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over 1k rebates for Fry's found in dumpster

consumerist.com — I guess this story should be re-posted every 6 to 8 weeks.

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  • thedailykirk, on 10/10/2007, -21/+19Rebates are one of the most overlooked fraudulent enterprises in this country. Down with rebates! Down with Fry's!
    • tsalti, on 10/10/2007, -2/+20Not just Fry's. All rebates seem to be a scam.
      • GawtMilk, on 10/10/2007, -8/+3...Apple? HP? Dell?

        I've probably gotten about $1100 back in rebates out of $9,500 in overall purchases [I'm only 16 and I don't make much from web design]
    • dankers, on 10/10/2007, -8/+6Fry's has some of the best deals and best return policy around It is not one of the most fraudulent enterprises in the country.
      Check out places like Slickdeals.net/fatwallet.com where people have been getting stuff Free After Rebate forever and those guys on the forum work together to know when not to buy a product with a bad rebate, which is usually some no name company selling a product.
      It is the consumer who is lazy and which is why the rebate works out for the company, most consumers don't return it so it works out for them and the company makes a little interest while waiting to mail some of that money back to you.

      People are either bitter/jealous that they do not have a Fry's around them to get some of the great deals we have been getting the last 15+ years that store has been open here in Southern California its home place, luckily now Fry's runs outpost.com which offers some decent rebates.

      But how the hell can anyone out there beat the deal I got on a 500GB Seagate OEM HD for $99 out the door 4 months ago. If you wanna talk about corrupt retailers than lets start talking Best Buy and those other fake tech stores, you want to buy some real nerd products you go to FRY's and walk up and down the isles for 2 hours.
      • Namco, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Actually its "home place" is Sunnyvale, California. That's in Northern California.
        • WaltDismal, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Let's correct some errors.
          1) Fry's headquarters is in San Jose, California, not Sunnyvale.
          2) Few people know this, but merchandise from Fry's is on consignment from the manufacturers. So Fry's money is not tied up on inventory. The reason the return policy is so liberal is, Fry's doesn't take the loss on returns, it's the vendor who loses. This is also why after a while, some vendors won't put product into Fry's, and you never see the vendor again there.
          3) Fry's reboxes returns where they can, and the 'white label' returns 90% of the time are missing parts. I once bought a motherboard, got home, opened it, and the previous purchaser had replaced the owner's booklet insides with -- a cigarette pack wrapper. The reboxers don't check what's missing from the box.
          3) Fry's ads run a LOT of loss leaders so they can claim 'the best buys are at Frys'. But they don't do this on expensive items
          4) the rebates are part of the loss leader scheme, and even there they can make money if your claim gets delayed 3-4 months and shuffled until you give up.
          5) almost all the rebate processing is through a couple of sleazy companies in Florida or Texas. My guess is these companies are secretly tied to Fry's or Fry's ownership. They make money if they can delay you, divert you, deny you and do not have to pay out.
          6) on any rebate that makes it worthwhile, send your claim by certified mail or they WILL often deny they received it. The couple of bucks it costs you is worth it as proof. Multiple times, the processors denied they had my claim. Multiple times, I went to Fry's and showed the USPS form, and only then got help, and headquarters sent me a check, though only after 4-5 more visitis. Wasted my time completely. That's why I don't do rebates at Fry's anymore.
          • Namco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+21) Fry's began in Sunnyvale AND their headquarters is on Brokaw in San Jose.
            2) Awesome!
            3) Good thing they put those stickers on the boxes isn't it?
            3) The whole point to going to Fry's is to cash in on those loss leaders.
            4) That's the whole idea to rebates
            5) Just about every rebate I've done in the last several years have been through the maunfacturer. Only problem I ever has is when the maunfacturer uses a rebate clearinghouse. They usually send you a card that explains the (fake) problem, and you call them or fax/email them the copy of your UPC/reciept and it gets fixed.
            6) I've never had this happen to me after dozens and dozens of rebates. Just make copies of your stuff before you send it away, especially on the big $100+ rebates just in case. Don't sweat the little $5 rebates.
      • oneoverzero, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Uhm, RTFA. These rebates were FILLED OUT. It wasn't a "lazy consumer" issue, it is a not charging the advertised price issue
  • tankboy87, on 10/10/2007, -25/+4Don't shop at Fry's, they suck, there people are stupid and some of the computer parts are manufacture rejects or subpar.
    • pennyfan87, on 10/10/2007, -0/+32"there people are stupid...
      computer parts are manufacture"

