The last rebate that I got was really a kickback from the County for buying a front load washing machine which saves a lot of water. It took several months but I finally got my check for $150. The form was really confusing and you had to attach the receipt and invoice in a very specific way. I’m sure many people just don’t bother.
“I didn’t want to say anything, but I never really thought George had what it takes to be department head… this hole looks like a 3-wood, don’t you think?”
All my rebate stories are of experiences so irritating each deserves its own Pit thread. Except one.
Practices such as inordinate delays, “Track your rebate online” (which is never more than anything other than “We have received your request and are processing it”) and mailing a rebate check back in an envelope clearly designed to look like discardable junk mail all have annoyed me to the point of pretty much not buying anything based on a rebate.
The one time? I had a $50 rebate coming on a $100 printer. After 10 weeks, got a check for $40. Called the company to complain. “Oh, I’m sorry. Our rebate third party went bankrupt. We have a new partner. I’ll have them send you a check for the $10. It may take 8-10 weeks.” Subsequently a check arrived (much to my surprise) for $50. I cashed it like there was no tomorrow and never felt even a smidgen of guilt.
My most recent brouhaha is over a $200 shopnfl.com coupon for buying a Samsung TV. I have a lovely chain of emails in which the rebate firm lady requests “more time” because “it was such a popular promotion.” I told her her ten weeks were up. Haven’t heard back.
Somewhere in here there has to be a decent class action lawsuit…
I imagine that they also figure a small percentage of people will move within 10-14 weeks, and for one reason or another the check will not be forwarded properly and that’s one more way they can cheat you out of your money.
Actually, I can think of one reason why rebates take 10 to 14 weeks to process. I used to work in the IT department of a bulk mailer where I got pretty familiar the ins and outs of preparing mass mailings.
If a company sends out 500 pieces or more of first class mail in one mailing, the post office gives them a fairly discount on the cost of mailing it. Depending on how the mail is sorted before being delivered to the post office, a one-ounce letter would cost anywhere between 32.4 cents and 39.4 cents to (full details are here, if anyone’s interested. No, I don’t know whether those prices reflect the increase in postage which takes effect tomorrow). In addition to the savings in postage, printing in bulk is also more cost-efficient. I could see how it would take several weeks for a company to amass 500 rebates to be mailed out, especially, since, in practice, I’d recommend they have more like 525 or 550 to allow for addresses which can’t be presorted because they can’t be verified by software vetted by the post office. The standards for bulk mail are higher than they are for regular mail (if you’re interested in wonkish stuff, you can read about them here), so, in a good mailing, 5% or 10% of addresses as sent to the company preparing the mailing will be ineligible for bulk mail rates. I’ve seen mailing lists with much higher percentages and had to go through them to fnd ways to make the addresses verifiable.
The other thing to consider is that first class bulk mail isn’t as high a priority to the post office as regular first class mail. Even though bulk mail is delivered to the post office presorted and ready to go, they may go out later than regular mail or take a bit longer to arrive.
Please understand I’m not defending it taking 3 months for a company to mail you a rebate, just offering one business explanation for why it may take that long. By the way, one reason I left that bulk mailer was I got tired of mucking out mailing lists!
At least you got a rebate. I called T-Mobile to tell them I was returning the shitty new phone I’d ordered which turned out to be utterly useless and missing more or less all the promised features ( http://www.motorola.com/consumers/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=3bd6df420e68e110VgnVCM1000008406b00aRCRD ), and they told me my “refund” would be a credit applied to my phone bill.
In “up to six weeks”.
Of course, I had to return the phone in 14 days.
They set the rebate out 10-14 weeks because there are ways that you can become disqualified for the rebate. Check the fine print. If you, for instance, have you services suspended for non-pay, you become ineligible for the rebate*. This may not be true for all wireless carriers, but it is the status quo for AT&T. They will also deny your refund of the down payment for the same reason.
Former AT&T Rep*
In some cases, I think they just wait until the rebate period is completed, then mail out all the rebates at once. Makes sense if they’re trying to save money on printing and mailing costs.
I have completely stopped buying anything that has a rebate. I know this seems strange; why not buy the item that gives me money back? I am now convinced that “rebate” means “a promise that is never kept.” For years I would give the rebate forms to my son and let him mail them in (actually I did most of the work.) He never recieved a single rebate that I know of. The whole point is to suggest to the buyer that something is cheaper than it really is and then drag out the process until the costumer forgets.
So, listen up retailers, if an item is advertised as having a rebate I will NOT buy that item unless I have no other option. Why should I? The item costs the same as similar items but then I have to fill out forms, mail them in and remember who owes me money and then, when the money never shows, I have to try to figure out how to collect. No thank you.
If a retailer advertises items at a certain price and I find out later that that is “with rebate” I will avoid that retailer in the future.
As a followup, my check came in yesterday.
24 days.
3 weeks and change.
These people must think they’re contractors or something to overestimate by that much.
Newsflash. You don’t score brownie points by estimating 10 weeks and delivering in 3.
Yes, I am glad to have my rebate, but still. Grrr.
It took six fucking months to get a $100 rebate for a phone I bought in November. AND three calls. AND email customer service, who after I saw on their website it said it’d been mailed, said they’d never received the paperwork. I got so pissed at them I told them apparently being paid $50 a month and a sack of rice just doesn’t buy high quality customer service in India anymore.* I finally got it two weeks ago. What had happened was I have a box in a UPS store, and they didn’t put my box number on the envelope, so it was sent back.
I’ve noticed more places are doing a lot of the hoop jumping for you. Fry’s Electronics has always printed off a 2nd reciept and filled out the paperwork to send it all in, so all you have to do is stove it into an envelope, mail it and wait.
*Yes I really said that.
Your second mistake was telling us.
I’ve always had good experiences with rebates. In the past 13 years I’ve only gotten screwed on one rebate that I never received. The rest have always come within 8 weeks. My last rebate for my new phone was only a two week turn around. Of course it was in the form of a Visa gift card and not a check but I can deal with that.