When I want something cheap, I usually hit Aliexpress (website). As I was looking at the Aliexpress app page on the Google Play Store to check its privacy details, TEMU came up as a recommended app.
Now, my wife has used TEMU in the past, but since she often can't find her way around things, I downplayed her negative experience as "user error". That said, I went to the TEMU website and started looking around.
I found something that was a reasonable price, but then get this message saying I could get this item free through the app... sigh. OK. I sign up with my usual fake/random credentials and add this "free" item to my cart.
A spinning prize wheel comes up. Hey, I can get THREE free items now! Sweet. I spend the next 3 hours looking for stuff I can actually use, doom-scrolling through everything from women's underwear to t-shirts with assault rifle print. Literally something for everyone. LOL
Then I select my third "free" item, and another spinning prize wheel comes up. "100% off the next $35". Ok.
I didn't need more stuff, but hey, 100% off sounds like more free stuff!
I spend another hour looking, keeping an eye on the amount "saved" (apparently $600+, for stuff that is sold on Aliexpress for maybe $25).
When I finally get to check out, I get another spinning prize wheel. "100% off $100"!! Goddamn, I'm on a roll here. How do these guys make any money?!!
More time looking... I must have spent well over 4 hours on their app. Time to check out.
$67? Huh? What about 100% off and all that nonsense? Enter your phone number*
- You must agree to get promotional texts, or you can't check out... hmm, maybe my wife wasn't wrong.
In any case, there was no way to actually get anything "free". I deleted the app, deleted my account, and will never touch this scam ever again.
Do people actually end up getting anything from Temu? I thought AliExpress was bad, but the experience is 1000x better.
I have ordered from TEMU. Yes, getting their free stuff sends you into a black hole. You have to wait a few weeks for most items to show up. It saves a few bucks. Gotta watch the clothing fabric, lots is “shiny polyester”. It’s great for cheap seasonal decorations. Used to be free shipping on a $10 order. Now it’s $15 I think. My partner has figured out you can return at least one item per order for free (and still keep the item) so if you play it right, order a small quantity every day and when you receive it, see what you can return. When you order, it will keep the shopping cart “open” for hours, so if you come back it just adds to the initial order. That’s why I said order a few things once a day. It take like 8 hours to close out the order window.
Damn, sounds like way too much work! LOL
Had I been asked to pay for shipping or something, I would have been cool with it for these "free" items. But my god, it's like they didn't want me to actually close out the order without paying way more than zero for it.