      oh, the irony
      • R2Bacca, on 10/10/2007, -8/+2Actually... that's hypocrisy. Irony would be if tankboy87 actually worked at Fry's.
        • mbthompson, on 10/10/2007, -2/+4And if he was using starch, it would be ironing.
  • fino35, on 10/10/2007, -2/+52Now I don't really feel that bad when I forget to send mine in. This is why we need online rebates!
    • garf12, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Sears does some of their rebates online. They still make you send in the UPC but you can track and see the status of your rebate online, its quiet nice.
      • shillbert, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Same with Staples, if I recall correctly.
      • CorpT, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5I like when things aren't loud nice.
    • Buddhist, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Good news, everyone!
    • jmnormand, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3comp usa use to do all of theirs 100% online... course they went out of business in most areas...
    • omegajb, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Most retailers don't do them online because that is too easy for the customer to redeem them. They count on people like me to forget or wait till it's too late. This is why I reward stores that allow me to do them online.
    • dacomputerfreak, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1onrebate.com handles tigerdirect.com rebates.
  • Ludnix, on 10/10/2007, -16/+11Why was the news reporter rooting through their trash?
    • noobeffect, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8That's how the Mercury rolls.
    • denoxis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+18Looking for his rebate?
    • hitmonval, on 10/10/2007, -0/+13Investigative journalism.
    • shoutsmurmurs, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4That's where the news comes from these days.
    • UncleCrapper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4He wasn't. I'll quote the article:

      "An employee of nearby Dominion Enterprises found the letters, along with hundreds of others addressed to Vastech, at his company's dumpster. He turned them over to his boss, Joel Schwartz, who gave them to me. All of the letters were addressed to UR-04 Rebate or some variation of the product name at the Vastech address."

      Regardless, even if the reporter was rooting through their trash that's typically the type of thing a reporter would do.
    • dacomputerfreak, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1A good reporter ALWAYS roots through trash if need be.
  • Aoki3, on 10/10/2007, -8/+30I've never liked Fry's, but this gives me even more reason to hate them... Their deals are often great, but business practices like this are really low. I make sure to make copies of all rebate info I mail in just in case of ***** like this.
    • Technopope, on 10/10/2007, -3/+19This has nothing to do with Fry's. This was a MANUFACTURER'S rebate, and it was that manufacturer that threw away the rebate mail. Read the article.

      Fry's usually NEVER has anything to do with the rebates other than giving you the forms when you purchase the products. I have *three* Fry's stores in my area (Houston), and while the experience varies between them from time to time, it is usually fairly good. Exceptions are when they run out of advertised product (often) and a serious lack of knowledge of SOME sales staff in varying areas from time to time. But then it is difficult to find knowledgeable sales staff in ANY electronics store.
    • bytebreeder, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7Even though Fry's has good prices, Newegg's are even better and much better Customer Service.
      • CorpT, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6Yeah, I often walk to my nearby Newegg and pick something up when I'm in a hurry.
        • Reziarfg, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Yeah, you're always in a hurry to upgrade your RAM. That can't wait 3 days.
    • samcrut, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4One time I returned a USB wireless networking device that would choke after about 2 minutes every time you plugged it in. Probably overheating. I watched the guy put it back in the box and put a markdown sticker on it. I said "It's defective. It doesn't work properly." He nodded and kept right on fixing up the packaging to put it back on the shelf.

      NEVER buy open box, mark down items from Fry's. To be honest, i haven't been back to Fry's since that incident.
      • dacomputerfreak, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I have news for ya'- NEVER buy open box, mark down items from (insert any name here).
  • ClassicalBadger, on 10/10/2007, -7/+1Dupe.
  • computergod, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10"I guess this story should be re-posted every 6 to 8 weeks."

