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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.
Like most Americans, I like my free money right here, right now -- mostly because I won't remember the purchase when I finally get the rebate. 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!
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
Um, yeah I want some guy to hold my money; who has no accountability, etc.
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
That's exactly why these companies like to use rebates. They attract you with a rebate, but they know half of the people will be too lazy, lose the receipt, forget to mail it in, etc. Personally, I've never had to deal with any fraudulant rebates. Sometimes they are slow, but I've always gotten the money eventually. Slow rebates are better than no rebates.
When you think about it, companies offering rebates could have as well simply lowered the price of the product and make more convinient for consumers.
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).
>... and there's not just one magical rebate God that sends you all your rebate checks.
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.
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
I hate mail-in rebates. Either you get a rebate or you don't. They should make a law that the customer can give the rebate form directly to the cashier and immediately get the rebate deducted from the purchase price. Then the stores can mail the paperwork around and wait for checks, and call, and get impatient/annoyed...
--- Hindsight is 20/20, but walking backwards is not the answer.
I assume that a rebated product is overpriced to compensate for the rebate. I don't like processing rebates, so on numerous occassions, I have purchased a competitors product instead to avoid getting overcharged on a product I would have bought anyway at the non rebate price. The rebate made me change my mind.
I *like* the rebate scheme. I am cheap (read: poor) enough that I *do* send in my rebates. Rebates tend to be (at least the ones that catch my attention) pretty great deals. I'd imagine a strait price discount would be lower, but with rebates they can count on only a percentage actually being returned.
I can afford that 20" monitor because of the lazy/forgetful or those who can't be bothered. I salute you!
Quack, quack.
the reason you haven't seen any is because there are hardly ANY products sold at WorstBuy &c without mail-in rebates these days. It's a fucking pain in the ass that wastes postage and sales tax, and allows them to sell your personal info without permission. They should be banned.
Repeal the DMCA!
I have submitted over 6 Frys rebates and everyone has been rejected - something always seems to be missing. At least they send me a notice saying so. I have nothing against Frys (you can see I have kept buying stuff from there), but before I buy I always remember to translate their advertised price to the price without the rebate before deciding, because I don't even bother any more.
I'm wise to them now - I don't buy anything on rebate, anymore. Fooled twice, any more and it is my fault.
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).
gosh, thanks for the tip -- I usually opt for the 20-rebate version to save 1%.
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.
everything in moderation
...for the inventor of rebates.
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.
"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"
Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
Could you use your credit card company to help out? I have always received my rebates, but have wondered if you put the sale in dispute saying you have not received all of the purchased items, if this might give you some leverage.
My most recent rebates were from Apple, filled out my slips and got my checks back within a week. Probably the best rebate experience I've ever had. Most times you forget about the rebate and it comes half a year later in the mail.
You're forgetting another key advantage to the seller - rebates generate float. Put simply, they hold your money in interest-bearing investments until the point, 6-8 weeks after the purchase, at which you receive and cash the rebate check. This is why, unlike mail/internet orders that also say to allow 6-8 weeks for delivery yet typically are delivered within 10 days, rebate checks invariably take the full 6-8 week period to actually arrive in your mailbox. Also notice how the checks are always drawn on obscure banks in places like Lake Lillian, MN; this gives them an extra day or two of interest while the check waits to be cleared after you deposit it. The Straight Dope goes into this in more detail.
Cut the UPC bar code in half and send each company one of the havles. All they need is the bar code, so if it is readable, they should have no qualms.
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.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
I've let a few rebates go, and been mad at myself for it. However, my experience this Yule actually trying to claim them irritates me to no end.
..voice jail. $50 down the drain most likely.
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.
Freedom is merely privilege extended unless enjoyed by one and all.
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.
"Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - Orwell
My big problem with rebates, is that they require you to send in the UPC (sometimes to two places, violating the laws of physics), but if you send in the UPC, you can't return the product to the store if it fails for some reason.
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.
man tunefs | grep fish
I once fell for a rebate offer from Best Buy in which you could get $30 back from a Western Digital hard drive and $30 back from some overpriced RAM, be only if you bought both. You had to send the memory UPC to one address and the hard drive UPC to another, while copies of the receipts went to both.
Well, I dug out the UPC from my hard drive box, triple checked the forms and receipts, following Best Buys handy "Rebate Receipt" guidelines (why can't the just take care of the rebate for me if they are going to go to this much trouble?). After waiting three months, I got the rebate back from my memory. Another month went by and I still didn't have the rebate from my hard drive back. I mailed and tried to call, with no luck. Then, I finally got back my original rebate letter I sent them, with everything except the UPC. It said that I had sent the wrong UPC. This was quite laughable because there were only two, and I knew that I sent the memory UPC to the correct address because I had already gotten back the rebate. So why didn't they send me back this "wrong UPC" ? I sent the whole thing back to them asking this question, and they sent it back to me again with a letter describing how they have to be strict to prevent fraud. I called and finally got ahold of someone, who gave me a different address to send my letter to. After sending it to this address and waiting a month, I finally got a letter back saying that the deadline for the offer has expired.. have a nice life.
Well, I will never buy anything from Western Digital again. Other than this misfortune, I have never had any problems getting back rebates, other than the absurdly long response times.
I was also denied a PNY rebate... reason: The offer was no longer offered. mmm... BestBuy said it would take 8 weeks... now I know why!
Some days I get the sinking feeling Orwell was an optimist.
Interesting. Mine goes more along the lines of:
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
A big motivator for some folks buying laptops and other big ticket items for their small-medium size business is that the purchase price is a tax deduction (and reduces cash on hand at the end of the year), but the rebate is totally off the books.
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.
I've gone out now 3 years now, and spent over 1500 and gotten 1200 of it back. (and I DO track my rebates).
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?
I worked at a company that made scanners several years back, and like most high tech firms, they didn't handle their own rebates. They hired a special rebate company to do it. A good number of people just plain fail to mail in their rebate forms, and that's how the rebate folks make their money. The statistic that was quoted to me at the time was that for a 50 dollar rebate, only 50 percent of the people managed to mail their forms in. For a ten dollar rebate, only ten perent of customers mailed their stuff in. I have no idea how true that was, but it seemed to make sense, given the fact that I've never mailed a rebate coupon in at all, for any amount. Rebates are an entirely sleazy practice, but then again, what isn't in big business these days? It's just another example of how corporate america makes people jump through hoops to get basic service, in the hopes that most people will just give up. I just pretend the rebates don't exist, in the hopes that they'll go away. I look only at the price that I'm paying going out the door - if that doesn't work for me, I buy something else. Shawn