Are Rebates Scandalous?

theodp asks: "Motley Fool offers a dead-on take on the computer mail-in rebate fulfillment process--Once I receive your 'claim,' I will begin to 'process' it. Assuming that you filled out all the information correctly, and assuming nothing is missing, and assuming your claim doesn't get lost somehow, and if you call or write a few times to check on your claim's status, then I will mail your check within 10 to 12 weeks. Maybe. Or maybe it'll be four to six months. Or never." What are your thoughts on rebates, and have any of you noticed who, at least in the computing industry, is more trustworthy with rebates than others? Update by J : Here's the short version of the article.

Re:Rebates

[blixel]

and never got muh money

Dang fool, mabee if u' be all up in there face like "gimmie muh money beotch!" then they'd make good.

The form for my rebate...

[wikkiewikkie]

on MSFT Flight Sim was so small I had to take it to that guy in the mall that writes your name on a grain of rice so I could fill it out properly.

Re:Here and now! Not later!

[Tuxinatorium]

Hmm, let's see... 1. Troll on slashdot 2. In soviet russia, another silly business plan posts you 3. ?? 4. Negative Karma!

Mod parent up

[Anonymous Coward]

most people are so damn lazy and/or disorganized that they never send in their rebate

Exactly. And all these are the same people who will spend an hour or more reading through slashdot forums regarding how big of a "hassle" it is to take 3 minutes out of their lives to fill out their name and address, put it in an envelope and drop it in the mail box. God forbid they actually get off their fat super-sized ass and walk all the way to the mail box.

Re:Large rebates?

[Acidic_Diarrhea]

How do you cash a check made out to UNKNOWN? Simple, put on a hat and a fake moustache, then go to a bank that you don't have an account at and tell the clerk, "You don't know me but I have a check to cash."

The money is practically in your wallet already.

Re:Here and now! Not later!

[Anonymous Coward]

Getting a check for $50 in the mail three months after I bought that hard drive is like winning the beauty contest in Monopoly. Wow, fifty bucks out of thin air, cool!

Not to nitpick but the beauty contest card in Monopoly is worth $10

Still waiting for Intuit...

[PrimeWaveZ]

I had 4 checks coming to me. One was the $30 Toast rebate I got through the Apple Retail Store, one was the $30 rebate for buying TurboTax State, $70 or something was from CA state, and $370 from the Federal Government. I have recieved 3 of them. Which one took the longest?

Hint: it wasn't the feds.

Yup, Intuit takes longer to process a $30 rebate than the Federal Government takes to process my income taxes. Man, how would you like to have "Slower than the Feds" on your feature list...

Re:Forget the Money and the Wait!

[randyest]

Oh no! Junk mail is FUN! I'm serious. Here's how:

1. Rip open all your junkmail and throw it on the floor.
2. Search through the mess for Business Reply Mail envelopes. Get them all.
3. Grab handfulls of the jumk mail and stuff it into the Business Reply Mail randomly. Apply tape as needed to maintain envelope integrity.
4. Mail the bulging Business Reply Mail envelopes (free and legal!)
5. Laugh your ass off.

Re:How to get a rebate on time EVERY time

[Loosewire]

I put in sweeties :-)
they think "Hey this is a nice guy, lets send him the rebate promptly"

The etymology of the word Rebate

[Radical Rad]

Few people outside the Marketing industry know that the word rebate is a actually a contraction of two words, retard and bait.

http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorr.htm#Rebate [wordorigins.org]

Re:rebates are a total waste of time

[Santos L. Halper]

1. Buy a bunch of crap.
2. Cut out rebate form and UPC.
3. Send everything in.
4. Wait.
5. Wait.
6. Wait.
7. Complain.
8. Wait.
9. Complain.
10. ??????
11. Profit!

Micro$oft

[buzzonga]

These guys are the best (don't flame me yet). Years ago they were doing a $50 rebate on the latest and greatest office. The real neat thing was instead of just the usual UPC code they accepted the following, from ANY of the products you UPGRADED from.
Top of the box
Front page of the manual
Paper insert from the CD. (didn't specify front or back so I used both.
You had to have a receipt (real tough to make..)
The original rebate coupon (slick paper copied great at kinkos)
So at the big company I worked for they actually bought boxed versions, no license agreement and we kept them in the storage room, TONS of them.
Toughest part was the limit of two per address. Ended sending them to every friend and relative I had. Also tried (and succeeded) by slighty changing my name and street name for multiple receipts at the ole home address. Worked, and redemption time was pretty quick. We called them presents from "Uncle Bill" Odd thing though, about eighteen months later I did start getting random junk mail to those bogus address...

??? Profit.

Re:Here and now! Not later!

[archnerd]

You don't win the beauty contest in Monopoly, you only get second place. So there!

Re:Frys has been the worst for me

[entrager]

something always seems to be missing

I had the same problem with Motorola twice! Here's the real kicker, both times I received the notice after the rebate period was over. Furthermore, the "missing" part was the barcode from the box. Each time, they returned the contents of the envelope I sent the rebate in. And here's the real kicker, both times the damn barcode was included in the stuff they returned!!!

Re:How to get a rebate on time EVERY time

[waferbuster]

Yeah, they think that right up until the sweeties get crushed into a fine powder in the envelope. Then we read about you in the papers.

sigh.

Some people just have no sense of humor.

Re:Forget the Money and the Wait!

[Doomdark]

ways to cause a minimal amount of trouble to people with no face/name.

Ouch! That's nasty... I mean, the guys have lost their faces and/or names, and this guy's sending them stuff to read. That's cruel! How are they supposed to read anything without a face? I mean, usually eyes are located in upper part of the face and stuff.

Re:rebates are NOT a total waste of time

[Flounder]

But if you had sent in the rebate, that wine would only be 50 cents.

Re:Be Careful

[Anonymous Coward]

For all of you saying "I did this! But it still didn't work" try cutting it the other way next time.

Greg

Re:Forget the Money and the Wait!

[dnahelix]

I even send back all the extra crap they put in my legitimate bills along with my payment. I tear it all in half so they get the message.