Rebates

[Hardcoreruss]

I see this all the time on here when people purchase things in the states.

What on earth is a mail in rebate and alike ?

[Will Hay]

I imagine its pretty much like Ford do over here.
Buy a car and we'll give you £1000 back.
So you buy it, the details go to Ford and they mail you a cheque back.
Guess it works the same in the US with computer media, hardware etc.
You buy something full price and then mail your reciept with the application form to the manufacturer, and they send you a cheque back.
Seems pretty dumb to me, why not just have a reduced cost like we do over here?
I'm sure some yank will fill us in.
Will

[Craig Tucker]

I have asked this before, check here russ

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=125695&highlight=rebate+marketing

[Hardcoreruss]

I imagine its pretty much like Ford do over here.
Buy a car and we'll give you £1000 back.
So you buy it, the details go to Ford and they mail you a cheque back.
Guess it works the same in the US with computer media, hardware etc.
You buy something full price and then mail your reciept with the application form to the manufacturer, and they send you a cheque back.
Seems pretty dumb to me, why not just have a reduced cost like we do over here?
I'm sure some yank will fill us in.
Will

Thats what I think, sell it at a discount to start off with. It must cost a load in administartion charges and I bet loads of errors happen also.

[Hardcoreruss]

Cheers Craig as you said in that post it seems like a waste of time.

[troyvcd1]

I refuse to buy anything with a rebate. The rebate forms are purpously small and you can not fit your address on them. I have not gotten one too many rebate checks.

[jeex]

the main idea behind rebates is that the stores/companies selling these items can advertise an item at a much lower price than they will actually sell it for, because the vast majority of people who purchase these items fail to send in their rebate forms or fill them out correctly (they are quite tricky sometimes)

[punctuation is for losers, heh]

[Devanshu]

Like jeex said, the purpose of the rebate offer is to sell the product at a higher price than advertised. The form is annoying to fill our because it(or at least most) make you look up codes and if you put the wrong one down by accident, you dont get your check. In the paper, you see "buy this for 49.99" and in tiny little print at the bottom of the ad it says "after $___ in mail-in rebates". Yes, sometimes there are multiple. Plus, if you succesfully manage to fill one out, it takes about 4-6 weeks for the rebate check to arrive. Thats why I dont bother w/ em.

[defense]

I could of swore the same guy asked this question several months ago..maybe it was someone else.

First...MOST of the times with rebates...the ITEM IS "NOT" sold at a higher price. That's simply not true. All you have to do is look at all the rebates on media and figure that one out. Yea..when it comes to CARS..yes..the price is inflated...but automobiles aside...as well as some "high end" electronics...MOST products are NOT inflated...they are simply being sold with a M.I.R (Mail In Rebate) because the new stock may be arriving...and that's one way to clear out the old stock quickly.

I have no idea where people can say that Rebates are a waste of time..that's just B.S. They take no more then 5 minutes of my time to cut off UPC's and fill out my name and address. I've also NEVER..and I'll say it again..NEVER NOT gotten a rebate. Yea..i've had some companies like Verbatim and EZONICS try to pull a fast one...but they aren't as slick as me on their best day. I've ALWAYS gotten my money.

As a matter of fact, ..arguabley the BEST DVD-ROM is the LITE-ON 166S. When I purchased it from Best Buy..the price was $49.99 ...but Best Buy had a mistake..they had TWO $20 Mail in Rebates on the drive. One from Best Buy and the other from Universal Buslink..which is what the Lite-On was sold under. To simplify..I got a $60 drive for a measly $10 ...LMAO...yea...Mail in Rebates are a waste of time....lol..i'd like to know who the hell got a less expesnive...BRAND NEW LITE-ON 166S.

When I went back in to Best Buy the week after....there were NO REBATES and the price of the drive went up to $59.99. ....Boy did I get as close to a steal as you can get. I can go ON AND ON AND ON...about how much i've CHAAA CHINGGED from Mail in Rebates....but why bother.

Oh, and the REAL IDEA behind rebates is that the majority of the people just won't fill out the paperwork to begin with. That's why they aren't INSTANT. Some people will say....ahh..hell with it..I don't wanna waste a stamp and an envelpe and my time for a $5 CD mail in rebate....etc..etc..etc. People when told they sent in the wrong UPC will often times quit and give up. Even when they know they sent the correct UPC and info in. That is what companies hope for....and it never fails.

