, and the only thing the system would let the assistant do was refund and re-sell.
"Is cash OK?" he said. I agreed that it was, and he handed me a bag with a brand new kobo, and £20 cash.
I thanked him, and walked smartly out.
#11
I used to buy rolls of Subway Stamps on eBay for like $100. I think you could get 125 footlongs with a roll. Really wish they didn't get rid of that program!
#12
I was heading to a Forrest for bike rides and parking was £9 all day. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to click the “I have a voucher” option, put in a random 7 digit code and it worked, had free parking about 10 times before they clicked on.
#13
I wanted to get a Mass state driver's license while still in college. Normally, you can't use a college address to establish residency since you're still considered a resident of your home state. Despite not being residents, Massachusetts will call out-of-state students for jury duty. In addition to the normal documents like a utility bill, the RMV accepts a jury duty summons as proof of residency. If you're unlucky enough to get called for jury duty in college, it worked like a charm!
Ace 3 months ago
Err, and? Is there something special abut getting a licence from one state instead of another?
PunnyPanda 3 months ago (edited)
In-state tuition is usually 2/3 or so cheaper than out of state. Usually it takes about a year after you establish residency to be eligible.
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Science Nerd 3 months ago
Most states use the driver license database along with income tax filers to find eligible jurors. How would MA call up an out of state student for jury duty?
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Another common method is voter registration rolls. In my state, out of state college students can vote here if they spend the majority of the year in-state - the same as anyone else. But this doesn't seem to be the case in Massachusetts.
Load More Replies... #14
The vending machine at my work has these unreal bakewell flapjacks, priced at £1.20. However if you use the option to pay by card for some reason some of the prices change, and the flapjacks change to 70p.
I’ve not told anyone else and it’s a secret I will keep to my grave.
Just to edit this, I’m don’t think they’re the ones in HomeBargains/B&M, they’re in a clear and pink packet with pink on the front, I *think* they might be Marywell brand or something similar.
Edit 2: Did some Googling and they’re 100% ‘Marybake’ brand flapjacks. But no results on where to buy the Bakewell ones in bulk!
Anony Mouse 3 months ago
Just found out from the GBBS that a “flapjack” is like a granola bar across the pond. When that challenge started and everyone started reaching for oats and talking about crunch I was SO confused.
Jude Corrigan 3 months ago (edited)
A basic flapjack recipe is porridge oats, butter,sugar and golden syrup. It is normally soft and chewy.
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Hmmm hmmmm 3 months ago
If anyone wants to buy them in bulk :https://pwfinefoods.co.uk/product/bakewell-flapjack/
#15
If you buy a day's worth of travel insurance through Compare the Market for ~£2, you get the year's 2for1 movies and meals which has saved me wayyy more than the £2!
CooperDooper81 3 months ago
You know BP puts the pics on and they're not posted by the writer, yeah?
Load More Replies... #16
I ordered a vegetarian pizza from big John's, for some reason it had tuna as an option. They never actually had any in so they would call and ask what I wanted instead so I would ask for chicken, pepperoni etc
Got a meat topping for £5 less than I should every time.
Ripley 3 months ago
Eh, it's the UK - they put some interesting things on their pizzas, like corn kernels. a bit odd if you're not from there.
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#17
For years 10 McNuggests cost $3 and change but the 4 piece was a buck.
Troels-Henrik Krag 1 month ago
American thinking at play here :-D :-D :-D Maybe you don't want 10? And getting less is actually worth something? I know: That will blow many American minds, but more is not always better...
#18
In my first project for my Principles of Engineering 3 class in high school, we had to create from a pool of common household items (paper, paper clips, rubber bands, balloons, straws, etc.) a semi-self-propelled toy boat kit and instructions for assembly, the premise being that it would be something to sell in a small vending machine or whatever. The scoring was based on the effectiveness of the boat times the ease of construction and coolness (as judged by the freshman engineering class) divided by the time it took to go 1 meter over water and the price (each item had some cost).
Most of the people built elaborate floating straw monstrosities with rubber-band powered propellers. I examined the scoring and decided that if I could reduce the cost enough, the other stuff wouldn't matter that much, so I convinced my group to submit a design that consisted of:
1 balloon
1 paper clip
1 straw
1 piece of tape (to keep it somewhat together)
The straw dragged in the water to keep it going relatively forward and to keep it from flying away. The freshmen gave us 5/5 for ease of construction, but we lost 50% of the score because our teacher said it didn't work; instead of going straight across the tub to the finish line, it veered off to the right, got caught on the wall, launched into the air, did a flip, landed in the water, and crossed the finish line.
