*Ice cold* Best Buy starting to refuse rebates with the excuse, "item was returned"

[glenn1]

Had two rebates from Best Buy just refused, with the reasoning given that "the item was returned to the store, and no other qualifying purchase made." Hellllllllllllllllllllllo, McFly, if i returned it, then where did the UPC i just sent in with the rebate form come from?

Anyway, the letter will tell you to call a customer service number, where after a lot of hemming and hawing, the CSR will sheepishly admit that it might be a mistake and will ask you to re-send your rebate materials. Then they *might* honor your rebate. Or they might not. You're pretty much at their mercy at that point, since they already have your money, the UPC and rebate stuff, and everything else.

Also, one of the CSRs i spoke too also said that if you have more than one item on a receipt that a rebateable item is listed on, DO NOT return any item on that receipt. If you do, even if it's not the item which was covered by the rebate, they'll refuse your rebate as well (they'll count every item on the receipt as having been returned).

 

[Gamedude51]

Jesus. We gotta get the BBB on their asses.

 

[iwearnosox]

Rebates suck.

 

[ReiAyanami]

wow, i didn't know u could return things to best buy without UPC!!

 

[Speedy3D!]

Originally posted by: Gamedude51
Jesus. We gotta get the BBB on their asses.

No kidding. Talk about raping the customer.

 

[badluck]

this is the reason my username is what it is.....


badluck with rebates.....i don't think I'll ever bother with a rebate again.

 

[Rab]

Jesus. We gotta get the BBB on their asses.

Forget the BBB, contact the FTC and your State's AG, Consumer Affairs Div.

They're not allowed to pull new restrictions out of the air after introducing the promotion.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: iwearnosox
Rebates suck.

no...BB sucks

 

[Pothead]

I'm sorry to say but there are lots of people that cut the upc and the store still accepts the product back.

 

[MrHans]

Originally posted by: CheapArse

Originally posted by: iwearnosox
Rebates suck.

no...BB sucks

Huh? How about both? Those are two non-mutually excludable terms.

 

[Pezman]

Originally posted by: Speedy3D!

Originally posted by: Gamedude51
Jesus. We gotta get the BBB on their asses.

No kidding. Talk about raping the customer.

This is just what BB needs for me to forget them forever. Of course, if they do not honor rebates, then a nice class-action lawsuit would be in order. Not to mention the bad PR that they would get along the way.

Rebates bite. End of story.

 

[huzefa1]

Originally posted by: Pothead
I'm sorry to say but there are lots of people that cut the upc and the store still accepts the product back.

In over 5 years of shopping at BB, I've never seen anyone return an item without the UPC code present.

 

[OCedHrt]

 

[OCedHrt]

Actually, for the GeForce4 Ti4200 we rainchecked, our local Best Buy gave us instant credit for the rebate because it expired before we picked up the item.

 

[dew042]

Originally posted by: Pothead
I'm sorry to say but there are lots of people that cut the upc and the store still accepts the product back.

I inspect pretty much any return at my BB store - no UPC, no return, end of story.

These rebates are fulfilled by a third party that goes largely unchecked and are poorly regulated. Its a failure in the entire rebate system - not merely a sadistic BB ploy to screw you.

I have a love/hate relationship with rebates - they can offer you really low prices, but often times it requires a little bit of a fight. If you don't want the risk or the hassle you do have the choice as a consumer to not participate in this kind of marketplace - exercise your right.

dew.

 

[nickels84]

I hope the person who thought of rebates, goes blind and develops lepracy... that'll teach em. Rebates are so sucky. I was kinda hoping that some companies would catch on to the fact that people hate these things so much they would rather take their business elsewhere. I suggest that if any company owners read this thread that they do a rebate free day, kinda like what OSH does with that annual No Tax day. If someone decided to have their company eat the rebates for customers they would definitely get my business plus a bunch of others, and, i would think a whole bunch more companies would follow. This would finally put an end to the plague of rebates.

 

[GMaximus]

The problem is that rebates, for the most part, work in the company's favor. More people will buy an item when they see the "after rebate" price listed. Later on, quite a few will decide that sending in the rebate isn't worth their time, thus eating the savings. I doubt companies will stop rebates anytime soon.

I've had good experiences the few times that I've dealt with rebates. I sent in three for Imation CDRs purchased at Office Depot and two for Kingston CDRs purchased at MicroCenter, and the rebates all arrived within the allotted time (~2 months). Best Buy seems shady in general, so I'm really not surprised when I hear more bad news concerning them.

