Then pressing fast-forward to go over the commercials and trailers, then hit play again when the actual movie starts.
With DVDs you don't have to worry about that, since the fast forward buttons are disabled when the commercials come on.
Easier, right... Now sit and watch 10 minutes of commercials every time you put the dvd in. No, it won't let you bypass it. Sit and enjoy the commercials, whore.
Haha If you're interested, check out the hot deals forum, you can spend hours on there quite easily and spend / save a fair bit of money too;) Deal discussion is also an excellent place to go for financial advice, but that thread is probably the best single place on the net (that I've seen at least) for info on living cheaply. Of course, none of the hot deals work in Canada (ok, most don't) so I've been experiencing withdrawal symptoms since I moved up here:(
Had you actually read my post, you would of have seen "the problems started happening a year or so". Up to that point the cords had no problems (and I still have a pair of these from back then). Then Sony changed something (I recall hearing something about moving manufacturing from Korea to China) and turned a quality product into shit. If you can get an old set, they are great, but the news ones are crap. Like I said, read the reviews on amazon, etc. BTW, the 51s seem to have more of a problem than the 71s, but both exhibit the same problem. Only difference I can see is the cord is a bit longer.
NO! No, No! These earbuds (along with the MDR-EX51LPs) suffer from a very serious defect - the cords turn gummy and then dissolve after a matter of months, exposing the bare wires (and then breaking shortly thereafter) - usually right after the 90 day warranty expires. Don't trust me, go on amazon and read the reviews. Virtually every one posted after March 2005 is negative (yet Amazon keeps the high rated reviews up, but that is a different story)
Sony has known about this issue for quite some time (the problems started happening a year or so), but keeps selling this defective product. Shocking, given their terrific history, eh?
This isn't to say that they sound really good and block a lot of sound, but they just don't last. AVOID and get a pair of some of the other ones in this thread (the shures seem to be popular)
The guy was complaining that his company is missing significant business opportunities. Translation: The company is missing significant business opportunities that he could have been instrumental in acting upon.
So? As you've said, if you have hopes and aspirations and a need to pay for your kid's education, you'll need to move up the ladder. The last place you will want to stay is in a company this is effectively crippled by their internal policies.
If they can't see the light, and have put in place such a bureaucracy, the company deserves to lose not only money but also quality employees. And seeing how they would lay you off if they missed expectations by 2 cents a share, they deserve absolutely no loyalty. Fuck 'em, leave and go somewhere where you can put your skills to good use.
Remember folks, the police are there to protect you*!
*Well, sort of. Several cases have ruled that the police do not have to protect you, nor respond to your calls for help. It is perfectly legal for a police officer to sit back and eat crispy cremes instead of answering a 911 call. Moreover, you have no civil remedy against the police - either the organization or the officer - if something bad does happen to you or your family.
Goddamn buggy software. It bluescreened my computer and now it keeps rebooting. Looks like I'm going to have to reinstall as soon as I find my cd. Dammit!
Drugs laws already make this distinction. Because if he burned the CD for his own use, the drug law equivilent is "Possession". If he burned the 500 or whatever number, he could be charged with "Possession with intent to distribute".
Please, possession with intent to distribute would be 2 or 3 copies if you are going to compare it with the drugs laws in the USA.
Which, really, is the exact same thing - especially when you consider the substandard medical care in prisons and the transmission of hiv and other diseases between inmates. Now, I realize that you might say "well, that judge is batshit crazy and should be removed from the bench, so it isn't really a fair comparison" but the fact of the matter is once on the bench, judges are almost never removed. For example, the judge who shaved his balls, used a penis pump and jerked off while presiding over a murder trial (in May '03) was still on the bench and doing the same shit in September '03. Yes, he eventually was removed, but if you were sentenced by the jerkin' judge your sentence still stands. The fact remains that the "justice" system has no effective checks and balances on the actions of judges, so if judges decide that they want to start handing out 30 year sentences for running stop signs, they can for the duration of their term and depending on local policies, even the worst rulings won't be available for review for several years after sentencing (the whole "you have to serve x% of your sentence before we look at your case thing)
The fact of the matter is that downloading a copy of a crime that somebody else committed is not the same as committing that crime yourself. Absolutely, but the judge was probably up for re-election and wanted to look "tough on crime". Add in a jury of impressionable idiots and you get the result of this case. Speaking of the jury, they are completely to blame for the results of this case. They could of have nipped it in the bud at the trial and called bullshit on the prosecutor's argument, but they didn't and this had to go to appeal.