We ended up taking 1st place on the project by a huge margin. The next year that teacher implemented a minimum requirement for the number of items to use.
Loudawg76 3 months ago
The teacher should encourage such innovative thinking not stifle it with restrictive rules
Uncle Panda 3 months ago
The teacher was representing the 'client', the source of an astonishing amount of restrictions. Very real world scenario.
Load More Replies... #19
Iceland has a savings card: for every £20 you put on the card they give you a £1 extra (which for all intents and purposes is better interest than a bank).
So a few days before a shop buy a pack of sweets or something and slap £60-100 on the card (whatever your weekly shop amount is) then when you do your shop, you get some free money.
EmJay 3 months ago
No. Not a credit card. No interest charges. It’s a savings card.
Load More Replies... highwaycrossingfrog 3 months ago (edited)
I'm missing why you need to buy a pack of sweets as a loophole
Robert T 3 months ago
You presumably have to make a purchase to do the gift card and you have to top the card up in advance of your shop.
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Bjørn Langbakk 2 months ago
Island bruker ikke Pund som betalingsmiddel. Dem bruker Islandske kroner.
#20
I am on a dual rate electricity meter (only electricity in the flat, no gas) and on an Economy 10 plan. The meter records my energy usage the wrong way round, so my company think I'm nocturnal which makes my bills cheaper. My average energy cost over the summer was around £7.
Yes, I have reported it to them, twice in fact, and they've done bugger all about it. I'm not doing it a third time, they've got it on record and aren't interested at all.
#21
Used to work for the NHS and just before I left, I renewed my Blue Light discount card. Got myself another two years worth of savings as a result.
#22
Nothing new or ground breaking but Spotify is £10 a month, family is £17, (was £15 😐). But you can have up to 6 people on the family.
So we have 6 people on it sharing it, (£2.80 a month). And they pay me their years share every january.
#23
Not free but I discovered TooGood2Go long before it became trendy and the only local restaurant that was on it was Yo Sushi. I regularly got £100+ of sushi at the end of the night which I distributed to friends and family (and ate myself). This lasted for around a year and I think I was the only person using the app.
Now loads of people know about it and there are far more restaurants on board. Still value as the likes of Greggs, you will get around a tenner's worth of goods for £2.59 (sandwiches, sausage rolls ect.) but the days where getting £100+ are over.
For those that don't know 2G2G is an app where restaurants sell the stuff they normally throw out at the end of the night.
#24
Won a years free membership in one of the popular chain 24hr gyms in a fb competition when a new one opened near me. 3+ years later the code they gave me still works … :).
#25
Disclaimer: I drink a **lot** of coffee.
Went into John Lewis and bought their cheapest Coffee Maker (£11.99). Came with a years Warranty, as per.
About 10 months later, it died (hot plate failed) so I return it, and they exchange it rather than give the money back.
This one lasts 8 months before it just stops heating water entirely, go back, exchange it again.
Third one made it to 11 months. Fourth one only managed 6. Fifth one finally gets over the one year mark.
The really funny thing is that the cheeky buggers tried to sell me a 3 year warranty upgrade each time... at 3 times the price of the coffee maker.
Robert T 3 months ago
They normally only replace items if it is within the original warranty period, not starting from when you got the replacement item. However, if something has to be replaced due to a safety recall, then this goes well beyond the warranty period - I managed to get my MIL a brand-new tumble drier because the one she had had been recalled - it was about 10 years old by that point!
Troels-Henrik Krag 1 month ago
So... In stead of buying quality, you've made a scheme which has quadroupled the emissions. Hope you're proud :-O
Jaya 3 months ago
In my experience, they keep the original date as the starting date for the warranty, which means the second one will be outside of the warranty period.
Day Andie 3 months ago
Usually, this is so. If you find a lazy cashier, or one you can flirt with, or someone that doesn't know or care, you can keep rolling the warranty over.
Load More Replies... #26
The original sin; using winRAR for free.
Miki 3 months ago (edited)
Winrar is an outdated (but a lot of ppl are still using it even with better and free solutions) software to compress files. In theory it's not free. But it's basically designed like "hey, it's time to pay but if you don't want to it's cool you can still using it."
