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do u trust rebates?

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Bmxpunk86pl

Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2001
Location
CT/Poland
hey this week ast Circuity City they have a 32 meg mp3 player for 100 bux with a $30 store mail in rebate and a $50 mail in rebate, or something like that. The questions is, do u guys thinks its safe? Its my first time having a rebate give back so much cash. Im not sure if I should buy this mp3 player or not.


thanks,
adam
 
Some people do not like rebates because you have to pay the money up front and wait a couple of weeks to get your money back. I have purchased a lot of stuff using rebates and here is what I would recommend.

Make copies of everything - the receipt, the completed rebate form, the UPC code, etc. If you have a scanner, you can use it to make the copies. Write the date you mail the rebate form on one of your copies, so that you can keep track of when you should get your money. If you have a number of rebates, you may want to make a list of the rebates and check the list periodically to make sure that you do get your money.

Some companies will email you when they have received your rebate form and let you know that the rebate has been approved. If you do not receive your rebate per the time stated on the form, call or email the company to find out what the problem is.

I have been lucky. Only once have I not actually got the rebate money. A couple of times it took longer than expected, but I did eventually get the money.
 
Circuit City and Best Buy have always upheld their rebates very well when I buy from them. CompUSA, however, is on the list of shaky retailers when it comes to the rebate department. I made out 13 rebates last December and January when I purchased my computer and various mice, CD-Rs, USB cables, etc from them. Of those 11, I saw only one -for $5- in the following 5 months. I was about to call them up but then, in a week's time, they managed to get me another $60 worth. That came in 6 rebates. I have waited patiently since then for the first ones I sent off...the big ones, but have yet to see them.

CompUSA is still in the red for me, and I haven't purchased anything from them that had a rebate attached since then. Best Buy has my business until I get that last $80...I'm not holding my breath.

I have been very pleased with Circuit City and Best Buy. I especially like Best Buy's rebate forms. Very convenient that they should be right there with the recipt. Why doesn't anyone else do that?
 
I do not trust rebates. I kinda hate them :D

I used to go in for them a lot when I lived in CT, and I only got my money back maybe half the time. I did all sorts of stuff- videotapes, stereo equipment, random things from Sports Authority.....

This was a long time ago, and mayeb they have cleaned it up nowadays, but I am soured on the whole thing. No rebates for me.
 
A true test of rebate faith. Recently, both CompUSA and Fry's (I think that they are only in California) offered a $120 rebate on the Western Digital 120GB with 8MB cache. Both stores had the drive for $269 plus a $120 rebate.

CompUSA had the HD in stock. I eyeballed the box a dozen times to make sure that it was the 8MB cache drive, paranoid about CompUSA in general. They even had the rebate slip in stock. BUT, the rebate slip only listed the 2MB cache model as eligible. The store manager told me that since the CompUSA flyer clearly referred to the 8 MB cache model, they would honor it, but only after and if Western Digital sent me a notice rejecting my rebate claim. I WALKED OUT.

Luckily, Fry's rebate slip had the right model and I made the purchase. I filled out, copied and mailed that rebate out within 10 minutes of stepping foot through my front door.
 
I don't buy anything anymore from Best buy, Circuit city, or Comp usa. The experience I have is the rebates are expired or they take too long. Waiting 6 months for a rebate is wrong. I always buy from online vendors. And I don't want their stupid warranty. Thats the biggest sham they got going.

Correction I will buy cds at best buy. They don't make all the cds parental guidance (walmart).
 
AarontheJC said:
CompUSA, however, is on the list of shaky retailers when it comes to the rebate department.

I have always received my rebates w/o hassle except from CompUSA. It took me over a year to get $123 of rebates from CompUSA and that was after many phone calls over those months. I ended up having to fax my rebate form and receipt to CompUSA. I received the check within a week after that.

As someone else pointed out, it is VERY important to keep copies of everything you send. Also, definitely read the fine print and see if they want you to do things like circle the item on the receipt. Sometimes a copy of the receipt is ok; I even had one for a monitor for which a copy of the UPC was ok but that is certainly a rarity.

I will continue to buy items with good rebates.

I'm looking at that MP3 player too, BTW.

- John
 
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