Just don't fuck up the forms- really, they aren't all that complex, are they? And how hard is it to sit down for five minutes when you get home, address an envelope or two, fill out the slip on the reciept, cut out the UPC and drop it all in the mail? If my experience with a couple dozen best buy and staples rebates is any indication, most of the people bitching about their rebates here are either: 1. Sloppy 2. Procrastinators
So I guess that all the people who spent the time to find the head office of the particular store who didn't send them their rebate, spent the time to find out out which regional BBB office is responsible for them and then file a BBB claim are just slackers. And hey, there can't be all that many of them - it isn't as if some companies have hundreds of BBB complaints againt them (because of rebate issues) or that compusa got kicked out of the bbb a few years ago or anything. Nah, everything is fine, clearly the only people who don't get rebates are sloppy procrastinators.
I agree with you 100% I bought a drive from them last fall. You're not alone. But clearly some companies don't care about having a bad rep. Now, this isn't to say that some people have had good experiences with them, but I hear a lot more horror stories than good ones.
I had much better results with a rebate from a Staples purchase (info submitted online). I'm generally very careful about opting-out of default mailing requests when submitting info, but I was getting spammed from them afterwards (at least it was only from them). It took several calls to their customer service number before the spam stopped (the first two times they said it was handled, but it kept coming)
I've been pimping staples in a couple other responses (while being, heheh, as you've seen, not so nice to some other companies). They were the first retailer that I've seen that has done a good job with rebates (ok, maybe costco as well, but are they really a retailer?), and they are generally customer friendly, so I'm sort of surprised about the spam thing.
BTW, Staples is probably the only company I don't mind receiving spam for because often they throw a decent coupon code in every few emails, instead of the standard "look what we have on special" garbage. Heck, if you're strapped for cash, you can even sell the coupon code on ebay for $4ish (seriously, check it out, it is pretty funny). A $30 off $150 code is a nice thing to stack onto an order where you pricematched something, got their low price guarantee, have a rebate on that something and also got a couple percent back by using their business account (in addition to cashback on your credit card.) If you do it right, you can easily make money by buying there - to hit the $150 limit, buy norton and symantec av, use the upgrader rebate on each to get both for free (send in symantec manual to norton and vice versa) and then add a few bucks of stuff:) They sometimes have some decent, but cheap furniture from time to time as well. If you check out the fatwallet.com forums, you'll see some pretty good examples where people are making a fair bit of money on an order.
You can ask the court to sieze the company's assets to pay you. This is usually in the form of a county sherrif going to the corporation's nearest office, padlocking the doors, and auctioning off the property. Usually this gets the company to pay rather quickly.
True, but the cost for the sherrif to do this usually exceeds the size of the award (the ones near here charge you to do it, I'm sort of assuming the same thing happens in the rest of the country). I don't believe that I've ever heard of a rebate case brought by a single person that has resulted in punitive damages - and only 1 or 2 cases where the judge awarded the rebate amount plus court fees, etc. If anyone knows of any such cases, please post below.
If I feel especially vengeful, one day, I might actually do something like you suggest, even if it costs me some money >:)
Good luck collecting, even if you do win. A win in small claims court does not mean that you will get your money. You can also file a BBB and a FTC complaint. Once you do that, you will usually get a call in a few days from someone who isn't one of the mouthbreathers in their call center.
It really pisses me off that he groups those together, like people who bought a discounted computer are just as bad as those who are getting rebate checks from items they've already returned to the store.
Absolutely. The head of Best Buy has an "interesting viewpoint" on the people who support his stores. I won't mince words, he goes on batshit insane rants about his customers pretty often, and seems to think that he is entitled to make profit (and as such, anyone who costs him profit by using a coupon, pricematching, etc is stealing directly from him), but that really isn't the issue. I have no problem with them validating rebates and punishing people who submit rebates and then return a product. Shit, if it becomes a pattern, take them to court or even have the DA file charges, but as you said, there is a difference between someone who engages in fraud and someone who wants to get a good deal and uses a pricematch and a coupon on an item that also has a rebate.
