I only missed $20 dollar rebates over $23,000 worth of rebates. whenever I don't get it, I call and fix them.

Just thought of something... another party gains by rebates - the state! We pay pre-rebate sales tax... good reason for the states to drag their feet on this one.

Personally the only rebates I've had hopeless trouble with are with Samsung and eMachines. Samsung runs promos for such a long time, that you can go back months later - buy the same item - and it's still the same rebate promotion. So the limit 1 gets you when you aren't looking. With eMachines, they pull the "postmark after date specified" trick - might as well stand in the corner and bang your head against a wall with them.

I do have a MIA with OD, but it is looking like a legit missing submission that just needs a call.

I have had weird rejections with HP, which they ultimately pay. They ask for the UPC and serial number(s) again quite often.

Yeah, overall I don't mind rebates if the company plays fair.

jswede4722 said: I like Targets rebate system. Gift card automatically at the register. Now, if Walgreens would follow suit.

Call it the luck of the draw, but the one time I submitted a monthly rebate with Walgreens - the gift card came back in record time. Suprised the heck out of me! Not a Walgreens fan, and I don't shop at Target much due to their lack of locations here.

On the eMachines rebate that I lost out on, I was really surprised to have that rejection happen - I was definitely on time and they definitely were not going to give in. I figure Compaq sells computers all day long... Hmmmm!

RiteAid is fast & easy. No need to mail stuff in. Checks come fast, you can take them to the store & use them to buy stuff.

jswede4722 said:thekid72 said:With eMachines, they pull the "postmark after date specified" trick - might as well stand in the corner and bang your head against a wall with them.


I just got my rebate checks from Emachines no problems. They sent the received emails quickly and the checks were processed rather quickly.

I think if rebates end, we'd see much less sold on eBay and people would just buy what they need. This could potentially put speciality stores out of business (Staples, Best Buy, etc). I like Targets rebate system. Gift card automatically at the register. Now, if Walgreens would follow suit.

You gotta be kidding if you think ending rebates will put major retailers out of business. BB has ended rebates for the most part already, and I don't see any of them closing up shop. As for Staples, they might not end it, but what you realize is that if the rebates are sponsored by them and coming out of their pockets then they might be losing money on some rebate item (and definately would on FAR items) for the people who successfully redeem them. They are counting on that number being low enough, but if it gets too high, they will lose money overall (IOW, the money they lose on the items successully redeemed outweighs the money gained on the rebates denied), so it is only in their iterest to offer such rebates them if it draws people in their store to buy other items, to make up the cost.

Additionally, the margins on some electronics is low. One office supply manager told me the markup on tech items is 5-18% (others here have reported similar numbers). They barely make any money selling at full price, even if the rebate is redeemed. Add to that PMs, coupons, sales and clearance, plus Staples Business Rewards and then take off for the rebates. Must be a huge drag.

One thing that rebates do is limit the number of "freebies" each customer can get, so that FWers can't buy up all of the loss leaders and keep the profitable customers from buying the stuff that helps the store, but that doesn't work too well anway. FWers get advanced copies of the ads, stay up until midnight, buy all of the online stock, throw in coupons, go to the B&M stores on Saturday, buy up all of the stock, return and rebuy, use every conceivable coupon and PM known, create multiple accounts for multiple coupon use and mutliple orders, use prepaid credit cards, PO boxes and prepaid cell phones to avoid blacklisting, buy everything they don't need, just because it's a deal and max out on the 10 rebates per household and have extremely large extended families for multiple rebate redemption.

timothy86 said:I doubt Mail In Rebates will ever end for Cell Phones. There is some serious money involved and I just don't see the rebates ending on cell phones. if you buy the phone online the rebate is ofter given to you at check out because the rebate is forbidden by law in many states. IE verizon wireless they call it a internet online price or internet instant savings which negates the rebate.

In fact Staples made a boo-boo this week and must give over $360 worth of norton and other software for free at thier Rhode Island B&M stores they advertised the softwares as free after rebate which in RI means Free at the counter. They then went and changed their web ad, and reprinted the ads to be passed out in the stores. Check it out for yourself. Staples.com zip code 02818 circular pages 9,10, and 11. They now say full refund. But the paper that shipped in the sunday paper was (go back and change the zip to Boston, MA 02122) now check out the circular. Because of that 02122 wording which shipped in the sunday paper in RI they must sell for ZERO at the reg. Now Staples is trying to deny poeple by requiring them to bring in the ad from the sunday paper. Which is the same one poeple can pick up from say another store in Massachusetts for free. HAHA

johnstexas said:jswede4722 said: FWers get advanced copies of the ads, stay up until midnight, buy all of the online stock, throw in coupons, go to the B&M stores on Saturday, buy up all of the stock, return and rebuy, use every conceivable coupon and PM known, create multiple accounts for multiple coupon use and mutliple orders, use prepaid credit cards, PO boxes and prepaid cell phones to avoid blacklisting, buy everything they don't need, just because it's a deal and max out on the 10 rebates per household and have extremely large extended families for multiple rebate redemption.

crazy. i stick to the rules.

I don't believe that rebates are going away because of consumer complaints. These businesses are concerned about 1 thing only - bottom line. As long as rebates are profitable I see them using that tactic. Alexandra sounds like a friggin BB or Dell shill.

Jamare said:They then went and changed their web ad, and reprinted the ads to be passed out in the stores.
They probably just got the ads they use in Connecticut, which has similar restrictions (although I am not sure if they have to give it to you free in-store if they make a mistake). I personally hate it, because it makes it much more difficult to find the really good deals in their ads, at least in CT, because they show the in-store price and the rebate in a smaller font.

Actually they Do. Their computers only allow them to back the price down to 1 cent so I and many others took it for the 1 cent eac software. On an occasion or two i had them back the price down on other items 1 cent so infact I got teh soft for free but i forgot or didn't push the issue on several trans. So Final over $2000 in software for less than 48 cents OTD. Gotta love the RI rebate law. I look forward to more mistakes.

billrubin said:Jamare said:They then went and changed their web ad, and reprinted the ads to be passed out in the stores.
They probably just got the ads they use in Connecticut, which has similar restrictions (although I am not sure if they have to give it to you free in-store if they make a mistake). I personally hate it, because it makes it much more difficult to find the really good deals in their ads, at least in CT, because they show the in-store price and the rebate in a smaller font.