    Not every day though, it was #1 in the top 10 yesterday. If you feel like your missing out on big stories like this then just go here:
    http://digg.com/all/popular/365days
    • alpinweiss88, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I looked through the most recent before posting, but never saw it. Guess I should have searched to be sure. Oh well, look at it as a backup posting in case the first got deleted or something. :)
  • blorc, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5While I prefer no rebates, I think CompUSA's system is the best for a rebate system (at least in terms of major retailers). CompUSA does eRebates, which are all input and processed with an online system. You go to the website, put in your information, select your receipt type, enter the unique receipt information requested and the total purchase price.

    It then automatically looks up all qualifying items on the receipt and submits all items for rebate processing. Not only is it much faster (usually 3-4 weeks compared to 6-8 weeks), but it takes care of everything in one swoop instead of 20 different rebate forms. Of course, there are still manufacturer rebates to deal with sometimes, but that's a different story.
    • scootinger, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3The reason CompUSA has been pretty good with rebates recently is that a couple of years ago they were busted by the FTC for not coming through on rebates that they advertised when the manufacturer (QPS) went under...now they are keeping a very close eye on them.
    • Namco, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Too bad CompUSAs have been dropping like flies lately.
    • samcrut, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1CompUSA's eRebates is awesome! No postal hassles. Just fill in the web site and get your check. The only thing that would make it easier would be direct deposit. =)
    • epiccollision, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Staples BD in canada does the same thing...sooooo much easier...i'm pretty sure the american side does it too just wasn't sure
  • DjBlic, on 10/10/2007, -2/+20that explains where my $150 rebate for my moniter went....
    • Technopope, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5Not really. This rebate was for just over three dollars from a company called Vastech.

      If you haven't received a $150 rebate, maybe you should call the company that offered it, and get out the copies of what you sent it.
    • Namco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Maybe you misspelled the address on the envelope?
  • TheIneffableBob, on 10/10/2007, -17/+4Dick ***** ***** *****.
  • Bootes, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2I've gotten stuff at Outpost.com all the time and never had a problem.

    The manufacturer of the product is the one that handled these rebates. And the manufacturer was some no name case maker.
  • hokie47, on 10/10/2007, -10/+4I would toss all those rebates in the garbage too. What a pain in the ass it must be to process them by hand.
    As a MBA student I wonder if they ever did a cost benefit analysis to see if the reduced cost of processing online rebates saves more money than the potential increase in the rebate return rate.
    • santaliqueur, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Nobody cares you're an MBA student, but this is clearly the only reason you posted, to tell us, and to try to sound smart. stfu.

      Oh yeah, you forgot about the part where it's THEIR JOB to process those rebates. I would hate to do business with whatever company is willing to hire someone who would just throw the rebates away because they are "a pain in the ass to process". Let us know where you end up working.
      • hokie47, on 10/10/2007, -7/+1Santaliqueur you are a ***** idiot. I am a web programmer as well, and I have said that on digg too, but no one tells me me I am trying to sound smart when I say that for some reason. Do you have a problem with me being a MBA student? The only reason why I said I was a MBA student is to show why I would like to know something like the cost benefit analysis of rebates. Also, I have a full time job now with a major IT consulting firm, so ***** off.

        As for tossing the rebates away, I was just pointing out how much of a pain it must be to process them by hand. Once again ***** off.
        • heliox, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1"Santaliqueur you are a ***** idiot. I am a web programmer as well, and I have said that on digg too, but no one tells me me I am trying to sound smart when I say that for some reason."
          Maybe you JUST SOUND STUPID....
        • santaliqueur, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4Any idiot can be an MBA student, but only the truly under-confident will mention it as their only topic of a post, this happens a lot with people. They will also mention some job that they have, which is just another way of saying "Here is proof I'm not an idiot, I have this job!" Funny how you did that too.
        • Namco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2...and you've just stroked your ego 3 more times by declaring that you're also a web programmer, an IT consultant with a major firm, and an MBA student again.
    • hierophantus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I think one of the comments to the article answers your question where it speaks of an 80-90% "slippage" rate. The firms offering rebates count on a low number of people actually taking advantage of them. This would more than make up for any inefficiency in manually processing the applications. An online rebate system would lower the slippage rate, so whatever you saved on manual processing would surely be lost to having to pay out that many more rebates.
  • kindrobot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6I avoid rebates now. I used to get 100 percent of them back. The last 3 in the last 5 years or so have resulted in receiving nothing. Your can still get decent deals at Fry's, but stay away from rebates.

