1300 Unopened Fry's Rebate Forms Found In Dumpster

blackmonday writes "The Consumerist is reporting a find of 1,300 unopened rebate submissions in a dumpster belonging to Vastech, a rebate processor hired by Fry's Electronics. Vastech's management blames it on a bad employee."

Comments

Of Course They Do....

[asphaltjesus]

Bottom of the barrel wage earners working an admittedly unglamorous job tosses a few out. Where's the crime? Who's going to prosecute? Which State regs apply?

Rebates are a racket, always have been. I know from experience because I admin'd them years ago for a peripherals manufacturer.

Back to work!

Re:That's the reason

[dougmc]

I should start paying attention to whether I get them back. Yes, you should. I've had a number of cases where I didn't get my rebates, and so I called them, and either 1) they magically found it, or 2) they wanted me to send in copies of my copies, and I got my rebate. I've only had a handful of cases where I didn't get my rebates, and it couldn't be blamed on me (like sending it in too late.)

Personally, I keep an Excel (well, oocalc) spreadsheet of all my rebates, what, where, how much, when sent in, when to check, when received, etc. It's quite helpful. (Wow! I just added up my `how much' field -- $1723.)

Often not the retail that plays the game

[Sycraft-fu]

You'll find items on Newegg or Zipzoomfly often have rebates. However you'll notice it's never a rebate from them, it's from the manufacturer. Manufacturers like to run promos sometimes to try and get people to buy their brand. Well, you can't fault the providers for helping you know about this and how to take advantage of it. You'll also notice, at least in the case of Newegg, they list the primary price as the actual price you pay.

Just don't go getting mad at the wrong party.

Re:Often not the retail that plays the game

[RobFlynn]

That's something I really like about NewEgg. Oh, this Hard Drive is only $70.00. Oh, neat, it also comes with a $30.00 rebate! I don't buy for the rebate, if I like the $70.00 price then I knew right up front that's what I'll be paying. If the manufacturer actually pays out the $30.00, then that's a bonus.

Small claims court.

[Hamster Lover]

I've posted this story before so I won't go into a lot of detail, but my brother (the anal retentive one in the family) against my advice bought one of those too good to be true CD-R spindle deals where the rebate is just about as much as the purchase price of the spindle pack.

Months later and after much friendly teasing from me without even the hint of a rebate, my brother got angry and filed a small claims suit against them that was ultimately successful. After maybe an hour or two of research and an afternoon at the courthouse he received his rebate along with all of the expenses incurred in pursuing his claim. I was actually surprised at how simple the process was and effective the outcome.

My point is, there are ways you can get that rebate without incurring any cost to you.

Re:Rebates are a scam

[thue]

This crap should be illegal.

In my country, Denmark, it is indeed illegal. From what I understand, I am glad it is so.

Did I mention that we have never had your problem with telemarketing either? Or that email and SMS spam is strictly illegal and swiftly and harshly prosecuted?

Or that we actually have an efficient and respected state department which looks after consumer rights in cases like deceptive marketing and defective products? For example they recently went after Apple when Apple refused to repair faulty macBooks.

Sometimes, more and more frequently lately, I am glad I don't live in the US.