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#27
Went to cancel now TV and they offered me another month for £1. Went to cancel again and they offered me two months for £2.99. it's not much but it's something?
#28
In the Marines, I went in when I was 25, so I already had college and was familiar with computers and the unit I was in was just getting their first personal computers. I got into the duty schedule for firewatch, and took myself and all my friends off for a whole year. If I didn't like someone, they got Friday and Saturday night duties. Nobody ever figured it out, and I changed it often.
Later in my career, I used my skills for good. I wrote a series of macros that compiled several databases into one spreadsheet that my Staff Sergeant stole my work for and received his third NAM. They tried to give me office hours when I walked out of formation during his awards presentation. I did all that work during my lunch and my off hours. A program that is still in use today was based off of my spreadsheet.
Brandi VanSteenwyk 3 months ago
Plagiarism committed by their commanding officer.
Load More Replies... #29
I got fries at our local ski hill for nearly a quarter of the price by ordering a "paper plate with a side of fries" instead of just a regular plate of fries.
CooperDooper81 3 months ago
There were paper plates on the menu to add a side to? I'm so lost.
Robert T 3 months ago
Somewhere on here there is a UK chip shop menu with Chips with extra Chips. Works the same way. Chips with extra Chips is cheaper than 2 portions of Chips.
Funhog 3 months ago
Is the 'extra Chips' portion the same size as the 'Chips' portion?
Load More Replies... #30
I bought a tv, with staff discount, for £325,but it had a built in Dvd player that didn't work. I only needed it for 11 months, so after the 11 months I took it back, and was given the full price back, around £360. Basically got given £35 to enjoy a 37" flat screen for a year!
Uncle Panda 3 months ago
We bought a scratch-n-dent clothes dryer from Sears, and then they replaced the dented part under warranty. It was the salesman's idea. *shrug*
Hippopotamuses 3 months ago
I can't follow the logic of this. If you get a discount because of a product being faulty, it's usually noted on the receipt, and you can't claim that it became faulty after you purchased it.
Loudawg76 3 months ago
I think he only discovered the DVD player was broken once he had it home. It didn’t say he purchased it with the knowledge it was faulty. The lower price was due to staff discount. I think he figured he’d just use the tv anyway knowing he’d return it after 11 months
Load More Replies... #31
Endless £1.99 Big Macs. Just do the survey thing on your receipt, it takes 30 seconds and then use the code to get £1.99 Big Mac and chips.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
You don't have to. Think of it as a public service in keeping them out of the hands of others.
Load More Replies... #32
Our ski hill offers season passes for around 350 bucks but only 150 if it was your first year buying one, the best part was they never asked for an ID they just looked up your name to see if it was used before. I have had 8 different names now.
Yrral Spavit 3 months ago
"Our small local hill had to close down, guess the big evil corporations are to blame."
#33
YouTube premium. The Indian version apparently costs £2 but I couldn’t get that to work, so mine is UAE version for £5. Yes it’s worth it to have no adverts on my TV.
MotorcycleDoggo 3 months ago
Most subscription services are cheaper in places like India/Pakistan. e.g. Spotify for about $1usd/month. Once signed in you can use them anywhere
Uncle Panda 3 months ago
YouTube premium is $12/month for me in the US and completely worth it. It's my only video streaming source and no commercials makes it an entirely pleasant experience.
moggiemoo 3 months ago
I just watch YouTube on the Brave browser and get no adverts anyway.
Load More Replies... #34
Not a loop hole as such, the guy who lived in my house before me has a nat geo subscription, it’s been months and he still hasn’t changed it to his new address. We’ve told him multiple times, just got the new one a couple days ago. I’ve not opened any of them but pretty tempted!
Brandi VanSteenwyk 3 months ago
Nat Geo is notorious for this. At least in my own experience. The post office won't forward magazines and media. Thus, use and enjoy the bounty. Pay it forward by bringing it/them to a care center afterwards.
Natalia 3 months ago
No, it's 100% on the person who has the subscription
Load More Replies... #35
Tiles. Every couple of months I would order large floor or wall tiles via the free sample or £1 sample offer. I use them to cover my coffee table (needed 2 large floor tiles) and table surfaces. Husband hates coasters and just puts his tea cup anywhere. I have also added rubber feet and made trivets (hexagonal tile) for gifts for people.