    I know this was mentioned above, badly, but I feel it's important to mention I did purchase a "new" drive a couple of years ago that had windows and someone's personal files on it. I took it back, explained it, and they quickly replaced it. No issues since with any drives purchased there. I have also purchased many bad memory modules there (I test them immediately) and they were also exchanged with no hassles. All in all, I've had nothing but return nightmares with Best Buy and a few hassles with Circuit City. Fry's still deals well with return issues, in my experience.

    Best advice? Test everything, and shop at places that will easily take returns with little to no hassle. Fry's is a lot better than some of the larger competitors. I'd go mom and pop, but I have yet to find a reliable one close enough to home.

    (fry's even took back a power supply without a receipt once, months after I purchased it when I kept the original box)
    • samcrut, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Fry's handles returns well because once you return something they just put it back on the shelf regardless of if it works or not, which begets more returns. I guess it's their way of getting customers back into the store.
    • enchantedsky, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Just FYI, Radio Shack does this too............when a customer returns an item, it is put back on the shelf. I am an ex-employee......I sometimes argued with my Manager about it being unfair to the next customer who bought the returned item. Needless to say, i quit my job a few months later
  • willingdon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12Once I had to fight D-Link for 6 months to get my $20 mail-in rebate check. Ever since then I refuse to buy anything that has a mail-in rebate. I figure if they can't afford to give me the discount up-front, then they aren't worth doing business with.
    • dscomeau, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1I avoid mail in rebates too, I find the hassle of following up on them and risk of not getting your cheque makes it not worth it. I just look for something else that's on sale rather than going for the product with a tempting rebate offer. My wife bought a Brother all in one printer/fax/scanner that had a $100 mail in rebate...the rebate never came and the printer was a POS.
  • oMeSSiaHo, on 10/10/2007, -6/+14Fry's is not responsible, the company that does their rebates is. Every company I have worked for has had a third party handle the rebates.

    Staples does their rebates online and Office Max just doesnt use them.

    Just today I had a customer bitch about rebates. I explained to him that we have no obligation to put the product he wants on sale. He can buy it for the listed price and get his money back and win, or not get his money back and be where he would be in the first place. Electronics have little if any markup and companies lose money by offering rebates, it's a way to stay ahead of the curve. The other option is NO rebates which I personally dont want. Basically, yeah they suck but there is no other real option.
    • willingdon, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Shorter oMeSSiaHo: "Companies have no other choice but to screw consumers and you should be happy if you're lucky enough to actually get a check in the mail when you buy something"
      • oMeSSiaHo, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Say I sell a laptop that normally costs $1000 with a $300 rebate (actually happens quite often). The company has a 10% markup on that laptop. By offering the rebate the company is losing $200 on every sale. They could just offer $200 at the register (what we are actually doing) but that would be a ***** ton of money lost, a loss that most companies cant afford. By offering a rebate they can stay ahead another month until the customer cashes the check. Luckily enough I work at an office supply store that makes enough money on pens and paper (you'd be surprised at the markup) to afford an instant savings but a store like Fry's cant.

        Again you have two options, get your check or get no sale at all. Rebates suck but they are better then nothing.
        • scootinger, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If that's a typical example it doesn't really make sense to me. With a $1000 laptop I don't think that the store would be able to make $200 of profit on high-margin items (ie office supplies, cables, extended warranties, etc) to make up for the loss. (there are exceptions like Black Friday I suppose) And it would be stupid for them to blow the money just to offer deals to their customers.
    • cactus476, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4"Electronics have little if any markup"

      *****!
      • pogfreak, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Compared to a usb cables or DVDs, most consumer electronics have very little markup at a store like Frys or Bestbuy.
    • samcrut, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4And if Fry's hires a shady, lazy rebate processor, that's not their fault? What if Fry's hires incompetent employees? How about if Fry's hires a salesman that kicks babies and keeps letting the guy work there. Is that their fault? The people they do business with are what makes up the "Fry's experience" so yes, it is their fault.
    • vertinox, on 10/10/2007, -0/+41. Fry is responsible because they didn't hire a better rebate company or hire their own employees.
      2. Fry does have rebates in the first place because it knows some of those won't be sent in or get lost which means more profits for them.

