Life's too short for rebates

The key to getting back rebates is:

  1. Read the directions and follow them TO THE LETTER. Each rebate has a different set of requirements.
  2. Make copies of everything, including the UPC.
  3. Note when you sent it and when you are due to receive it. A free program like Rebate Rebate can help.

If you follow these directions and still don't receive your rebate, call the company. I guarantee the CSR will say something along the lines of, "Your rebate was just processed and is due to be sent out this week". I have easily filled out 50+ rebates over the years and have gotten every single one. Only once or twice did I have to call to ask where it was. And then it was immediately sent out.

If some of you can't be bothered to send in a MIR, that's up to you. But for the cost of an envelope + stamp, getting back $20 is worth two or three minutes of my time.
 
People on both sides tend to exagerate there is no way it only takes 2-3 minutes to fill out a rebate. On the other hand the majority of them do come back. Carefully reading the form takes that long. Finding stamps and envelopes in a day and age where no one tech savy does much of anything by mail is another problem. I keep stamps around for very few things. The biggest problem is that each rebate is different. Get out a stop watch and calculate all the time it takes you to do 1 rebate. Make sure you include everything this means finding a place to store all the info, waiting till after you install a device and make sure it is working and acceptable before you cut the UPC out. Making copies of all the documents storing those somewhere and rechecking them periodically to make sure you actually recieved the rebate. Heck it takes me 2 minutes just to walk from where I would fill them out to the mail box. All that assumes that you get the rebate if you do not now you have to find a phone number, and get on the phone possibly wait on hold while you convince them to send you the money.

I personally do fill them out but I only get them as added value the item already has to be on sale the rebate makes it a killer deal or I do not buy it. I have found that I will fill them all out but it is fire and forget, I do not make copies or store anything I have no idea if half the rebates I had even came back because it is to much work for me in my busy life to keep checking up on them or to waste space tracking them. It all bothers me but then again so does needing to store boxes in case I need to return something.
 
i got burned on my first rebate.... i now avoid them at all costs. the ones i do get just get tossed. =\
 
flexcore said:
I base my purchases on the price before the rebate and look at the rebate as a bonus.
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REBATES ARE FREE MONEY you guys complaining are b*tches!!! No one is forcing you to buy item's with rebates, and if the price is low enough for you to buy a rebate item anyway, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU COMPLAIN about potentially free money?!?!

I currently have 3 visa $15 cards in my wallet thanks to rebates.
 
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YamahaAlex37 said:
REBATES ARE FREE MONEY you guys complaining are b*tches!!! No one is forcing you to buy item's with rebates, and if the price is low enough for you to buy a rebate item anyway, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU COMPLAIN about potentially free money?!?!

I currently have 3 visa $15 cards in my wallet thanks to rebates.
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I guess we all have our price. I can't be bothered with all the time and effort for $15.
 
nobody_here said:
I guess we all have our price. I can't be bothered with all the time and effort for $15.
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That's exactly my point, your not bothered by it!!! Is the rebate police forcing you to send that rebate??? If $15 dollars is not worth it to you, then you obviously didn't mind paying the extra $15 dollars on that item you decided to purchase!!!
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
That's exactly my point, your not bothered by it!!! Is the rebate police forcing you to send that rebate??? If $15 dollars is not worth it to you, then you obviously didn't mind paying the extra $15 dollars on that item you decided to purchase!!!
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And that's exactly what I said here in this thread and exactly what I do. I ignore the rebates when shopping. I would rather pay a little more to be done with it than to have to be bothered with a rebate. Fuck a rebate.
 
Gotta agree with the OP here. I used to compare prices and go for deals based on the price AR. Not so much anymore. I still buy things with rebates and send them in, but I don't base my final decision on that and I'm more likely to buy something at a final price (or with a coupon code) that is slightly more expensive than an AR deal, but lower than the true purchase price before rebate.

I always make copies of everything possible and follow the rebate instructions EXACTLY. Despite that, I've had a number of rebates denied and when I call up to ask about them, the people answering the phone flat out lie. They've said, "oh yes we received your rebate form, but you were missing the UPC or missing the receipt". Then I say, "Sorry that's false. I sent all the documents exactly as required on the rebate form and I will fax you a copy of my duplicates right now. What's your fax number?"

