This post properly belongs in the Hot Deals forum since virtually every Hot Deal depends on one or more rebates, but the rules there preclude even relevant posts that aren't themselves hot deals so I am posting it here.
Rebate companies have added a new twist to the "conditions" for a valid rebate submission.
For some time they have been making the window in which the rebate had to be mailed narrower which increased the chances that a customer wouldn't be vigilant enough to mail in his rebate on time. This was usually stated in terms like the envelope must be postmarked no more than 14 days after the the end of the promotion period -- or sometimes of the date shown on the sales receipt. I just lost out on a $30 rebate because I thought the 14 day period was from the end of the promotion and it was from the date on the sales slip and I had bought the item at the very beginning of a week long promotion. My experience had been that with some fair frequency they would say the postmark on the submission was after the period ended even if I had been careful to mail it in well in advance of the end of the period. For that reason I began buying a Certificate of Mailing (which costs 75 cents) that usually, but not always, sufficed to win the dispute.
The new twist which I will quote from one of the rebate forms from Parego in Coppell, Texas says;
"Mailing envelopes must be postmarked within 14 days of the close of the promotion and must be received within 7 days of that date".
In other words, they can always say the submission took 8 days to get to them even if you have proof that it was mailed on time. You might think that purchasing a signed receipt for delivery would be a guarantee, but I did that for one large rebate and the "delivery" date was over two weeks from the postmark date -- suggesting that they may well let mail accumulate before accepting and signing for it.
I thought it worth posting this since so many of us take advantage of rebates and this fine print may have escaped some of you.
Rebate companies have added a new twist to the "conditions" for a valid rebate submission.
For some time they have been making the window in which the rebate had to be mailed narrower which increased the chances that a customer wouldn't be vigilant enough to mail in his rebate on time. This was usually stated in terms like the envelope must be postmarked no more than 14 days after the the end of the promotion period -- or sometimes of the date shown on the sales receipt. I just lost out on a $30 rebate because I thought the 14 day period was from the end of the promotion and it was from the date on the sales slip and I had bought the item at the very beginning of a week long promotion. My experience had been that with some fair frequency they would say the postmark on the submission was after the period ended even if I had been careful to mail it in well in advance of the end of the period. For that reason I began buying a Certificate of Mailing (which costs 75 cents) that usually, but not always, sufficed to win the dispute.
The new twist which I will quote from one of the rebate forms from Parego in Coppell, Texas says;
"Mailing envelopes must be postmarked within 14 days of the close of the promotion and must be received within 7 days of that date".
In other words, they can always say the submission took 8 days to get to them even if you have proof that it was mailed on time. You might think that purchasing a signed receipt for delivery would be a guarantee, but I did that for one large rebate and the "delivery" date was over two weeks from the postmark date -- suggesting that they may well let mail accumulate before accepting and signing for it.
I thought it worth posting this since so many of us take advantage of rebates and this fine print may have escaped some of you.
Facebook
Twitter