Ever wondered why you ain’t getting that rebate check in the mail? This might enlighten you a bit. This pile of envelopes is more than 1300 unopened mail-in rebate forms a Mercury News reports found in a dumpster near Vastech, a small tech company selling USB hub products. All of these rebates came from customers who bought Vastech products at Fry’s Electronics stores.
An employee of nearby Dominion Enterprises found the letters, along with hundreds of others addressed to Vastech, at his company’s dumpster. He turned them over to his boss, Joel Schwartz, who gave them to me. All of the letters were addressed to UR-04 Rebate or some variation of the product name at the Vastech address.
When I read news like this, I start to believe that folks at Antirebate have very promising marketing strategy. ;-) The entire system of rebates is clearly crippled and it is not surprising that some companies who value customer satisfaction wow to totally eliminate rebates from their store shelves. Here it comes from OfficeMax and from BestBuy. Not that they really can do anything in practice (both companies still have rebate programs alive and kicking). With competitors offering rebates, it would be hard to stay in business should OfficeMax and BestBuy really decide and abandon rebates altogether.
Do you buy products with mail-in rebates? What is your success rate in receiving the check?
Update: More thoughts on rebates and price-matching: MIR, PM, AC, YMMV - Is it worth the hassle?
I’m very glad that rebates were removed from those stores and look forward to others doing the same. There was nothing sadder than buying a computer package at Best Buy and taking home 15 necessary receipts for each one of the rebates. I recently missed out on $300 in appliance rebates, because of quick due dates.
Rebates might suck but when those rare deals come along where you get a free laptop $500 for about 6-8 hours work submitting rebates (still going on at FW), it’s worth it.
The trick is to always use a reliable rebate provider like Staples Easy Rebates and their processor, Parago. As long as you have manufacturers and retailers that are funding the rebates AND are using a reputable processor, you can still win big.
But if you go with shady companies like Kworld and myrebates411.com, buyer beware.
I am very wary of rebates now because I’ve been stung too many times.
BTW, those sealed envelopes from that company in your article should be turned over to some attorney or maybe the Postmaster General. There is a very possible case of fraud there and that company should be made to pay out those rebates if they have legit dated postmarks.
There’s no question that rebates are a hassle. If you’re careful, and you don’t mind having your money tied-up for 30-60 days, it can sometimes be worth it.
To me, the best rebate situation is when the rebate sweetens an already good deal.
I agree with Dave that Staples is a great place for reliable rebates. In my experience, Amazon’s online rebates have also been very fast and reliable.
Sometimes I’ve had good results with rebates and sometimes I’ve had horrible rebate experiences. My most recent horrible experience was with a Tivo rebate.
It was a rebate of $150 and they tried to cheat me out of it twice. The first time was when I waited 6 to 8 weeks and they said they never received the mail I sent out with the UPC code. So I ended up faxing the info to them. I then waited another 4 weeks and never received the check so I called them after checking the site that stated that my check was sent but never received it.
I finally called them again, and as they say, third time is a charm – I got the check. I sure was not going to let them keep my $150. I must how ever state the fact that it was easy to get a hold of the customer care reps at the rebate center unlike other places.
In general, rebates and rebate centers are EVIL.
Use http://www.DotRebates.com to save on your online purchases! Fast, simple, secure! Paypal quick pay option available, no registration needed ever to get your cash back! Just simple!
-DotRebates.com