In most cases, after that I fax in exactly what I had mailed them in the first place, and they magically change their tune and usually end up sending the rebate.

Basically, I came to the conclusion that the must have a certain quota of PROPERLY SUBMITTED rebates they have to deny or "lose" and figure either people won't bother to call and follow up or maybe they didn't keep copies of all their originals they sent in.

That's on top of the fact that they assume a certain percentage of people won't even bother to send in the rebate at all.

Not to mention the extra before-rebate taxes.

Finally, another thing I've run into is that some products are defective out-of-the box and if you have to send in the original UPC by a certain date before you have a chance to discover the problem, you'll have trouble getting the store to exchange it or refund the purchase.

So, sure I'll submit a rebate, but I'm less and less likely to buy based on one. It's a huge hassle to keep all the documentation and follow up months later because they're trying to meet their rejection quota. It's just generally a pretty shady way to do business (compared to a straight out sale, coupon code or "instant rebate").
 
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nobody_here said:
And that's exactly what I said here in this thread and exactly what I do. I ignore the rebates when shopping. I would rather pay a little more to be done with it than to have to be bothered with a rebate. Fuck a rebate.
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Well at least your smart about it, but I don't see why something that's not affecting you would bother you. If it's the lowest price you can find and it's what you want then who cares if other people may benefit from it, it's not affecting you. Not directed at you but the people complaining.
 
So anyway I emailed Zotac about a rebate I was bitching about earlier and the reply was "Thanks for the email, we will process that now". It showed up in the mail 3 days later, which put it over 4 months after I first submitted it. I believe the rebate said it would take up to 12 weeks, and it was close to 17 weeks when I emailed.

Why the hell should I have to follow up on a properly submitted rebate? Its fairly obvious to me that they are not processing these on purpose. For all I know they do this with *all* rebates and just sit back and wait for people to email before they take any action so they can get more money. People should not have to babysit rebates.
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
Well at least your smart about it, but I don't see why something that's not affecting you would bother you. If it's the lowest price you can find and it's what you want then who cares if other people may benefit from it, it's not affecting you. Not directed at you but the people complaining.
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because i think it's an insult to us all......most people dont even realize rebates are nothing more than hedge betting on you being an idiot and no i dont mean "you", i mean people in general. the company knows from market research that a certain percentage of rebates go unclaimed, so they are profitable while spurring sales to boot. these companies are betting on the fact that a lot of people are too stupid or lazy to figure out how to redeem them and in many instances they are correct, present company excluded.

I'm just old fashioned that way. If you are willing to part with an item for $75 instead of $100, I give you $75, I get item, done. None of this loaning you the extra $25 and having to play your game to get my money back. I just assume move on to the next guy who isn't playing games even if it is more.

ocellaris said:
So anyway I emailed Zotac about a rebate I was bitching about earlier and the reply was "Thanks for the email, we will process that now". It showed up in the mail 3 days later, which put it over 4 months after I first submitted it. I believe the rebate said it would take up to 12 weeks, and it was close to 17 weeks when I emailed.

Why the hell should I have to follow up on a properly submitted rebate? Its fairly obvious to me that they are not processing these on purpose. For all I know they do this with *all* rebates and just sit back and wait for people to email before they take any action so they can get more money. People should not have to babysit rebates.
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ya think? :p all the while they are earning interest on the money...which pays to cover a lto if not all of the rebate costs i could imagine....so in the end they make more money than selling it to you outright...and its good for the third party companies servicing the rebates, anyone in the middle gets a cut

if the goddamn companies would stop this shit they could sell you the items for less money and make a profit still.......but there's too many people who see "free money" when they see a rebate...... :rolleyes:
 
nobody_here said:
because i think it's an insult to us all......most people dont even realize rebates are nothing more than hedge betting on you being an idiot and no i dont mean "you", i mean people in general. the company knows from market research that a certain percentage of rebates go unclaimed, so they are profitable while spurring sales to boot. these companies are betting on the fact that a lot of people are too stupid or lazy to figure out how to redeem them and in many instances they are correct, present company excluded.

