Who has ever gotten a mail in rebate back?

[charmapsyche]

These results seem pretty dead on.

Before I joined the military I worked at BestBuy, Circuit City, Target, and even managed a Radio Shack. The reason vendors offer mail-in-rebates are because of these statistics. Only 50% of the population even send them in. 75% of the people who do send them in, do not receive the rebate due to incorrect information or for simply missing the deadline.

It appears people smart enough to build there own computers are smarter than the average poplulation however...

I just had an incident myself with a rebate from CompUsa. I had to make several phone calls and write several emails before they realized the errors of their ways.

It's one of the best ways to save some dough, but you gotta be smarter than the average joe.

 

[Blueboy1986]

I have gotten all of mine in. All my rebates total around $350 in a period of like three years

 

[Shoeby]

i've never NOT gotten a rebate, though i have had some that have taken over 6 months.

 

[Romebaby]

I've gotten all back except for Canon. Canon is 0 for 2 with me. First they screwed me on a free Pinnalce Studio offer with the purchase of a ZR65 camcorder, then they got me on a $100 rebate with the purchase of an A80 camera and 900D printer. Both times they said I didn't send UPC codes, which I did. I love their stuff but I'll never buy anything Canon again that has a rebate offer.

 

[Foxie3a]

Cyber Power sent me mine for $20 within 2 weeks I was very happy.

Best Buy took a little bit longer, but I still got it.

IBM denied that I had even baught anything from them, but I didn't care, only $10 anyway, and I like the mouse.

 

[Shishio]

Some companies are really good with rebates. I always get my seagate rebates relatively quickly ~4-6 weeks. I just got an office max rebate for a cdr drive that I bought 6 months ago. 4 years ago I bought a Likom (ever heard of them?) 17" crt from Fry's for $150 with a $75 MIR and I never got that...

 

[phrkshw]

I have gotten every MIR I have ever sent in . 'Course thats not sayin much beings I have only sent in about half of them , but hey whos fault is that ?

 

[Tatuya]

I've gotten all my MIRs back, it just takes 6 months sometimes. Although, I've only had 5 MIRs...

 

[bulk88]

I have gotten all the rebates I have ever sent in. However, I refuse to use them now. I think they should just lower the darn price if thier going to do it. Why annoy the customer with form's and BS.

Because they factor in a certain % of people never to send them in and another % to do them wrong and they arent going to send it back to you (the original UPC) to resubmit.

 

[bulk88]

My answer is a combination of #s 2 and 4.

I have never received one yet:
In the past I filled out and sent in many MIR forms and never received a thing.
Probably about ten years ago, I gave up on them.
Perhaps once every two or three years since I will try one again- when I happen to be buying something that has one and still has a decent price.
Never gotten one of them either.

Obviously, I now completely ignore any stated MIR as part of the price- I consider them to be fictional writing

Even Compusa, LOL, lists the ring at register sale prices in flyers and store shelves, and in tiny print says there is a rebate.

 

[Artyboy]

Well until my $30 ATI rebate gets back then I'll still have officially spent $230 on my 9800 Pro. The only other rebate that I've tried would be my Maxtor 30 gb hd rebate. It took about 2 months to get it back. Me and my dad both got the same drive and I mailed in the rebates on the same day. I got mine but he never got his. I think it had something to do with our names being the same (even though I made sure to include Jr and Sr at the end of both of our names). Regardless, it still ****ed me off. I don't trust rebates at all. Now I only buy into rebate deals when the price before rebate is good. I just consider the rebate itself a bonus check that surprises me later. What really makes me mad is when these stores have the balls to advertise the after rebate price as the actual price of the item. Nowadays I don't even look at the advertised prices on RAM and hd's because I know that the actual price is double-triple what's advertised before rebates.

 

[huneycutt]

To read a review on who's the worst about honoring rebates scroll down to the eighth and ninth paragraph;
http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2003/8/14/92326/3433

Charmapsyche posted; "Only 50% of the population even send them in. 75% of the people who do send them in, do not receive the rebate due to incorrect information or for simply missing the deadline."

I read somewhere only 15% of the buyers apply for the rebate which is why they do rebates in the first place. Think about it; Why don't they just knock the amount of the reabte of at the register? *Because* statistically they know only 15% will apply anyway. In my many years of computing I sent in maybe ten rebates and got everyone as promised and some take two months to get me a check, but they always come through.

Artyboy posted; "I got mine but he never got his. I think it had something to do with our names being the same (even though I made sure to include Jr and Sr at the end of both of our names). Regardless, it still ****ed me off. I don't trust rebates at all."

If you read the fine print it usually says, "only one rebate per household." I would think their rebate computer is set to look for matching names or addresses and, assuming you used the same address, it probably rejected Dad's rebate so next time let a friend send it in for you.

 

[bulk88]

To read a review on who's the worst about honoring rebates scroll down to the eighth and ninth paragraph;
http://www.gripe2ed.com/scoop/story/2003/8/14/92326/3433

Charmapsyche posted; "Only 50% of the population even send them in. 75% of the people who do send them in, do not receive the rebate due to incorrect information or for simply missing the deadline."

See I said they count on people not sending them in.

 

[unreal]

yeah im the one that actually does, and even when they say oh its wrong, i have copies saying, no your wrong, they are happy to oblige and give me my money.. id say about 90% i get back without any trouble

 

[Shishio]

Rebates take so long they should be inflation adjusted.

 

[bulk88]

Rebates take so long they should be inflation adjusted.

Thats not good enough, they should be in gold. A $100 rebate would give you 7 grams of gold (~28g per ounce, current price per ounce is ~$402).

 

[sQUiRLy]

I've gotten rebate checks from both PNY and ATi without too much delay.

 

[a c i d.f l y]

Never. Repeat, never, have I participated in the economic statistic that is a "mail-in rebate." The logic is that you make money by moving money around, or rely on the fact that it encourages people to buy something who then buys other meaningless **** and ultimately forgets to send in the rebate.

I'd rather fish around and find some other dumbass who has purchased a whole lot of them and done the rebate and buy it at the price after rebate with no rebate. Seems like less a hassle than to have to wait and hope to get your money back.

Instant gratification only.

-Frank

 

[robjen]

They usually come 2 to 4 months later.

 

[MRD]

I recently got rebates from Western Digital and Circuit City for a hard drive I purchased. I sent in both rebate forms return receipt/registered mail. I figure it lets them know I'll be a pain in the *** if they don't send it to me.

I also got a rebate from Microsoft once.

Transparent Language didn't send me a rebate, BUT they did add me to their email spam list, so I never bought another product from them.