Are Rebates Scandalous? 685
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.
I am the King of Rebates (Score:2, Interesting)
Here and now! Not later! (Score:5, Interesting)
So for that reason I don't like rebates. I like my savings at the register, not in my personal cash-flow analysis at the end of the quarter.
levine
Yes, these are pure fraud!! (Score:2, Interesting)
Ever notice when they send the check back to you it never says what the original item you bought was? This is so you cannot be pissed at the store or manufacturer because it took forever!!
Boycott teh mail in rebatez!!!!!!!!!!1
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:2, Interesting)
Rebates are a calculated bet to fool consumers (Score:5, Interesting)
However, they *know* that most people: (1) forget to send them, (2) lose them, (3) fill them incorrectly (even a misspell of a city name is "wrong" for them, (4) or simply cannot fill them because the box where the product came in (and that had the barcode scan number on it) has been long gone in the trash.
In other words, it's a way for them to screw you. I have to admit I only received *one* check in my entire life out of a rebate, and it arrived so long after the purchase that I had already forgotten about it.
My thought is that any self-respected company who *trully* cares about customers, should simply drop rebates and lower the price of the products (even if not by as much as the value of the actual rebates).
Large rebates? (Score:3, Interesting)
Thats a $70 rebate. Uh, I don't think so. I made the guy go verify the price, and he told me, with a straight face, that it was a $70 rebate.
So, I buy something else with a $14 rebate (I forget now what it was its been so long). And this check finally shows up, made out to 'UNKNOWN'. How am I supposed to cash a check made out to 'UNKNOWN"?
Rebates are a scam.
Re:suck (Score:2, Interesting)
Actually, there almost is.
VERY few companies actually handle the rebates themselves. I'm guessing from personal experience with a truly fraudulent rebate here (this rebate didn't specifically limit quantity but the rebator refused to provide me with one rebate per item bought), but the reason they take so long is they are sent to a rebate processing company that handles hundreds, perhaps thousands of different rebates at the same time. Eventually yours is picked from a bin, entered into the computer, and, when the rebate is over (or, if the rebate availability is longer than the refund waiting period, when the "term" is up) a whole bunch of cheques are printed up and mailed en-masse, saving lots of people lots of money.
I can't imagine there's more than 50 or 100 of these companies in a country such as the US or Canada.
There should be a law (Score:3, Interesting)
Overpriced merchandise (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Some links (Score:3, Interesting)
I can afford that 20" monitor because of the lazy/forgetful or those who can't be bothered. I salute you!
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:3, Interesting)
Frys has been the worst for me (Score:5, Interesting)
REBATES ARE A SCAM (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course, there are a lot of suckers out there, and I don't expect rebates will go away any time soon. But that's just like every other scam that is being perpetrated in the name of "business" these days.
Spam, junk mail, unsolicited phone calls, club memberships, point systems, etc., etc. Some schmucks use them.
That's why they'll never go away. The only thing you can do is educate your children against them (and your significant other).
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, I'm pretty sure most people would pay a few dollars more to avoid dealing with rebates (depends on the total price of course, $2 more on a $5 item is significant; $2 more on $100 isn't). Do the math including the stamp, emvelope, your time, the time value of money (I use 6% these days, sigh for the good ol 20% days), and make an informed decision rather than boycotting anything (which, to me, smacks of blind rejection, which seems about as smart as blind acceptance). Anyway, that's really not a way to combat anything -- it's common sense (admittedly less common than the name would imply though, so I could be wrong). It's not really a boycott either.
I use rebates (and price matches, BVG from amex, and cashback systems from places like ebates) extensively. I get a lot of heavily discounted (occasionally free) goods (and yes, goods that I wanted anyway) by using the awesome info available on the web at places like hot-deals.org and fatwallet.com.
A quick quicken check tells me that I sent in more than $1700 in rebates last year, and I've received all but $90. The ones I didn't get were from companies that I've never heard of (and possibly no longer, or never did, exist).
Rather than assume all rebates have a value = $0, I calculate a modifed rebate price by multiplying the rebate value by a factor less than 1.0 that I assign to that company. Intel/AMD/Dell companies with something in their name they might want to lose get close to a 1.0. Imation/Buslink/UltraWiz companies I've never (or barely) heard of get close to a 0.0. Others usually get something in between.
BTW, that $90 will be recouped somewhat by claiming it as a 'bad debt' on my tax return (which I still haven't completed, unfortunately) -- if you have a business, you can do that too. Though of course IANAL, consult your tax professional, close cover before striking . . .
I guess my point in this long post is: assuming all rebates are worthless is as unwise as assuming all are worth face value.
There should be a special place in hell... (Score:4, Interesting)
Basically it's an interest-free loan to the vendor. You get to pay sales tax on the pre-rebate price, and then have to jump through hoops to maybe get the rebate months later.
The store ought to be required to hand you the rebate at the time of purchase, or submit the information electronically at the time of purchase...but then they'd actually have to give you the money, wouldn't they? Stores can take rebates and use them for reaction mass, as far as I'm concerned.
How to get a rebate on time EVERY time (Score:5, Interesting)
"Thank you for processing my rebate. I have marked my calendar to receive my rebate no later than (2 months to the day I mailed it.)" = Fill in () appropriately.
