Rebates?

P

P T

The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)
 
R

ropeyarn

P said:
The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)

I have never had a problem (but keep copies of everything, and then
check by phone/online as soon as they are due!).

I realize my experience is not the experience of others....
 
J

john doe

(e-mail address removed) (P T) wrote
The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.
What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?
(My experiences have been hit and miss.)

Out of maybe two or three rebate requests, I sent one ($20) for purchasing
a Zoom modem and never got the rebate.

I look to see if the product I am looking at has a rebate. If so, I move on
to the next item.

Rebate offers disclaim responsibility. They are not responsible if your
rebate request form gets lost in the mail. They are not responsible if
their staff misplaces your rebate request form. They just aren't
responsible. Therefore they are illegitimate offers, IMO, not worth wasting
time considering.
 
J

john doe

(e-mail address removed) wrote
P T wrote:

I have never had a problem

I guess you're just blessed [sarcasm].
(but keep copies of everything, and then
check by phone/online as soon as they are due!).

Doesn't matter if they lose your request. They aren't responsible.
 
R

Ruel Smith

P said:
The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)

I've only one positive experience and am waiting on another rebate.
We'll see if it gets here.
 
B

Bob Knowlden

I read a few years ago a claim that rebates are a psychological ploy, as
85% of customers who buy products under rebate never manage to send them in.
I live in Connecticut, which has an interesting law: prices in
advertisements must be the *before rebate* prices, with the rebates listed
separately. Even so, I still buy things under rebate.

If the rebate is sizeable (>$20US), I have used certified mail to maintain a
record of the transaction. (It's intended to be a polite form of mild
intimidation. Cost is about $2, plus a trip to the post office.)

On a couple of occasions, I've received notification (by a post card or,
more recently, by email) that a rebate was rejected. I took the trouble of
finding telephone contact information. When I called, the rebate was
reinstated. I was not told why the rebate was rejected in the first place.

Most sellers seem to use rebate fulfillment firms rather than doing rebates
in-house. You'll be dealing with the fulfillment company rather than the
maker or seller, if there's a problem. I doubt that the people who work for
such companies are highly paid.

I can only recall one rebate that I've sent in the last five years that I
didn't receive. I probably would have gotten that one if I had followed
through on it - I was distracted by changing jobs, states, and time zones.

Only you can decide whether your cost savings are worth the potential
aggarvation.

Bob Knowlden

Address may be scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
A

Al Smith

The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)

Rebates are a pain in the ass. I send them in because I can't
afford to ignore them, and because I'm cheap, but I can see why
someone with lots of money wouldn't bother. They make the rebate
forms microscopic so that you have to fit a jeweler's loop to your
eye to fill in your name and address. Then they force you to jump
through hoops copying receipts, cutting out proof of purchase, and
giving them your e-mail address. Out of about a dozen claims over
the last few years, I've been stiffed a couple of times. It is
worth the annoyance for me when buying something such as a large
harddrive or DVD drive, since the savings can be upwards of $80.

I'm waiting for an upgrade rebate now from Symantic for Drive
Image 7. Supposed to get back $30 US. Everything is jake with what
I sent in except the rebate form itself. It's a generic form, not
attached to any store, and good until early 2005, but according to
the printed instructions I was supposed to send in the actual form
itself, and I didn't have it, so I copied it off the Internet and
printed it up, double sided. It's identical to the original form,
same text, same size, but whether the bastards will reject it
because it was reproduced, I don't know.
 
J

jaster

The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer? Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)


Rebates suck big time because of the hassles, waiting, etc. Even when you
get the rebate it still sucks.

When you are looking for equipment don't purchase based on the rebated
price base your decision on whether it is worth buying for the price
without rebate.

Some rebate house guarantee vendors unfulfilled rebates as high as 30%.
 
R

ropeyarn

john said:
(e-mail address removed) wrote
P T wrote:

I have never had a problem

I guess you're just blessed [sarcasm].
(but keep copies of everything, and then
check by phone/online as soon as they are due!).

Doesn't matter if they lose your request. They aren't responsible.


I follow the directions...to the letter. I keep copies of what I send. I
call, email or check online when the processing time has run out. As a
result, I've never had one lost or rejected (22 fulfilled since 1998;
average value: $28. High single item: 150. Low: $5).

Retailers are counting on you (1) not sending the stuff in, and (2) not
doing it correctly in order to minimize the total redemption rate (which
is, not surprisingly, directly related to the size of the rebate). With
normal redemption rates, they still give up less revenue than with an
across the board discount...which is why rebates are so prevalent a
tactic in a market where the margins are already razor thin.

But: I never choose a product just because it has a rebate. It can be a
tie-breaker between two equally capable products, but it is never the
principal requirement.

