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The Dirty Truth about Rebates

August 11, 2011
The Dirty Truth about Rebates

I must have been no more than six years old when I tried to redeem my first coupon at the supermarket. It was a 10 cent coupon for a box of salt, and I thought it meant that I would get the salt for 10 cents, as in “pay 10 cents, and you’re off!” Despite my youthful misunderstanding, coupons are straight forward. But not so with rebates. The truth about rebates is that the stores and manufacturers often make the rebate submission process so complicated, that many consumers don’t complete it correctly, if they complete it at all.

For years, I’ve bought all of my Apple products from MacMall because they offer great “free with rebate” bonuses, and I’m the kind of guy who’s not intimidated by the onerous UPC-clipping, receipt copying and proof-of-purchase proffering that these offers require. And Daddy is prepared to fight any “incomplete submission” rejections. But my favorite rebate programs are from Rite-Aid and Staples. These rebates are completed online and require no documentation beyond entering your receipt information.

You can read more about my rebate tips and adventures on BillyKnowsBest, but I’m curious for a show of comments: How many of you use rebates? And any great or nightmare rebate stories?

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Post written by Billy Kolber (View Author Profile)
About this author: Billy Kolber is a writer, consultant and entrepreneur, living and loving in New York City. Billy blogs about Shopping, Sex, Food and Travel at BillyKnowsBest.com.
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Comments

Submitted by TheDivine ... on Fri, 2011-08-12 02:15

We used to have a big store here where I grew up in Queens, called Consumers Distributing. I know they were a chain at one point, very similar to Service Merchandise, but I don't know what their nationwide fan base was. Anyway, it was what in the 1970s and 80s would be called "a newfangled kind of department store," in that instead of going from floor to floor or aisle to aisle browsing for the things you wanted, you would leaf through a catalog, fill out a ticket with your name and the catalog number(s) of which item(s) you wanted to purchase, submit the ticket, and then wait about twenty minutes while they gathered up your purchases and called your name to ring them up at the register. They were a BIG proponent of rebates; half of their offerings came with a rebate. To which I never paid very much attention. But when I was about twelve, there was this one game I really wanted. I don't even remember what it was. But my folks wouldn't buy it for me because it was too violent or something, so I saved up my allowance to buy it. It was $18.97 before rebate, $8.97 afterwards. So I bought it, and the first thing I did was fill out the rebate info and send it in to the company (I think it was Coleco or something). After three weeks I didn't get my rebate, so I called their toll-free number. Now, think back to when you were twelve years old. Ten dollars is a LOT of money to a twelve-year-old, and they owed me that ten dollars. I got shuffled from department to department, nobody there knew what the hell I was talking about, and they finally told me to take it up with the store. Which I did, and showed them the receipt and the UPC. They told me I'd have to call the manufacturer (didn't I just do that?). So I called the manufacturer again, got shuffled around again, and they told me to speak to the store. (This is now a month after I bought the game, which if memory serves turned out not to be such a fun game anyway). I said no, I'd already been called once and was shuffled around, I talked to the store and they told me to call the manufacturer, now I was shuffled around again, and I'd like to speak to the president of the company or I was calling Better Business. Well, they didn't put the president on the phone, but they gave me one of his underlings, who apologized profusely, and four days later I got my check for ten bucks. That was my first and only experience with rebates, and I will NEVER willingly go through that again.

Submitted by WhiteKnig ... on Fri, 2011-08-12 06:03

>fight any “incomplete submission”

I can't be the only one that LOL'd at this part.

Submitted by LittleIta ... on Fri, 2011-08-12 10:15

Ah! Consumers Distributing!!!! Good Times. :-) I was in college at around that time and being a student low on funds. Thats when I discovered the wonderful world of Consumers Distributing in Trenton, NJ. Actually, I alwasy had a good experience with those guys. Coupons...LOVE 'EM! 'use them all the time. If you're a smart shopper - especially groceries you can save a s@#tload of money. Rebates...'LOVE 'Em too! Oil changes, office supplies, computer equipment. So you might have to wait 4 weeks for you few dollars but, hey, better the money in your pocket then theirs...