Speaking of which - they already have a computerized validation system for rebates that apparently takes data from their POS system, if you return something, your rebate submission will be rejected. The 2 year timeline is completely unrealistic and is, quite frankly bullshit (many others have pointed this out)
It also pisses me off that they are angry that some customers are forcing them to really honor the terms THEY MADE UP about price matching...
Oh. My. FSM. Pricematching at Best Buy is like dealing with a schizophrenic. You never know what is allowed and what isn't. Sometimes you can use a coupon with a pricematch, sometimes you can't, sometimes the coupon price is subtracted from the pricematch, sometimes the after rebate price is used - it goes on and on and is really annoying. Even the stuff on the "pricematching sign" can be completely ignored by the managers. Managers will just shrug their shoulders when you read the sign to them and say something like "Well, that's how it is" as if you are in an episode of the Sopranos.
To their credit, they have been cementing their position on several issues, although virtually every single policy change that they have set in stone has been hostile to their customers. Many of their rebates now specifically state that the rebate is not valid if a pricematch is performed on the item (terms like this were on the WD HDD rebate I filed about 6 months ago) and there are other examples. I really don't care, their prices aren't competitive on the items that I purchase (techie stuff) and the hassle isn't worth it either. To say nothing of the fact that a lot of items that they have good prices on are on perpetual backorder or are cancelled with no explanation given (During the black friday weekend, they cancelled several of my orders - a laptop, a Radeon X700 and something else, but they charged my card as soon as I placed the order, and didn't refund it until several days later)
Why are people so negative about rebates on/.? Because I have caught rebate companies lying to my face more times than I can remember. As have many, many others. Did you miss the BBB link where hundreds of people filed complaints against TigerDirect, primarily for rebate problems? Did you not see how TigerDirect simply ignored those complaints? It isn't just them - CompUSA got kicked out of the BBB for rebate (and other) "issues" (not just an unsatisfactory rating) a while back and there are tens of thousands of people who have taken the time to find the corporate office of a company, find the regional BBB office responsible for that region and filed a complaint. That usually takes a half hour - at least - to do - and most people don't spend the time to do it. CompUSA even had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in rebate claims.
Sure it's a gimmick to get you to buy something and forget to claim your rebate, but that's *your* fault, not the retailer's.
Claiming that something wasn't received by X date when you have the usps delivery confirmation tracking screen on your monitor stating that it was isn't anyone's "fault", it is criminal behavior, especially when you add in the fact that they aren't sending you a check even though you jumped through their hoops.
I've never had a problem with any rebate I've ever submitted, and lately I'm getting them back faster than ever. I guess you're lucky then. I have to admit, a lot of companies have started to get their act together, I even got a best buy rebate about 4 months ago (and they screwed me on several rebates before that). Seagate got their shit together when it came to rebates about 6 months ago (apparently a system upgrade was a dismal failure, but they overcame it) and a lot of other companies have started to realize that the negative pr isn't worth it. Still, it is pretty common to not get a rebate check in 6-8 weeks as promised, but in 9 or 10. To me (and I realize that this isn't how the legal community generally views it) even something as simple as this is a breach of contract and should be punished accordingly. Maybe I'm just simple or something and just expect that if they say "if you do this and this, we will send you this" they actually intend to do it. I think the shady rebate houses will die off soon - mainly because the stores face liability for the behavior of the rebate houses due to the FTC ruling - either that or get their act together, but the entire industry is built on corruption. It seems inevitable that unethical people will try to get into this industry in the future. That said, you have been fortunate, a lot of people have had much worse experiences.
