Slashdot Mirror
Best Buy to Eliminate Rebates
plover writes "According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune 'In response to customer complaints, Best Buy, the world's largest electronics retailer, promised today to eliminate mail-in rebates within two years.' Can it be that we're finally nearing the end of one of the most hated marketing ploys of all?" Further commentary available at BusinessWeek.
The Associated Press doesn't pull April Fools jokes, methinks.
I had but a simple dream, to destroy all humans.
I work for the geek squad at Best Buy #601. Rebates are what we get most of our complaints about, except for service plans. Thats a different story. We would have definately heard about this. We just had our monthly "pep" talk (at 8am sunday morning) and nothing of this was mentioned. If i can confirm this, i will submit a slashdot story.
The Federal Trade Commission recently ruled that retailers are liable when rebates aren't paid by the manufacturer. So, now that they can't pass the buck on rebates, retailers want out of them.
Their rebate policy was flawed, but so are their other "policies". I will no longer shop at Bust Buy because "policy" always trumps the customer.
Take for instance their refund policy. If you buy a computer, and pay cash, and that computer doesn't work when you get home - you must wait for a check if you want to return it for a full refund. I advised my mother on going there because of the good prices. She paid cash and got a good deal. The PC was fried and they didn't have another to exchange.
Apparently another policy is that Bust Buy doesn't ship items from store to store or order replacement items if they are out of stock. Her options were: Wait 1 month for them to fix the computer, for free; wait 6 to 8 weeks for a refund; or pay the manufacturer to ship a replacement (and pay to take the broken machine).
After their sales staff insulted her in the store (only for wanting what was due), she decided to get the refund and buy a machine elsewhere.
Still, if I pay cash - why should I wait for a check in the mail? Cashing a check isn't cheap for people who don't have checking accounts, not everyone does have one too. Hell, they discourage the use of checks as it is.
Someone should also look into the fact that they never honor their rewards program. In one visit we bought $300 in DVD's and was supposed to get a $25 store credit in the mail (after paying another $10 to join the "club"). The credit never came and they don't even have us on file. Worst part is that we bought more, expensive, items there hoping we'd get a reward!
Scam!
Get your Unix fortune now!
No, people. Even most people who you'd consider dumb, tend to be somewhat sensible with their money. People check out the weekly circulars for Circuit City, Best Buy, Staples, Tweeter, Office Max, whoever, and go where the deals are. Most of the time these deals involve rebates.
As for being cheaper online, at random, I looked up a hard drive from BestBuy.com (It's in their ad this week in the circular). Seagate Barracuda 120.0GB model number ST3120026A
Best Buy's Price: $99.99 - $50 MIR = $49.99
The Best Froogle could do wiht that same model number? $70 for a refurbished white box.
Best Pricewatch could do for that drive? $62 (This was a diffrent model number, but to be fair, as far as I could tell, same specs. The same model number was $74)
Best Pricewatch could do on ANY 120GB Drive? $53 for 5200RPM Drives.
It's just one example picked at random. I'm sure if we wanted to get into a pissing contest, you could find plenty of stuff that's cheaper online than what BBY sells it for after rebates. Point is, they're not all just horrible ripoffs designed to fuck you in the ass. Get overyourself and take off the tinfoil hat.
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
No morals required. Though they mouth platitudes about serving the customer, if you read further in the article, the FTC announced that they're going to hold retailers responsible when manufacturers don't pay their rebates. That is why Best Buy is making this move now.
Share and Enjoy: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I've done several thousand dollars of rebates over the last three years and I have never not received them in the end.
That has *not* been my experience--especially with larger rebates.
My brother-in-law and I both bought Compaq notebooks at a big box electronics store with a $100 rebate from Compaq. Strangley, both of us got a notice saying that our rebates forms were illegible and to resubmit them. Of course those were rejected since they did not contain the *original* UPCs from the package since we sent them in on first go-round and they were not returned with the notice.
After numerous calls to Compaq with no resolution, I filed a complaint with my state's Attorney General's office. My brother-in-law did nothing. I got my refund in less than a week; my brother-in-law never received his. Coincidence? I think not.
It's easier to wear the spandex than to do the crunches. --David Lee Roth
Which means you should go for the mail-in-rebate if you seriously expect there's a higher than 52% probability that it will actually pay out.
I have to be honest. I am no fan of BestBuy or MIR. However, I have always got my MIR's back. I have never had any issue at all, sure it takes a little time, but mine always arrive.
If we don't make light of everything, we are just stumbling in the dark - Blank