Mail in Rebates

[MrIncredible]

Okay,

I just have to say that I am sick of mail in rebates, and the shit that best buy/future crap/compucrap etc... advertise this is xxx and then in small print it's this amt if you mail in your rebates. Sorry just had to vent as I was looking for electronics and it just pissed me off.

MI

 

[sdw]

I no longer shop at Future Shop because they have a habit of finding that you are missing one of the required attachments. I photocopy everything that is sent and could prove that I sent it. Did I get the rebate? No, they don't accept photocopies.

My attitude towards rebates is now to shop for the comparable product at the same price without rebate and to purchase that instead. I pretty much assume that I'm going to get ripped off on the rebate.

 

[therealrex]

Even if by some miracle you do get the rebate it usually takes 4-6 months

 

[OldSchoolFunk]

I am just curious, why rebate? why not just knock the difference off?
Whats in it for those company that offer rebate?

 

[chiefwiggum]

I am just curious, why rebate? why not just knock the difference off?
Whats in it for those company that offer rebate?

Most likely getting your personal information via mail....information that relates to your income, spending habits, and purchasing history.

 

[chiapet]

I am just curious, why rebate? why not just knock the difference off?
Whats in it for those company that offer rebate?

The vast majority never send them in, so the dealer sells the item for the higher price, while people think they are getting a deal.

 

[sirlickheralot]

I am just curious, why rebate? why not just knock the difference off?
Whats in it for those company that offer rebate?

Because the companies know that a significant proportion of the time they will never pay out the rebate, thereby receiving a higher price for their product. A certain portion of consumers just can't be bothered filling out all the paperwork required for the rebate. Then many people don't dot all their i's and cross all their t's when they apply so the companies reject their applications and the people just give up in frustration. Then in other cases the company just doesn't send out the rebates because they know that after a couple of months, unless it is a significant amount of money most people will completely forget about the rebate and will never follow up.

Rebates are just a major corporate scam if you ask me.

 

[RDangerfield]

Big Scam

I am sick of these Rebate "Games" that are played.

Future Shop/Best Buy and Staples seem to be the biggest offenders.
I totally agree that the price marking schemes (promimently displaying the After Rebate price with the actual price being relatively microscopic )by ALL these offenders are grossly misleading and should be outlawed in the interest of fair consumer practices.

Of course they are playing the odds that most people will not be bothered to jump through the large number of hoops to actually obtain the rebate.

Retailers should be forced to display the actual selling price as the most prominent figure as this is the price on which sales taxes are calculated.

It's

Selling Price + Taxes(On Selling Price) - Rebate

not

Selling Price - Rebate + Taxes(On Selling Price - Rebate)

So, even if you successfully get that 200.00 rebate, you are losing 28.00 in taxes (In BC for example)

Maybe as consumers, we should all tell these offenders that we refuse to play this game and to stick this practice up their Corporate Asses!

 

[Verb]

don't forget that most rebates are from the manufactures and not futureshop/staple/bestbuy... They do however have the rights to advertise the manufacture's rebates...Most of the time if it is futureshop's rebates, it mostly instant rebates anywayz.

 

[sdw]

I am just curious, why rebate? why not just knock the difference off?
Whats in it for those company that offer rebate?

A few years ago Western Digital had a "Rebate Program" on all their Harddrives. Their Harddrives were exactly the same price as the equivalent Maxtor and Connor Harddrives, but Western Digital was able to sell several hundred thousand Harddrives to customers because of the "Rebate" Western Digital lost an AntiTrust case in the USA because they found "difficulties" with every single application submitted and didn't pay a single customer the "Rebate"

Future Shop does the same thing with a number of their Future Shop exclusive Rebate Programs. Since they are a Canadian company, they are harder for the American antitrust people to sue.

All we can do as consumers is to refuse to buy further product from companies that treat us this way.

These companies do this stuff because it's a way of generating volumne through the store and getting rid of soon to be obsolete product.

 

[FuZzYknUckLeS]

...Sorry just had to vent as I was looking for electronics...

Speaking of electronics, is this a badass camcorder or what!