Expiring offer: Best Buy will stop rebates?

[sapiens74]

End of Rebates?


Thought this was Aprils Fool's but the article is dated 2nd April

 

[imported_Phil]

Booo-urns.

 

[Miramonti]

I read that somewhere too. Good move, altho they're taking 2 years to do it.

 

[helo7050]

I never actually filled a rebate. I actually started to fill one for Nextel but after reading the required things to-do i just hell with it. not worth $50.00 I think its a good idea they get rid of that crap.

 

[kami333]

Pretty much the only reason I shop at Best Buy these days is because of coupons and rebates. Guess I won't be shopping there very much in the future.

 

[EyeMWing]

BB is very unfriendly to ferengi, and they want them GONE because they're bad for profit. They've said this in the past, and this is just a part of that.

 

[Albis]

we'll see if they will really stop having hot deals to get ppl in the store

 

[nakedfrog]

Wow, consumers are dumb. It's really not hard to send in a rebate. I think most of them just say that because they're so lazy.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: helo7050
I never actually filled a rebate. I actually started to fill one for Nextel but after reading the required things to-do i just hell with it. not worth $50.00 I think its a good idea they get rid of that crap.

😕

Rebates require UPC + copy of reciept + rebate form. What's so complicated? Best Buy even gives you a rebate copy and the form to sign when you check out...all you need to do is fill out the form and put that and the UPC in an envelope.

 

[TheShiz]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: helo7050
I never actually filled a rebate. I actually started to fill one for Nextel but after reading the required things to-do i just hell with it. not worth $50.00 I think its a good idea they get rid of that crap.

😕

Rebates require UPC + copy of reciept + rebate form. What's so complicated? Best Buy even gives you a rebate copy and the form to sign when you check out...all you need to do is fill out the form and put that and the UPC in an envelope.

don't question him, its people like this that allow companies to offer rebates. something like only 30% of rebates are submitted and valid, if everyone submitted rebates they wouldn't be worth as much as they are, or companies would stop offering them.

 

[Yellow Dog]

Originally posted by: helo7050
I never actually filled a rebate. I actually started to fill one for Nextel but after reading the required things to-do i just hell with it. not worth $50.00 I think its a good idea they get rid of that crap.

so if it takes you 15 minutes you still feel that your time is worth more than $200.00 an hour. What do you make now? do you work? is your hourly pay greater than $10? or are the parents still supporting you?

PS, it's not that hard to file a rebate, just read and follow the instructions :Q

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: Yellow Dog

Originally posted by: helo7050
I never actually filled a rebate. I actually started to fill one for Nextel but after reading the required things to-do i just hell with it. not worth $50.00 I think its a good idea they get rid of that crap.

so if it takes you 15 minutes you still feel that your time is worth more than $200.00 an hour. What do you make now? do you work? is your hourly pay greater than $10? or are the parents still supporting you?

PS, it's not that hard to file a rebate, just read and follow the instructions :Q

Yeah, but half the time you don't get your rebate back. And when you do, you get it back late. Like my CompUSA rebate, I had to call them 2 times in order for them to "find" my rebate. Now they are sending it to me, 2 months late.

 

[intogamer]

:thumbsup:

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
BB is very unfriendly to ferengi, and they want them GONE because they're bad for profit. They've said this in the past, and this is just a part of that.

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission said for the first time that retailers could be held liable when manufacturers fail to honor rebate requests. The FTC said CompUSA told consumers that rebate checks would be mailed within six to eight weeks, but many consumers experienced delays of months and never got their checks.

This decision opens retailers up to class action lawsuits and government prosecution. All retailers (with shady manufacturers) are going to be dropping them soon, make no mistake on that. This is all about limiting liability for lousy rebate companies and not about the ferengi
(although its probably a side benefit for them).

 

[SynthDude2001]

This is probably a good thing, although I almost never shop at Best Buy anyway. I've never bothered to purchase anything that's advertised at a low price, but only after a rebate... I have better things to do than to overpay and hope I get some of my money back six months down the line (like buying the item for cheaper online in the first place, for example...)

 

[ActuaryTm]

Not surprising at all after the WSJ article.

The bottom-line is Best Buy's chief concern; not their customers.

 

[AndrewR]

The problem with rebates is not that they are terribly complicated to apply for, it's that they are rejected for asinine reasons. I twice tried to get a rebate from Microsloth, and they rejected them both times because I didn't include the proper parts of the box. I damn near sent the entire box the second time so I have no clue what they wanted.

Good for me though, because I'm sticking with Logitech keyboards and mice. Thanks, M$!

If they remove the craptastic rebate fulfillment companies and use oxygen-breathing people with brain activity to do it, there won't be too many problems. If CompUSA and Best Buy were to tell the crappy companies that they won't be selling their products there unless they get the rebates right, I bet some changes would be made. Or, sign a contract with the companies offering rebates that if CU or BB has to pay them (because the other company screwed up), then the manufacturer has to not only pay the rebate but a penalty as well, per occurrence.

Satisfaction through contracts!

