What was a loophole that you found and exploited the hell out of?

L0p on 12/02/2016 - 22:12
Last edited 14/02/2016 - 15:53

Until recently I was using a coupon code for a pizza store which allowed me to get any pizza for $5.
I may be selfish but decided not to post it here for fear of it being canceled.
Until recently where one of the friends I shared this code with shared it with some friend of his who got a job at this pizza place causing the deal to "expire".

So coming to my question: What was a loophole that you found and exploited/are exploiting the hell out of?
It doesn't have to have expired if you wish to keep it a secret like me you may wish to censor the affiliated company.

If you need some inspiration/a good read

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/44tard/what_was_…

General Discussion

Comments

  • kcyw on 12/02/2016 - 22:56
    -2

    There was a similar thread about this

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/218719

    • 0p on 12/02/2016 - 23:06
      +10

      Correct me if I am wrong but I think loophole and bargains are different;
      Bargain:(Proposed by official means)
      a thing bought or offered for sale much more cheaply than is usual or expected.

      "the table was a real bargain"

      Loophole:(A unsolicited "sale")
      a ​small ​mistake in an ​agreement or ​law that gives someone the ​chance to ​avoid having to do something:
      ​tax loopholes

      The ​company ​employed ​lawyers to ​find loopholes in ​environmental ​protection ​laws.
      Please forgive me if I have done anything wrong by reposting/paraphrasing this is my first post…

      • 0p on 13/02/2016 - 00:12
        +1

        Edit*

        Please forgive me if I have done anything wrong by reposting/paraphrasing this is my first post…

        Please forgive me if I have done anything wrong by reposting/paraphrasing this is my first post…

        (No quotes)

      • IVI on 29/01/2017 - 13:36

        In app AliExpress (& likely also on AliExpress.com),
        "Free Shipping" may really mean "…for the First 'n' items"

        So, it's $2 Free Shipping

        So, you order 2, and are charged MORE THAN $4.

        If you have time (& it's worth it), just order as many as you like… ONE AT A TIME. Oy!

        PS Elsewhere (eg, in AU), see if ordering more than 1 saves S+H.
        Some vendors offer n% Off of you order more than 1; if it's a good enough Deal, sell the other on GumTree & Profit…

  • [Deactivated] on 12/02/2016 - 22:57
    +15

    Back when the buses allowed paper tickets…

    You could buy the cheapest Travel-10s, which would allow you to travel up to like 2 stages. Well, you could use that to travel up to any distance you wanted, since the train station guy who sold it told me that no one checks!

    …Except one time they did, and I was caught. F that train station guy.

    …But I had probably saved >$300 in two years.

    Seriously, NSW public transport prices are RIDICULOUS.

    • scrimshaw on 12/02/2016 - 23:07
      +3

      That takes me back to my uni days. The one time my four uni friends ALL decided to board a bus without the right type of T10 they got caught and each fined around two hundred bucks.

      • Euphemistic on 13/02/2016 - 07:53
        +8

        Or those t10 tickets that actually printed time, date and a small square on the ticket. The square was counted by the machine so it knew how many rides you had used. You could put the ticket in, the print would start, so the driver would know you paid and then pull the ticket out so it would print wonky and the square wouldn't register, meaning you could double up. Was a bit of a competition between mates to see how many prints you could get on one ticket.

      • thepigs on 18/02/2016 - 06:12

        Yeah I remember those. I had a ticket that would go through the machine and come out with nothing printed on it and it never expired. It was just special I suppose. Eventually it got so old it fell apart. But yeah I saved a couple of hundred dollars. Of course you shit yourself that you would get caught…

      • tomsco on 13/02/2016 - 10:08
        +61

        I somehow don't think that would be classed as a loophole.

        • Neatoboy on 14/02/2016 - 11:49
          +22

          I class it as stealing

        • ibfragalot on 14/02/2016 - 14:50

          @Neatoboy: How are people downvoting this? Stealing = taking something that isn't yours, or that you have no right to. This is stealing.