      If they really cared they wouldn't have rebates in the first place.

      Personally, I always look at the pre-rebate price and buy it off that. Rebates never work and are too much hassle to fight to get them.
    • tmspecial, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Fry's is at least partially responsible!! They sold the product with a shady rebate. If all retailers stop selling products with shady rebates, the dishonest manufacturers and processing companies will be out of business.
  • 1310nm, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Sure, lazy employee, yeah. Are lazy employees also the cause of policy errors and time discrepancies on rebates?
    • msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Lazy employees, implying that the normal process is to shred or burn unopened rebates instead of tossing them out intact.
  • edcrosay, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5Fry's, unlike some other retailers, does not issue any rebates themselves. Any rebate offered there is a MANUFACTURER'S rebate, and not one issued by Fry's. I worked in the rebate dept there for a long time and had to field endless phone calls about them. I've called nearly every rebate center on earth trying to help customers receive there rebates, and I found out that the rebate centers are pretty much all scum.
    Please don't call up the store and yell at them, it is not theirs or Fry's fault that you did not get your rebate. Yes, they do advertise them, but you would to if you were a retailer.
    I haven't worked for Fry's since 2003, so I'm sure if things have changed.
    • r00tus3r, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3But if Fry's knows this is the case, why would they continue to deal with these dealers. Aren't they being somewhat negligent, if they're facing this problem over and over again?
  • surfcat, on 10/10/2007, -0/+21Discount up front or it didn't happen!

    Mail in rebates are ***** and a waste of time for everybody.
  • riverstyx, on 10/10/2007, -3/+4Hah! Finally the whole "Frys hires terrible people to work for them" has come back to hit 'em. The store is so ridiculous, they hire mostly asian young adults to wear suits and walk around smiling all day, but know *****-all about customer service.
    I stopped shopping there long ago, the last straw was their "Reciept checking" thing that they have at the door, which is 100% voluntary and unconstitutional..Old debate though.

    Viva la Geeks.com, Newegg, Microcenter!
    • tito13kfm, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I'm just trying to figure out what part of the constitution guarantees the right to not have your receipt checked at the door.
  • beerhuffer, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2wow trash is news now.
    • Namco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Try reading the article. There's more news in the article than the description. That's usually how it works.
      • beerhuffer, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1oh yeah? thanks for the tip fag
        • Namco, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1At least I'm smart enough to read and comprehend an article.
  • StriderNemesis, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3I started hating Fry's when I bought a Bluetooth dongle that was supposed to come with a USB extension cable and didn't. When I told the story to an employee, he asked me if I wanted my money back or the USB cable, and I told him that I wanted a refund, since I couldn't use the crappy drivers the dongle came with anyway (I had to install the Widcomm drivers instead). Then he called a manager, and she basically told me that since some days had passed (around ten, which is not thirty), she couldn't believe my story (that it didn't come with the cable) and that she could only give me the USB cable instead. I told her that it was alright, that I would accept the USB cable. Then she and the regular employee went to open one of the dongles they had in stock and came back minutes later telling me "we opened another one and it didn't come with the USB cable, so we're giving you your money back". Even though they gave me my money back, I am still ***** at them for implying that I was lying.
    • Minkoff, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2They gave you your money back. Why are you such a ***** entitled asshole?
      • StriderNemesis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Yeah, have a store manager tell you to your face that they don't believe your story and then be happy about their customer service. Even if you're glad she had to swallow it afterward.
  • compgeek, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5screw rebates. after reading all the horror stories surrounding them I no longer base a purchase on a great price with *after mail-in and instant rebates of XX dollars. The Source by circuit city up here in Canada (formerly they were Radio Shack) uses this kind of crap to sell their laptops bundles which essentially are a ***** laptop bundled with a half decent printer at a usually inflated price (after rebate is usually 699-799 but before rebate is often $999-1200) when you can buy a better laptop alone and a better printer alone on sale not having to use the rebates. I did buy my laptop there however I looked at the price without the rebates as for all the hassle and time it's not worth it it was only like a $40-50 anyways off like $799 so not even saving the taxes after the fact. I'm glad I passed on the bundle as I got the same printer a week later at a garage sale for $10 (prints a test page everytime it's turned on but I use it to print resumes and school crap so it's on once a week maybe). honestly rebates are nothing but a big scam show a really great price then say * purchase price is XX above the price listed. why not just have it like in the old days a sale price was a sale price without rebates the price you saw was the price you paid. nowadays it's see a great price but go through 6-8 weeks of waiting and maybe not even getting the rebate after shelling out more than advertised so you can get the "sale price". rebates and the companies that use them can lick my nuts. I WILL NEVER BUY FROM THE SOURCE (again), BEST BUY ETC that use rebates as their primary sales tactic (I'm however fine with companies that have true honest sales and occassionally offer a rebate without having to put * next to a price every damn time)
    • loper, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I work in a retail store in Canada and have had maybe half a dozen customers complain of the same "it prints a test page everytime I turn it on". I'll bet if you actually read that 'test page' it tells you to place it in the scanner to calibrate the alignment. It'll do it everytime until you actually follow the instructions.
    • JoeB4ever, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2FYI, best buy got rid of their mail in rebates, they are all instant.
  • HumanRecall, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3If you dig deeper you'll probably find they were laying beside the slew of millions of rebates that never went through via BEST BUY years back !!
  • Bitgod, on 10/10/2007, -4/+2Guys, as mentioned, it's not Fry's fault, it's the processor's fault. I may be moving out of CA, and I know one of the top things I'll miss is not having a Fry's nearby.
    • samcrut, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Oh fret not. You can get crappy service and see the mind-boggling contradiction of 120 checkout registers AND lines snaking throughout the store even outside of CA. Fry's has spread.
  • dhonn, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1I wonder what the people at the Frys Forum think about all this.