#36
Worked on the student magazine in the 90s. Magazine was sponsored by the local Spoons, with a voucher for a free meal and a pint. Had access to the stock of magazines. Didn't buy any food that term.
highwaycrossingfrog 3 months ago (edited)
Spoons is the nickname for Wetherspoon's, a ubiquitous and cheap pub chain in the UK, for those who don't know. (I used to work in the kitchen of one and I'm surprised anyone could stomach eating just Spoons for a whole term! But, students.)
#37
My electicity meter was broken for nearly a year.
I informed my supplier about it but they didn't seem too interested. So I kept jest sending in the meter readings (the same number every month), as asked... and getting tiny electricity bills.
Even after I moved house I queried the final bill reminding them that the meter was still broken. I gave them every chance but they assured me the bill was correct.
They're one of the small ones that went out of business recently. (Not my fault, honestly!).
#38
For me it was abusing the coke machines that had the weird elevator/treadmill inside of it, if you bought a coke and forced the door closed you could get the machine to refund your money then walk away with whatever you dispensed for free. Over the course of two semesters I probably did this about 4-5 times a day for 8 months.
OtterNaut 3 months ago
Huh, I'm surprised that they didn't notice or maybe care. Sloppy inventory and bookkeeping?
#39
Many box retailers have a policy that for CDs/Video games/movies that you can't return to disk if the shrink wrap is broken, but you can exchange it for the same exact product.
Step one is to exchange open product for unopened.
Step two is to come back later and return the unopened one.
Edit: I only did this once, it was at a large chain, I was told by an employee the software was compatible with my computer but it was not.
#40
A friend of mine once signed up to some online distance learning course. The course was legit, and all the resources were provided, but the administrators never set any deadlines nor did they expect any evidence of completed work. However, the provider was affiliated with the NUS, so he was able to get student discount for the duration of the course, which could be as long as he wanted it to be.
Rooth MacMillan 3 months ago
My brother signed up for the cheapest Uni course possible in order to get a valid student card and gain access to the athletic facilities - tuition was MUCH cheaper than an annual gym membership - it took the Uni 10 years to figure out what he was up to.
#41
Us releases coin dollars that you can purchase for a dollar with free shipping so they can get into circulation
max out southwest credit card ordering dollar coins
dollar coins arrive at house
take dollar coins and pay off credit card balance at bank
buy more dollar coins
repeat process and rack up flier miles.
Ace 3 months ago
Would also be a great way to increase your credit/spending limit. Simply spending a lot on your card and paying off the total balance would improve your credit rating in a very short space of time (back in the day - do modern credit scores work the same way? )
Brandi VanSteenwyk 3 months ago (edited)
Indeed, they do. After years of ZERO use of credit, my credit score has gone crazy since I got a single "secured" card that I only put $200 into, used and paid off monthly. Now I am being offered insane amounts of credit. Luckily I learned my lesson 30 years ago (exactly WHY I chose to not use credit for 20 years) and just chuckle at how damned stupid banking corporations can be.
Load More Replies... #42
My uni never cancelled my old university email account. I've been using unidays and discounts you can get tied to a university email only for years.
Saved me a good amount.
#43
With audible you don’t even need to change emails, I’ve got about 20 free books now out of them just for signing up for a trial, cancelling, then re trialling again the next year.
#44
Many moons ago, we had some vending machines installed (we didn't want them) in our 6th form area. The prices were astronomical considering there was a convenience store nearby. We did however find a loophole whereby for the cost of a single it.you could indeed have anything / everything in the vending machine for nout.
"50p for a chomp?! You're mad!"
No my friend, 0p for the entire vending machine!
Basically put money in and select your item e.g. H5, then just as the item is about to drop off, turn the vendor off at the plug. Item drops out. Switch vendor back on, presto, still have your full credit. Rinse and repeat. Then when finished, press reject coins.
The machine only got emptied once, not by an individual but by everyone once the hack had been discovered.
Fair to say said vending machine company weren't happy, and took it away, meaning we actually got 2x extra computers installed which is what we wanted anyways.
#45
I once ordered some craft stuff from Amazon to the total of around £100, but a little bit of the glue had leaked out, I complained and asked for a partial refund as it had got on one of the other items slightly, they refunded me the entire £100… even though everything else was fine haha.
Nikki Angulo 3 months ago
I had the same thing but with dish soap. Turned out though that the iPad case was crappy and so was the laminating paper, the only useful thing was the dish soap! 🤣
#46
So before all the kids were playing Call of Duty, there was Quake, Doom, etc. Id software made a lot of good games.