        • Chivalry on 15/02/2016 - 09:05
          +10

          I am curious how peoples moral stance is to downvote Dijis "free" rides on SA trains, yet upvote Inoses partial ticketing and Alphaeus unstamped ticket for a year.

          would people care to differentiate?

        • [Deactivated] on 15/02/2016 - 12:01

          @Chivalry:

          I'm part of the kool kids krew here on OZBargain.

          Edit: also I paid something, at least?

        • mavis30551 on 15/02/2016 - 15:34
          +3

          @Chivalry:

          No reasoning, plenty of people here Stealing shit but because they actually payed something its more "moral" or something.

          Just stupid Self riotous bull really.

        • Eivad on 15/02/2016 - 16:50
          +3

          @Chivalry: I agree, they're both stealing. Travelling beyond the number of sections prescribed by your Travel10 is not permitted - it's not a loophole - just stealing.

        • [Deactivated] on 16/02/2016 - 11:03

          @Eivad:
          Being 'naughty' while not being caught…

        • [Deactivated] on 13/07/2016 - 08:12

          @Neatoboy: i class charging for public transport "stealing"

    • Alphaeus on 13/02/2016 - 10:08
      +35

      Again in the days of paper tickets I once travelled a year on a $40 MyMulti weekly ticket.

      If you purchased them from a train station they came with a start date. But I discovered you could also purchase them from convenience stores where they didn't come printed with a date: for these the timer didn't start until you dipped the ticket the first time. The thing was that if you limited your travel to between two train stations that didn't have gates (as I was doing regularly at the time) you never actually triggered the start timer. If you got your ticket checked by train staff it was just a new ticket you purchased that day. Then I got a better job and that was the end of that.

      • 01011010 on 18/02/2016 - 10:40

        the convenience store should have stamped the ticket, but if you knew one who didn't.. then bazinga!

        • Cryptarcadian on 18/02/2016 - 21:57

          No, they should never do that because you can buy multiple in advance (i.e. for future weeks) so you don't need to keep going back to the store. That was one of the intended purposes of them being sold away from stations.

        • 01011010 on 19/02/2016 - 08:22

          @Cryptarcadian: idk when that changed. but when i worked in a newsagency - 20+ years ago, we needed to stamp the weekly tickets.

    • xdiep on 14/02/2016 - 05:57
      +8

      Back in the day when only the day and month were hole punched by the conductors in Melbourne (e.g. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2676/3966257496_16529f308c.jp…) I remember my older brothers and sisters having a box with 365 days worth of daily tickets which they would then reuse year after year.

      • mskeggs on 15/02/2016 - 18:18

        When I was a boy in Sydney the weeklies were stamped with the number of the week they were issued, and people would save them till the next year. And then one day they issued them out of sequence and fined a lot of people.

      • Fagin on 19/02/2016 - 00:08

        Good story but the ticket in your link has the year printed on it. So easy to spot if try to use in another year.

    • devnull73 on 16/02/2016 - 17:58
      +4

      In Perth we used to have these paper 10-ride things that youd put in a machine that would chomp a ride off.

      Lots of us kids got really adept at jagging it in at a slight angle so it would chomp a ride off the corner, and not the actual ride.

      One kid actually got on the bus one day ahead of me and made the sound with his mouth, and it was good enough to fool the driver.

      • [Deactivated] on 16/02/2016 - 18:15

        it was good enough to fool the driver

        lol…

        But i doubt they give a (profanity) anyway

      • baggyred on 19/02/2016 - 16:56

        That was me - I got to the point where I had to cover the multirider with my hand because half of the head was missing due to being chomped on the angle!!

        Great memories.

