Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.
Hmm, let's see... 1. Troll on slashdot 2. In soviet russia, another silly business plan posts you 3. ?? 4. Negative Karma!
Repeal the DMCA!
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.
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
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...
I put in sweeties :-)
they think "Hey this is a nice guy, lets send him the rebate promptly"
Slashdot - The one stop shop for procrastination
http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorr.htm#Rebate
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!
"Ask not for whom the bone bones. It bones for thee." --Bender
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.
You don't win the beauty contest in Monopoly, you only get second place. So there!
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!!!
sigh.
Some people just have no sense of humor.
I'm an individual! Just like everyone else!
But if you had sent in the rebate, that wine would only be 50 cents.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
For all of you saying "I did this! But it still didn't work" try cutting it the other way next time.
Greg