Submitted by CapitalUncut on Fri, 2011-08-12 10:16

Staples Easy Rebates are just that: Easy. I don't understand why they make you have to submit the rebate since they have all the info already in the system.

I took on Verizon Wireless back in 2007 over a MIR on the Motorola RAZR I bought. The deal was pay them $79.95 but then you get that back after the rebate. The conditions (which you could not know until after you received the phone) were: You had to activate the phone and have it for 2 months. UPC, original invoice, plus your *original* VZW bills showing a zero balance for the 2 months. Then you had to send it in First Class mail only (no return receipt or certified). The postmark could not be earlier than 14 days after the date on the bill, nor later than 7 days before the due date. (The way that VZW's billing worked, that meant you had a 2 day window to get it in the mail.) Allow 8-12 weeks for processing. WTF?

Anyway, I took it to the post office and got both proof of mailing and Proof of Delivery (the carrier saying it was delivered to the address), and made note of it on my calendar for 3 months out. Naturally, nicht. Called VZW and they had no clue what I was talking about. "We don't have any current rebate offers on that phone." "Oh, we can't help you with expired rebates." This went on for a couple of weeks. I finally got on the horn with their president's office and asked what their problem was. They gave me a song and dance about how these offers are handled by outside vendors and they don't have any control over them. I called bullshit on it, reminding them that since they pay the bill they have the last word, especially since they are not some dinky mom-and-pop. Promised they would look into it.

The gal finally got back to me a week later, telling me that they had no record of ever receiving it. Faxed her copies of the whole shebang including the receipts from USPS showing it was postmarked as required, and delivered to the address the next day. Another week and the story was "They did mail the check, but it was returned because it had the wrong address." Oh, really. Miss Deflection was not amused when she had to admit the idiots screwed it up. Two days later, she told me "Well, since the offer is now over they cannot reissue the check because the unclaimed funds had been decommitted. I am terribly sorry about the inconvenience..."

Daddy knows all too well how big corporations work, and does his best to be diplomatic, especially when dealing at the upper end of the food chain. However, the gloves come off once I have exhausted my patience for being polite. "So, let me confirm the state of things: You verified that I was indeed eligible for the rebate. Your agent screwed up and failed to rectify an error on their part, and now you're telling me that you will not make good on your obligation?" That's right, sucker. "Alright, then. Be advised that since you have stated for the record that you will not honor your obligation, I will now seek legal relief." She made some flippant remark about how they hear that all the time, basically saying "Good luck with that."

I filed a claim against Verizon Wireless in Small Claims Court here in DC that afternoon for the rebate amount, plus the filing and process server costs, plus 8 hours of my time at my standard billing rate trying to resolve the matter. That brought the amount sought to over $2,000. I received a check for the full amount of the claim 6 days later to settle the matter, with a saccharin-sweet letter profusely apologizing for "the misunderstanding" and promising better oversight of the companies that handle promotions for them.

It is good to have a pair, and to not be afraid of using them.

Submitted by blondiebo ... on Fri, 2011-08-12 10:44

I must admint I LOLed a bit, partly because of the first reply and partly out of idendifying, have had a few experiences like this, but the way I see it, if you found a tenner or 20 quid in the street, would you pick it up or walk on by??

Submitted by TroyM on Fri, 2011-08-12 10:55

No shame in my game! Rebates are incentive and I fill them out diligently. And follow up if they don't come in! I won't pass on money promised from a company if all it takes is a wee bit of effort to get it.

Submitted by muzyqman on Fri, 2011-08-12 11:53

I try to stay away from rebate offers. Although I have received all but one of the few rebates I went after, and the one I didn't get was really my own fault for missing a deadline, my general experience is that companies deliberately make things much more complicated than necessary so that people will decide not to bother submitting. That way, the rebate is a great "come-on" for a sale, but they don't have to actually pay out the rebate, so we're paying full price after all.

Now I just look for legitimate discounts and sales, and to hell with rebates.