        I had a single mum, so I'm sure she appreciated the month's value I got out of a weekly ticket

        • devnull73 on 19/02/2016 - 17:08
          +1

          This kid actually got busted at some point because I think he restored his card by tracing it and sticking some thin card to the back of it…. or something like that :)

          I also seem to recall that some of the drivers got wise to it because it made a slightly different sound when you jagged it……

          This is nearly 30 years ago mind you :)

  • braskic on 12/02/2016 - 23:00
    +19

    4c/L off petrol at Coles Express with RAC WA. I don't even have RAC anymore but my expired card still scans and still provides me discount. And because I don't need to ration petrol coupons anymore on really cheap days I refuel twice, once in the morning and once at night.

    • cheesecactus on 13/02/2016 - 15:01

      Wonder if my expired RAC free2go card works….. i should check it next time i fill up

    • paaj on 23/02/2016 - 13:19

      I'm with you on this one!

  • [Deactivated] on 12/02/2016 - 23:18
    +40

    About 2 years ago, Myer emailed a $20 off coupon (no minimum spend) … bought several hundred dollars worth of stuff…

    • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2016 - 08:56
      +6

      So you got $20 off?

      • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2016 - 09:52
        +26

        It was an email coupon with a generic barcode, ie reusable unlimited number of times.

        All of my purchases were in the $21-25 region

        • chipstss on 13/02/2016 - 19:30
          +1

          How long did it last?

        • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2016 - 19:39
          +8

          @chipstss:
          Almost 3 days…

        • TurkishDelight on 14/02/2016 - 21:55
          +2

          @sp00ker: lol luckiest guy here.

    • CI on 13/02/2016 - 09:33
      +4

      I remember. Was a great day. In hindsight not so much, lost much more on my Myer shares though

      • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2016 - 09:53
        +3

        Teaches you for buying shares in an private equity IPO…

    • Bad-Wolf on 15/02/2016 - 12:38

      totally did the same thing!

    • [Deactivated] on 17/02/2016 - 12:26

      I remember this! I used it too. It was late 2013/ early 14. I bought so much and travelled to every single counter in the store so could save so much.
      One guy realised and warned the other counters so I just went to another Myer.

      Saved a few hundred with it.

      Edit - I am thinking of this one…is that what you meant? It was $30 minimum though.

      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/125774

      There was this one too
      https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/139315

      • [Deactivated] on 17/02/2016 - 20:50

        I meant the 2nd one - only $10 min spend.

  • iridiumstem on 12/02/2016 - 23:29
    +14

    Not sure whether this counts as a loophole, but for a week, visiting Westfield gave me a Google Reward Survey at least once per day, which lead me to get around $4~5 dollars worth of Google credit. It was good while it lasted.

    • scrimshaw on 12/02/2016 - 23:30
      +2

      That's not a loophole, that's probably more like coincidence since Westfield is a shopping centre and Google likes to know what kind of places, business and brands you've been visiting / buying recently. They're building data and getting a better picture of you from your location information.

      I get surveys a lot too, sometimes twice a day, and I visit a variety of shopping centres (I work at one as well)

      • iridiumstem on 12/02/2016 - 23:32

        Probably, that said, it gave me same question about where I've been to (of which all of them had Westfield in) and how my experiences with Westfield was for entire week. It did made me go, why is it asking me the exactly same question that it has been asking since last week? Not complaining of course, I did end up getting a app I wanted for free.

        • scrimshaw on 12/02/2016 - 23:35

          Is it one of those questions where you can tick up to 4 or 5 different boxes for different locations and then they ask you to rate 1 to 5 stars? That's probably generating data for the business that signed up for google analytics.

          On a website, you can measure how many people who visit your website actually bought something, and how long they stuck around for.

          In a real shop there's no way of doing that, but since GPS is fairly accurate they know how long you've stayed in a certain spot and which stores you went to. Then a day later they ask you to rate your experience with the shop. Your feedback is then sold to the business who is using Google insights.

        • iridiumstem on 12/02/2016 - 23:38

          @scrimshaw: Yep. I assume it'd be. Though, I was surprised that it asked same question on me for 5 days straight. I've gotten 50% of what I got in 11 months time this month, so I am very happy.

