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Community weekly poll: 4/12/05 What do you think about rebates?
- 4/12/05 10:59 AM
4/12/05 What do you think about rebates?
by Lee Koo (ADMIN) - 4/12/05 10:59 AM
What do you think about rebates?
Never, it's not worth the hassle
Only if the rebate is big enough
A pain in the butt, but I still fill them out
Love them, I fill out every rebate form
I think most rebates are scams; companies never pay up
Other (tell us what you think)
REBATES
by corwin1950 - 4/12/05 12:43 PM In reply to: 4/12/05 What do you think about rebates? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Rebates are corporations hedging thrie bets that you won't send them in. I got 2 phones through Verizon wireless and the trick was you had to wait 2 weeks to send in the rebate. Of course I missed the date and lost $100 dollars. That's what the corporations are betting on, that at least some people will forget or not even bother. and they get the money you should have gotten. It looks like a sale, but it's corporations playing the odds, and the house always wins!
Rebates are for the disciplined among us
by Jack146 - 4/12/05 2:49 PM In reply to: REBATES by corwin1950I just voted with the majority opinion that rebates are a PITB but I send them anyway. The name of the game is discipline, discipline, discipline.
Of course the sellers are hoping you don't get the forms in, but it is the undisciplined out there who make it profitable enough for the sellers and allows the rest of us to reap the benefits. Just last night I deposited $320 in rebate checks in my bank.
Yup! Cash rebates & get to pay tax when we spend them again!
by rae2_2 - 4/13/05 8:55 AM In reply to: Rebates are for the disciplined among us by Jack146What really gripes me (in Canada) is that we MUST pay both provincial (PST) and federal (GST) taxes on the purchase amount BEFORE rebates. We may receive a rebate on the purchase amount but no rebate on the taxes!
So in effect, the money we get back as a rebate has already had THREE taxes paid on it (income, prov. and federal) and now we get to spend it and pay at least TWO MORE taxes on it! The governments are ripping us off and there's not a damn thing we can do about it... except, of course, for our individual little "revenge" transactions!
taxes
by donwoodruff - 4/16/05 3:23 PM In reply to: Yup! Cash rebates & get to pay tax when we spend them again! by rae2_2BUT, YOU STILL GET THE ITEM FREE!!
ReBates and Taxes
by FredMars - 5/6/05 4:42 PM In reply to: Yup! Cash rebates & get to pay tax when we spend them again! by rae2_2Taxation without representation? Perhaps, but more important is the fact that you pay a price for an item, get the rebate form, and then "forget" to fill it out or mail it in. Now I do understand how this happens, and perhaps there is truth in the fact that companies are hoping that we forget to send in the rebate forms.
Recently, I decided to purchase Turbo Tax to do my (last minute) taxes, and there was a rebate on both the federal and state products. I made the purchase through Staples, got the rebte formes at the cash register, and then was told by the cashier that I can also do the rebate thing online at the Staples web site, which I chose as my method. After completion of all data entry and submittal of the form, I first received an email informing me that I will rceive a rebate in 6-8 weeks. I also receive a lterr in the mail which also confirmed receipt of my rebate request and that it is being processed. And I received the rebate check in about five weeks.
The check has been deposited in my checking account, and since the purchase price of the tx software is also tax deductible, I have saved the repecpts and the rebate check stub so that I can deduct the proper amount from my taxes next year. Oh and here in the state of Oregon, there is no sales tax, so the income that was taxed, which was uswed to purchase the software which was not taxed, but was used to pay taxes, will then be used to deduct from my tax bill (minus the rebate(s) of course) next year.
In the past, the burden to make copies of my receipts before sending the originals to the rebate center, not to mention the postage to mail the rebate form(s) and receipt(s) in, while a minor expense, was also a major pain in nether regions. The convenience of handling it all online was really great!
I know that not everyone will want to follow the instructions as stated in the rebate agreement, so to them I say, look for items that are on sale at a price that you feel works for you. To others that get that sale price AND the rebate, because you are so diligent and persistent in finding the bargain and the rebate "bonus" too, kudos!
