I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

I buy the Logitech MX1000 a few months ago for whatever price and it included a $20 mail in rebate. I followed the instructions to receive the rebate to the letter. I go on their site today to check my rebate status and it says I'm not going to receive the rebate because I "failed to include the sales reciept." WTF? That's just [censored], the instructions were to send in two things (one of them being the sales reciept) and I of course did that. I sent their support an email but I can already feel this going south.

I know it's only $20 but the whole principle pisses me off. Anyone ever get burned by this bs before?

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

You should ALWAYS make a copy of your reciept. ALWAYS. By the way, the rebates I mailed in so far worked out well.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

Two different times I bougth a McAffee product with a mail in rebate. The first time they sent me some BS reason why I didn't get it. The second time they claimed to have sne me a check, but it never reached me.

When I have bought computers with a mail in rebate I made a copy of everythign I sent them and got delivery confirmation from the post office.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
By the way, the rebates I mailed in so far worked out well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hah, talk about salt in the wound.

If it's any consolation, I bought an MX1000 for full price w/out rebates and I'm still extremely satisfied with my purchase.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

Lesson learned :\

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

i dont see why you would take the time to mail in the rebate in the first place.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

WTF, for the free money!

Seriosuly, the only reason why I bought the mouse was b/c I felt it was such a good price.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Two different times I bougth a McAffee product with a mail in rebate. The first time they sent me some BS reason why I didn't get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I had this happen to me. They sent me some postcard that said I didn't qualify. I called the number on the card to ask what was up. IIRC, I simply said I got a card and quoted some number that was on it. The guy tells me he has now processed my rebate I should be receiving your check within x number of days. The check arrived within the time stated.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

i hate mail in rebates too!

I learned my lesson at a young age when I never got my $5 back from jurassic park on vhs!

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

I seriously think these are a scam and they remain profitable b/c of the people who never bother to file for the rebate AND a small percentage of people whose legitimate claims they don't approve. I think I found a worthy cause to fight for. I plan to blow the lid off this corrupt industry.

[img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
I seriously think these are a scam and they remain profitable b/c of the people who never bother to file for the rebate AND a small percentage of people whose legitimate claims they don't approve. I think I found a worthy cause to fight for. I plan to blow the lid off this corrupt industry.

[img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

a lot of people don't bother to send them in, or don't bother to fight when they are late, etc.

in general, I discount some of the rebate value. for instance, a $100 rebate is only worth about $75/$80 to me, b/c of the time I need to wait to get it, the chance that it might not come, the time I have to spend photocopying/mailing stuff.

also, Staples Easy Rebates are legit, and these are worth about 100% of the value to me. you don't need to mail anything in, they are 100% legit, and they come in only a few weeks.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
WTF, for the free money!

Seriosuly, the only reason why I bought the mouse was b/c I felt it was such a good price.

[/ QUOTE ]

You get placed on one million mailing lists.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

jbb,

i have lost approximately $15,000 usd in the last 5 years on rebates. because i never mailed them in.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
I plan to blow the lid off this corrupt industry.
[img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Too late!

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

That's ok, I don't get much mail at this address anyway [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

There's a Dilbert where they boss wants to market a "free" product, but make it cost one million dollars but have a one million dollar mail-in-rebate. They basically just need one person to not mail in the rebate to be extremely profitable. Who would they market it to? The rich but lazy.

This post reminded me of that strip, too lazy to look for it right now.

DN

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

I read an article in some trade mag about rebates as they concern the computer industry. The gist of the article was buy the product you want. If the product offers a rebate, by all means try and get it, but don't buy a product because of a rebate. This advice has served me well.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

Why don't you just dispute the charge on your credit card statement saying that the merchant sold the item on the basis that it provided a mail-in rebate and that the merchant failed to honor the rebate?

I've done it twice. I'm batting 1.000 when it comes to mail-in rebates.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

A friend of mine goes for those rebates all the time, but he's a lawyer so he's a naturally argumentative prick. He really digs the hassles he has to go through. He sent in probably dozens of rebates on computer stuff, and has had them try to pull all manner of crap on him. But he's relentless, and is willing to go through tons of e-mail, snail mail, and even phone calls to get his way. That he is a lawyer and can have a little edge of threat to his inquiries doesn't hurt a bit, but usually it doesn't have to come to that; merely sounding like you know what you are talking about and aren't preparing to take any crap usually does the job.

But not right away.

I think the whole thing is not worth it and just stay away from mail-in rebates. I don't want to wait three months and get a rebate after sending three letters and making two phone calls. It's a kind of a game as often as not, and not one I'm interested in playing. I'd rather just get a product from a vendor who really wants to give me a good price, than get a fake good price by way of a mail-in rebate. Hell, if I have to go through that crap, I'd rather not get the product at all.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.zefhemel.com/upload/dilbert2003113307107.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Perfect!

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
I think the whole thing is not worth it and just stay away from mail-in rebates. I don't want to wait three months and get a rebate after sending three letters and making two phone calls.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have saved THOUSANDS of dollars with mail-in rebates. If you do them correctly, you don't have anything to worry about. I've done anything from $1 mail-in rebate for blank CDs up to $100+ mail-in rebates for a computer.