          Though reading what you told me did make me realise that it probably was Westfield or Google collecting as much data as possible, in an inefficient way. I'd assume they'd want to get as many people as possible, but they spent money on me for 5 days, wasting a person worth of credit each time they ask me the same question (unless their agenda is not about getting consumer satisfaction, but something else).

        • dantione on 14/02/2016 - 01:36
          +7

          @scrimshaw: I do tech stuff for concerts and conferences. Recently in my main corporate work, witnesses Westfield's master plan with their free WiFi.

          They have an access point in every store, and they map your footprint and time spent in each store. As your phone jumps to the closest access point, they get store and duration information.

          Quite creepy… Very big brother. And if you sign in via Facebook to their network, they can resell this information. Actually aiming to get it to 1) you google search for red dress 2) you look at myer/djs/etc 3) you go to Westfield store, it picks up your device 4) shop attendant approaches you… Subtley suggests the red dress you looked at on their/a competitors website

        • Apple96 on 14/02/2016 - 02:14
          +1

          @aryan12: And now I'm never using their free wifi.

        • newozbargainermelb on 14/02/2016 - 18:08

          @aryan12: internet of things

        • djones145 on 15/02/2016 - 09:10

          @scrimshaw:
          I've been getting this survey for the last few months daily, got around 35 bucks in google so far with spending

          I do go for lunch walks around shops daily

          pretty awesome I have to say

        • hahaboy on 15/02/2016 - 22:33

          @aryan12: "subtley". I'm not sure how subtle it can ever be if a person suddenly approaches you and offers the exact product you want. It will require a big societal change.

        • tetsuma on 15/02/2016 - 22:54

          @aryan12:

          I like this idea.

        • paablo84 on 16/02/2016 - 15:32
          +1

          @Apple96: Their Wi-Fi is mostly useless; it doesn't work within stores (where I spend most of my time in a shopping centre, since I actually shop), and expires after an hour (I kinda understand that, since people could stay there all day uploading/downloading stuff, but I'd rather it have a quota than a timer).

    • Diji1 on 13/02/2016 - 09:49
      +1

      No I don't think being offered a survey which you then fill out is a loophole ;)

  • Blottski on 13/02/2016 - 00:36
    +82

    I used to stay at a place in Melbourne (YWCA on Elizabeth) when I used to come over to study and then had one of those junk food dispensers in the communal kitchen.

    Anyway I worked out that if you put a 5c piece in the machine, it would spit out the coin but register 5c as being paid on the machine.

    Lets just say being a student on an apprenticeship me and the other guy who I used to room with exploited the hell out of that machine when we were there….

    took them 2 years to work it out.

    • AlienC on 13/02/2016 - 00:46
      +2

      hahaha i like this one the most, genius!

    • patinadiary on 15/02/2016 - 17:36
      +3

      well done…for a change (no pun intended) the 5c pieces were actually useful.

    • montorola on 16/02/2016 - 13:54
      +4

      Haha nice!

      I have this vision in my head of you repeatedly putting 5c in the machine, just like those poker machine zombies mindlessly putting coins in the machine.

    • neil on 13/02/2016 - 02:02
      +2

      I don't get it. Bus, yeah, as the driver checks but on a tram you may as well not touch on at all as that will accomplish the same thing.

      • [Deactivated] on 14/02/2016 - 14:34

        I see people just walk onto the bus, sit down and the driver says nothing. I think some don't want to risk getting into an altercation so they just don't care.

        I wouldn't bother provoking some guy who looks like he's been up all night smoking meth, either.

    • Tal_Shiar on 13/02/2016 - 02:13

      I guess technically you could argue you've signed should you get busted on the tram and play dumb it signed you off..

    • Save 50 Cent on 13/02/2016 - 08:53
      +28

      A loophole is when you take advantage of someones else's mistake without getting in trouble if you get caught. What you are doing is basically a crime.