For some reason, they put all of their games on a single CD, including a demo of Quake 2 (I think). Then they gave the CD away for free as a demo for Quake 2 -- and hey, you could unlock all of our other games! You'd just call in, pay money, get a cd key, and unlock your game. But there was no limit on the usages of the CD Keys. So several got loose, and you basically had every Id game for free.
#47
I wrote a script and shared it on a White Sox fan site to repeatedly vote for Frank Thomas in the 2003 MLB All Star Game Final Vote. MLB had to change the logic mid-way through the vote (the captcha was in the source code on the page).
#48
One day on campus there was an "engineering day" complete with engineeringy challenges. On challenge was to build a bridge between two tables using nothing but tape and construction paper (unlimited). Each text book it could support = $20 gift certificate. I could tell they were thinking that I would make elongated "beams" out of the paper/tape. I asked if the bridge could dip below the surface of the table tops, and the shrugged and said yes. I took lots of strips of tape and spanned the gap, throwing some paper in so I didn't waste so much time. The bridge supported every text book they had, and some of mine. I got all of their gift cards ($100) even though they owed me more.
nicholas nolan 3 months ago
They used layers of tape and paper to make a bridge strong enough to hold many text books, instead of making bridge supports out of paper as the event organizers expected.
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#49
Amazon Prime. Haven't been a student for over 5 years. Still paying £3.99pm.
Vidas Zlioba 3 months ago
Free same-day delivery? How gauche. Bring back 2-3 week delivery!
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#50
I once got 6 months free Spotify bc I didn’t update my payment method. It just kept a red banner at the top but let me enjoy premium for ages.
SchadenFreudian Psychology 3 months ago
If corporations are stupid, they deserve to be ripped off.
#51
There's this one cocktail bar in Cardiff, that for some reason in the happy hour due to a glitch in the app made instead of 2 for 1 cocktails, for Long Island Iced Teas 2 for 0. I've never been so I'll the next morning.
SchadenFreudian Psychology 3 months ago
“ I've never been so I'll the next morning.” Still drunk?
#52
When I book a train via Trainline for an all day ticket, I choose the latest departure time on the app. It's an al day ticket, so it still valid for any travel.
Then, if the ticket didn't get checked (they scan a QR code), I requested a refund and instead of paying the train fare, I've just paid the admin fee.
Best was when I did this for a £95 ticket for a work trip. I downloaded the receipt before requesting the refund and my work paid me £95 to pay Trainline £5.
#53
G suite (Google’s business offering for gmail etc.) Used to exist as a free service (Google Apps), which I signed up for in 2010 and never let the account go inactive. So now I have access to most of Google’s business tools for absolutely £0 a month.
#54
I once went out on the beer in Dublin, I took 180€ from the ATM. It never came out of my account. A few months later I went back to Dublin again on a stag night. Same thing happened again, this time with 400€. Not been back since.
#55
Everytime I try play a song on my Alexa she tells me “to play specific songs I need an Amazon music subscription” then offers a free trial, end of the month rolls around, I had cancelled the sub days prior and she offers me another free trial, been like a year of free Amazon music now.
#56
I don’t know how it works but my friend did something to my phone and now I have Spotify premium for free. Took him less than 5 mins.
#57
I work at a university and can use my staff .ac.uk email address to sign up for student deals. I’ve not been a student for 7years.
#58
When we were poor students we set up this over a weekend.
You know how betting companies offer incentives to sign up, normally it's pay £10 and they give you £30 worth of free bets. Well there were like over 15 companies offering this so we hatched a plan. We would take that £30 and bet on football games - £10 on each team to win and £10 on draw. This way you couldn't loose and made on average £10 per game (sometimes more). Some of the companies also give You free horse racing and casino money.
By the end of the weekend we'd had a great time and made £250 each.
#59
On grocery cash back apps such as Shopmium, you can claim cash back on eligible items via a picture of your receipt.
Once the cash back money has been received in your bank, you can return the items to the store if you haven’t opened it.
#60
When I was a student about 10 years ago, I signed up for Amazon’s Student Prime which has nearly identical benefits to regular Prime but is half the price. They caught on a couple of years ago that I couldn’t still be a student and put me onto the regular Prime, but it was good whilst it lasted.
#61
It's not quite the same but I got a £1200 e-bike for like £150 total.