It should be added that Staples is one of the (if not the) most customer friendly box stores out there. Although I suppose it depends on the manager, I've never had a problem doing a pricematch and using one of their coupons (if you sign up for their catalog, you get a $30 off $150 coupon every month) and you can also save a couple percent if you use their business card (you get a check at the end of every quarter for 2% (or something) of your purchases). Also, I'm pretty sure that their free shipping if you buy $X doesn't exclude everything and their in-store clearance deals are usually really good (I got a zip drive with 5 zip disks for $20 and a $50 rebate printed out (so -$30 total price) when zip drives were still worth something)
In the rare case that one of the chat CSRs decline a pricematch, you can always try again and you'll get a friendly CSR that does. Or be nice when you call in and you'll be given the pricematch. That said, when they switched to a different rebate house (a few months back) I had to call in and get my rebates shipped, but the person who I spoke with spoke english without an accent and was very pleasant to deal with and I've never had to lift a finger after doing the online submission again. If you think I'm shilling, take a look at my posting history, I'm highly critical of dishonest retailers (and don't mince words). It is a shame that they don't sell more tech stuff, it would be nice to deal with them more often.
Tigerdirect has had problems with rebates in the past has a unsatisfactory BBB record due to a pattern of customer complaints. Their new "rebate guarantee" is bullshit. It has you shell out $5 for certified mail for a $8 rebate (on a lot of items, the "rebate price" is broken up into several rebates, each going to a different address).
Don't believe me? Click here for the BBB report. They have also settled (we know what that means) with the FTC for doing shady stuff with "warranties" on the products they sell. They are fucking scumbags, they don't even answer most of their complaints, pure and simple.
As for your situation, try filing a complaint with the BBB, the FTC and possibly with the Attorney General for your state. When the mouthbreathers in the call center "cannot do anything more for you", that is your next step. Except in cases like the shitbags above, you will generally get a reasonable person calling you within a few days and your problem will be taken care of. Good luck
chibbie writes "Best Buy is finally working towards ending mail-in rebates by 2007. Rebates will still be around, but you will be able to file them online, and receive your check much quicker. I guess this means Best Buy doesn't hate their customers after all."
Bullshit. Filing rebates online eliminates a paper trail, which will allow them to sit back and say, "whoops, you entered a number wrong, you don't get your rebate" or "whoops, you didn't submit on time, sorry, no rebate", or even "whoops, we never got your submission, sorry." The rebate companies hate the fact that customers keep copies of their rebate submissions - especially if they have delivery confirmation numbers that prove that they are lying. A copy with a delivery confirmation number is damn near irrefutable evidence in small claims court, even though collecting from some of the clearing houses is nearly impossible because they move around, change their names, etc so much. This might be a slightly cynical response, but really, how many of the people here haven't had to put up with bullshit (defined as the rebate company lying) when trying to get a rebate in the past? Of course, the only punishment companies get is a small fine and a "warning" from the FTC. Fraud on such a scale should be punished by jail time of executives, but, of course, that won't happen. And yes, boys and girls, sending out thousands of postcards stating "sorry, you didn't send your submission by the postmark date" when they know that you did, is fraud. Not paying out the rebate even when you send in proof / give them the tracking number that clearly states that it was mailed and delivered on x dates, is something else.
(I'm looking at you logitech, you fuckers still owe me $20)
Tell you what. You give me a billion dollars and I'll kick each of you as hard as I can in the balls. Ten times. I'm pretty sure that in 5 years each and every one of you will look back and wish you had taken my option.
I'm trying not to be a jerk about this, but the person who posted the "bring out your dead" monty python skit hit the nail right on the head.
I don't know where you live, but buying a firearm illegally was quite easy where I used to live and Portland, Oregon isn't exactly one of the hotbeds of crime in the USA. I can only imagine that it would be much, much, much simpler to get firearms in Detroit or somewhere else. In any case, it doesn't get any more convienient than "here's some money, thanks for the gun." Hell, you can even bargain. There are millions of firearms available for sale illegally out there, and making it annoying for people to legally purchase won't exactly put much of a dent in what is out there. If you or your friends can find drugs, you can find guns. It is that easy.
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Then pressing fast-forward to go over the commercials and trailers, then hit play again when the actual movie starts.
With DVDs you don't have to worry about that, since the fast forward buttons are disabled when the commercials come on.
Easier, right...
Now sit and watch 10 minutes of commercials every time you put the dvd in. No, it won't let you bypass it. Sit and enjoy the commercials, whore.