I know others have had bad experiences. Mine have been good. I assume
this is not because the rebate fullfillment organizations are
fundamentally honest, but because I am fundamentally organized in my
approach to them.
 
J

Jim

The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)

If I spot an item on sale at those retailers I generally jot down the
data of manufacturer and model, price, rebate, etc. When I get home I
compare that against what I find at NewEgg. Most of the time I find
the online price to be cheaper than what the bottom line would have
been locally counting the rebates. Much rather wait two days for the
package to arrive instead of six months for a questionable rebate.

For those that read Computer Shopper they have an article regarding
this same subject.
 
B

Bob M

P said:
The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)

Personally I have stopped buying anything from these stores that
require a rebate. I refuse to jump through the rebate hoop. I buy online
from Newegg or others. Prices are better even after the rebate scams.

Bob
 
L

larrymoencurly

The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)

The best place for information about rebates and solving rebate
problems is www.fatwallet.com , in the "Rebate Tracking" forum.

Based on hundreds of submissions I've made, 75% of the rebates came
through with no problem, meaning that the check arrived no more than
thirty days late. Of the rest, half were late, and half required
contacting the rebate processor and sometimes resubmitting the
information.

Keep copies of not only the receipt and proof of purchase (usually the
UPC bar code) but also the rebate form (rebate processors sometimes
have different terms & conditions on file than what the forms say),
the advertisement showing the rebate offer, and any e-mails or letters
from the processing company. Start checking with the rebate processor
two weeks after submitting, and check at least every month thereafter,
even though they normally tell you to wait at least eight weeks,
because if you wait too long and don't get your money, they may claim
that there's nothing they can do. If your rebate doesn't show up at
their website, phone because you may get different information by
phone than by Internet. And if it still doesn't show up, speak with a
live person because they may be able to access information not
available otherwise.

According to someone who sued over a rebate in small claims court, the
court clerk told him that the store is responsible for fulfilling the
rebate, at least if they advertised the offer. Most stores are good
about helping customers when a rebate doesn't go through, even if it's
the manufacturer's, but I've found that Best Buy is the exception.
They're usually reliable at delivering the checks, but if something
goes wrong they'll go into Brad Anderson Cult Mode and simply deny,
deny, deny, even if you prove to them that they made a mistake (I had
a rebate form with a misprinted eligibility date). Best Buy is one of
the most dishonest national store chains in existence.

The best rebate processors are Young America (Minnesota), another
company in St. Cloud, Minnesota, a company in Clinton, Iowa, and
Parago (Texas, Florida). People have reported problems with a company
in Walled Lake, Michigan and with one of the processors in Arizona
(Continental Promotions, which also has an address in Niagara Falls,
New York), although I've been having good luck with the other AZ
company, Global Fulfillment (submission status online in 3-10 days,
but when a late July submission didn't show up, I resubmitted by
toll-free fax and got the check in a week). Many people think that
TCA Fulfillment, in New Rochelle, New York, is the worst processor,
and a few years ago most of my submissions became "lost", including a
resubmission. If you have problems with them, try contacting user
"tcacares" in the Fatwallet.com rebate forum because he's the company
president.
 
M

Matt

larrymoencurly said:
Most stores are good
about helping customers when a rebate doesn't go through, even if it's
the manufacturer's, but I've found that Best Buy is the exception.
They're usually reliable at delivering the checks, but if something
goes wrong they'll go into Brad Anderson Cult Mode and simply deny,
deny, deny, even if you prove to them that they made a mistake (I had
a rebate form with a misprinted eligibility date). Best Buy is one of
the most dishonest national store chains in existence.

If they don't want to fulfill the rebates or other specials, they
shouldn't be offering them. They remind of a casino that kicks out
anybody who wins regularly.

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/business/2004/07/08whendemoncustom.html

When 'demon customers' attack
They monopolize salespeople. They abuse rebates and returns. What's a
retailer to do?

By JOSHUA FREED
Associated Press
07/08/2004

MINNEAPOLIS -- So much for the customer always being right.

Some retailers are deciding that the customer can be very, very wrong -
as in unprofitable. And some, including Best Buy Co. Inc., are
discriminating between profitable customers and shoppers they lose money
on.
 
J

jaster

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 10:38:29 -0700, larrymoencurly while doing time wrote:

[snip]
Based on hundreds of submissions I've made, 75% of the rebates came
through with no problem, meaning that the check arrived no more than
thirty days late. Of the rest, half were late, and half required
contacting the rebate processor and sometimes resubmitting the
information.