I was working and needed a bike to commute to work, got a ebike on finance through Halfords and v12 retail finance. Health went to s**t again and I had to stop working, let v12 know I'll need a break from the payments until I can get back on my feet and they seemed fine with it (my housing association actually emailed them explaining the situation)
Few months later I was able to start paying again so i logged into my v12 account and couldn't see a plan on place.
Emailed them wondering what's going on and they got back to me saying they had wiped the debt as a act of good faith and I didn't owe them anything.
I think I made like 4 payments totalling at £150-200
Unfortuanlty I've spent more money fixing the bike than I spent buying it soon guess it's evened out.
#62
Not a loophole but the Libby app has free audiobooks and ebooks if you have a library card.
PunnyPanda 3 months ago
Most libraries have that or similar services! Sometimes you gotta wait a bit fpr popular titles, but so valuable and underutilized.
#63
Flavia drink vending machines at work have been left on their default operator passwords. With a quick Google, one could set them to 'free vend' in a few button presses and obtain free drinks before re- setting them to charge for the drinks once again. If one wanted to, of course.
#64
We got our house kitted out from IKEA.
The delivery man told me that the mattresses have a 10 year guarantee but they tend to wear out after about 4 or 5, so he said around that time I should pick at the stitching around the bottom of the mattress (don't cut because that's obvious if someone does bother to check) and then tell IKEA. They'll deliver a brand new one within 2 days, with a further 10 year guarantee.
#65
I like the audible one. Most of my 40+ title library was acquired that way.
#66
The first month of Pret membership is free, and it gives you 5 free barista-made drinks a day. Share your membership with a group of friends, and stack your free trials one after the other to extend your free trial by a couple of months, depending on how many friends are in your group.
(P.S. one membership for one phone number, so if you have multiple phone numbers it’s even better).
#67
Order a ham and pineapple pizza at pizza hut minus the ham and minus the pineapple and plus pepperoni and you've saved yourself a pretty penny!
#68
I use a website that is full of discount codes for teachers (Basically all the same student discount ones) but you don't actually have to prove you're a teacher.
#69
Not a loophole I took advantage of but I used to work for Lidl about 8 years ago and quite often had people coming in to return power tools or anything expensive from their middle aisle items.
The power tools always had a 2 year guarantee, these people were returning them just before that ran out and getting a full refund - no questions asked.
I was on the til and when presented with a "faulty" drill I was in no position to test it to check if it was actually faulty so a full refund was always given.
You could see this being a decent loophole back then, not sure if they caught on yet or not..
Foxglove🇮🇪 3 months ago
They have. I bought a coffee maker recently, didn't work properly, they provided a postage-paid label for them to either repair or replace.
#70
This was not me, but a few years ago, in my school district, there was a senior who purposely failed English 12, therefor having to take ti a second time the following year. Being as he didn't technically graduate, he ended up with a free year of college.
SleepyVampire 3 months ago
Don't quite get this one. How did not graduating get him free college??
Ace 3 months ago
In a country where university education is paid by the state. So failing one course would mean a whole extra year to resit it.
Load More Replies... #71
Back before digital record keeping, military leave [vacation] was manually tracked out of a central location in Indiana. You the service member filled out a request form, your supervisor and CO [commander] approved and signed it, and the paper form was shipped to this central location to have your vacation time deducted from what you were owed. Unless you drank with the clerk who mailed the forms. Then your forms might not be mailed at all and you might end up with 6 months of world-traveling vacation over a three year period.
Loudawg76 3 months ago
Yeah so that’s not a loop hole - that’s just theft and I imagine a bit of fraud thrown in as well? 🤷🏻♀️
Lyone Fein 3 months ago
Most of the things on this list are lying, fraud or theft.
Load More Replies... #72
This is really stupid but...
I ordered Captain underpants dvd from Amazon for £2.95. then I went to tesco and bought that same dvd and another, 2 for £8 (they were £5 each). I tried to cancel Amazon dvd, but it came anyway. It was unopened so I returned it to tesco with my receipt. They gave me £5 back. Profit I guess??
#73
I have a wholesalers card, because I just lied about having a business. Honestly the savings you can get is unreal for most things.
#74
If you need a pair of wired headphones, look for a pair on Amazon with a year or two guarantee. They never ever last that long and always break. Simply ask for a replacement (sometimes you have to send the headphones back to be ‘checked’) and they’ll send a replacement or a similar pair if they’re out of stock. I own 4 or 5 sets of headphones per year but only ever pay for the first.
