Any Luck With Rebates?

I'm posting this because someone is urging me to make a purchase on the basis of a hefty rebate. Personally, I''ve had very bad luck with rebates. I posted elsewhere on the forum that I bought a Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 MP3 player that I promptly sent the $50 rebate for. I have never received my rebate.

In fact, of all the rebates I've sent in, I think maybe only about 15% of them result in me actually getting my money back. I'm always very careful to read all the fine print to make sure I turn in everything they ask for, fill out all the required information, meet all the deadlines, etc.

To be honest, for years now I've basically never bought anything with the expectation of actually receiving a rebate. However, two of my friends seem to have much better luck, swearing to me that they basically receive every rebate they have sent in for.

So, what has your experience with rebates been? Good, bad, or mixed? Any trends you notice in one type of product or company being better or worst about fulfilling their rebates?

Bruise

To date I have received all the rebates I sent off for. Sometimes they can take 6-9 months to come in though. Usually by then I have forgotten about them and it's a pleasant surprise.

I have had very good luck with rebates... on the average of about $700 a year... but I still hate them.

the anandtech forums have a good topic on rebates... lists the major rebate clearing houses and how to contact them and how to find out rebate status.

My personal rules:

1) before taking on the rebate, read the rebate coupon. Some rebates come with "gotchas"... like conflicting dates... that prevent them from ever properly being fulfilled so that you get your rebate.
2) Follow all rebate instructions exactly. If they say send a copy of something, send the copy and not the original. If they say send the original and touch your toes, do it.
3) Keep copies of everything you send
4) If the rebate doesnt come, call the rebate clearing house.
5) if #4 doesnt work, then go to the retailer. Those guys are generally advertising the product with an after-rebate price. If there *truly* is no rebate, then they are partner to the scam against you. If you can show that you followed proper procedures and that you submitted on time, then they (arguably) owe you a rebate because they advertised the after rebate price as the final price. None of this is legal, but putting pressure on these guys is the best (only) way to clean up the rebate mess. As a result, many places... like Bestbuy and office max.... have started becoming an intermediate between you and the rebate house so that you dont get stiffed your rebate.
6) if you cant get the retailer to work with you, go after the manufacturer. Write the customer service dept and CC the president of the company. Show them the same proof that you showed the retailer. They pay the clearing house to handle rebates, and they need to slap the clearing house if the clearing house is cheating you.

SOMEONE... either the manufacturer, clearing house or retailer, is cheating you out of your dough. You may never know who, but you have to pressure everyone to get your money. If it is the clearing house, then the best way to them is through the manufacturer. If it is the manufacturer, then the best way to them is through the retailer. If it is the retailer, then the best way to get to them is to return the product or dispute the credit card charge or other methods. File complaints against them.
Usually, with a bit of pressure, someone will cough up the rebate if only to get you off of their backs.

in my experience they are more trouble than they are worth. when I made the original purchase the saleman pushed the rebates, even encoouraged me to buy a printer i didn't want 'because it was free with the rebate' -- I asked him specifically what had to be sent in and who I would be dealing with, he lied by saying 'you just send in the coupon' and 'we send you a check' -- actually I needed to print out a coupon on the printer I hadn't unpacked, cut two bar codes from two boxes (with several different bar codes on them) and mail the stuff to two different places, within a short period of time..obviously this game is rigged so that the least amount of people respond according to the 'rules' and actually get the rebates they were hustled into paying for..
-- I found I hadn't even gotten to looking into the rebate terms until after it expired! Though I must admit a (long) call to Mac Micro Warehouse got me an 'extension' -- which I still haven't used.. My advice;
just get the $200 discount when you make purchase, to heck with the rebate snipe hunt...

Ive had bad luck with a couple of them,,, dont think I ever got mine from TDK,, but, Garmin gave me my $50 rebate for my etrex Vista in about a month. Just depends on the company I guess. But at any rate,,,,,, dont expect to get it soon.

Hi Guys,

Mixed bag here. Ive had good luck with most rebates. Best Buy has always came through. From my experience, Staples rebates are the worst. Still waiting on a $40 rebate for a hard drive sent in long ago. Called their customer service number only to be disconected after waiting about five minutes. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif I am now very leary of rebates from Staples. Unfortunately, this isn't the only rebate i've been stiffed on from them.

Some rebates I had took almost 10 months to get back to me... No joke. The Western Digital rebates from Frys took almost half a year to get back to me...

It's almost to the point I should charge them interest for holding out my money for so long...
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I've found that Fry's has GREATLY improved their rebate handling.
In addition to the normal sales receipt they now print out additional individual receipts for every item associated with a rebate.
These they staple to the corresponding rebate forms.
You still have to address and stamp your own envelope but apart from that they really couldn't make it much easier.
Rebate turnaround lately has been about 2 months.

I've received all but 1 of about 30 rebates I've sent in over the years. Some are quick, others stretch beyond the "8-10 weeks". Some required follow up calls. On a couple of them, I called after 10 weeks and was told they didn't get my submission. They allowed me to resubmit my copies and I eventually got my rebate. With rebates over $20, I send them certified, over $50, with return receipt. For a $100 trade-in cell phone rebate, I sent the old phone insured for $100. The extra money I spend to send these larger rebates sort of insures that they receive it and don't pretend to not have. I think that perhaps less reputable clearing houses sometimes wait for people to call before sending out the check, hoping that many people just forget. That seems to have been the case on a recent Verbatim CD Rewriter rebate, and I implied to the supervisor as much. Check came three days later. HMM. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif

Make copies or scans of everything you send them, including receipt, form, UPC code, etc. Don't hesitate to call after the posted max. turnaround date, and give them specifics (dates, cert./ins. #) so they know your on the ball.

I hate rebates.... I wish they would just lower the dang price instead of playing games.... Of course they gather a lot of marketing info that way, so I understand WHY they do it.

For a long time back in the mid 80s and through the 90's I never received about 90% of the rebates I sent in for, In fact, back when I did a weekly TV segment, I dedicated one to non-received rebates....

But in the last three years I think I only failed to receive one rebate (out of about 20) that I filed, so in that respect, things have improved a LOT.