"Manufacturer's Rebate." BEWARE!
Feb 23 '08
The Bottom Line Rebates promise a lot, but don't count on actually getting that which you expect. Even from some otherwise "reputable" concerns.
It's no secret manufacturer's love to use rebates as a come-on to get someone to purchase something. It's a lot cheaper than running a sale, since the overwhelming majority of consumers never bother to fill out and mail in the required materials, and manufacturer's count on that. But what happens when you do mail in everything as you should? Do you get that rebate, and do you get it in a reasonable amount of time? Well, in my experience, I'd have to answer that with an unqualified, "NO, you don't."
I've only had experience with three different manufacturer's/retailers in dealing with rebates, but the experiences with all three were identical. The manufacturers/ retailers were:
JVC
Sears
Krups
With JVC, I purchased a fairly cheap ($69.95) DVD player about 4 years ago as a Christmas gift. A $15 rebate applied.
Two years ago, I purchased well over $4,000 worth of appliances at Sears (refrigerator, washer, dryer) for which a 10% rebate applied. Most recently, I purchased a Krups espresso machine from Linens 'n Things, for which a $25 rebate applied.
What's so disturbing, is that all three rebates were denied, and all three for the same claimed reasons. After waiting months, I received letters from each stating that I either hadn't included the sales receipt (which, of course, I did), or that I didn't purchase the right product (which, again, I did) or that I didn't supply the bar code cut off the box (which I either did supply, or didn't because it wasn't requested at the time), and as such, "your rebate is being denied."
Only this morning did I receive an email from Krups with that same line of BS, denying me a $25 rebate on an espresso machine I purchased as a Christmas gift for my wife. Since I did precisely what I should have done insofar as including the bar code from the box and including the sales receipt, I was outraged that, once again, I was being denied a rebate because someone had quite off-handedly decided to claim that I did no such thing. Naturally, I sent off an angry email to their headquarters in New Jersey. It's one thing to count on customers not bothering to mail in the rebate materials in the first place, but to arbitrarily deny the rebate by fabricating a story - and the same story over and over - is quite something else.
I wrote angry letters to JVC and to Sears, and ultimately did get my rebates. The $15 from JVC was only a matter of principle (as is the $25 from Krups), but the $400 from Sears was a "whole nuthu' matter." The Sears case was especially infuriating, since I had received numerous letters indicating "your rebate is being processed, and you'll be receiving your check shortly." Then, BOOM!, "your rebate is being denied because...."
That which is so surprising, at least to me, is that all three are large, reputable enterprises. The last company I'd ever expect to advertise, and then refuse to pay a rebate, was Sears, but they did it anyway, and did it big time.
So, what's the buyer to do? Well, in my case, if I really want to purchase the item for which the rebate applies, I'll purchase it on one condition, and one condition only: give me the rebate up front as a cash discount, or I'm walking away.
I don't need to be screwed again, nor does anyone else.
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