Haha ;) :(
If you're interested, check out the hot deals forum, you can spend hours on there quite easily and spend / save a fair bit of money too
Deal discussion is also an excellent place to go for financial advice, but that thread is probably the best single place on the net (that I've seen at least) for info on living cheaply.
Of course, none of the hot deals work in Canada (ok, most don't) so I've been experiencing withdrawal symptoms since I moved up here
Had you actually read my post, you would of have seen "the problems started happening a year or so". Up to that point the cords had no problems (and I still have a pair of these from back then). Then Sony changed something (I recall hearing something about moving manufacturing from Korea to China) and turned a quality product into shit. If you can get an old set, they are great, but the news ones are crap.
Like I said, read the reviews on amazon, etc.
BTW, the 51s seem to have more of a problem than the 71s, but both exhibit the same problem. Only difference I can see is the cord is a bit longer.
This fatwallet thread "Living frugally without hardship" is a great start.
It is pretty long, but full of valuable information.
NO! No, No!
These earbuds (along with the MDR-EX51LPs) suffer from a very serious defect - the cords turn gummy and then dissolve after a matter of months, exposing the bare wires (and then breaking shortly thereafter) - usually right after the 90 day warranty expires. Don't trust me, go on amazon and read the reviews. Virtually every one posted after March 2005 is negative (yet Amazon keeps the high rated reviews up, but that is a different story)
Sony has known about this issue for quite some time (the problems started happening a year or so), but keeps selling this defective product. Shocking, given their terrific history, eh?
This isn't to say that they sound really good and block a lot of sound, but they just don't last.
AVOID and get a pair of some of the other ones in this thread (the shures seem to be popular)
The guy was complaining that his company is missing significant business opportunities. Translation: The company is missing significant business opportunities that he could have been instrumental in acting upon.
So?
As you've said, if you have hopes and aspirations and a need to pay for your kid's education, you'll need to move up the ladder. The last place you will want to stay is in a company this is effectively crippled by their internal policies.
If they can't see the light, and have put in place such a bureaucracy, the company deserves to lose not only money but also quality employees. And seeing how they would lay you off if they missed expectations by 2 cents a share, they deserve absolutely no loyalty. Fuck 'em, leave and go somewhere where you can put your skills to good use.
Actually, video is here.
Remember folks, the police are there to protect you*!
*Well, sort of. Several cases have ruled that the police do not have to protect you, nor respond to your calls for help. It is perfectly legal for a police officer to sit back and eat crispy cremes instead of answering a 911 call. Moreover, you have no civil remedy against the police - either the organization or the officer - if something bad does happen to you or your family.
Goddamn buggy software. It bluescreened my computer and now it keeps rebooting. Looks like I'm going to have to reinstall as soon as I find my cd.
Dammit!
Drugs laws already make this distinction. Because if he burned the CD for his own use, the drug law equivilent is "Possession". If he burned the 500 or whatever number, he could be charged with "Possession with intent to distribute".
Please, possession with intent to distribute would be 2 or 3 copies if you are going to compare it with the drugs laws in the USA.
No, but you do have judges who sentence minors (plea of no contest) to 30 years in prison for doing so.
http://davidfeige.blogspot.com/2005/11/sick-ric-g
Which, really, is the exact same thing - especially when you consider the substandard medical care in prisons and the transmission of hiv and other diseases between inmates. Now, I realize that you might say "well, that judge is batshit crazy and should be removed from the bench, so it isn't really a fair comparison" but the fact of the matter is once on the bench, judges are almost never removed.
For example, the judge who shaved his balls, used a penis pump and jerked off while presiding over a murder trial (in May '03) was still on the bench and doing the same shit in September '03. Yes, he eventually was removed, but if you were sentenced by the jerkin' judge your sentence still stands.
The fact remains that the "justice" system has no effective checks and balances on the actions of judges, so if judges decide that they want to start handing out 30 year sentences for running stop signs, they can for the duration of their term and depending on local policies, even the worst rulings won't be available for review for several years after sentencing (the whole "you have to serve x% of your sentence before we look at your case thing)
The fact of the matter is that downloading a copy of a crime that somebody else committed is not the same as committing that crime yourself.
