Mail-in Rebate Rant

[ragkar]

If the item has a rebate then it's a warning flag for me. Just why are they pushing it? Is it gong to be discontinued?
Why not just lower the price. Well they hope you won't redeem it and they'd have additional profit.
One rebate check that I got looked so much like a sales offer that I took it to the bank and asked if it was a legitimate check. They couldn't decide either so I told them to put it in the system and see if it bounces. It didn't. The manufacturer was just hoping that I'd throw it away.

 

[kenstrac]

Its a win win for the mfg. if you don't send it in they have your money .
If you do send it in they sell your name to a telemarketer, that's when you start getting phone calls + junk mail.I know because I change a letter in my name on the rebate and all the mail and e-mail comes in with that letter changed.

 

[dgl24087]

Best rebate deal I ever got was on a printer a few years ago. The company sent me 2 checks, ended up getting the printer free.

 

[Podunkadunk]

Its a win win for the mfg. if you don't send it in they have your money .
If you do send it in they sell your name to a telemarketer, that's when you start getting phone calls + junk mail.I know because I change a letter in my name on the rebate and all the mail and e-mail comes in with that letter changed.

I never thought of that one. Makes sense though. To be devious toward a buddy of mine, I'd go to fairs and arts and crafts shows and fill out the "register for a free drawing" cards in his name. He'd get spam and junk mail for a year. I never asked him about it, but one day he was complaining about all the calls, spam and junkmail he was getting. I started laughing and confessed what I had done to him several times. Boy did that start a war. Next thing I know, I'm getting emails and thanks from the NAACP, Gay and Lesbian Magazines...pretty funny actually as those lifestyles don't align with mine. I released a lion...shouldn't have confessed. All in good fun I guess.

Podunk

 

[MikeD74T]

Way before the internet, in the mid 80's I build a fireplace for a Dr. & his family, thus spent a couple of weeks in his house. His 2 children were 10 - 12 y.o. They had a project going for over a year at the time where they mailed in rebate coupons with slight variations in name/address/income/etc and tracked the increased mailing lists they were added to. It was quite interesting to watch them plot daily junk mail on a spreadsheet, a junkmail family tree. MikeD74T

 

[Philscbx]

I gave up on rebates years ago. Not worth the hassle for me.

10-04 that. It's not worth my 200.00 of effort to gain 10.
In the past, I have wrote the company saying I would of purchased the item had you processed the rebate in house at the time of sale.
About a week later, they decided to do it that way.

 

[Chuck52]

I kinda like getting those $20 checks so many weeks after I send in the paperwork. It always seems like manna from heaven. "WooHoo Honey! Look! Some company I never heard of just sent me a check for $20!" And it then gives SWMBO something else to laugh at me about. A win-win situation!

Chuck

 

[MossRoad]

For anyone that says sending in a rebate isn't worth it, all I have to say is taking 5-10 minutes to get $5.00 or more back puts you in the $30-$60 dollar an hour labor range at the minimum. It's a shame that that kind of money is trivial to you.

Personally, I don't like rebates. I wish the store would just give me the discounted price at the time of purchase. But if I can get a product for less money by simply filling out a card, cutting off a UPC, stapling three pieces of paper together and sticking it in an envelope, I'll do it.

 

[thatguy]

At least your first rebate check didnt bounce...

I bought a Bushnell range finder with a $50 rebate - mailed everything in got my check.. Cashed check.. Read online that rebate company had gone bankrupt... HMMMM, thought to self at least I got my check.. Notice from bank $50 check bounced.. Check bushnell website and they were sending out new checks.. Got new check and it didnt bounce..

I still got charged $10 by the bank but didnt feel like fighting bushnell over it..

I dont understand how the company went bankrupt.. to me it seems like you process the rebate, send notice to mfg of how many and much rebates were being paid, mfg sends you a check for the rebates + your fee..

Brian

 

[mjarrels]

Maybe not a rebate thing... but I once bought a 7MM rifle using overseas, military discount while aboard the USS Enterprise... On CAG-11 staff, yep, we had a CAG gunner who set the deal up... got the firearm while pier side in Subic Bay Philippines, Gun went thru Manila postal system (still can't figure how it wasn't stolen)... You would have think that 7MM was a nuke when it arrived onboard! I notified the OOD and had two GM's escort me to the armery. Probably not a 7MM round for 8 thousand miles! I still have the box and the gun...

mark