Say Buy Buy to rebates.

"It's a tactical decision by Best Buy, and it fits into their overall mind-set, which is to match their actions to what customers find appealing," said Colin McGranahan, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York.

Yes, I believe that. It couldn't be because "Last month, the Federal Trade Commission said for the first time that retailers could be held liable when manufacturers fail to honor rebate requests."

The big retail chains (and online retailers like TigerDirect.com) have been milking the rebate redemption process for years, and I believe most of us have had bad experiences with rebates not being honored (or only honored after having to follow up on them & hassling the folks, assuming that you're the cautious type who keeps track of these things.) It's sad that it's taken so long for such a patently lousy scheme to finally be rejected by the FTC.
 
Rebates hardly ever come, and if they do its usually after a 3-4 month wait anyway. If you have trouble getting one, the place where you sent the rebate to will tell you to send all of the things again, including original upc's and receipts. Your only chance for most rebates really is to make multiple copies of things, send them in, wait several months, complain when it doesn't come, give up or resend, wait several more months, get your $5 check back long after you've forgotten about it. I say good riddance.
 
[quote name='lionheart4life']Rebates hardly ever come, and if they do its usually after a 3-4 month wait anyway. If you have trouble getting one, the place where you sent the rebate to will tell you to send all of the things again, including original upc's and receipts. Your only chance for most rebates really is to make multiple copies of things, send them in, wait several months, complain when it doesn't come, give up or resend, wait several more months, get your $5 check back long after you've forgotten about it. I say good riddance.[/QUOTE]

They generally don't accept copies... And with game rebates you have to mangle the art insert :evil:
 
I do fine with rebates but it requires a lot of diligence, like putting a recurring reminder in scheduling software so as not to forget the money you're owed. Funny thing is, the only rebate I'm waiting for right now is from Fry's, a chain that makes ads with prominent "No Rebate Required!' part of their standard fare. Now, this particluar item, a $60 certification study guide that sold for $35 plus a $35 rebate, is still a bargain if the rebate doesn't come and is free except for sales tax if it does. I'm fairly confident since the company the book publisher uses for their rebates is pretty sharp. I've already received two e-mails acknowledging that the rebate form and materials was received and a follow-up indicating it had passed the first processing stage.

Some of the office supply chains were also good in that they'd have a single form to handle all of their current offers and thus only envelope required to cover potentially dozens of items at once.

But it is a system that puts the burden to perform on the consumer.
 
I never liked rebates either and I always saw them as basically a cheap way to get around having sales. For starters the stores make a lot more money because alot of people (I was once told like 45%, but dunno if that's reliable) don't even send them in (though from a business perspective I can see why some stores like them). And like others said when you do send it in it requires a fair amount of work to actually get the rebate value.
 
Fry's is the only store that I've had trouble with when it comes to rebates. I purchased several items on Black Friday (November, mind you) and have yet to receive my rebates. I've read that a few companies that perform rebate redemptions for major retailers guarantee a certain redemption rate, making them responsible for the additional costs if more buyers actually complete the rebate process. Most of these companies know that the vast majority of people aren't going to fight or dilligently keep track of $5-$10 rebates.
 
I've always got the rebates I sent in, and thought they were pretty nice. I just got a $10 rebate from Kingston yesterday (which took about a month, I guess since it's only $10 it was faster than others) for a 256MB CF card, making it a $8 card...Big rebates do kinda suck, but when they do make their way to you, it's a nice surprise....As long as they lower prices more often to counter-balance not having rebates, I don't care much.
 
I like rebates, I just don't count on them.

In other words, IF I get something at a good price, that's great. If it also comes with a rebate, that's gravy. Unfortunately a lot of people don't look at rebates like that.
 
[quote name='camoor']you could get some pretty sweet rebates though - making things free.

doubt that will happen anymore[/QUOTE]

Plus, stores will run out of stock faster. If a router was $50 with a $30 and a $20 rebate, it would sell, but not that fast. If it was $20 out the door, they would be gone in a flash.
 
[quote name='vrs1650']Nice, I hate rebates. I always forget to send them.[/QUOTE]


I remembered i got 2 rebates to mail when i read this!
 
It's good because rebates are a pain in the ass, but I doubt they are just going to offer big savings up front either.
 
I've always had good luck with rebates from Best Buy in particular. I got mine for my 6800 in less than 5 weeks after I sent it off.
 
as long as you keep good records and follow up, rebates are usually no problem. this past year i've gotten (after rebate):
tivo - $99
DLink 604 - $9.99
Linksys Cable Modem - Free
Comcast internet service - free for 3 months and $19.99 for 6 months
Tax (federal and state both efiled) - $35
ATT Callvantage Telephone Adatper - Free
Comcast Self Install Kit - Free

pretty good services. for electronics, rebates can be real nice. you can't just half ass fill out the paperwork, not make copies, and hope the rebate comes.
 
Some mail in rebates can even be done online now, so its getting a bit better. Tho I will agree with a good percent of you folks... mail in rebates are just a pain in the ass. That's coming from both a customer and retail employee...
 
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