time limit on rebate checks?

I found a rebate check that is about 10 days past the 90 day limit printed on the check. Am I screwed or can they really limit how long a check is good?

Yes they can unfortunately. It's simple business strategy. Offer a rebate and maybe one-third to one-half won't even bother to send the forms in on time. Have a time limit on the check and a good number of the rebates you do send out will just end up costing you postage. I still think it's a rather tacky thing to have these time limits.

Don't feel too bad. When one of my great aunts passed away about ten years ago at roughly age 94 her son found about $6000 in uncashed Social Security checks which had expired. Since his mother had lived through the Great Depression she was very frugal and believed in putting aside money for a rainy day. Problem is she couldn't read English, just Italian, and didn't discuss her financial affairs with anyone. She put aside the checks thinking it was just like putting aside cash. Ironically, her frugality may have cost her life. She went back to a store at night because she had been short changed and was found dead in the street, possible a victim of a robbery but nobody really knows. Her son was another one to keep secrets so we never found out all the particulars.

The ole' "read the fine print" & "buyer beware" (or should I just say, "Buyer be informed/educated!") apply for sure!!

I was in CompUSA the other night when they had a ridiculously low price on 512 SD/Compact Flash memory cards ("loss leader"). The fine print on the rebate clearly said the offer was good 1 per item/per household/per address/per etc.... The folks in front of me were all excited and asked the sales rep for 8. I politely mentioned to them to read the fine print on the rebate as I thought it was only good for one. Of course they purchased all of them - I saw them in the parking lot and waved as they left.... They'll find out!

And once you've cut the package open for the UPC code, waited the 4-6 weeks or more for the rebate to arrive, it's typically too late to return the item.

And don't bother cashing the check... You will probably get a $20+ bounced check fee (my mother had some old $7.00 pension adjustment checks that did not state a cash-by date--but they still bounced. The company would gather all of the outdate checks and send her a new check to cash).

By the way, some of the checks that get lost are actually credited to your state's treasury. In California, you can type in a last name and city and see if any money is available from long lost sources (and, surprise! I had two checks for a $120 or so in our names--just set the paper work last week to see if I can get the funds):

California Controller's Website

-Bill

I have received refund and rebate checks that were only good for 30 days. Just one of the reasons I simply don't bother with rebates anymore.

bjn70 said:

I found a rebate check that is about 10 days past the 90 day limit printed on the check. Am I screwed or can they really limit how long a check is good?

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Yes, and with good reason which, I like to think, My dead friend Ken had a part in.
He took great pleasure in holding government checks for years, just to mess up their accounting.

Taking a lesson from him, another friend, in the early days of computerized billing would pay three or four times the amount due on PG&E bills but made sure the numbers were odd. $67.89 (This was a *few* years ago) rather than an exact multiplier.
For years he would get hand written letter back asking that he not do that, the system could not handle large overpayments.

Well it's strictly my fault for being lazy and not depoxiting the checks when I got them.

I've noticed something recently- I typically look through the ads in the Sunday newspaper to see what is on sale, and I"ve noticed that OfficeMax usually has their best deals WITHOUT rebate, so you get the savings up front and don't have to worry about the rebate. OfficeDepot and Staples still work with rebates.

I have had pretty good luck getting my rebate checks, but I bought a hard drive at CircuitCity this summer and it had 2 rebates. I filled out the paperwork for both, followed the detailed instructions very carefully, and sent them in. I received one of the checks (which just expired) but got a letter from the other stating that I had failed to provide the following, and listed all of the requirements of the rebate without telling which one I failed. So in the future I'll think twice about buying sale items from CircuitCity.

Just did a Home Depot Rebate (on free shipping--$50.00)... Waited 3 months or so, monitored the rebate company's website. Just sat at "approved"... Sent an email through the website, and less than a day later the check was in the mail... Bpppbbsss...

Now a days, everyone seems to take overpayments without a problem--phone, power, water, cable for my Mom are all pretty small... I just submit a ~4x payment and only have to cut checks once every 3-4 months. Makes bill paying a lot easier...

In fact, some companies if you ask their policy, they don't even consider accounts with less than $20 as due payable--they are willing to wait until the phone bill (example) is $20 or larger before they want payment... (I still don't let them get that big--but I have let bills of a few dollars ride a month). However, the local water company had a cow when a bill with a few dollars got misplaced one month.

-Bill

bjn70 said:

I have had pretty good luck getting my rebate checks, but I bought a hard drive at CircuitCity this summer and it had 2 rebates. I filled out the paperwork for both, followed the detailed instructions very carefully, and sent them in. I received one of the checks (which just expired) but got a letter from the other stating that I had failed to provide the following, and listed all of the requirements of the rebate without telling which one I failed.

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That's a typical stalling technique used by many rebate companies. They know x% of customers will just blow it off. You have to keep records and follow up on them. They will pay eventually.