Hey..
I am never good at the whole analyze-search-deal-buy-claim kind of routine. Some of my friends and colleagues spend a better part of life looking at dealinfo or dealstobuy or similar kind of web pages and from what I hear their spouses are 'live' crawlers for some of these sites. One of the key reasons I dont like the deals offered in them is primarily because most of them are mail-in-rebates, possibly the biggest scandal in the USA jointly organized by an association of all consumer goods companies.
The mail in rebates is one of the most brilliant plans that these companies have come up with. First there is this bright rate-card that boasts in all uppercase and bold black with a yellow background yelling something like - ONLY $1200 - and in fine print, almost invisible to the human eye, there is a note added with a * saying after $300 mail-in-rebate. And the poor consumer, who is captiavted by the rate, realises the rebate offer but it is too late since he has made a decision almost, finally makes the deal paying $1500 hoping that at some point of time he will get the $300 back.
Most of the time, these organizations rely on the sheer laziness of the person to file a rebate claim. Statistics (from Washington Post) show that atleast 15% of rebates go unclaimed because of laziness or missed receipts. The next ploy is to give forms that ask too many questions which you get bored to fill by the due-date. Or ask for product codes, UPC codes, bar codes, key codes, copies of receipts, manufacturer seal from the side of the box etc etc., and make sure that you go through a hell of a time before you can even spot it. For some software you may need to install the software and discover the key- something like a Da-Vinci code kind of complicated discovery and you will spend over half hour to even finish the 5 line rebate form.
Assuming that you had all the patience to peel of the codes, discover the keys, photocopy the receipts, purchase envelopes, affix stamps and send the rebate - the next step is just to wait - no timelines. This wait is everlasting and if you are extremely lucky you will get a response. Sometimes this response is just a card that says that the rebate is rejected because it was filed with insufficient information. And you can be persistent and follow up again and wait. In the meanwhile if you move to a new apartment or a city, you have chosen to say good bye to the rebate forever. And beyond all this, if you still remain the lucky Lucy, you will get a rebate check after 4 or 5 months.
Isnt it ridiculous that even hi-tech companies that manufacture computers that can do million complex calculations in milliseconds take 5 months to process 5 lines of rebate information and send a check ? Of all the mail-in-rebate stuff that I ever bought (which is almost 10 atleast), I just managed to get only one back so far - thanks to my laziness...
So, thatz why my friends, I never recommend to buy a stuff because it has a mail-in-rebate offer. A few of my friends will happily nod at what I say and a few might not, but Iam pretty sure that this one definitely will agree one hundred percent :).
Chao..
I am never good at the whole analyze-search-deal-buy-claim kind of routine. Some of my friends and colleagues spend a better part of life looking at dealinfo or dealstobuy or similar kind of web pages and from what I hear their spouses are 'live' crawlers for some of these sites. One of the key reasons I dont like the deals offered in them is primarily because most of them are mail-in-rebates, possibly the biggest scandal in the USA jointly organized by an association of all consumer goods companies.
The mail in rebates is one of the most brilliant plans that these companies have come up with. First there is this bright rate-card that boasts in all uppercase and bold black with a yellow background yelling something like - ONLY $1200 - and in fine print, almost invisible to the human eye, there is a note added with a * saying after $300 mail-in-rebate. And the poor consumer, who is captiavted by the rate, realises the rebate offer but it is too late since he has made a decision almost, finally makes the deal paying $1500 hoping that at some point of time he will get the $300 back.
Most of the time, these organizations rely on the sheer laziness of the person to file a rebate claim. Statistics (from Washington Post) show that atleast 15% of rebates go unclaimed because of laziness or missed receipts. The next ploy is to give forms that ask too many questions which you get bored to fill by the due-date. Or ask for product codes, UPC codes, bar codes, key codes, copies of receipts, manufacturer seal from the side of the box etc etc., and make sure that you go through a hell of a time before you can even spot it. For some software you may need to install the software and discover the key- something like a Da-Vinci code kind of complicated discovery and you will spend over half hour to even finish the 5 line rebate form.