Absolutely, but the judge was probably up for re-election and wanted to look "tough on crime". Add in a jury of impressionable idiots and you get the result of this case. Speaking of the jury, they are completely to blame for the results of this case. They could of have nipped it in the bud at the trial and called bullshit on the prosecutor's argument, but they didn't and this had to go to appeal.
ditto.
Just don't fuck up the forms- really, they aren't all that complex, are they? And how hard is it to sit down for five minutes when you get home, address an envelope or two, fill out the slip on the reciept, cut out the UPC and drop it all in the mail?
If my experience with a couple dozen best buy and staples rebates is any indication, most of the people bitching about their rebates here are either:
1. Sloppy
2. Procrastinators
So I guess that all the people who spent the time to find the head office of the particular store who didn't send them their rebate, spent the time to find out out which regional BBB office is responsible for them and then file a BBB claim are just slackers.
And hey, there can't be all that many of them - it isn't as if some companies have hundreds of BBB complaints againt them (because of rebate issues) or that compusa got kicked out of the bbb a few years ago or anything.
Nah, everything is fine, clearly the only people who don't get rebates are sloppy procrastinators.
If you have their rewards card (free to sign up), you get free shipping on anything as well.
I agree with you 100% I bought a drive from them last fall.
:) They sometimes have some decent, but cheap furniture from time to time as well.
You're not alone. But clearly some companies don't care about having a bad rep. Now, this isn't to say that some people have had good experiences with them, but I hear a lot more horror stories than good ones.
I had much better results with a rebate from a Staples purchase (info submitted online). I'm generally very careful about opting-out of default mailing requests when submitting info, but I was getting spammed from them afterwards (at least it was only from them). It took several calls to their customer service number before the spam stopped (the first two times they said it was handled, but it kept coming)
I've been pimping staples in a couple other responses (while being, heheh, as you've seen, not so nice to some other companies). They were the first retailer that I've seen that has done a good job with rebates (ok, maybe costco as well, but are they really a retailer?), and they are generally customer friendly, so I'm sort of surprised about the spam thing.
BTW, Staples is probably the only company I don't mind receiving spam for because often they throw a decent coupon code in every few emails, instead of the standard "look what we have on special" garbage. Heck, if you're strapped for cash, you can even sell the coupon code on ebay for $4ish (seriously, check it out, it is pretty funny).
A $30 off $150 code is a nice thing to stack onto an order where you pricematched something, got their low price guarantee, have a rebate on that something and also got a couple percent back by using their business account (in addition to cashback on your credit card.)
If you do it right, you can easily make money by buying there - to hit the $150 limit, buy norton and symantec av, use the upgrader rebate on each to get both for free (send in symantec manual to norton and vice versa) and then add a few bucks of stuff
If you check out the fatwallet.com forums, you'll see some pretty good examples where people are making a fair bit of money on an order.
Easy to collect.
You can ask the court to sieze the company's assets to pay you. This is usually in the form of a county sherrif going to the corporation's nearest office, padlocking the doors, and auctioning off the property. Usually this gets the company to pay rather quickly.
True, but the cost for the sherrif to do this usually exceeds the size of the award (the ones near here charge you to do it, I'm sort of assuming the same thing happens in the rest of the country). I don't believe that I've ever heard of a rebate case brought by a single person that has resulted in punitive damages - and only 1 or 2 cases where the judge awarded the rebate amount plus court fees, etc. If anyone knows of any such cases, please post below.
If I feel especially vengeful, one day, I might actually do something like you suggest, even if it costs me some money >:)
The best is stores that won't match prices with their own online prices. "Oh, our webstore is a different division, and we don't pricematch with them.
I'm pretty sure Best Buy does this. And yes, it is really annoying.
Good luck collecting, even if you do win. A win in small claims court does not mean that you will get your money.
You can also file a BBB and a FTC complaint. Once you do that, you will usually get a call in a few days from someone who isn't one of the mouthbreathers in their call center.
It really pisses me off that he groups those together, like people who bought a discounted computer are just as bad as those who are getting rebate checks from items they've already returned to the store.
Absolutely. The head of Best Buy has an "interesting viewpoint" on the people who support his stores.
