Today I start my boycott on Rebates

[Liviathan]

I hate how everything has a rebate....HD's, phones, CD-Rs, TV's, CARS!! Everything!!

And I am sick of it....most of the time something is wrong with your paperwork and you don't get squat....or is it really worth it??

Or Am I just being to lazy or to crazy!

I am tired of rebates...


as of today I will not purchase anything that has any kind of mail rebate attached to it. Fine it might cost me a few dollars here and there...but is it really worth it??

IF the product is so great that it deserves a rebate, why not just a discount.

Why must they earn interest on my money, when I earn nothing!!

So no more rebates!!

 

[79Blazer]

Umm. Ok.

 

[Conky]

Mamma said rebates are the devil.

 

[novon]

I was just thinking of this too, almost every price you see on electronics in ads is misleading becaue there are so many rebates...it's just a big hassle, they should be outlawed and a price should mean a price.

 

[Wheatmaster]

rebate=terrorism

 

[zimu]

i love rebates; just wish they were more instant rebates rather than mail-ins. or they should have some automated online system rather than mailing in and waiting like 6 months for 10 bucks!!

 

[TheShiz]

Only about 30% of people that buy products with a rebate actually send it in correctly and get the rebate. Thus, stupid people are subsidizing bargains for the people that understand and send in the rebates. It is irritating, but I usually have no problems, and you can't beat the deals you get with rebates.

 

[Torghn]

Originally posted by: TheShiz
Only about 30% of people that buy products with a rebate actually send it in correctly and get the rebate. Thus, stupid people are subsidizing bargains for the people that understand and send in the rebates. It is irritating, but I usually have no problems, and you can't beat the deals you get with rebates.

Often I fill out a rebate perfectly and never get it at all, not even the decline. The rebate companies have a huge margin of error. Personally I hate rebates too, but the price after MIR is usually really good. I usually only buy items that have rebates from known trusted companies.

 

[BlamoHammer]

If you dont send off the mail in rebates, the terrorists win.

 

[DaWhim]

I told my buddy to do the $20 rebate for his IBM wirelesee mouse to bestbuy countless time. at the end, he didn't do the rebate :| idiot!
he could've gotten a better mouse.

I do the rebate as soon as the get the UPC. working in library give me free access to the printer. yeah, I always make a copy of the rebate I send in. so far, I got all the rebates back...still have $200+ in rebate
have $90 worth of rebates from CC BF deal. sent them all in, I am just paying the minimum payment to my cc until I can get the money back (no interest till april 04)

 

Good for you. :cookie;

 

[grabadude]

I hate waiting for the rebate check

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I've never had a problem with rebates so far, have saved me thousands

 

[Abzstrak]

about a year ago I decided that I would only buy something with a rebate if the price before rebate was good... I got burned on too many and I dont think they're worth the hastle. Lately I've seen products with 3 or 4 mail in rebates per item to get to the price they advertise at, and I think thats complete BS.

 

[DrPizza]

What bothers me, and it's just nitpicking, but if it's 79.99 after $20 rebate, and you have to pay 99.99 up front, then you also have to pay:
The tax on the difference - tax on $20 here is 65 cents. And, you have to pay for the postage. The effect is an additional $1 paid. I think the advertising is therefore misleading.

Let's start a class action lawsuit!

Come to think of it... I wonder how the tax actually works...
Let's say I have a company... I charge 100 for something, then give the buyer 50 back. Am I required to forward the tax collected on $100 or am I required to forward the tax collected on $50??

 

[rh71]

Manufacturers count on people not sending in for rebates to make their sales and profit on items.

You don't expect things to go on sale without rebate just because, do you ?

 

[PanzerIV]

Originally posted by: Liviathan
I hate how everything has a rebate....HD's, phones, CD-Rs, TV's, CARS!! Everything!!

And I am sick of it....most of the time something is wrong with your paperwork and you don't get squat....or is it really worth it??

Or Am I just being to lazy or to crazy!

I am tired of rebates...


as of today I will not purchase anything that has any kind of mail rebate attached to it. Fine it might cost me a few dollars here and there...but is it really worth it??

IF the product is so great that it deserves a rebate, why not just a discount.

Why must they earn interest on my money, when I earn nothing!!

So no more rebates!!

Good to know somebody feels exactly the same as I do. I don't have to start a boycott because I've been refusing to acknowledge that b.s. from the get go. I am sick to death of fliers like from Besty Buy and Circuit City that advertise those attractive prices then in tiny print put "after rebate." Screw the bastards!

 

[Freejack2]

What is getting even worse now is the 2 or 3 mail in rebates for an item.
You'll see $20 after MIR. You pay $100 up front. Send a $30 one to the manufacturer, send another $30 one to some scummy rebate clearing house, and another $20 one to some other rebate clearing house.
Then, despite following the directions to the letter, 1 or 2 of them don't send your rebate check and you have to waste a lot of time fighting with them to get your rebate check(s).

This crap is why I so rarely deal with mail in rebates.

 

[Sid59]

i just got all my fall rebates

a total of 200 bucks back. just in time .. i was getting broke.

 

[shimsham]

i avoid rebates. period.

the only rebate i ever participated in was the sega.net rebate a few years ago. took me 8 months and many, many, calls to get it. the last few were a little rude.

 

[DaWhim]

Originally posted by: Sid59
i just got all my fall rebates

a total of 200 bucks back. just in time .. i was getting broke.

lucky! I am waiting for mine while sending in more. lol

 

[TommyVercetti]

Hey let's start a www.boycottrebates.com website. We could have our own forum, complaint forum and what not. Would be interesting to do. http://www.1and1.com offers free hosting which would be perfect to get the site up and going. Maybe Rossman can help

 

[Imdmn04]

If everybody sent in their rebates, then there would be no rebates.

The only reason that they have rebates is that they know most Americans are lazy and dont send in theirs and they can advertise something lower but acutally cashes in because the number of rebates that goes through is less than 50 percent.

Otherwise, why bother, because if everybody sent theirs in, then they might as well do instant rebates.

Blaming it on the people that dont send their rebates in.

 

[Torghn]

Originally posted by: Imdmn04
If everybody sent in their rebates, then there would be no rebates. The only reason that they have rebates is that they know most Americans are lazy and dont send in theirs and they can advertise something lower but acutally cashes in because the number of rebates that goes through is less than 50 percent. Otherwise, why bother, because if everybody sent theirs in, then they might as well do instant rebates. Blaming it on the people that dont send their rebates in.

I blame it on the crappy rebate companies that don't send you your rebate even when you fill out your rebate claim perfectly. If I always got my rebates back I wouldn't hate them so much.

 

[Vic]

I avoid mail-in rebates if I can, but when I do go the rebate route, I have 4 rules.
(1) Don't buy the product unless the price is already hot BEFORE the mail-in rebate. If you're hoping on the MIR to make it a hot deal or bring your cost below retail, then you are pissing in the wind. The MIR should be the icing on the cake, not the deal-maker.
(2) Always follow the directions and mail in the rebate on time.
(3) Fight like a rat terrier to get the rebate, even if it is only for $5 bucks. It's not the money, it's the principle. To you, it might be only $5 bucks or $30 bucks, but to them it's hundreds of thousands of dollars and they want to defraud you. Document everything, make copies of everything, track everything, call them if it takes to long, be persistent and never give up. I had a Best Buy rebate for $20 bucks take almost a year one time, but I still got it.
(4) Avoid mail-in rebates in the first place if you can