 

[dew042]

Originally posted by: GMaximus
The problem is that rebates, for the most part, work in the company's favor. More people will buy an item when they see the "after rebate" price listed. Later on, quite a few will decide that sending in the rebate isn't worth their time, thus eating the savings. I doubt companies will stop rebates anytime soon.

To offer the other side of that argument: if everyone actually sent in there rebates companies would go bankrupt - the idea behind rebates is to offer a deep enough discount versus the actual amount of ppl who will redeem it. That's why talk of fulfilling rebates in store is just moronic and in no way realistic. So, based on that fact that not everyone goes ahead with their rebates then companies are able to offer a deeper potential discount. Its a balanced risk that has many variables. On many of the deals I have taken advantage of lately I can't imagine any of the participating companies who made or distrubuted the product I bought made profit at all, but all those folks who didn't send in their rebates made my financial windfall possible (thanks btw ). Retailers use rebates as a way to get ppl into the stores and to spend the money.... If it didn't work then they wouldn't do it. Therefore, as I said above, if you don't like the practice then you have the choice to not participate in it at all. Most consumers just want a reason to whine unfortunatly - everybody is out there just to screw you over right???

dew.

 

[kindest]

my opinion on the matter:


rebates are scandelous.

 

[docinthebox]

Rebate is a trick used to inflate a company's revenue at the expense of marketing cost. Basically, if Maxtor sells a 200MB HD for $250 - $120 rebate, then $250 is booked as revenue, and $120 is counted as marketing expense. This allows a company's revenue to keep growing even though the net profit actually decreased.

Because of this, I think a company will still give rebate offers even if it thinks most people will submit the rebate. In fact, for the large amount rebates like $120, I don't think many people will forego it.

 

[tpoj]

Bestbuy sucks. Last month, I purchased a PNY RAM with $25 rebate advertised. When I sent it the rebate, it got reject because the product does not have the rebate as advertise. I went to B&M and yelled. The guy won't accept return because there was no UPC. I called in .com CSR and they told me to resubmit to another promotion but the rebate amount is $15 WTF. Accepted it anyway (better than nothing) but got no respone on my $15 yet.

 

[docinthebox]

Originally posted by: tpoj
Bestbuy sucks. Last month, I purchased a PNY RAM with $25 rebate advertised. When I sent it the rebate, it got reject because the product does not have the rebate as advertise. I went to B&M and yelled. The guy won't accept return because there was no UPC. I called in .com CSR and they told me to resubmit to another promotion but the rebate amount is $15 WTF. Accepted it anyway (better than nothing) but got no respone on my $15 yet.

PNY likes to play games with rebates. So it might not be entirely BB's fault. I bought a stick of PNY ram about a year ago. The rebate was advertised as $20 in BB's flyer, was stated clearly as $20 on the rebate form, and still, PNY has the guts to send $15 rebate checks to customers. I was furious and called BB headquarter to let them know that while they were advertising $20 rebate in their flyers for PNY, behind their back PNY had been sending $5 less per rebate check to customers. A month later, I received a separate $5 check from PNY labelled "Best Buy something". I bet BB headquarters probably called up whoever is their contact at PNY and yelled at them.

 

[dew042]

Originally posted by: tpoj
Bestbuy sucks. Last month, I purchased a PNY RAM with $25 rebate advertised. When I sent it the rebate, it got reject because the product does not have the rebate as advertise. I went to B&M and yelled. The guy won't accept return because there was no UPC. I called in .com CSR and they told me to resubmit to another promotion but the rebate amount is $15 WTF. Accepted it anyway (better than nothing) but got no respone on my $15 yet.

Right - rebate probelms with PNY directly (almost always manfacturers rebates on RAM) makes BB suck? Thats well thought through.

 

[InfiniteSadness]

I have seen an open boxed item on sale at BB without the upc before.

 

[Richardito]

My wife actually worked for the first person that implemented the rebate system. She was an employee in the OfficeMax headquarters (Shaker Heights, OH) and was the first implementer of this ridiculous tool. In the begining only 10% of the consumers returned the rebate coupon and they made out like bandits. I'm almost sue that now that number is much closer to 100% and they are doing everything to shoot people down. She sucks and rebates suck too...