Just below this type your information from the receipt including SKU numbers, your mailing address and store of purchase plus how much you are expecting. Printing an actual two month calendar and highlighting the day of rebate is a nice touch.
I will gaurantee you will not have another "missing" rebate. They think, "looks like this guy would sue over a $5 rebate, we better get it right"
A buddy of mine goes a step further and puts:
"Consumer protection laws in my state require that rebates be processed in 8 weeks"
Credit card help? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:5, Interesting)
Rebates are bad for consumers due to a number of reasons:
As you can see, it's a "no win" situation for us consumers. Unfortunately, this practice seems more and more common these days...
most recent rebates (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Be Careful (Score:3, Interesting)
You could also try to have the store charged with fradulent advertising. If they publish a rebate that you cannot possibly collect on, then the FTC or other local consumer rights groups should get involved.
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:5, Interesting)
PNY -- Denied both rebates. Reason? They paid a rebate for ram for me before. Even though it was a completely different rebate offer on a different kind of ram and it was ages ago. I expected them to pay at least one of them. A year ago (or more) they paid a rebate in about 7 weeks. Not a lot of money.
CyneDyne -- Sent in Dec 11, heard nothing, call
Jensen (speakers) -- Sent in in November. They claim they recieved nothing. I sent them the origional reciept as per their rq, and didn't make a photocopy of it because I didn't figure I would need it. Not much I can do about it. Ripped off for $40.
Going to have to send this stuff registered mail if I ever bother with it again. I prefer just to buy online with no rebates. Less hassle, more honest. I wish I had instead of visiting Best Buy, Office Depot..etc
I'm 0 for 4 with xmas/yule rebates. That's not good, and it wasn't this bad a couple years ago.
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:2, Interesting)
One other thing I've thought of, too, is that it allows the company discretion as to which fiscal quarter they're going to take the loss in. Think you're going to have better profits next quarter? Push the rebates into April! And such.
Can't return items without the UPC sometimes (Score:2, Interesting)
I run into this all the time, because at least half the stuff I buy breaks or fails to operate within specifications within the time alloted by the store for returns (30 days in general). It's a pain to be constantly returning things, but it's even worse if you have to send the UPC to the rebate people in the same time period as the warranty! It's like you are forced to choose one or the other...it's really a gamble.
Comment removed (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't return things very often, but I've never heard of such policies (not to say they don't exist). I used to work retail, and at our store our policy was that we would not accept returns without the UPC.
Yeah, that's something to think about, but the *great* majority of the time, I get my rebates.
That doesn't mean anyone will guarantee that rebates will honored. I've almost always recieved them as well, but statistics have nothing to do with guarantees. I think this point is still valid. Wukk the fact that we both often get our rebates make us any less pissed off when that one company refuses to give us our $80 rebate on a new LCD monitor?
I have to agree with what you said on point 6
How are rebates bad for consumers due to loss?
because if the consumer loses the check then they won't get the money.
I would say that's the customer's fault...stupid ones at that. If you loose your keys, is it too the dealership's fault?
Who cares whose fault it is? The bottom line is that it's bad for consumers because they can lose the check! Maybe they should have a little math quiz on the rebates too, where if you get below a certain score you don't get the rebate. Why not? It would clearly be the customers fault for getting the answers wrong.
I don't understand your dealership analogy. If you lose the keys, the dealer won't refuse to give you the car you bought or some amount of money they said they'd give you. At worst you'll have to pay to have the keys copied/created. Also, it's neccesary for the dealership to hand out keys, despite the additional liability you have to keep them safe. The point is, it is not neccesary for a company to make you pay money and then give it back to you with a check. The company is adding unneccesary liability onto you.
The point is that by sending checks the rebate-getting-process is made more complicated and prone to error, which is good for manufacturers and bad for consumers. It may not be extremely bad for consumers, but it is certainly bad.
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:rebates are a total waste of time (Score:3, Interesting)
1- Buy a bunch of crap.
2- Cut out rebate form and UPC
3- Make copies
4- Fill out little "return receipt required" form at the PO and pay a buck or so more
5- Send in.
6- Wait 2 weeks to a month
7- Recieve check.
8- Let check sit on my desk until it is almost bad, then make a mad rush to the bank to cash it.
If you send them in with proof that they were sent in, the person doing the signing doesn't want to get in trouble, and ensures that it is processed.
And if it's not, you have proof that you sent it. At the very least you could always do a small claims against the company.
Time consuming, though. Generally not worth it for rebates under $50, and even over $50 I do stop and think for a little bit. Last rebate I did was a couple hundred off a huge monitor. Rebate took about two weeks. (Sony)
-Sara
it's off the books! (Score:3, Interesting)
So that $5000 projector yields not just $1200 in rebates, but a tax free $1200! That makes it equivalent to something like a taxed $1600 worth of income or so.
Re:rebates are NOT a total waste of time (Score:3, Interesting)
So what you're telling us is that over the past 3 years you have *loaned* several companies $1200, interest free.. and don't have a problem with that?
rebate companies (Score:4, Interesting)