Help Me End the Unholy Alliance!

Rebates are horrible. I've tried turning them in and never end up getting anything back. Now I don't bother and save on postage.

However, I have noticed Best Buy has been switching to in store instant rebates. That has saved me some cash and its easy.

they usually will offer the product at the same price but with an instant rebate. Unfortunately, this is almost always after you've just bought the item with the mail-in rebate.

just dropped by, but I've got some new Voices From the Front on my blog. Drop by when you have some time to read.

Well, I have to say I haven't had the problem. I bought a new computer in Dec, and the manufacturer rebate came through no, prob, as did the rebate for the additonal RAM I bought.

But I can imagine your frustration if that hasn't been your experience.

get rid of these annoying rebates altogether? When did this become acceptable? Even when it works, you're loaning money interest free to someone that eventually provides you nothing more than the price you agreed to when you purchased the product in the first place. This is madness!

Why did you have to complete four transactions to complete these purchases? You bought a computer and aome memory and dealt with the computer vendor, the memory vendor, and two rebate companies. If I didn't know better, I'd swear the government designed this method of doing business.

No Problem? Have we become so brainwashed by the marketers that we will simply put up with this? Why? Would you buy gas on these terms? Groceries? Utilities? Insurance? Why do we put up with it for computers when we don't in any other area in our day to day lives? Why are computers so special? And who says so?

It is a crock, Scottie. I saw an add today in the paper for a rebate on a computer I was looking for...and I thought I woudn't waste my time...

the last time I bought something on a rebate I lost the form so I never got my rebate...I bet that happens a lot..

"...the last time I bought something on a rebate I lost the form so I never got my rebate...I bet that happens a lot."

I bet you're right. The last time I bought something with a rebate, I waited too long to send it in (just a couple of weeks - they don't give you long). I'm betting that happens alot as well.

I am having trouble with Norton '07 and getting lousy service from Symantec.

Arrrrrrrgh!

are some of the worst offenders.

Haven't had the problem you have had, but like another poster said I am sure it is frustrating and annoying to say the least.

Good point. We do a lot of our electronic shopping at BB.

Also, we've never had a problem with rebates but no doubt it happens.

Kinda like Uncle Sam taking in the tax dollars from illegals and never having to refund it since they don't file. FREE MONEY. Why bother solving THAT problem?

I think you guys are missing the point.
Would you shop for groceries at a store that required you to mail in a form to get a check for your coupons and in store discounts? NO, or you would just forego the coupons and discounts altogether. Then you didn't get the price they advertised, did you?

Would you do business with a garage that sold you a $20 oil change, then charged you $30 for the oil change and gave you a form to get $10 back? NO, or you would just forego the discount and pay $30 for a $20 oil change.

Can't you see the absurdity of it, even when it works out? It's this attitude that allows this scheme to continue. Aren't you even bothered by the inconvenience of having to play "Mother May I" to get what you originally bargained for?

You only get the price we promised if you're a good little Stalinist and conform and behave the way we tell you, comrad. Otherwise, it's perfectly acceptable to screw you; you're a non-conformist. Come on Gunny, you cannot believe this is OK just because it works out! Is this what you spent your entire career defending, the right to be told to dance for big brother for a couple of bucks?

It's exactly like the government! Give us your money and then we'll tell you which side of our a$$ to kiss to get some of it back, maybe, if you do exactly what we tell you to do, and fill out the right forms, and send them in on time, with the proper postmark, if we feel like it.

How do these companies get away with this? Come to think of it, how does the Government get away with it? Ohhhh, sorry, I forgot the government has guns. But Comp USA, Best Buy, Circuit City and the like don't!

Yep, the phone companies make used car salesmen look ethical by comparison. You get the phone, true. BUT, you have to send in a rebate, you have to commit to a two year contract (that the phone may not survive), and if you want out because of crappy service, well there's this little "fee" for breaking the contract that's way more than the "rebate".

I just buy a good phone on EBay and pay the activation fee for a one year contract. It's cheaper, I'm not locked in forever, and I get the phone I want, not the one the store wants to give me.

Scottie,
I agree with you to a certain extent. I will not buy items that force me to use a rebate. And you are correct, the rebate is an interest free loan given to the company that most likely a great percentage of the time they never have to repay.

I don't like rebates, I don't like Derek Jeter making $250M for playing baseball, and I don't like Celine Dion tickets for $750 but these are the prices and practices supported by a free market. I love free markets and I believe they give the best and truest indication of the real price of a good or service.

Unless demand for these items go down or supply goes up, these practices won't end. The absolute worst thing that could happen is for government to get involved.

Publius

I have never, EVER, advocated Gov't getting involved in this. Nor would I. But as consumers, we have choices and we have voices. Like you, I avoid rebates like the plague. But there is more that can be done. We can tell these companies that this practice causes us to prefer their competitor's products without rebates.

As a manager, I learned that bad news is the best kind; because it's actionable. And it's the American way to 8itch about things. At least this is more constructive than calling the president a Nazi, No?

Rebates can be more difficult tha reading the find print of a software license. I've been denied rebates for various reasons. One reason given was that I didn't include the UPC - an accusation which is next to impossible to prove otherwise. I had another denied due to the fact that it the envelope didn't have an acceptable postage date (thanks to our marvelous USPS not processing it for over a week from the time that I dropped it in a USPS box).
When they work, they aren't too bad though they exist with the hope that buyers will error in the submission of the rebate, freeing the vendors from the responsbility of cutting the check.

(MR - try grisoft's AVG. It seems to work better than McAfee and as good as Norton. Upgrading from NAV 2006 (or earlier) to NAV 2007 can be a real problem which may require running regedit & deleting any references to Symantec in the registry. Then the 2007 will install cleanly.)

Scottie, I know you would never advocate government involvement, I did not mean to imply that...sorry. I agree with you, let our voices be heard, write the company and vote with your pocketbook.
Publius

As you've probably guessed, I think the whole rebate apparatus should be scrapped as a bad idea who's time has passed. The incentives are basically the same as HMO's. The less I give, the more I get to keep; so I have no incentive to give any more than I absolutely have to.

See, we agree way more than we disagree! Join me in 8itching to the companies that use this rebate scheme. If enough of us do it, this practice will end. All we have to do is convince the companies that do this that they are losing money when they do it.

Also, I would go back to the original company and raise hell about the rebate company giving you excuses rather than the money that is rightfully yours. If it becomes enough of a pain in the azz, that might also help stop this practice.

Some stores now do give instant rebates, but the reason you have to go through the drill, generally, is that it's the manufacturer, not the store, giving the rebate. Different pockets.

Companies do not like to have liabilities on their books, especially indeterminate ones. The answer is to offload these liabilities to third parties that will take them over for a fee.

In the case of rebates, a Rebate Management Company will take over the liability for what is estimates the total amount of claims it will have to pay plus a margin for profit.

If the actual claims exceed the estimated claims, the RMC loses money . . . unless they can find excuses to reject claims, or lose them, etc. A cynic might even believe they would do this simply to boost their profit margins.

The name used by the RMC may be the same as the manufacturer, but it's just a designator for the rebate program. You aren't really getting your rebate from the manufacturer, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding.

We called the net amount paid after "instant rebates" the PRICE

I am the Queen of rebates!! I have never had any troubles...when we were a young family staring out,ha! I made it a comptetition between I and best friend. One year, when ATT and MCI were the switch to me bunch...she beat me by changing phone services by getting 325 in rebates. I only had 200! It aint't for everyone, but even now, I still like a rebate....