[Faustus]

Case in point, I bought a hard drive with a $50 rebate. The rebate gets rejected because they say I didn't fall in the dates of the promotion, but I did cause I check everything before I sent it off. Recourse? None, its almost impossible to contact a rebate center. Also all they sent was a card with my rejection notice on it, so I don't even have the original reciept anymore... or the rebate form. This is why I have always said it has to be a pretty big rebate before I'll really consider it as a bargains, and even them I'm skeptical.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I've received maybe 75% of the rebates I've submitted,I still think they are stupid and a ripoff.I wish they would credit the retail store so we can get an instant rebate.

[gmatov]

I scan andd store every rebate I send in. I have been screwed one time, only, and, since I found the original UPC in my files, somehow I screwed up, not they.

Rebates are a way to buy some thing you would not, could not justify the cost of without.

I do not know just what the theory iss behind them, but they are a good thing for us peons.

I would not have bought 2 160 gig disks at 180 bucks apiece. With a 30 buck instant discount and an 80 buck rebate, they were worth the money, even tho'I had to wait 2 months to get my checks.79 bucks total price,150 before rebate, pay our 6% sales tax, and 79 bucks total price.

Now, whoop that one, if you can.

As far as getting rid of old tech,it seems to me like giving it away is counter productive. I was at a store tonight that had a dozen or more itemss that the rebate was the same as the sale price, meaning the item was free, iminus the time to fill out the form, and stick on a 37 cent stamp

And the sales tax, of course.

Cheers,

George

[Conquest10]

The problem people have with the mail in rebates is that most people don't believe in it. When I tell my friends about deals I get, they're always like "I never send them out cuz I always thought that was bullshit." I have always gotten my checks. Even on things I returned. I even got a rebate check when I forgot about it and sent it three days late. I scan and keep copies of everything. And I mean everything. People get pissed off when they see me with papers from like ten years ago. I can never find myself throwing anything away. Even calendars. Like Homer Simpsons said: "Sure, it's not 1985 right now, but who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

[John James]

I did send out a rebate claim late September to Symantec for a new purchased 2003 Norton Internet Security and I heard nothing.

I emailed them an inquiry last week and still heard nothing and this turns me off.

I think Symantec got all sorts of conditions and a time restriction for a check in the mail.

The previous product claim was for NIS2001 and this maybe the reason. I should have claimed on a later version OEM NIS2002 and now too late.

I think the claim for NIS2002 would be more likely to be successful.

[lordsmurf]

It's cheaper than a sale, though at the same price. They are gambling that you mess up or forget. SO they give you the promotion, but it's up to you to get it completed.

Sony just fucked me out of $150.

I mailed it in Septemner, and Sony claims it was postmarked after Nov 1st. WTF is that? I'm not giving up on this one.

I'm still calling every m-f-ing day bitching and yelling at anybody that will listen. Their bounce game is especially annoying, where I transferred back and forth until disconnect.

Only rebates I trust are Western Digital, nobody else. Those always come. It's Office Max, Office Depot, Best Buy and CompUSA where they attempt to screw you the most. I've gotten screwed out of about $100 in the past 2 years. If it's not a REAL sale, then I no longer care. I'll spend "more" because it'll often end up as less.

[defense]

@ LordSmurf..that sucks that you are having trouble with Sony. Just curious..what did you buy....a HDTV? Sony has always been good to me.

Actually, just another one of the many positive rebate experiences I had was with Sony. When their DRU-500A was initially released...there was a rebate offered ONLY ONLINE..and only for a week or so before it was pulled. Someone on the forum linked the form...I filled it out..and the postmark date WAS AFTER the deadline date. I can probably find the post on the DVD WRITERS FORUM....anyway...I guaranteed in that very post... even though I sent the info out AFTER the postmarked date.....I'd damn sure get my rebate. After Rebateshq.com started playing games like I expected...I contacted Sony...they told me to give rebateshq.com the maximum time allowed...and if there was a problem afterwards...they'd send me a check DIRECTLY.

I finally got rebateshq.com to agree to send me the check..so it was all good. I got that nice $50 postcard check in the mail...and being that my Sony burner was like Gold before the rebate....it really was sweet after. But I got the name of a guy at Sony just in case rebateshq.com didn't send me the rebate check....so I got a rebate from Sony for $50 even though the postmarked date was clearly past. But that may have something to do with a "SHADY" rebate to begin with because apparently Sony decided to pull the rebate shortly after it was listed...but they still honored it when they could of given a tough time for an elapsed post marked date.

Anyway..keep fighting it....good luck.