Hitachi 160GB HDD = $40 after MIR @ CompUSA

[usernamemax20charact]

link

$129.99 - $30 CompUSA MIR - $60 Mft. MIR = $39.99

 

[imported_ank]

I completely refuse to send in two mail in rebates. There's like a 70% chance of getting money back on each one. Chance of getting both back = 49%. This dual mail in rebate stuffis crap. I hate Rebates in general, because the whole point is that they know you won't follow up.

 

[flexy]

asnk, i think you talk without even knowing what you talk about.

With all my rebates i ever had, incl. a bunch dual compusa rebates for a notebook, router etc. i got EVERY penny....sometimes it took a long time....but i never had problems with the rebates.

The HD FIRST looks like a sweet deal since i am looking for those (ok, not THIS one, the Sata one).l..and i need two.
NEW they are about $82 so $39,99 sounds very good. This are very nice drives.

But the RETAIl price of $129 is insane...totally overprized....so if i'd to buy two f***g HDs i'd need to pay $260..which is totally out of the question. No matter whjethet you get the money back finally...but the ripoff itself is that those companies bait you with those "prices",,and then you have to wait MONTHS AND MONTHS for them to send you the checks.


I have to pay immediately $260 for two frickin HDs and wait 3 months for my money back ? What deal is that ? That's consumer/customer insult.

 

[soflawill]

ank wrote:

I completely refuse to send in two mail in rebates. There's like a 70% chance of getting money back on each one. Chance of getting both back = 49%. This dual mail in rebate stuffis crap. I hate Rebates in general, because the whole point is that they know you won't follow up.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Do you have statistical data that backs up your claim of 49% chance of receiving both rebates? Could we see the formula?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: ank
I completely refuse to send in two mail in rebates. There's like a 70% chance of getting money back on each one. Chance of getting both back = 49%. This dual mail in rebate stuffis crap. I hate Rebates in general, because the whole point is that they know you won't follow up.

correction, if you're a tard you won't get rebates back. The only rebate I never got back was from a company that bankrupted and went out of business. If you follow the intruntions to the letter you'll get your rebate back, hence why you have to be a tard or very unlucky. It also helps not to take risks on small or shadey companies like I did with that one rebate.

Comp USA and Hitatchi are low risk rebate. The only downside is the waiting time. God forbid anyone have any patience anymore.

 

[imported_ank]

Originally posted by: soflawill
ank wrote:

I completely refuse to send in two mail in rebates. There's like a 70% chance of getting money back on each one. Chance of getting both back = 49%. This dual mail in rebate stuffis crap. I hate Rebates in general, because the whole point is that they know you won't follow up.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Do you have statistical data that backs up your claim of 49% chance of receiving both rebates? Could we see the formula?

I think it was pretty clear I got the .49 from just squaring the .7. And I thought it was pretty obvious that was just some number I pulled out of the air. I didn't expect jsuch backlash.. One thing that is a fact is that a very small number of mail in rebates are returned for money (something like 10-30%). Most of these are people forgetting to send in and user error. However, out of about 20 mail in rebates I've sent out I've not gotten back about 3. And I'm pretty meticulous with sending and receiving them. That would be 85%. However, friends of mine have had poorer luck and missed a much higher fraction. In fact, it tends to be that larger rebates are the ones that get misplaced. I admit, I'm speaking from a small statistical sample, but remember that even a a sample size as low as 30-40 for a binomial distribution approaches the true Mean.

If you guys have had better luck, by all means. Maybe you'll continue to have that. I'm just stating my opinion from my expereicne. Take it however you will.

 

[uOpt]

The Hitachi rebate (the $60) one has just been returned to me as "return to sender/unable to forward".

Anybody else having this problem?

 

[davycop]

Fair point ... and I agree ... rebates are definitely shady ... even though plenty of people have close to 100% success on rebates, it's a mechanism custom designed to rip off people who are careless or can't be bothered to follow up.

 

[uOpt]

In addition, these jokers on their website state "our contact information page has a phone number" - except it doesn't.

 

[popeye44]

I'm chiming in on any MIR's you fill out., while a good bit of the people on this site are extremely knowledgeable about the MIR process and are meticulous with their mailings and receipts. "i for one scan everything and even go so far as to scan the stamped envelope WHEN/IF I do rebates" Not everyone is that careful. Rebate companies are having a tough time surviving now, 5 years ago 1-2 in 10 people filed a rebate now it's almost 45% "I read this somewhere on net a few weeks ago" It's making it tough on rebate fulfillment companies to make a profit. They have since decided in order to make profits and to continue to do so. Any rebates they receive must be filled in EXACTLY as stated in the instructions. Once again anandtech folk know how to do this and do it well for the most part. But there is a whole lot of folks elsewhere that don't realize just how hard it is to actually receive rebates. I'm hesitant to ever file for rebates, unless there is overwhelming support for the company providing them I won't let it be part of my purchasing decision "staples, ATI, DELL are all respected for the most part as are some fulfillment companies" Part of getting a hot deal for many of you is the rebate. Some of us are wary because of past experience. I've been mailing and not receiving rebates for 20 years so I'm skeptical of any MIR deals. Burn me once shame on you burn me twice shame on ME.



Best of luck to all of you and your MIR'S they certainly can give you a better deal.

 

[faZZter]

Out of literally a hundred or more rebates I have sent in over the last 5-6 years I have only missed out on a couple. Of course I follow the instructions to the letter and make a scan of all the stuff I send in just in case.

I do agree however that having two rebates on one item is a pain in the azz.....