#75
In my last job, my fork truck key worked in the coffee machine. Saved 20p a cup!
#76
Buying a toaster/kettle set from Costco. They offer an effective lifetime warranty on them - for any reason. When the kettle dies you take both back because they 'were a set'.
You get an expensive kettle/toaster set that never costs you anything after you initial outlay.
#77
If you don't have Prime, Amazon sometimes charges you shipping if your order is under a certain amount.
Just pre-order something that isn't due for several months, then cancel the order once your stuff is dispatched.
Firstname Lastname 3 months ago
Tried to genuinely cancel a preorder as a friend had preordered it as well as a gift for me. Preorder happened to fit free shipping requirement and would not let me cancel. Ended up having to put in an empty prepaid credit card as my new payment info and removing all working cards so that the payment would bounce and cancel itself.
Lyone Fein 3 months ago
Or just wait a few days until you have $35 worth of stuff in your cart, and get the free shipping anyway.
#78
The Tesco £3 meal deal hack.
Once you have all three items the till recognises the presence of a meal deal and will apply the requisite discount to every item that should be part of the meal deal.
So I get a drink, crisps, sandwich and cocktail sausages for £3.75 even though cocktail sausages are £1.25.
It's definitely theft but I don't care.
#79
When West Ham play in the evening, they leave the barriers up at Stratford station. I just go through without tapping and hope the barriers the other end are open. If they aren’t I’ll tap out then go on the TFL website to say I got on at the previous stop. Makes a £12ish trip either free or £2 (depending on if I have to tap out or not).
Also, if a ticket inspector comes, you can just tap your card and it works just like you tapped in at the nearest station; it doesn’t say you haven’t tapped or anything like that.
#80
Go to Starbucks and ask for a filter coffee, they never have it on and offer you an Americano for the same price.
#81
Long time ago now, but I once got a trip to Dublin that was £23, including the ferry, by booking by train. Flights were £99. I thought it was mental at the time.
#82
At a local golfing range I found a way to get unlimited balls. You buy fifty balls, then, you type the code into the ball dispenser computer multiple times, and the amount of balls available would increase exponentially. I got it up to ten k, and used that same one ticket for the whole summer season.
#83
When I was 11 I played Neopets and there was a wheel of fortune type game you could play for a random prize every half hour.
Turns out by refreshing multiple times and not allowing the request to complete you'd receive multiple prizes before the half hour timer would kick in.
I made millions and everyone was in awe of both my bank account and my lavish spending.
#84
Ipsos Mori give me £10 a month in vouchers to fill out my weekly radio listening diary. I don't listen to radio. I get paid £10 for 2 minutes of clicking "didn't listen to the radio this week".
#85
Open a stocks & shares ISA and put some savings away every month into an ETF for the FTSE100 or S&P500. This will NOT make you rich!!!!! But over time it will net you much more money than any bank's saving scheme.
Nikki Angulo 3 months ago
Using abbreviation no one normal knows, surprised this isn’t in the negative.
iseefractals 3 months ago
Individual Savings Account, Exchange Traded Fund. Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 and Standard & Poor's 500. "Normal" people very much know what these are, and if they don't....they should.
Load More Replies... #86
Netflix. Cancelled and restarted it again via a Turkish VPN. Costs me like £4.50 per month for the premium tier.
Did also use that loophole of loading Xbox Live Gold memberships onto my account then converting the lot to Game Pass for £2 but they've plugged that one now and I'm paying full price monthly.
Rathoren 3 months ago
Only problem is that in other countries the media they offer is totally different. I use a vpn in Morocco be cause the account is american and gives like a third of the choices if it thinks im in Morocco
iseefractals 3 months ago
Netflix uses geofencing to determine the available library. It doesn't matter which country the account was registered in, it matters which country you're accessing netflix from at any given moment. That's why you can use a VPN to change the available catalog.
Load More Replies... #87
You can't do this anymore, but back in the day I needed to flee the country and I needed a lot of money, so I withdrew under $10,000 from a few different banks, each time using a different location. I used my own checks that were under a different identity I used. Made out with well over $100,000 and it never did come back to bite me.
On a small scale, I have misdemeanor warrants out in several states, so I have to take advantage of the fact that Wisconsin is not a member of the Interstate Driver's License Compact to get my license renewed. Other states that are not members are Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia and Massachusetts.