    http://www.frysforum.com/
  • Myonosken, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Just a question- what ARE rebates? I don't think they're over here in Europe.
    • Durrok, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Coupons you mail in with proof of purchase to get money back.
    • samcrut, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2They're a way of making money off of forgetful customers. They advertise a $100 product as being $75 after rebate. You pay $100 for the product. You pay tax on the $100 price. Once you get home you have to fill out a form, get a photocopy of your receipt and cut the bar code off of the packaging to prove you bought it. After that you mail all of that to the address they provide and wait a couple of months for a check to show up for $25.

      What usually ends up happening in the majority of cases is that people buy it and never end up sending in the paperwork. That's what they're hoping for. That means they got to tell you the price was $75 and charge you $100 because you forgot to jump through the hoops or you decided after the fact that $5 or whatever just wasn't worth the hassle.

      Occasionally, you fill out all the forms and nothing shows up. In most cases, you forget you had anything coming to you because after 6 weeks, you're hardly sitting around thinking about purchases of yore.
  • roberto_deneero, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Any type of rebate other than instant POS rebates should be made illegal. If you want to give the customer money off their purchase, you should be forced to do it when they fork over hundreds for your dumb products.
  • masterfoo, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Did anybody else think that this was going to be an article about finding McDonald's fries in the dumpster and getting a rebate?

    I think it probably stemmed from having seen the video about it that was on digg a little while back http://youtube.com/watch?v=G6qGKNwdeCQ and thinking that Fry's was a misspelling.
  • ashlvsya, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Yes the guy doesn't work here anymore, therefore we need not do anything....yeah right!
  • Markpdotcom, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1So for those of us in the UK, what is a rebate and why is it bad that so many have been found? (Rebate means something else here)
    • msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2It's a mail-in discount coupon. You pay full price for an item in the store, then mail in the rebate and 6-8 weeks later, pray that you get a check for whatever amount they offered. The problem is that recently, companies haven't been sending out the money reliably, so while you buy something under the impression it will be a good deal with a rebate, you just get screwed into paying full price.

      Smart consumers avoid them like the plague, as there is really no way to ensure they won't screw you.
  • rowlodge, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1why i like instant rebates.
  • pcsupporttips, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0It's gotten tougher and tougher to be confident that you'll actually get a rebate when purchasing something with the promise of getting a rebate. Costco's online submission rebate program is one of the few that I have any degree of confidence in. Most consumers don't consciously think of getting into the accounts receivable business when buying something with a rebate. But when aggressive follow-up is required, that's essentially the "hat" you'll need to wear.
  • nonchallant0819, on 03/28/2008, -0/+0This is a great story... found this one through http://www.google.com




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