[fredman]

Anybody have good or bad experiences ?

If bad, how were they handled, were you satisfied ?

[brendandonhu]

Rebates with which company?

[brushmaster1]

I've yet to receive a rebate for ANYTHING! I tend to look at the price you actually pay and ignore rebates. If I ever DO get a rebate, I'll figure I'm ahead of the game...

I am getting about 90% of the rebates I send out. Keep in mind that most rebates go through a third party company that is hired by the store or manufacturer. These third party outfits count on two factors to make a profit:

1. Make the instructions so specific and complicated, that some people will make a mistake and allow the company to not pay out the rebate.

2. Count on people not wanting to jump through the hoops to get their rebate...and just not send it or let the expiration date go by.

Rebate companies generally only pay out about half of the potential.

Make sure you follow the rebate instructions to the letter and don't count on the expiration date too much. Many times the expiration date refers to when they recieve the mailing...not when you sent it or when it was post-marked. If they ask for the original receipt...you must send the original. Some boxes have many bar codes on them. Make sure you are sending the correct UPC when you start cutting it out. Send the wrong one....no rebate.

The rebate game is just that....a game. They will try to trip you up at every turn. I never called anyone for rebates that I did not recieve. They were usually small ones anyway. Figured it wouldn't be worth the hassle.

[gotrootdude]

Cendyne is the only manufactuer to ever give me any trouble with rebates, and I am a rebate freak. Every monday of every week, I'm down at OfficeMax, OfficeDepo, Circuit city looking for what kind of rebates I can get. I normally recieve around $50 in rebates back eack week. Cendyne denied me $60 in rebates, after I bought a drive and I bought a drive for my wife.

[buckaroo]

maxximilian really hit the nail on the head. If you're going to do rebates, you have to be real careful with the fine print. I've done lots of rebates, almost all computer hardware, software, media related, and I don't recall ever getting burned (yet).

[Cage72]

In 2000 I bought my then computer system,before rebate cost, for a little over $700.00 and got back close to i think it was 275.00. When they say 8-10 weeks it's more like 10min-13 weeks..even worse with rebates in conjuction with Xmas/Holiday Shopping Purchases. Not knowing 100% for sure..that is when everything seems to be on Rebate....and the Systematic Game Playing the Rebate Industry counts on consumers to not send them in. Just be alert to the fine print within the Rebate itself as said by another poster and Make several copies of rebate,original receipt and Correct UPC Barcode. If anybody knows of a Legit site that has consumer reviews of company rebates...would appreciate info

[bassetman]

I have had horrible experiences with rebates!
I had a battle going with Imation, and it wasn't until I spoke to supervisors and threatened to smear their name all over the net did they decided they knew exactly what I was talking about and sent me my $50.

I think it is a rip off!

My not so humble opinion!

John

[Fyzbo]

Rebates can work out just fine. Follow the directions and make photocopies of everything you send in. Finally in 6 weeks call them and ask for your rebate. They wont' send anything without a phone call.

[hammerbill]

Once it took me 7 months to get a rebate that was supposed to be sent in 2. Many times rebates were not sent due to vendor errors-they just "forget". There should be a punishment for this similar to the penalty you get for paying a bill late.
Hope your not still waiting on cyberrebate
Rebates are a scam that is legal because nobody has made a decent consumer protection law in over 30 years. The hopes is that you will move while the check is "being processed" and it isn't forwardable, that you will forget to send it, that you will lose or accidentally destroy (or spouse throw away) some vital trash-like peice of paper and be disqualified, or however you might forget to dot an i or cross a t. The result, at best is that you have to pay sales tax on an amount greater than the "price after rebate". I beleive that it should be illegal to advertise anything at a price under that which sales taxes are collected. Also your name and buying habits get sold to junk mail companies.

[Fyzbo]

And yet if you're dilligent you can often get the money back and I say if I can get 100 blank cds for $1 or 300 cd labels for $5, it's all worth it.

[hammerbill]

I can honestly say that I feel if I added up all the time I spent following up on rebates, looking for phone numbers to call to remind them, and all the attention and focus to make sure nothing gets lost, trying to figure out how to get rebates forwarded when I move, making copies, etc. it hasn't been worth the money I've gotten back. I guess it all depends on how much you make an hour and how important the affairs you are being diverted from are. Some people live very simple lives and using time and mental energy doing mundane things like fetching UPC's and placing mundane receipts in your stack of important things to do is no big deal. As for me, I would just assume that consumer protection laws be enacted to stop advertisers from using rebates as a means to adjust a price as advertised. It is obvious to anyone that knows a hoot about marketing that the intent of the seller is to not have to honor all rebates, or even a majority of them but to use them to promote the product anyway. Deceptive intent deserves legislation.
In fact the price one's rebate comes out of the pocket of the others that do business with that company in the long run. So after you get your rebate check, you forget that other things you buy are higher (to finance other people's rebate checks) because someone else gets money back: no savings to the consumer in the long run.

[gotrootdude]

No savings to the consumer in the long run. Fine if your rich, personally, I'll take the rebate and let other consumers foot the cost.

Fact: 80 percent of Americans keep the majority of their money in low interest earning checking accounts.

Fact: Investing approximately $50 in series I bonds each month will return approximately $50,000 in 20 years.

Some people have to get poor, otherwise the rest couldn't get rich. This is by definition. Wealth is a relative term.

F.Y.I. I buy approximately $1000/mo in rebated items. Only had one
$30 rebate not come back, see above post. It's all in how you organize your documentation.

[jonasdatum]

Originally posted by fredman:
Anybody have good or bad experiences ?

If bad, how were they handled, were you satisfied ?

Hello.

Well I've had mostly positive experience with rebates. One example is with my RioVolt SP50 (www.sonicblue.com) MP3/CD player. Cut the price by about 25% (of $75). Then there is www.nothingbutsoftware.com . My rebate was small, but I did get it. One day I got tired of waiting I emailed them and they stated that they had already recieved the rebate data and the check should be there soon.

Got the check 2 days later. LOL, that is what I got for not paying attention to the extremely long waiting period.

Rebates are good, but the problem is that most don't "try" to.

[hammerbill]

Of course it's usually in your best interest to send away for a 20 dollar or so rebate-individually. Thats common sense.
Unfortunately what is in the best interest of the inividual is not often in the best interest of the public at large. Since rebates have had some success, now grocery stores are offering them. Our local Albersons is overcharging for various food products and then sending some of the money back for a rebate. It may well be that eventually a large portion of consumer goods will wind up being sold this way, overcomplicating lives, adding overall cost to run more and more pork filled marketing programs just to keep up with the competitions', and filing away peoples' every purchase in privacy invasive records.
Years ago, you wouldn't have thought everyone would have to register their address and buying habits at a grocery store n exchange for being able to afford to eat but now 90 percent of Americans have to. Back then we called had sales, now it's the card. What next?
Anytime a gimick works in marketing it grows till it gets out of hand and only law can stop it. Look at what happened with cyberrebate, it's customers and its creditors. Actually they were not the only ones, just the most famous. There are many, many companies offering rebates that have gone bankupt.