What do you think ?
SchadenFreudian Psychology 3 months ago
Ripping off a wealthy corporation, fine with me. Ripping off a small business or an individual person—wrong.
Agfox 3 months ago
I don't know if this is a loophole but about 15 years ago when we were holidaying in Taipei, the hotel room temperature could not be set below 23C (approx 73F). We found this was too warm to sleep comfortably. The thermostat was the (now) old fashioned type, a square box, horizontal openings across the face & a wheel on the right hand side to adjust the temperature. Using a torch provided in the room, I peered through the opening to see 2 small pieces of plastic: one on the thermostat wheel & the other attached to the base of the unit. The latter was shaped like a sideways 7, so that when the two plastic pieces met it stopped the wheel from moving below 23C. It was a simple matter to push a knife in through the front of the thermostat & move the 7-shaped piece away slightly to enable to turn the temperature down to a more comfortable level. It was then a simple matter to adjust the temperature up to 23C each morning & down again after we returned to the hotel later in the day
Tom Banks 3 months ago
A scratch-card company went bust when running one particular scheme. It featured a grid of I thin k 50 x 50 squares, and if you scratched three squares and revealed three stars, you won $1000. Only thing was, the company that made the cards forgot to jumble the stars, so when one guy won, he tried the same stars, and won again..... and again, and again. Not sure how long he managed to spin it out. This happened in Macau in the 80s.
Yrral Spavit 3 months ago
Try hooking up the cable connection when you move (for those places that have it). I had free cable for a year and a half once. Called the cable company but they did not seem to care.
Sam Trudeau 3 months ago
I have a couple: - On Steam, you can set up sharing and potentially get a gold mine of free games, some of which being a hundred bucks otherwise - Depending on the material used, you can wash takeout containers and have free storage for later leftovers. - Duolingo gives free premium for limited time randomly (not the free trial)
highwaycrossingfrog 3 months ago
I used to get my broadband supplied by BT, and as part of being a customer, you got free access to their WiFi hotspots around the country, which would otherwise cost £4.99 for an hour's access. I cancelled my contract around 3 years ago, but they never stopped my login details getting free WiFi hotspot access. Free WiFi when I'm out and about.
SchadenFreudian Psychology 3 months ago
Ripping off a wealthy corporation, fine with me. Ripping off a small business or an individual person—wrong.
Agfox 3 months ago
I don't know if this is a loophole but about 15 years ago when we were holidaying in Taipei, the hotel room temperature could not be set below 23C (approx 73F). We found this was too warm to sleep comfortably. The thermostat was the (now) old fashioned type, a square box, horizontal openings across the face & a wheel on the right hand side to adjust the temperature. Using a torch provided in the room, I peered through the opening to see 2 small pieces of plastic: one on the thermostat wheel & the other attached to the base of the unit. The latter was shaped like a sideways 7, so that when the two plastic pieces met it stopped the wheel from moving below 23C. It was a simple matter to push a knife in through the front of the thermostat & move the 7-shaped piece away slightly to enable to turn the temperature down to a more comfortable level. It was then a simple matter to adjust the temperature up to 23C each morning & down again after we returned to the hotel later in the day
Tom Banks 3 months ago
A scratch-card company went bust when running one particular scheme. It featured a grid of I thin k 50 x 50 squares, and if you scratched three squares and revealed three stars, you won $1000. Only thing was, the company that made the cards forgot to jumble the stars, so when one guy won, he tried the same stars, and won again..... and again, and again. Not sure how long he managed to spin it out. This happened in Macau in the 80s.
Yrral Spavit 3 months ago
Try hooking up the cable connection when you move (for those places that have it). I had free cable for a year and a half once. Called the cable company but they did not seem to care.
Sam Trudeau 3 months ago
I have a couple: - On Steam, you can set up sharing and potentially get a gold mine of free games, some of which being a hundred bucks otherwise - Depending on the material used, you can wash takeout containers and have free storage for later leftovers. - Duolingo gives free premium for limited time randomly (not the free trial)
highwaycrossingfrog 3 months ago
I used to get my broadband supplied by BT, and as part of being a customer, you got free access to their WiFi hotspots around the country, which would otherwise cost £4.99 for an hour's access. I cancelled my contract around 3 years ago, but they never stopped my login details getting free WiFi hotspot access. Free WiFi when I'm out and about.
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