Submitted by ShyPup4LTR (not verified) on Wed, 2011-08-17 04:37.

Speaking of good deals the Apple products will soon be swamped with cheaper competition that will infiltrate the Apple cult where the little apple ends up standing for "big brother" in the corporate sense as Apple forces customers to do things the Apple way with lots of fees for the apps and the texting can lead to some unexpected charges along with music download fees and so the actual product is the cheapest part of the whole deal that people sign into.

Google and Blackberry and Samsung and many others will try to gain acceptance with a more open architecture in some cases where your not restricted to company protocol and product correctness.

Speaking of coupons theres a lot of items that can be bargains that are sometimes better left alone especially if its a deal on old meat at the supermarket. However there is a couple someplace who claim to save a few hundred a month by using tons of coupons but searching for the coupons takes up a lot of their time and then you have to be okay with the cereal thats a deal and maybe get those pastries that are 2 for 5 bucks.

A good way to save bucks though is to stay away from wellness center supplements that actually end up being just placebo's in some cases and then it all adds up to tons every month with no real feeling that the herbs even accomplish anything beyond the imagination. Some folks go jogging in designer gear and cleverly engineered sneakers while wearing the expensive under-armour in the winter and then put down 400 a month at the wellness centers which just makes it look like the same sort of marketing racket that the traveling salesmen with the miracle medicine was pushing 150 years ago. Hope everyone has a nice day for sure.

Submitted by 2DadsCocks (not verified) on Sat, 2011-08-20 11:20.

I just buy from Costco (Executive Membership = 2% back) and with the Costco Gold American Express Card, I get anywhere from 3-10% back on purchases. I don't get "actual money back from AMEXCO, it get's "credited onto the bill", but Costco DOES send me out a check once a year. Average is about 3-350 bucks, so it covers the cost of the membership for another year, plus...........works for me........Oh, plus, with Costco? On ALL electronics, they add an additional year to the manufacturer's warranty. And they'll take back ANYTHING. Heck, my partner tried to return ME once to Costco................. ;))

Submitted by skbearhunter (not verified) on Sat, 2011-08-27 09:45.

I get the Shell gas coupons (paper coupon for $10.00 free gas) every now and then with various Shell promotions. the best one I had was a dealer telling me the coupon had expired. With two or three other customers in line behind me, I challenged him to show me an expiry date on the coupon. When he couldn't find one, I asked to see the corporate directive cancelling it. He couldn't/wouldn't show me that. I then told him that the Corporate office in Calgary would hear about it (I have a family member who is a Director in their PR office) if he didn't accept the coupon as presented. With the line behind me growing and me unrelenting, the snot nosed brat accepted the coupon. Be firm with 'em. They will back down.

Submitted by MascDomTo ... on Wed, 2011-08-31 05:57

Rebates are crap. If they really wanted to give you a lower price, they would -- right then and there. It's a tactic intended to guile you into buying something at regular price (or higher). "I'll gladly pay you (back) Tuesday for a hamburger today!" There are often unnecessarily short windows. ("Must be sent in within 14 days of purchase", for example, rather than a specific functional deadline,) and that requirement is buried amidst a mire of legalese in small print on the BACK of the rebate info. It's not accidental that the rebate number is huge, but that requirement is in tiny print that many don't read until it's too late.

Even with promo credits on our cell phone lines (transfer your business number to Sprint and we'll give you $175 in credits) I've found I have to hound them, pursue it tooth and nail, and make sure they pay out ALL of the credits. The only thing I have for leverage is continuing service (and payment) with them. In the case of the hard drive, I was just SOL, for having sent the paper in 2 days late (while moving, which I explained along with the receipts) from that almighty 14 day window.

I've also lost $5 on a bet with a friend about that rebate. He said "You'll never see it!" Sure I will, I replied. They're a huge, venerable hard drive manufacturer. I lost the bet.

These days, if I want to buy it at the price at the register, I buy it. And I read for the Catch. I send it in, but don't expect the rebate. Life's too short to be worrying about that sort of game.