I won't mince words, he goes on batshit insane rants about his customers pretty often, and seems to think that he is entitled to make profit (and as such, anyone who costs him profit by using a coupon, pricematching, etc is stealing directly from him), but that really isn't the issue.
I have no problem with them validating rebates and punishing people who submit rebates and then return a product. Shit, if it becomes a pattern, take them to court or even have the DA file charges, but as you said, there is a difference between someone who engages in fraud and someone who wants to get a good deal and uses a pricematch and a coupon on an item that also has a rebate.
Speaking of which - they already have a computerized validation system for rebates that apparently takes data from their POS system, if you return something, your rebate submission will be rejected. The 2 year timeline is completely unrealistic and is, quite frankly bullshit (many others have pointed this out)
It also pisses me off that they are angry that some customers are forcing them to really honor the terms THEY MADE UP about price matching...
Oh. My. FSM.
Pricematching at Best Buy is like dealing with a schizophrenic. You never know what is allowed and what isn't. Sometimes you can use a coupon with a pricematch, sometimes you can't, sometimes the coupon price is subtracted from the pricematch, sometimes the after rebate price is used - it goes on and on and is really annoying.
Even the stuff on the "pricematching sign" can be completely ignored by the managers. Managers will just shrug their shoulders when you read the sign to them and say something like "Well, that's how it is" as if you are in an episode of the Sopranos.
To their credit, they have been cementing their position on several issues, although virtually every single policy change that they have set in stone has been hostile to their customers. Many of their rebates now specifically state that the rebate is not valid if a pricematch is performed on the item (terms like this were on the WD HDD rebate I filed about 6 months ago) and there are other examples.
I really don't care, their prices aren't competitive on the items that I purchase (techie stuff) and the hassle isn't worth it either. To say nothing of the fact that a lot of items that they have good prices on are on perpetual backorder or are cancelled with no explanation given (During the black friday weekend, they cancelled several of my orders - a laptop, a Radeon X700 and something else, but they charged my card as soon as I placed the order, and didn't refund it until several days later)
Why are people so negative about rebates on /.?
Because I have caught rebate companies lying to my face more times than I can remember. As have many, many others.
Did you miss the BBB link where hundreds of people filed complaints against TigerDirect, primarily for rebate problems? Did you not see how TigerDirect simply ignored those complaints?
It isn't just them - CompUSA got kicked out of the BBB for rebate (and other) "issues" (not just an unsatisfactory rating) a while back and there are tens of thousands of people who have taken the time to find the corporate office of a company, find the regional BBB office responsible for that region and filed a complaint. That usually takes a half hour - at least - to do - and most people don't spend the time to do it.
CompUSA even had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in rebate claims.
Sure it's a gimmick to get you to buy something and forget to claim your rebate, but that's *your* fault, not the retailer's.
Claiming that something wasn't received by X date when you have the usps delivery confirmation tracking screen on your monitor stating that it was isn't anyone's "fault", it is criminal behavior, especially when you add in the fact that they aren't sending you a check even though you jumped through their hoops.
I've never had a problem with any rebate I've ever submitted, and lately I'm getting them back faster than ever.
I guess you're lucky then. I have to admit, a lot of companies have started to get their act together, I even got a best buy rebate about 4 months ago (and they screwed me on several rebates before that). Seagate got their shit together when it came to rebates about 6 months ago (apparently a system upgrade was a dismal failure, but they overcame it) and a lot of other companies have started to realize that the negative pr isn't worth it.
Still, it is pretty common to not get a rebate check in 6-8 weeks as promised, but in 9 or 10. To me (and I realize that this isn't how the legal community generally views it) even something as simple as this is a breach of contract and should be punished accordingly.
Maybe I'm just simple or something and just expect that if they say "if you do this and this, we will send you this" they actually intend to do it. I think the shady rebate houses will die off soon - mainly because the stores face liability for the behavior of the rebate houses due to the FTC ruling - either that or get their act together, but the entire industry is built on corruption. It seems inevitable that unethical people will try to get into this industry in the future. That said, you have been fortunate, a lot of people have had much worse experiences.
It should be added that Staples is one of the (if not the) most customer friendly box stores out there.
