Went to CompUSA today.

[amdhunter]

Man, this rebate stuff is getting out of hand. I saw one guy that was in line to purchase some laptop that was seemingly a good deal, and he had a fit when they told him that the laptop wasn't actually that price, and he had to mail in multiple rebate forms.

This friggin guy seemingly almost started a riot in the store, with more and more people complaining about the rebates, and the fact that rebate forms were unavailable, mainly due to people taking multiple copies of them for whatever reason. I have NEVER seen a guy so pissed in my life.

A quite a few people left the store without purchasing anything (me too, since the dvds I went to buy were out of stock, lol) but I have never seen anything like that. I swear it almost got to the point where the police would have had to come in riot gear, LOL.

In all honesty, I think they should dump rebates altogether, as it seems like a license to print false prices on items, hence false advertising.

Some may say to read the fine print, but rebates don't seem to be guaranteed. I remember mailing in a $80 rebate from Phillips for a monitor I purchased, and I NEVER received it.

ah well /rant off

 

[Chaotic42]

I think that the stores themselves should fill out the rebate stuff. Circuit City has a Geforce 6800 for $199... or so the pricetag says.

If you look at the smaller print, it's actually $299 with a $100 MIR.

Of course, I've always wanted to see stores label items with the tax-included price.

 

[jonjonsanfru]

I think ACER has released a laptop line that is the no BS no REBATE type thing. Straight up cheap pricing... rebates ARE annoying.

 

[Spike]

Never had any confusion about rebates and all I sent away came back no problems... not sure about that dudes problem, it's called 'fine print' for a reason. I personally like rebates, the companies offer them because less than half of people actually send them in so they don't have any issues offering great deals. Those of us who always send them in are thankful for those that don't.

-spike

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: Spike
Never had any confusion about rebates and all I sent away came back no problems... not sure about that dudes problem, it's called 'fine print' for a reason. I personally like rebates, the companies offer them because less than half of people actually send them in so they don't have any issues offering great deals. Those of us who always send them in are thankful for those that don't.

-spike

Thats the thing though. How many people outside of the PC communities actually know what a rebate is? I don't think this guy even knew the definition as the supervisor was explaining the whole idea to him. There were almost 10 people asking questions about what a rebate is also.

Most people decided it was a scam, although a few thought of rebates as something "good." Me, I was just enjoying the show. I don't think I can really explain how pissed people were. LOL

 

[Zorro]

If you don't like rebates. By all means don't send them in and pay full price. I hate damn stupid ccustomers that can't read ...

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Of course, I've always wanted to see stores label items with the tax-included price.

They don't include tax price so you think it's cheaper than it actually is.

People see "299.99" and think "hey, not bad." But if you were to label it 344.98 after tax, they'd go insane.

 

[allisolm]

Those of us who always send them in are thankful for those that don't.

Amen to that!

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: Zorro
If you don't like rebates. By all means don't send them in and pay full price. I hate damn stupid ccustomers that can't read ...

The problem I have is, I got burnt for $80 by Phillips.

There should be some sort of guarantee on rebates. Or the stores should be held liable in the form of store credit, or full refund on the item, even after the restocking period has passed.

 

[Lorn]

I don't understand rebates all together. How do they work? Why do they work for the companies?

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: Lorn
I don't understand rebates all together. How do they work? Why do they work for the companies?

Promotion.

"Hey, look, this company is giving us BACK money!"

 

[daniel1113]

Originally posted by: Lorn
I don't understand rebates all together. How do they work? Why do they work for the companies?

They intice customers to purchase a product, even though only a small percentage of those costumers actually take the time to fill out and wait to receive the rebate.

 

[Spikesoldier]

mail in rebates are stupid. you have to pay tax on the 'filler' price

299.99 + 100 instant rebate = 199.99 taxable

299.99 + 199 MIR = 299.99 taxable

so they are making you pay more taxes on the item then it was supposed to be? that doesnt sound very profitable in a business sense.

/puts on tin foil hat, and flame suit

government conspiracy!

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: Zorro
If you don't like rebates. By all means don't send them in and pay full price. I hate damn stupid ccustomers that can't read ...

The problem I have is, I got burnt for $80 by Phillips.

There should be some sort of guarantee on rebates. Or the stores should be held liable in the form of store credit, or full refund on the item, even after the restocking period has passed.

Call the processing center and mention either the BBB or their state Attorney General. Trust me, it gets them moving.

<< has never lost a rebate

 

[KarenMarie]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I think that the stores themselves should fill out the rebate stuff. Circuit City has a Geforce 6800 for $199... or so the pricetag says.

If you look at the smaller print, it's actually $299 with a $100 MIR.

