It's like the old saying... You can satisfy all of the people some of the time and you can satisfy some of the people all the time. We don't live in a perfect world.
I work for the largest rebate fulfillment processor in the US (GFS/Young America) in our Tempe, AZ office. I can't speak officially for our company, but I can give you the facts based on my 1 1/2 years of working for my employer.
I back up the other person who works for one of our competitors. Lots of thought, effort, and programming time goes into every offer we handle to ensure that every qualifying consumer will get their promised rebate in a timely matter. We don't make the rebates, we only process them as the client requests us to and some are more strict than others in their requirements. Make sure you read over what the offer is requiring you to submit and if you have any questions then call up the customer service number beforehand to clarify anything. If you don't receive your rebate in time or it is not what you were expecting, then you need to call our customer service.
As much negative press that companies get about rebates, people don't know that they're usually getting the better end of the deal. I've seen lots of offer change requests come across my desk from the clients requesting to extend submission deadlines, allowing photocopies of submission materials, and lots of other additional changes that weren't on the original offer form. In other words, they're actually helping you and trying to make sure that *more* of you will qualify for your rebate.
Personally, I hate rebates and will highly prefer any product without a MIR over one that does. I know I wouldn't have a job if rebates didn't exist, but I still don't like them. I admit that lots of advertising is misleading since the post-rebate price is the one prominently advertised... sorry to break it to you, but the company is in business to make money and low prices attract consumers. If Best Buy gets lots of complaints about rebates then it's their own fault for the misleading advertising, but it's also the fault of the consumer for not being smart or observant enough to read the fine print below the sales price that shows the price breakdown.
In short, a large part of the industry *is* really trying hard to make sure rebates are easier and more fair for everyone. It would definitely hurt us and our clients if Best Buy did try this, but ultimately it is up to the individual manufacturers whether or not they will keep doing rebates or not. Lots of the larger companies like SanDisk, Hewlett-Packard/Compaq, and Linksys get a lot of their rebate submissions from Best Buy stores, but there are lots of other stores like CompUSA, Fry's Electronics, and Circuit City that sell their products as well. The stores can ask the manufacturers to stop rebates, but they can't force them stop. I doubt rebates will completely go away, but rather will continue to change and evolve into something similar to the Staples EasyRebates program.
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It's like the old saying... You can satisfy all of the people some of the time and you can satisfy some of the people all the time. We don't live in a perfect world.
I work for the largest rebate fulfillment processor in the US (GFS/Young America) in our Tempe, AZ office. I can't speak officially for our company, but I can give you the facts based on my 1 1/2 years of working for my employer.
I back up the other person who works for one of our competitors. Lots of thought, effort, and programming time goes into every offer we handle to ensure that every qualifying consumer will get their promised rebate in a timely matter. We don't make the rebates, we only process them as the client requests us to and some are more strict than others in their requirements. Make sure you read over what the offer is requiring you to submit and if you have any questions then call up the customer service number beforehand to clarify anything. If you don't receive your rebate in time or it is not what you were expecting, then you need to call our customer service.
As much negative press that companies get about rebates, people don't know that they're usually getting the better end of the deal. I've seen lots of offer change requests come across my desk from the clients requesting to extend submission deadlines, allowing photocopies of submission materials, and lots of other additional changes that weren't on the original offer form. In other words, they're actually helping you and trying to make sure that *more* of you will qualify for your rebate.
Personally, I hate rebates and will highly prefer any product without a MIR over one that does. I know I wouldn't have a job if rebates didn't exist, but I still don't like them. I admit that lots of advertising is misleading since the post-rebate price is the one prominently advertised... sorry to break it to you, but the company is in business to make money and low prices attract consumers. If Best Buy gets lots of complaints about rebates then it's their own fault for the misleading advertising, but it's also the fault of the consumer for not being smart or observant enough to read the fine print below the sales price that shows the price breakdown.
In short, a large part of the industry *is* really trying hard to make sure rebates are easier and more fair for everyone. It would definitely hurt us and our clients if Best Buy did try this, but ultimately it is up to the individual manufacturers whether or not they will keep doing rebates or not. Lots of the larger companies like SanDisk, Hewlett-Packard/Compaq, and Linksys get a lot of their rebate submissions from Best Buy stores, but there are lots of other stores like CompUSA, Fry's Electronics, and Circuit City that sell their products as well. The stores can ask the manufacturers to stop rebates, but they can't force them stop. I doubt rebates will completely go away, but rather will continue to change and evolve into something similar to the Staples EasyRebates program.