Kevin Alexander
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Apr 17, 1999
- Messages
- 1,365
I've been buying alot of junk this year...some necessary, and some not so necessary. Several purchases lured me in because of a nice rebate(s) involved. But in my experiences with the rebates so far, I get the feeling that some of the fulfillment houses don't really like to live up to their end of the bargain, and if they do, they employ seemingly sneaky tactics to swindle out of the payment. For example, some of my rebates have arrived disguised as junk mail. Do they do this hoping that seeing it will trigger our automatic response to throw away anything that looks like junk mail?...Another example is my Sandisk CF Card rebate check that arrived yesterday. I kid you not, it looks just like a postcard w/ the dollar amount payable to me printed on the outside for all to see. I am afraid that a teller will view it as being bogus, and call the cops on me. Not only that, but it says on the cover: "VOID AFTER OCT. XXTH 2006". What if it was lost in the mail?...Or I receive it late? Will I not be able to cash it?
Then there are some places that after submitting for the rebates, I haven't heard from in months. When I call to inquire, or do a search on their website, there is no record of my submission "call again in a couple of weeks" is what they keep telling me. And it seems that everyone now makes you jump through hoops to file your rebate. If you don't dot every "i", and cross every "t", they refuse the rebate and some won't even allow you to resubmit. Granted, I've got some of the rebates, but my experience this summer has soured me on mail-in rebates to the point where I feel "why bother?" The only positive exception w/ mail-in rebates I have found is Dell. Out of 6 purchases I've made w/ them, I've gotten every rebate within 3 weeks or less...NEVER more than that. Strangely, that seems to be the only thing they're doing right nowadays.
If the manufacturers are so reluctant to pay up on their own offers, why even offer the rebate in the first place?
Then there are some places that after submitting for the rebates, I haven't heard from in months. When I call to inquire, or do a search on their website, there is no record of my submission "call again in a couple of weeks" is what they keep telling me. And it seems that everyone now makes you jump through hoops to file your rebate. If you don't dot every "i", and cross every "t", they refuse the rebate and some won't even allow you to resubmit. Granted, I've got some of the rebates, but my experience this summer has soured me on mail-in rebates to the point where I feel "why bother?" The only positive exception w/ mail-in rebates I have found is Dell. Out of 6 purchases I've made w/ them, I've gotten every rebate within 3 weeks or less...NEVER more than that. Strangely, that seems to be the only thing they're doing right nowadays.
If the manufacturers are so reluctant to pay up on their own offers, why even offer the rebate in the first place?