Of course, I've always wanted to see stores label items with the tax-included price.

that is one of the many things i liked about living in the UK. When you saw a price, that was the price you paid. All taxes were already included. Of course 17.5% tax sucks big time, but at least there were no surprised at checkout.

🙂

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: LoKe

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
Of course, I've always wanted to see stores label items with the tax-included price.

They don't include tax price so you think it's cheaper than it actually is.

People see "299.99" and think "hey, not bad." But if you were to label it 344.98 after tax, they'd go insane.

Oh, sure, I understand why they don't do that. It's the same reason that things are $99.99 instead of $100.00. People don't seem to understand numbers very well.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
I think that the stores themselves should fill out the rebate stuff. Circuit City has a Geforce 6800 for $199... or so the pricetag says.

If you look at the smaller print, it's actually $299 with a $100 MIR.

Of course, I've always wanted to see stores label items with the tax-included price.

that is one of the many things i liked about living in the UK. When you saw a price, that was the price you paid. All taxes were already included. Of course 17.5% tax sucks big time, but at least there were no surprised at checkout.

🙂

There are no surprises if you assume there's tax. It's not a hard concept. For example, you have $200, you have to know you can't buy something that's $199.99.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: mwtgg

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: Zorro
If you don't like rebates. By all means don't send them in and pay full price. I hate damn stupid ccustomers that can't read ...

The problem I have is, I got burnt for $80 by Phillips.

There should be some sort of guarantee on rebates. Or the stores should be held liable in the form of store credit, or full refund on the item, even after the restocking period has passed.

Call the processing center and mention either the BBB or their state Attorney General. Trust me, it gets them moving.

<< has never lost a rebate

I didn't keep any proof. :/

 

[edro]

I read on Slashdot a few months back, that Best Buy plans to cease all rebates by 2006. I think it's just a marketing ploy... but for God's sake, I hope they do.

 

[JackRipper]

Originally posted by: Lorn
I don't understand rebates all together. How do they work? Why do they work for the companies?

A short term loan for the company (for some a long one lolz). Also betting on 3-6 months down the line, the technology would cost that price.

And I wish I have stats down... but when I was at Best Buy to get some paperwork processed, the manager said something about 60% of people fail to mail in their
rebates. Thats a whole chunk of $$$..

-JR

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: edro13
I read on Slashdot a few months back, that Best Buy plans to cease all rebates by 2006. I think it's just a marketing ploy... but for God's sake, I hope they do.

The prices are going to be the same, yet with no rebate. If that's the case, which I bet it will be, I wish they wouldn't.

 

[mwtgg]

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: mwtgg

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: Zorro
If you don't like rebates. By all means don't send them in and pay full price. I hate damn stupid ccustomers that can't read ...

The problem I have is, I got burnt for $80 by Phillips.

There should be some sort of guarantee on rebates. Or the stores should be held liable in the form of store credit, or full refund on the item, even after the restocking period has passed.

Call the processing center and mention either the BBB or their state Attorney General. Trust me, it gets them moving.

<< has never lost a rebate

I didn't keep any proof. :/

You = owned

Always photocopy your forms and receipts.

 

[sixone]

Originally posted by: JackRipper

Originally posted by: Lorn
I don't understand rebates all together. How do they work? Why do they work for the companies?

A short term loan for the company (for some a long one lolz). Also betting on 3-6 months down the line, the technology would cost that price.

And I wish I have stats down... but when I was at Best Buy to get some paperwork processed, the manager said something about 60% of people fail to mail in their
rebates. Thats a whole chunk of $$$..

-JR

That percentage is pretty close to what I remember hearing recently on a news show, I forget which one. If more people sent in their rebate paperwork, places like BB woundn't make any money on it, due to the manpower it would take to process the rebates.

 

[Queasy]

My problem with CompUSA isn't the rebates but with them not stocking what they advertise and not having a consistent policy on those items. For the "6 hour Midnight Madness sale" they had last Friday they advertised a pretty nice Sempron 3100+ Compaq desktop for $199AR. Only, the stores didn't have them in stock. I was fortunate to grab the one desktop they had in stock at my local CompUSA. There were two other guys I was standing in line with and some others who weren't so lucky. Others that went there looking for it were offered some pretty nice CTO options but it was 2-3 weeks delivery. So, you may get it by the time the rebates were due to be sent off on the 22nd. I read in some threads that delivery was free while at my store they wanted to charge $50 for delivery.

 

[sniperruff]

i agree that rebate is a PITA. but without rebates, all the hotdeals that i've gotten (that i can think of on top of my head)

a WD2000JBRTL from dell for $23, 2 years ago
altec lansing ATP3, free
logitech LX500 (which im typing on) and a netgear wireless-G router, $10
various CD burners, calculators, surge strips, telephones, free
hundreds of CDR's, free or for chump change

and the list goes on.