      • Diji1 on 13/02/2016 - 09:50
        -8

        Gonna call the po-po?

      • Tal_Shiar on 13/02/2016 - 14:04
        -2

        You scan on and off don't you? You are on camera scanning on at the station?

        • illumination on 17/02/2016 - 19:18
          +2

          You're also on camera scanning off?

      • baldur on 13/02/2016 - 22:41
        -1

        why is taking advantage of a loophole not a crime? just because it is not written in law books?

        • JIMB0 on 14/02/2016 - 06:46

          Its theft by finding, ie. you find someones property and instead of trying to find the owner and return it you decide to keep it there by permantley depriving the rightfull owner of it.

      • [Deactivated] on 18/02/2016 - 00:25

        Lol no.

    • stealthpaw on 15/02/2016 - 00:12

      You are the reason the public transport prices are being risen. Good work, the rest of us regular law-abiding taxpayers thank you.

      • Tal_Shiar on 15/02/2016 - 01:58
        -2

        no, I just have been fooled around with by ticket inspectors and poor service for far too long… I've fare evaded in the past, but i pay my fares like you do, I just don't throw money away when i've been forced to get a taxi home because of poor service, having to challenge a decision in court so ticket inspectors can look active while being sexist to men. You shouldn't have to have a monthly or yearly ticket to be compensated when the system really doesn't meet it's basic service requirements…

      • simulacrum on 15/02/2016 - 14:44
        +1

        I pay for PT but get a sense of satisfaction every time I see someone successfully fare evade.. I've relied on the PT system in melbourne constantly since i was in primary school.. and I have consistently received a bad service.

        over-zealous ticket inspectors on power trips. Crappy infrastructure, over-packed trains that don't run on time. This over-priced, non-functioning joke of a ticketing system etc etc etc.

    • cycleri3 on 15/02/2016 - 19:27
      +3

      The Myki ticketing system itself is a scam.

      Same ticket cost whether you go 1 or 2 stops or 50 stops. Where is the logic in that? It also favours tourists and office workers that drive into city cause the CBD trams are all in the free zone. So people drive in, park in the city then ride the tram at lunch time to grab lunch without paying PTV a cent. For commuters that travel back and forth from work they already have a daily fare so it makes no difference as they have already paid to use the trams. What a rip off.

      • illumination on 17/02/2016 - 19:20

        I think the word you're looking for is "rort" or "rip off". Scam implies you've been misled, but it seems you fully understand what you pay for and just think it's unfairly priced.

        • cycleri3 on 19/02/2016 - 19:51

          Well no. It is a scam.

          The last government offered this as a way of "Reducing" Public transport costs, and make Zone 1+2 users happy by dropping fares at the expense of zone 1 commuters but I'd guess pretty soon the "Cheaper" fare now would exceed their old Zone 1+2 fare and everyone will be paying more.

  • silverrat23 on 13/02/2016 - 01:54
    +2

    Any rewards programs that have a refer-a-friend scheme via email. e.g Nescafe Cup of Rewards.

    • FutureTech on 14/02/2016 - 23:57
      +9

      I did this for a groupbuy website and got caught after earning about $200 in rewards by referring myself. Boy was I embarrassed.

      • silverrat23 on 15/02/2016 - 00:29

        I'm guessing you were banned from the site, along with all $200 taken away?

        • FutureTech on 15/02/2016 - 01:02
          +5

          My account was frozen and they required my id to reactivate. I didn't bother so created a new account and move on. The $200 had been spent mostly because I spent the reward as I go and never accumulated on my account more than $40, so they only took away the last $20.

        • mavis30551 on 15/02/2016 - 15:40
          +1

          @maolin95:

          HAHA that is awesome.

          "Yes , we need your ID to ummm, let you keep exploiting us"
          Like that was ever going to work.