Rebates
by daisie26 - 4/12/05 3:15 PM In reply to: REBATES by corwin1950I agree that the companies are hedging. They are betting that most will not fill them out and hence they don't have to pay out. They are a pain but I do fill them out when I'm buying their products and I feel if the co. is serious about it; they should just lower their prices.
The one I really hate is when you have several rebates and one cash register receipt and you must send in the original receipt and the UPS bar codes. Now to get the codes you have to break open the boxes or bags even if you were not going to use the item yet. It is a big hassle.
Rebates are a rip off
by hogan - 4/13/05 1:26 AM In reply to: REBATES by corwin1950If the companies bothered to sell products at a real price, they could spend a lot less on mindless advertising and the huge costs of administering rebates - how about I just buy what I want, I don't get overcharged and I don't have to waste my time filling in extra forms that keep marketing staff in jobs. Where do marketing fit in the evolutionary scale anyway?
rebates
by donwoodruff - 4/16/05 3:25 PM In reply to: Rebates are a rip off by hoganRebates are a BARGAIN!
I got a closet full of free items, and only had to
pay the sales tax!
YOU CAN'T BEAT REBATES!!
House Wins
by MustangSally39 - 4/13/05 7:05 AM In reply to: REBATES by corwin1950It helps if they stack the odds even further in their favor by using tricks like the one I recently experienced. It was an anti-virus comapny. I won't say who it was, but the gimmick was that you'd get the product with lack-of-fee. Free, in other words. The trick is that it was done with two rebates. One rebate required the return of a product code cut from the inside of the box and the other required the UPC symbol cut from the outside of the box. Miraculously the one on the insidde of the box was not there. A call to the rebate center for the company produced the fact that since the inside product code was absent, the outside UPC symbol would be required - NO COPIES ALLOWED.
"House" doesn't win by screwing this consumer!
by rae2_2 - 4/13/05 9:10 AM In reply to: House Wins by MustangSally39Are there any retailers out there who understand that to KEEP a customer happy is FAR LESS EXPENSIVE than to attract a new one? Or are there just so many of us "consumers" (read "suckers") these days that we keep coming like lemmings to the sea no matter how badly we're treated?
I give a retailer only ONE chance to serve me properly with a fair price and prompt, courteous, honest service. Screw me over once and you lose my business permanently.
I once had a rebater who wouldn't rebate for some convoluted reason... so I went back to the retailer with my well-documented complaint and explained my "consumer philosophy" above. I had my rebate within two weeks.
rebates
by donwoodruff - 4/16/05 3:30 PM In reply to: "House" doesn't win by screwing this consumer! by rae2_2I buy EVERYTHING which has a rebate--whether or not
I need the product!
They make great Christmas gifts!!
There are no 'convoluted' reasons
by kimmy34 - 4/19/05 4:32 AM In reply to: "House" doesn't win by screwing this consumer! by rae2_2I work for a company that processes rebates for Braun/Gillette products (in Australia).
While there are fairly strict conditions of entry (which are imposed for a purpose), all entries received that ADHERE to the conditions ARE rebated.
The main cause of rebates not being given is the consumer not fully reading the terms and conditions of rebate and therefore not supplying all forms, information etc needed to claim.
And to answer a question about why barcodes (or, im presuming UPC's) are needed is so that people in stores can't duplicate sales receipts and send in a few hundred claims, they MUST have the ORIGINAL barcode off the box.
REBATES
by dsconst - 4/12/05 12:44 PM In reply to: 4/12/05 What do you think about rebates? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I always fill them out unless they are from tiger direct
Rebate madness
by SJCicero - 4/12/05 12:56 PM In reply to: 4/12/05 What do you think about rebates? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Two things: First, sometimes the rebate is for a bundle that contains things you don't want or need.
Second, I had this experience with HP: I sent for a rebate on an ink cartridge "twin-pack", and they denied it, saying I needed to send in 2 UPC labels. Turns out that the UPC from the twin-pack wasn't good enough. Unbeknownst to me, there were also UPC labels for the individual cartridges in the pack. I eventually got the rebate, but told them it was bad PR to make folks jump through extra hoops like that.
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