 

[mikeford]

OK, so I am a tard. I have a folder of rebate screwups, rebates I failed to send in on time, rebate checks I failed to cash on time, even a couple rebates where the company went belly up and never paid any rebates. I still remember going to a bankruptcy auction at a big memory place and seeing this pallet sized bin of rebate forms.

Bottom line, most of the time I have bigger fish to fry, so the first task that gets skipped is fussing with a rebate. Same goes for recycle, all those dandy $0.05 pop bottles go in a bin I take to the curb instead of hauling a bag full around in the trunk and getting $2.14 for.

Companies use rebates because they work (bring people in, but only payout a percentage), AND rebates don't mess up the minimum advertised price agreements with the manufacturers.

 

[mikeford]

BTW Cr@pUSA stinks, I don't buy anything from them anyway, and $129 base price totally stinks.

 

[uOpt]

Originally posted by: popeye44
I'm chiming in on any MIR's you fill out., while a good bit of the people on this site are extremely knowledgeable about the MIR process and are meticulous with their mailings and receipts. "i for one scan everything and even go so far as to scan the stamped envelope WHEN/IF I do rebates" Not everyone is that careful. Rebate companies are having a tough time surviving now, 5 years ago 1-2 in 10 people filed a rebate now it's almost 45% "I read this somewhere on net a few weeks ago" It's making it tough on rebate fulfillment companies to make a profit. They have since decided in order to make profits and to continue to do so. Any rebates they receive must be filled in EXACTLY as stated in the instructions. Once again anandtech folk know how to do this and do it well for the most part. But there is a whole lot of folks elsewhere that don't realize just how hard it is to actually receive rebates. I'm hesitant to ever file for rebates, unless there is overwhelming support for the company providing them I won't let it be part of my purchasing decision "staples, ATI, DELL are all respected for the most part as are some fulfillment companies" Part of getting a hot deal for many of you is the rebate. Some of us are wary because of past experience. I've been mailing and not receiving rebates for 20 years so I'm skeptical of any MIR deals. Burn me once shame on you burn me twice shame on ME.

That's all normal. We rebate users get our gear partly payed for by people who don't cash in the rebate out of lazyness or stupidity. That's how it works.

However, this one is the first rebate to bounce the letter right back to me by the post office. That's a little more lawyer-worthy than usual.

 

[asearchforreason]

Originally posted by: MartinCracauer
The Hitachi rebate (the $60) one has just been returned to me as "return to sender/unable to forward".

Anybody else having this problem?

Thanks for the info. I was about to buy this drive today. I think I'll go for the 160GB WD for $40 AR @ Bestbuy instead.

We rebate users get our gear partly payed for by people who don't cash in the rebate out of lazyness or stupidity. That's how it works.

Yeah that's pretty much how it works, well said.

 

[brucekatz]

Only 2 rebates I have not received were from Compusa. One was two-rebates-in-one-envelope for ATI all-in-wonder 128; I did have every doucment copies, sent by certified mail.

One funniest rebate was for French's GourMayo Wasabi mayonnaise $3.25. We truely enjoy it even rebate never com. but, we finally received it after almost one year later.

 

[imported_ank]

Originally posted by: brucekatz
Only 2 rebates I have not received were from Compusa. One was two-rebates-in-one-envelope for ATI all-in-wonder 128; I did have every doucment copies, sent by certified mail.

One funniest rebate was for French's GourMayo Wasabi mayonnaise $3.25. We truely enjoy it even rebate never com. but, we finally received it after almost one year later.

CompUsa has been sued in a series of Class Action lawsuits for their poor rebate policy. Basically, they took very little care and allowed the rebate companies to 'misplace' a percentage of rebates while looking the other way. CompUsa lost those class action lawsuits and had to fork over decent sums of money. Supposedly, they have improved and will now follow up very diligently, or so they promised the courts. I still wouldn't trust them. Look at archived news from a few months ago and I'm certain you'll turn this up.

 

[allisolm]

Originally posted by: ank
CompUsa has been sued in a series of Class Action lawsuits for their poor rebate policy. Basically, they took very little care and allowed the rebate companies to 'misplace' a percentage of rebates while looking the other way. CompUsa lost those class action lawsuits and had to fork over decent sums of money. Supposedly, they have improved and will now follow up very diligently, or so they promised the courts. I still wouldn't trust them. Look at archived news from a few months ago and I'm certain you'll turn this up.

Wow! First the erroneous percentages and then this. You really need to check your facts.

To quote you "Look at archived news from a few months ago and I'm certain you'll turn this up" and find out what it actually was. Here.

 

[uOpt]

Well, I should mention that this is the Hitachi Rebate, not the Compusa one.

I didn't hear anything about the Compusa one yet.

For now I payed $130 for the slowest harddrive I have seen in a long time

 

[unclebud]

i don't care about erroneous percentages
don't think dude should have crabbed on the deal like this, especially if he didn't have no experience with hitachi rebate?

but also think that all the rebate gurus that getting so high and mighty here better watch out before they end up turning into him?

i done walked in those shoes before and am mighty tired -- they only fit people with no jobs that live in their momma's basement
let them chase new roacheel + niagara falls around all day

 

[uOpt]

WARNING.

As stated above, they don't intend to honor the $60 MIR.

I received no communications after the one asking me for the rebate number (which already was in my original mail to them). I have sent two reminders with no reply. The letter to the address given bounces and they never gave any instructions where to send it instead.

 

[Corporate Thug]

does anyone know of any bay area newspapers with that have a frys ad so i can pricematch???