Although I suppose it depends on the manager, I've never had a problem doing a pricematch and using one of their coupons (if you sign up for their catalog, you get a $30 off $150 coupon every month) and you can also save a couple percent if you use their business card (you get a check at the end of every quarter for 2% (or something) of your purchases). Also, I'm pretty sure that their free shipping if you buy $X doesn't exclude everything and their in-store clearance deals are usually really good (I got a zip drive with 5 zip disks for $20 and a $50 rebate printed out (so -$30 total price) when zip drives were still worth something)
In the rare case that one of the chat CSRs decline a pricematch, you can always try again and you'll get a friendly CSR that does. Or be nice when you call in and you'll be given the pricematch.
That said, when they switched to a different rebate house (a few months back) I had to call in and get my rebates shipped, but the person who I spoke with spoke english without an accent and was very pleasant to deal with and I've never had to lift a finger after doing the online submission again. If you think I'm shilling, take a look at my posting history, I'm highly critical of dishonest retailers (and don't mince words).
It is a shame that they don't sell more tech stuff, it would be nice to deal with them more often.
Tigerdirect has had problems with rebates in the past has a unsatisfactory BBB record due to a pattern of customer complaints.
Their new "rebate guarantee" is bullshit. It has you shell out $5 for certified mail for a $8 rebate (on a lot of items, the "rebate price" is broken up into several rebates, each going to a different address).
Don't believe me? Click here for the BBB report.
They have also settled (we know what that means) with the FTC for doing shady stuff with "warranties" on the products they sell.
They are fucking scumbags, they don't even answer most of their complaints, pure and simple.
As for your situation, try filing a complaint with the BBB, the FTC and possibly with the Attorney General for your state. When the mouthbreathers in the call center "cannot do anything more for you", that is your next step. Except in cases like the shitbags above, you will generally get a reasonable person calling you within a few days and your problem will be taken care of.
Good luck
chibbie writes "Best Buy is finally working towards ending mail-in rebates by 2007. Rebates will still be around, but you will be able to file them online, and receive your check much quicker. I guess this means Best Buy doesn't hate their customers after all."
Bullshit. Filing rebates online eliminates a paper trail, which will allow them to sit back and say, "whoops, you entered a number wrong, you don't get your rebate" or "whoops, you didn't submit on time, sorry, no rebate", or even "whoops, we never got your submission, sorry."
The rebate companies hate the fact that customers keep copies of their rebate submissions - especially if they have delivery confirmation numbers that prove that they are lying.
A copy with a delivery confirmation number is damn near irrefutable evidence in small claims court, even though collecting from some of the clearing houses is nearly impossible because they move around, change their names, etc so much.
This might be a slightly cynical response, but really, how many of the people here haven't had to put up with bullshit (defined as the rebate company lying) when trying to get a rebate in the past?
Of course, the only punishment companies get is a small fine and a "warning" from the FTC. Fraud on such a scale should be punished by jail time of executives, but, of course, that won't happen.
And yes, boys and girls, sending out thousands of postcards stating "sorry, you didn't send your submission by the postmark date" when they know that you did, is fraud. Not paying out the rebate even when you send in proof / give them the tracking number that clearly states that it was mailed and delivered on x dates, is something else.
(I'm looking at you logitech, you fuckers still owe me $20)
Get it right "fenceBay"
Tell you what.
You give me a billion dollars and I'll kick each of you as hard as I can in the balls.
Ten times.
I'm pretty sure that in 5 years each and every one of you will look back and wish you had taken my option.
I'm trying not to be a jerk about this, but the person who posted the "bring out your dead" monty python skit hit the nail right on the head.
I don't know where you live, but buying a firearm illegally was quite easy where I used to live and Portland, Oregon isn't exactly one of the hotbeds of crime in the USA. I can only imagine that it would be much, much, much simpler to get firearms in Detroit or somewhere else.
In any case, it doesn't get any more convienient than "here's some money, thanks for the gun." Hell, you can even bargain. There are millions of firearms available for sale illegally out there, and making it annoying for people to legally purchase won't exactly put much of a dent in what is out there.
If you or your friends can find drugs, you can find guns. It is that easy.