Keep copies of not only the receipt and proof of purchase (usually the
UPC bar code) but also the rebate form (rebate processors sometimes have
different terms & conditions on file than what the forms say), the
advertisement showing the rebate offer, and any e-mails or letters from
the processing company. Start checking with the rebate processor two
weeks after submitting, and check at least every month thereafter, even
though they normally tell you to wait at least eight weeks, because if
you wait too long and don't get your money, they may claim that there's
nothing they can do. If your rebate doesn't show up at their website,
phone because you may get different information by phone than by
Internet.
And if it still doesn't show up, speak with a live person because they
may be able to access information not available otherwise.

According to someone who sued over a rebate in small claims court, the
court clerk told him that the store is responsible for fulfilling the
rebate, at least if they advertised the offer. Most stores are good
about helping customers when a rebate doesn't go through, even if it's
the manufacturer's, but I've found that Best Buy is the exception.
They're usually reliable at delivering the checks, but if something goes
wrong they'll go into Brad Anderson Cult Mode and simply deny, deny,
deny, even if you prove to them that they made a mistake (I had a rebate
form with a misprinted eligibility date). Best Buy is one of the most
dishonest national store chains in existence.

The best rebate processors are Young America (Minnesota), another
company in St. Cloud, Minnesota, a company in Clinton, Iowa, and Parago
(Texas, Florida). People have reported problems with a company in
Walled Lake,7 Michigan and with one of the processors in Arizona
(Continental Promotions, which also has an address in Niagara Falls, New
York), although I've been having good luck with the other AZ company,
Global Fulfillment (submission status online in 3-10 days, but when a
late July submission didn't show up, I resubmitted by toll-free fax and
got the check in a week). Many people think that TCA Fulfillment, in
New Rochelle, New York, is the worst processor, and a few years ago most
of my submissions became "lost", including a resubmission. If you have
problems with them, try contacting user "tcacares" in the Fatwallet.com
rebate forum because he's the company president.

Good for you but the issue for me is the plain and simple deceptive
merchandising and practices for vendors. A person shouldn't have to go
through time trials, return receipts, calling vendors to get the rebate.
Coupons are good instantaneous, rebates still suck even if you get the
rebate.

Manufacturers get tax breaks for depreciation, expenses etc. they
get to charge a fair price for their products, most of which is
manufactured overseas anyway.

I wish everyone would together for a no-rebates month where no rebated
products are purchased and everyone writes to the same 1 or 2
manufacturers asking for a change in rebate policy otherwise no one buys
from those vendors. Each year pick 2 other vendors. Vendors
listen to boycotts.

I propose changing rebate policies for all products to make vendors accept
rebate receipts as original receipts, with original UPCs, without
requiring customer phone numbers (because they will never call about your
rebate and sell that info anyway) and vendors must accept rebates
postmarked 30 days after from the last date of the rebate sale. Also
rebates must be fulfilled within 10 weeks after the 30 days postmark
period which gives them 14 weeks from day one of a sale. Then if a
customer didn't follow the rules no foul.

Half the now rebates are up before one has a chance to verify the
equipment works or before the return policy expires.
 
K

Krutibas Biswal

The ads from Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, etc., always have memory,
hds, etc., at killer prices, after a rebate.

What is your experience with such offer?
Did they pay you as promised?
Deny your rebate?
Ignore your rebate?

(My experiences have been hit and miss.)

I have been lucky to have received all the rebates that I have used
in the past (more than 20). In my experience, Amazon.com rebates have
been quick (on time) and with no hassles. You check their online rebate
status check and keep track of your rebate as it goes thru several
processing steps. I have bought cell phones from Amazon with $200
rebates and I got it within 4 weeks. I always follow these steps :

- Make a copy of the receipt, the UPC code, the rebate form and
everything else that you are sending for a rebate

- Send in the rebate forms as soon as you can (once you are happy
with your purchase - note that most stores wont entertain return
of the product with the UPC code cut out for rebates).

- If the deadline for rebates is 2/3 weeks away and you have already
submitted your rebate forms a few days back, call the rebate processing
number or email asking if they received it. Most companies take a long
time to process after they receive your rebate forms. If it is not the
case, then you still have time to send another request. I had an incident
where the rebate processors honoured a copy of my UPC code.

- From time to time go check on the rebate status, make calls or check
online. If everything goes fine. you will see your rebate processing
jumping (slowly) forward to different stages.

- Most rebate forms have a "allow 8-10 weeks of processing clause". Once
it is around or beyond 8 weeks, keep calling them to follow up.

In some cases I felt that the processing was done but until I called up,
they never bothered to send the rebate checks.

It takes some pain, but I maintain a rebate folder and remind myself to
track the rebates in a bi-weekly basis.

Overall with patience and these rebates, you get a lot of products for
free. (Check ecost.com - 10 pack DVD-R discs free after rebate)..
(yeah yeah I am a cheap guy)
 
L

larrymoencurly

jaster said:
Good for you but the issue for me is the plain and simple deceptive
merchandising and practices for vendors. A person shouldn't have to go
through time trials, return receipts, calling vendors to get the rebate.
Coupons are good instantaneous, rebates still suck even if you get the
rebate.