      • strikerzebra on 15/02/2016 - 12:13

        You can still refer yourself on groupon :P

  • Nutrino on 13/02/2016 - 02:02
    +9

    Love the loophole where you pricematch a price error from another store. Actually… That deserves another post, called exploits.

    • paablo84 on 16/02/2016 - 15:35
      +1

      Except when a particular gaming store won't price-match a brand new game from another retailer, even though said gaming store would only be able to sell a used copy.

  • Gotchas on 13/02/2016 - 03:29
    +52

    Iv managed to get a an email address that receives lots of great offers from so many exotic places and kind people around the world
    Il be off to the to retire in the Caribbean once this windfall comes from Nigeria

    • scrimshaw on 13/02/2016 - 08:51
      +80

      Hello Peanut, my name is Scrimshaw Savimbi the 3rd, I am a former Moderator of Ozbargainia and I come to offer you my Eneloop collection worth 2 million in DickSmith dollars….

      • Gotchas on 13/02/2016 - 19:33
        +11

        Pls tell me more,(frothing at the mouth)

      • paablo84 on 16/02/2016 - 15:35

        order oz bargain

  • Nugs on 13/02/2016 - 08:34
    +11

    Tax deductions for cars;
    Studying at uni in the 90's, I delivered pizzas. It was cheaper to have multiple cars up to the 5000km usage threshold rather than having one car over the 5000km. I typically had 2, but had 3 at one point in time. Given I was using 4 cylinder self serviced Datsun's and 2 had LPG, they were only costing me about 15% of the cents/km that you claim back.

    All legit, isn't that a loophole?

    May still be the case.

    • Baysew on 13/02/2016 - 10:41
      +9

      I see you do your own tax as well.

    • GameChanger on 13/02/2016 - 14:48
      +15

      For each car you pay rego and insurance and servicing. You actually paid more than you claimed back.

      • nautic on 14/02/2016 - 04:06
        -2

        Rego he pays susbsequently for each car so that works out to be the same. Insurance is paid subsequently as well and same goes with servicing. Hence no extra costs.

      • Nugs on 14/02/2016 - 08:50

        nope.
        the running costs for the LPG cars was in the order of 8c/km - that included fuel, oil, filters, tyres, rego, insurance EVERYTHING.
        Tax claim rate was in the order of 50+c/km.

    • rbaggio on 17/02/2016 - 22:20

      Datsuns with LPG.

      You win Mr Ozbargain!

      • Nugs on 18/02/2016 - 15:47

        that was when LPG was on a weekly cycle from 20c/litre to 30. Unleaded was 60-65.
        filling up a 50 litre tank cost $10-15 depending on the day of the week and I would get 400-450km range.
        Uni was 50km each way, hence the conversion of the first one.
        the second one was bought already converted for $700, drove it for four years before being defected.

        • FirstNameLastName on 19/03/2016 - 23:49

          When I delivered pizzas I drove my dad's car.. He worked for BP in senior position so fuel was free.. My only running costs were speeding fines oops

  • [Deactivated] on 13/02/2016 - 08:37
    +70

    Surprised how many here think fare evasion is a morally acceptable loophole.

    • ozy on 13/02/2016 - 09:48
      +3

      As long as they tag the words F#€k or €#nt into their seat onboard I guess I accept they are challenged people and accept the morality of their choices.
      Rest assured they will live shorter more disadvantaged lives, often ended soon after they get caught fair evading and receiving a fine. Not being able to pay fines leads to all sorts of causes of death.
      (Suicide, depression, starvation, being on the end of a jail shiv etc..)
      Sleep easy HereBobButtons.

      That said, if your train breaks down (yes run privately but put in place by the taxes you pay) or is cancelled and you are docked at work for tardiness, then a free compensation is in order!
      Grab a broken bottle or a knife from the work kitchen and proceed to your free train ride home, make sure you keep entertained by scratching into the back of the seat/ wall/glass windows the profanity of your choice.

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