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.