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Why MIRs are a joke...

Occ

Senior member
Thank you for participating in the CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX $20 MIR AT NEWEGG.COM AND NEWEGG.CA promotion. We received your rebate submission on 02/22/2010 and it is currently being processed. Please allow 8-10 weeks from this date for the processing of your rebate.
Really now? 🙄
 
I haven't done a rebate in years, there's no point because half the time you never get the money back, the other half you wait... 8-10 weeks.
 
I have sent in for many rebates. I only got screwed out of one, that was from Kingston on some PC-133 memory I purchased.

Rebates take time, I understand that, because I read the rebate forms before I made any purchases.

Mail in rebates are fine as long as you go into them with your eyes wide open.
 
Yes, yes, yes, none of us have read the rebate fine print, that must be it. Perhaps the idea of loaning a company money interest free for 8-10 weeks or possibly for good just isn't appealing to many people. Of course we would have had to read the fine print to realize this and decide to to partake in the silliness of MIRs.
 
I never buy anything with a MIR. And with the net, there is often an alternative site that has nearly as good of a price w/o the MIR.
 
Perhaps the idea of loaning a company money interest free for 8-10 weeks or possibly for good just isn't appealing to many people.
Are those the same people that think they are coming out ahead when they get a big tax refund check? 😵
 
well it depends, you do get a far lower price much of the time.
so if you dont like it, don't buy it😛
otherwise good deals can be had. giving a company an interest free loan for 8-10 weeks isn't quite right, the interest is the lower price on the product😛so if you got a 30 dollar rebate, can you turn that into 30 dollars over 8-10 weeks doing almost nothing? 30 dollars in a bank over 8-10 weeks earns bupkis.
 
My wife and I adhere to the policy that we won't buy something based on the rebate. If I would buy it full price w/o the warranty, then I'll buy. If I happen to get around to sending in the rebate, great... if not, no sweat.
 
My wife and I adhere to the policy that we won't buy something based on the rebate. If I would buy it full price w/o the warranty, then I'll buy. If I happen to get around to sending in the rebate, great... if not, no sweat.

That's exactly how I do it. If I like the price BEFORE the rebate, I'll buy it. If not, they can keep it.

If the rebate happens to come back, I have some extra change in my pocket.
 
Yeah, I've always been of the opinion that MIRs should never be counted on, but when I got this email, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. I thought the rebate for my ATT phone had stupid long "processing" at 4-6 weeks... A new wrinkle I've noticed is companies are sending back debit cards with expiration dates instead of checks. I guess they think they are easier to lose / forget about? :\
 
well it depends, you do get a far lower price much of the time.
so if you dont like it, don't buy it😛
otherwise good deals can be had. giving a company an interest free loan for 8-10 weeks isn't quite right, the interest is the lower price on the product😛so if you got a 30 dollar rebate, can you turn that into 30 dollars over 8-10 weeks doing almost nothing? 30 dollars in a bank over 8-10 weeks earns bupkis.

Thats true 30 dollars in the bank for 8-10 weeks does earn bupkis. However think of all the people that buy the product, those that fail to turn in the rebate, or fill it out in correctly. All those 30 dollars add up quickly.
 
I've gotten some excellent deals with MIRs that simply can't be touched without them: free case, free psu, $10 for 5GB DDR2 (one of which I sold for $15 🙂), $100 rebate for an $82 purchase of 5 mouses. I did receive all of those rebates back. In fact, I've only had one MIR that I didn't receive, and that was my fault for not following the fine print to a T. That was in my early days though, and I've successfully scored about 49 out of 50 MIRs over the past several years.

If you don't read the fine print that says it might take a few months to get it back, then that's your own fault.
 
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I may do 100 rebates a year. Once, after a Black Friday sale, I had almost $1400 pending in rebates. Send them in the same day as I get the product. In all of the years I think I've failed to get 5, amounting to about $80.

I have gotten many free tools from Ace hardware, a Canon office class MF for $25, many cases and good 500w psus for 10 or 20, reams of name brand paper for $1, gb DDR2 sticks for 3 ea., free beer and whiskey, etc.. Many of these items I would not have bought without the rebate.

The money would do nothing useful sitting in my checking acct. while I wait for the rebates. I learned long ago not to put them on a CC and possibly pay interest on what I'm waiting for (i e Xmas shopping). I am waiting for roughly $300 in rebates at the moment and expect that I will get them all.
 
Thats true 30 dollars in the bank for 8-10 weeks does earn bupkis. However think of all the people that buy the product, those that fail to turn in the rebate, or fill it out in correctly. All those 30 dollars add up quickly.

its gotten so easy now...you can even track it online.
i really don't care about people who fail to fill forms.
its like caring about people who choose to pay full price.
unless theres something incredibly shady going on, mir work just fine in most cases.
 
I view rebates as a bonus. If I buy something, it's because I'm happy with the price before rebates. Any rebate after that is a bonus. Simple as that.

All this talk about cheap ram after rebates makes me sad that I just paid $100 for 4gb of DDR3. I long for the days where I could buy 4gb for $30 again.
 
if it has an MIR, its probably a cheaply made china product. I typically save up for the best quality/features of any particular product i buy except food, and so far i have never seen an MIR available.
 
if it has an MIR, its probably a cheaply made china product. I typically save up for the best quality/features of any particular product i buy except food, and so far i have never seen an MIR available.

You know that most of our electronics are made in china right?
 
System_Mechanic

"if it has an MIR, its probably a cheaply made china product."

You are not as knowledgeable as you think.

Just a short list that comes to mind from the last year:

MSI

Gigabyte

Antec

Thermaltake

OZC

Hammermill

EVGA

Canon

HP

Lexmark

Canadian whiskey

Belgian beer
 
Corsair rebate turn around times from the date rebate form was mailed (most recent first):

10 weeks 3 days
11 weeks 2 days
11 weeks 0 days
13 weeks 3 days
14 weeks 2 days
 
well it depends, you do get a far lower price much of the time.
So if you dont like it, don't buy it😛
otherwise good deals can be had. Giving a company an interest free loan for 8-10 weeks isn't quite right, the interest is the lower price on the product😛so if you got a 30 dollar rebate, can you turn that into 30 dollars over 8-10 weeks doing almost nothing? 30 dollars in a bank over 8-10 weeks earns bupkis.

qft
 
You do run a risk with a mail-in rebate. There are some tech companies that you absolutely have to hound before you get your check or bank card.
 
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