I'm just old fashioned that way. If you are willing to part with an item for $75 instead of $100, I give you $75, I get item, done. None of this loaning you the extra $25 and having to play your game to get my money back. I just assume move on to the next guy who isn't playing games even if it is more.
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I think you're looking at it wrong, the price of the item is the price you pay before the rebate. You are not loaning them your money, but they are giving you free money a month or two later if you decide to partake in the hassle of the rebate. I think everyone knows the marketing strategy behind a rebate, it sounds to me like it's the dumb ones, not the smart ones, who are mad in this thread because they weren't aware of the marketing strategy.

If an item is being sold for the best price yet includes an additional rebate, you really can't complain. If it is sold for slightly more somewhere else and you don't intend to use the rebate, why on earth didn't you buy it for less? I really don't see where there is any room to complain either way.
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
I think you're looking at it wrong, the price of the item is the price you pay before the rebate. You are not loaning them your money, but they are giving you free money a month or two later if you decide to partake in the hassle of the rebate. I think everyone knows the marketing strategy behind a rebate, it sounds to me like it's the dumb ones, not the smart ones, who are mad in this thread because they weren't aware of the marketing strategy.

If an item is being sold for the best price yet includes an additional rebate, you really can't complain. If it is sold for slightly more somewhere else and you don't intend to use the rebate, why on earth didn't you buy it for less? I really don't see where there is any room to complain either way.
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thats not how i see it, if i pay $100 for an item and then after playing the game I get back $25 I bought the item for $75, thats my total cost of goods

i prefer to pay $75 now and not play any games

if i have the choice to play the game and get it for $75 or pay $100 and no games, i'll pay $100
 
I try to avoid MIRs like the plague. I broke down for my Sandy Bridge build but even then I only bought items that were already low (as "low" as could be for early birding it) before the MIR. That was January, just got 1 of them in the mail last week. Pretty sure I'm not even going to see most of the others.
 
nobody_here said:
thats not how i see it, if i pay $100 for an item and then after playing the game I get back $25 I bought the item for $75, thats my total cost of goods

i prefer to pay $75 now and not play any games

if i have the choice to play the game and get it for $75 or pay $100 and no games, i'll pay $100
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Not sure why you would look at it like that, especially if your not going to use the rebate :confused: I guess people that look at it like that are the target market the rebates try to trick.

You do have the choice to not play the game. Why would you complain that the rebate exists for other people who may wish to use it?
 
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If any of you "no rebate" guys feel like sending me a copy of your receipts and the UPC codes from the boxes, I will GLADLY sit here all weekend long filling out rebates. Even figuring at one rebate every ten minutes (pretty sure I could do it faster than that), that would mean my time is worth somewhere around $60-$120 an hour assuming each rebate is $10-$20. Not a bad amount of money for just filling out paperwork.
 
I only do MIR when it's worth it. Anything $20 or more I definitely do. The other day I had a $60 MIR for a G27 logitech racing wheel, dropped the price from 240$ for to 180$. Totally worth it IMO. Did another $40 MIR for the G930 wireless gaming headset and a $20 for the G700 mouse.

I find logitech rebates the easiest ones to complete. I just use Acrobat's PDF auto fill settings, print invoice + rebate form, cut UPC code, and stamp the envelope and put it in the mail. Takes me no more than 15-20 minutes.
 
YamahaAlex37 said:
Not sure why you would look at it like that, especially if your not going to use the rebate :confused: I guess people that look at it like that are the target market the rebates try to trick.

You do have the choice to not play the game. Why would you complain that the rebate exists for other people who may wish to use it?
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Your total cost for item x is $75, how can you see it differently? Or are you saying you see it as, "rebate company x is paying me $25 to fill out a form after purchasing my product.'
 
Power5 said:
Your total cost for item x is $75, how can you see it differently? Or are you saying you see it as, "rebate company x is paying me $25 to fill out a form after purchasing my product.'
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Well the person I was quoting said he doesn't even do rebates, so I'm not sure how on earth he could look at it any other way, but I consider your total cost for item x to be the full price you pay at the time of purchase. A rebate is just a bonus. Just like if you order a CPU from Newegg with a free $10 Newegg gift card, you don't subtract the $10 from the price you are paying, it is just a gift.
 
I used to consider rebates when shopping for an item, but now it's quite the opposite. I am actually repelled from a deal if I see any mention of rebates. They're a pain in the ass, more times than not I forget to even send the damn thing and even if I do manage to send it I definitely am not going to remember some rebate I sent in 4 moths ago and keep track of whether I got it or not.
 
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