Just make sure your rebate isn't for a company that's about to go out of business and you'll be ok.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

Believe me, nobody is more anal-retentive about doing things than this lawyer friend of mine, and if it takes a very good anal-retentive lawyer sometimes three months and more to get a rebate, I figure a pea-brained, easily aggravated, non-threatening lazy incompetent like myself has no chance of not being pissed off he even started the process.

Which I have, a couple of times. And decided it was pretty ridiculous having to waste time arguing with companies to get back the money they had promised.

My friend totally digs that kind of thing, though. It makes him feel smart and like he's winning all these little victories and such. I'm just not that into it.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

I once bought a D-Link router, that came with 3 seperate mail in rebates, all from the same company. I mailed them all out, got 2 checks and one letter saying I mailed it too late, when they were all due the same date. [censored] [censored].

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

I never buy anything that comes with a mail-in rebate. I've heard too many stories of people getting ripped off to consider it worth my while. If a product is $99.99 + a $20 mail in rebate at one store, and $89.99 with no rebate at the other store, I'll pay the $89.99 to avoid having to go through the hassle of getting my rebate.

You'd think that it would be counter-productive for companies to try to rip off people by denying them rebates based on technicalities (which are sometimes totally fabricated), but they do so anyway. The company is saving themselves a few bucks for now, but is losing customer loyalty in the process.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

always keep a copy of the receipt. Most places (like best buy) when they print it out your sales receipt actually print a copy for you.

Ive sent in dozens of rebates and never had a problem. I think youve got a sample size issue here.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

are you and your friend trying to get rebates from nigerian bankers or something?? I've never once had to send follow up calls and emails from some company in order to get my rebate.

Its pretty ABC. Theres a receipt, a UPC code, and a timeline. Its not like they have a lot of grey area to [censored] you around with as long as you do those 3 things correctly.Maybe your friend just likes to mail them in late and see if he can still getthem through his giant efforts.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

I've found that if you forget the rebate the instant you drop the letter in the mail that you are pleasantly surprised often and disappointed never.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Its pretty ABC. Theres a receipt, a UPC code, and a timeline. Its not like they have a lot of grey area to [censored] you around with as long as you do those 3 things correctly

[/ QUOTE ]

See that's what I thought. I followed these simple instructions to the letter, and still I'm told they never received part of it, which is only possible if they [censored] up, or if the USPS opened my mail and removed just the reciept and resealed the envelope with only the UPC code.

I may be able to print another reciept from buy.com, if so, I will use that to prag their face.

In future, I will do some combination of avoiding mail in rebates, and mailing rebates in with all kinds of confirmations and carbon copies and public notaries.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

Rebates suck. Best Buy is getting better and letting you process some of them online, and Staples was pretty good.

But screw everyone else. F'ing commies, all of them.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

staples still owes me 20 bucks for a phone from like a year ago.

i bought it while it was on sale with a rebate, and it was defective, so i exchanged it after the sale went off, they said my rebate was invalidated because of customer return

i called them mad times(and i actually worked there at this time) and they kept bullshitting me, saying [censored] about not having the reciept and all kinds of [censored] i dont remember, eventually they said your rebate is being processed and you should recieve it in 4 weeks, but on the website it still said it was invalid, i was tired of dealing with them(from working for them i can tell you they are a very evil corperation, but i wont get into that now) so i decided to just wait and see if i got it, it never came and i forgot about it till now, i might call them again some time, but i dont have all the [censored] with me at the moment.

[censored] rebates

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
are you and your friend trying to get rebates from nigerian bankers or something?? I've never once had to send follow up calls and emails from some company in order to get my rebate.

Its pretty ABC. Theres a receipt, a UPC code, and a timeline. Its not like they have a lot of grey area to [censored] you around with as long as you do those 3 things correctly.Maybe your friend just likes to mail them in late and see if he can still getthem through his giant efforts.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've had it be much more complicated and aggravating than that, have heard many similar stories, and even my lawyer buddy who is addicted to coupons has had to jump through hoops numerous times to his money. There's nothing uncommon about it.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

Even worse than the "rebate price" that is quoted at places like Best Buy is the "AOL price" that I have seen posted at places like CompUSA. I mean, you can make an argument that the rebate does subtract from the price, but requiring you to sign up for a year of AOL is in no way worthy of reducing the sticker price.

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Even worse than the "rebate price" that is quoted at places like Best Buy is the "AOL price" that I have seen posted at places like CompUSA. I mean, you can make an argument that the rebate does subtract from the price, but requiring you to sign up for a year of AOL is in no way worthy of reducing the sticker price.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Best Buy has some type of plan they try to push on you for some ISP. Maybe Netzero? I can't remember.

craig

Re: I\'m never purchasing something with a mail-in rebate again.
 

[ QUOTE ]
Even worse than the "rebate price" that is quoted at places like Best Buy is the "AOL price" that I have seen posted at places like CompUSA. I mean, you can make an argument that the rebate does subtract from the price, but requiring you to sign up for a year of AOL is in no way worthy of reducing the sticker price.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I saw this a week or so ago. The "AOL price" is a new low in marketing.