Two retailers, CVS and Costco, handle rebates the right way: You
simply register for them at their websites, using the serial numbers
off the receipts. I don't know why everybody doesn't do this because
unique receipt numbers make fraud difficult, and online processing is
cheaper for them.
I propose changing rebate policies for all products to make vendors accept
rebate receipts as original receipts, with original UPCs, without
requiring customer phone numbers (because they will never call about your
rebate and sell that info anyway) and vendors must accept rebates
postmarked 30 days after from the last date of the rebate sale. Also
rebates must be fulfilled within 10 weeks after the 30 days postmark
period which gives them 14 weeks from day one of a sale. Then if a
customer didn't follow the rules no foul.

All sensible and reasonable proposals, but we don't live in
pro-consumer times, unlike the 1970s, when the great credit card
protections were implemented. Today's politicians will instead label
your ideas as bureaucratic meddling that limit consumer choice.
I wish everyone would together for a no-rebates month where no rebated
products are purchased and everyone writes to the same 1 or 2
manufacturers asking for a change in rebate policy otherwise no one buys
from those vendors. Each year pick 2 other vendors. Vendors
listen to boycotts.

I'm afraid that the boycotts would be as ineffective as the typical
labor strike. :( Besides, who can pass up all the free stuff? I've
never paid for DDR memory or CD-Rs, my DVD writers cost $10 and $20,
my DSL/cable and wireless routers were free, and I've even netted
money on a few deals, including a CRT monitor.
 
A

Andrew

larrymoencurly said:
simply register for them at their websites, using the serial numbers
off the receipts. I don't know why everybody doesn't do this because
unique receipt numbers make fraud difficult, and online processing is
cheaper for them.

Just curious. Do you get a check or a store credit that you have to use at
their store?

..
 
D

David Maynard

larrymoencurly said:
Two retailers, CVS and Costco, handle rebates the right way: You
simply register for them at their websites, using the serial numbers
off the receipts. I don't know why everybody doesn't do this because
unique receipt numbers make fraud difficult, and online processing is
cheaper for them.




All sensible and reasonable proposals, but we don't live in
pro-consumer times, unlike the 1970s, when the great credit card
protections were implemented. Today's politicians will instead label
your ideas as bureaucratic meddling that limit consumer choice.




I'm afraid that the boycotts would be as ineffective as the typical
labor strike. :( Besides, who can pass up all the free stuff? I've
never paid for DDR memory or CD-Rs, my DVD writers cost $10 and $20,
my DSL/cable and wireless routers were free, and I've even netted
money on a few deals, including a CRT monitor.

Uh huh. Considering your previous comment about "pro-consumer times" and
that purchase record it makes me wonder just who needs 'protecting' from
WHOM? LOL
 
L

larrymoencurly

Andrew said:
"larrymoencurly" <[email protected]> wrote in message
Two retailers, CVS and Costco, handle rebates the right way:
You simply register for them at their websites, using the serial
numbers off the receipts. I don't know why everybody doesn't do
this because unique receipt numbers make fraud difficult, and
online processing is cheaper for them.

Just curious. Do you get a check or a store credit that you have
to use at their store?

I don't know about CVS, but the Costco rebates are cash. I hate
rebates paid in the form of gift cards. :mad:
 
G

G

(e-mail address removed) (P T) wrote


Out of maybe two or three rebate requests, I sent one ($20) for purchasing
a Zoom modem and never got the rebate.

I look to see if the product I am looking at has a rebate. If so, I move on
to the next item.

Rebate offers disclaim responsibility. They are not responsible if your
rebate request form gets lost in the mail. They are not responsible if
their staff misplaces your rebate request form. They just aren't
responsible. Therefore they are illegitimate offers, IMO, not worth wasting
time considering.
I have never had a problem with not receiving my rebates. I have
filed about 30 of them. I make sure I scan copies of all documents
and then mail them off. Once I called and said I had not received 2
$5 game vouchers from EB, they said they went out over a month before.
I told them I had copies of my forms and UPCs. They said it wasn't a
problem and sent me two. I got them 3 days later. One other rebate
to mention was the time BestBuy posted an incorrect rebate form on
their website. It was for $70 instead of $50. It was only there for
a day before they realized it and replaced it with the correct amount.
They however honored my submission for the higher value.

A friend of mine filled out a $50 rebate for a hard drive about a week
past the date stated on the form. His rebate was processed anyway and
he got his rebate promptly.

I think the key is keeping copies of everything and making sure to
follow-up if you don't hear back within the stated timeframe. I
wonder if you ever tried to follow up on the Zoom rebate or just blew
it off.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top