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
The problem with rebates is not that they are terribly complicated to apply for, it's that they are rejected for asinine reasons. I twice tried to get a rebate from Microsloth, and they rejected them both times because I didn't include the proper parts of the box. I damn near sent the entire box the second time so I have no clue what they wanted.

Good for me though, because I'm sticking with Logitech keyboards and mice. Thanks, M$!

If they remove the craptastic rebate fulfillment companies and use oxygen-breathing people with brain activity to do it, there won't be too many problems. If CompUSA and Best Buy were to tell the crappy companies that they won't be selling their products there unless they get the rebates right, I bet some changes would be made. Or, sign a contract with the companies offering rebates that if CU or BB has to pay them (because the other company screwed up), then the manufacturer has to not only pay the rebate but a penalty as well, per occurrence.

Satisfaction through contracts!

:| Dell owes me $900 in rebates. After that experiance I stopped playing the rebate game. My time is too valueable IMO. Between, browsing HD forum, tracking, filling, getting rejected for BS reasons it's just not worth the aggrevation or time IMO. Maybe I should'nt even be buying some of this crap if I have to pinch pennies here and there and worry about 10-20% margins. Anyway I just shop at newegg, mwave and other PW vendors for my "deals".

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Yellow Dog

Originally posted by: helo7050
I never actually filled a rebate. I actually started to fill one for Nextel but after reading the required things to-do i just hell with it. not worth $50.00 I think its a good idea they get rid of that crap.

so if it takes you 15 minutes you still feel that your time is worth more than $200.00 an hour. What do you make now? do you work? is your hourly pay greater than $10? or are the parents still supporting you?

PS, it's not that hard to file a rebate, just read and follow the instructions :Q

Takes a hellofalot more than that. I'd wager most of these ferengi loose money if they consider thier time as opposed to going straight up to a discount vendor with no sales tax like monarch. They enjoy the process is the main thing and why they do it. For me it's misery. I mean some of these dude camp out hours before black friday. ya thats fun.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
The problem with rebates is not that they are terribly complicated to apply for, it's that they are rejected for asinine reasons. I twice tried to get a rebate from Microsloth, and they rejected them both times because I didn't include the proper parts of the box. I damn near sent the entire box the second time so I have no clue what they wanted.

Good for me though, because I'm sticking with Logitech keyboards and mice. Thanks, M$!

If they remove the craptastic rebate fulfillment companies and use oxygen-breathing people with brain activity to do it, there won't be too many problems. If CompUSA and Best Buy were to tell the crappy companies that they won't be selling their products there unless they get the rebates right, I bet some changes would be made. Or, sign a contract with the companies offering rebates that if CU or BB has to pay them (because the other company screwed up), then the manufacturer has to not only pay the rebate but a penalty as well, per occurrence.

Satisfaction through contracts!

One of the articles I remember reading talked about Costco's system. Costco lets you do the rebates online through Costco's site (no cutting UPC's etc). Costco handles it all to make sure that the rebates get paid and in a timely fasion. This is basically what the FTC is telling CompUSA and all the other retailers. In other words if the manufac. don't pay, the retailer will, so the retailer better make sure they pay. It's been needed for a long time and I hope these rules get systems like Costco's implimented. I love Costco's rebates and it's been bloody criminal that these retailers advertise these prices with the rebate included and you can't even get it paid sometimes.

 

[Zebo]

Costco rebates are excellent. Should have mentioned that exception. Can be done online, no sending crap in and always arrive punctual.:thumbsup:

 

[NightCrawler]

I've been rejected before and then I retaliate by never buying that companies crap ever agian.

All rebates should be Instant rebates.

 

[tcsenter]

Not surprising at all after the WSJ article. The bottom-line is Best Buy's chief concern; not their customers.

You say that as though there is a single business on the planet that operates for the benefit and concern of its customers. Best Buy cares plenty about the customers who keep them in business (the big and/or frequent spenders).

The ones who will be harmed by eliminating rebates are those of us who take advantage of them and who either aren't too stupid or lazy to fill out the forms properly. Check this out:

But in recent years, consumer groups have complained about the complicated instructions and onerous documentation requirements.

To obtain a mail-in rebate, customers often have to cut bar codes off boxes and send in other proofs of purchase from the equipment box, along with forms filled with personal information. One purchase may require sending in two rebate forms, one for the manufacturer and another for the retailer.

Oh the inhumanity! How could they in good conscience require people to perform extremely complicated tasks like put their name, address, and telephone number on a form? And cutting bar codes off of boxes? Someone could cut their arm off or poke their eye out!

All rebates should be Instant rebates

Ending rebates will benefit no one.

Since the rebate model depends on lazy or stupid people to work, there would be no savings to the general public by eliminating rebates. Its not as though companies could just reduce the price by the amount of the rebate, since everyone would then get the discounted price and companies wouldn't recoup/offset their loss from stupid or lazy people. So the discount would have to be significantly less, probably luke warm at best.

At any rate, I suspect Best Buy was speaking of retailer rebates, since it can't very well stop manufacturers from offering rebates.

 

[Anonemous]

cool, so they can't reject our rebates if we are lucky enough to get a PM.

 

[Wag]

Good. Store rebates are a scam- just offer the item at sale price.