Mail-in rebates

[lithium]

Office max has a bit of a reputation for stiffing on rebates. I've only ever used a few, and I always got them. Just took forever as expected. The delay is intentional, they make interest on that money that's just stewing around. So does the postal service on money orders.

edit (er yeah, what Regus said...)

[stormy]

in addition to interest, it provides them with massive positive cash flow

[negitoro]

Mail in rebates are good if you can wait for your money.

I've had mixed feelings for them. Some cases it was great, because they came fast and got me a product really cheap.

Other times, I've had rebates gone missing... rebates that were never paid... rebates that were cancelled for no reason or reasons which were inconsequential (like a spelling mistake on the form).

Some companies are better at honoring their rebates than others. I'm not sure how good CompUSA is with them, but I hear some people having bad experiences with them.

[Johnny]

I've fallen for rebates twice and was screwed both times. The first case involved a modem I picked up years ago at a Boxing Day sale wich didn't even work. I returned it after already sending in the mail-in rebate and got a couple bucks back, but the mail-in rebate was never to be seen. The second case leaves a bad taste in my mouth whenever I speak the name of SEGA. I picked up my Dreamcast when they offered the $100 rebate, followed proper procedure and was assured I'd get a rebate in something like 8 weeks. Well a few months later I realized that it had not come in the mail, called them up again and was told that they had no record of my application. I expect this kind of treatment from a shady electronics company, but not SEGA, not when they were trying to boost their public image.

[Wolffen]

We purchased a new HD from CompUSA for my wife's PC about 4 months ago, and it was around $40 or so after rebate. Sent of the rebate. About 8 weeks later, no sign of it. She checks the status of the rebate online, and it says "approved/processed." It says that for two weeks. No sign of the rebate. She checks online again. Says the same thing. And surprisingly, she had the option to "spend" the rebate on other merchandise on the site, like mice, keyboards, CDs, etc. After about 3 1/2 months, we finally got the rebate.

You will get your rebate, just not in a timely fashion, IMO.

[Captain Vegetable]

The thing is, what stores do is take that $20 they are going to give you and let it sit in the bank for a month or two so they can build some interest on it, then when they ship it back to you they've made a profit.

Actually, that's only half true. The company is always late sending you your money because, as you've said, the longer they can hold onto it, the better; however, rebates are used as a motivator. Since only 10-20% of all mail in rebates are ever sent in, the company doesn't stand to pay out all that much, and mail in rebates are, statistically, excellent motivators for consumers to buy your products. So, if there's a rebate offer for $20 on $100, and 100 people buy it, only about 10 of them are going to send it in. So, they've made $80 on 10 of them, and $100 on 90 of them because they've not sent the rebate in (for whatever reason). And they still make a profit at $80/per, so they're really just using it to motivate their customers.

[Wolffen]

I'm wondering how much longer before a store like Best Buy or CompUSA gets the idea to take care of the rebate themselves, and no longer offer a true cash rebate, but offer you "store credit" on select merchandise. They'll process all the rebates to the manf., and then sell you say, $150 worth of their merchandise, which would be maybe $75 in real cost to them. That's essentially what they were pushing my wife to do online. "Why not buy one of these lovely keyboards or speaker sets, and use your rebate now?" That way they don't really have to payout the rebate.

[Dolemite]

Funny this thread should pop up now...I just got back the $70 rebate from Radio Shack for my new cell phone yesterday. It took a few months, but I finally got it.

[bandit]

I hardly notice how long they take to arrive. I'll buy the item, fill out the rebate form, mail it in. While its being sent and being processed, I hardly notice about it. When it arrives thats when I remember.

On average, I would say it takes about 2-5 months for the check to come.

[Captain Vegetable]

I'm wondering how much longer before a store like Best Buy or CompUSA gets the idea to take care of the rebate themselves, and no longer offer a true cash rebate, but offer you "store credit" on select merchandise. They'll process all the rebates to the manf., and then sell you say, $150 worth of their merchandise, which would be maybe $75 in real cost to them. That's essentially what they were pushing my wife to do online. "Why not buy one of these lovely keyboards or speaker sets, and use your rebate now?" That way they don't really have to payout the rebate.

I'm waiting for it too. Especially with new trends in CRM and such.