Assuming that you had all the patience to peel of the codes, discover the keys, photocopy the receipts, purchase envelopes, affix stamps and send the rebate - the next step is just to wait - no timelines. This wait is everlasting and if you are extremely lucky you will get a response. Sometimes this response is just a card that says that the rebate is rejected because it was filed with insufficient information. And you can be persistent and follow up again and wait. In the meanwhile if you move to a new apartment or a city, you have chosen to say good bye to the rebate forever. And beyond all this, if you still remain the lucky Lucy, you will get a rebate check after 4 or 5 months.
Isnt it ridiculous that even hi-tech companies that manufacture computers that can do million complex calculations in milliseconds take 5 months to process 5 lines of rebate information and send a check ? Of all the mail-in-rebate stuff that I ever bought (which is almost 10 atleast), I just managed to get only one back so far - thanks to my laziness...
So, thatz why my friends, I never recommend to buy a stuff because it has a mail-in-rebate offer. A few of my friends will happily nod at what I say and a few might not, but Iam pretty sure that this one definitely will agree one hundred percent :).
Chao..
15 comments:
Why call something a sham because people are lazy? I have and always will go in for a mail in rebate. They usually mail the check in a month. I am willing to wait and the money that I get back comes in handy usually. Do not blame the companies, blame the people who are lazy to fill simple forms.
Well, I am lazy. That's why I never take mail-in-rebate into consideration when purchasing.
And Robbie, I have a friend who had one mail-in-rebate out of about 10 return. And he wasn't lazy. He sent it in promptly. But, when he called a few of them, they said something or the other was missing. And the poor chap did not take a copy of his receipt. So, he was stuck.
I always sent by mail-in-rebate forms in time & got the money in time as well. So i would go with robbie.
adappavingala .. set sernedhuttaangappa.
shiva
you are right, there little thing you need to mail in with rebate
the original upc thing you need to carefully cut that out from box, this and that, but if you are really persitent after that from day one it might work, well looks like you and me are kind of lazy to get behind this,
so far I have got back most of my rebates.
Well, for i dont think it is just 15% who don't meet the mail-in-rebate and it is the other way around.
Two, if you are not smart enough, the trader always is. If you are not sure what is the best price you can pay, you dont get it at the best price
Three, people's laziness and nappasai would *always* be exploited
First of all ,what is teh business thought behind Mail-In _rebate ?
Whay can't the manufacturers giev a discount then and there instead of a mail -In _Rebate ?ANybody from Sales can explain this .
shiva,
If you get these deals in standard sites like amazon.com etc. you dont have to worry about it.The problem is only with other small time sites.I had a room mate who was a ' crawler' for these discount sites.I found 2 discount stuffs and wrote for them and didn't get any rebates.I later found out that ouor household crawler had already availed the discount and it is only rebate is allowed for the household.
But given a chance i will do the rebate stuff again :D
ramki,
read shiva's post carefully.he has explained the thought behind it.
OOPS...is that me 'Most of the time, these organizations rely on the sheer laziness of the person to file a rebate claim'
Recent experience - Cellphone rebate 100 dollars. Thanks to my laziness forgot and the date is gone.!
What a great trick.!
Good to see a nice post on this.!
raman, ganesh, narayanan - welcome to lazy boys club :)
senthil - all the best on your next m-i-r.
robbie, anonymous - you are lucky ones. Pass one some luck to the rest of us.
arvind - well said. we allow ourselves to be exploited.
ramki - as said earlier, the whole thing is a scam.
shiva
Illayaraja songsla oru list podurukken
vandhu pathuttu pongo
arambichutarya ganshu bhai.
@dcblogomaniacs,
indha technique ganshu bhai patent panniduvaru polirukke !
Arvind:
He surely has a patent on it... poor shiva, all he gets for his post is a comment requesting him to visit Ganeshs post:P
Siva,
I somehow find it difficult to digest that people have sided with you on this issue, because it is just a question of filling and sending things on time. It is something we do everyday, we dont forget to do our everyday chores, this would be part of it I thought... beats me...
robbie - we are all the lazy gang !! - birds of the same feather :)
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