OK all electronics stores SUCK

[vurbano]

Personally, I like rebates. I always send them in and always get reimbursed. If you follow the instructions to the letter, you'll get your rebate.

The reason I like them is that many do not send in for them. This means that rebates usually offer more dollars off than a sale price would for those of us who do send in for them.

As for the cost of the money, let's take a $30 rebate for example. If you have a 6% interest rate and it takes 2 months to get the rebate, you will have lost $0.30 on the transaction ($30 x 0.5% x 2). Seems like a fair exchange to me.

If everyone responded to rebates, they would most likely go away. It costs the store more to process a rebate than it would just to discount the merchandise.

On a per person basis yes its nothing. But add in what the credit card compaines make during that 2 months also and then multiply both by a few millon consumers and the numbers get large. Its a scam, skimming a little bit from every consumer that files a rebate.

 

[mrschwarz]

On a per person basis yes its nothing. But add in what the credit card compaines make during that 2 months also and then multiply both by a few millon consumers and the numbers get large. Its a scam, skimming a little bit from every consumer that files a rebate.

The 6% is the credit card bill (the cost of the money), not in addition to. Again, look at the total. If you are multiplying the costs by millions of customers, then you need to multiply the savings by the same number.

To go back to the same example I gave earlier, If a rebate of $30 for a product is offered and 2 million people take advantage of it, the cost of the money would be $600,000 ($30 x 2 million x 0.5% x 2). For the cost of $600,000, people could get $60 million in rebates. Again, seems like a fair exchange to me.

If people's credit card rates averaged 24% per year, instead of 6% I used earlier, the cost to get a $30 rebate would increase to $1.20. It STILL seems like a fair exchange to me.

 

[Purogamer]

You guys are way too wound up about this. To say you wouldn't buy something with a rebate is silly because you've probably bought things without a rebate that HAD a rebate attached to it at some point, or since you bought it.

Also, rebate info is very easy to read on those stickers, the stickers are different actually, so it's hard to blame best buy because you missed the info that they presented to you.

Rebates DO suck though, and I don't buy that people fill them out wrong. It's your name and address, most people can get that correct. I have no problems buying products with a rebate, but I don't even bother with the rebate. Not worth the time and i'm not buying a stamp to do it. I think the sooner we get the USPS to abandon snail mail the better.

ATTENTION OLD LADIES, go to the library and type an email, you're slowing down my overnight mail with all your caligraphy to your grandchildren. Thank you, drive through, it's damn near 2006 for christ's sake and we're still using stamps...

 

[gizzer777]

Boycott rebates...I do, but I do use them.......

I just got back from Best Buy. Was planning on buying a wireless router so I could use my work laptop when I get home. Found one with a with router and wireless usb adaptor for $39.99 GREAT DEAL RIGHT, well I get up to the counter and the girl who probably knows nothing about electronics at all rang the item up and it was $85.00 . I told here that was not right and she wanted me to show her were I got it. I take here back and there it is in big number 39.99 then she gets closer and points to some small ass print 79.99-40.00 mail in rebate. I mean if you are just looking at the item you cannot even see it standing at normal distance from the price tag. I guess they think people will get it to the counter then be to embarrassed to put it back when the find out the real price.
I mean WTF is a mail in rebate? That is the stupidest bunch of sh*t someone could have ever come up with. "ooh let me have some of your money and I will give you this and...um in 6 to 10 weeks I will send you some of your money back......and...um dont be surprised if it takes me 6 or 8 months till I decided to send you your money.
That sucks. The only reason I went to Best Buy was I hate Circuit City which also sucks, and dont even let me get started on Radio Shack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
eerrrrrrrrr

I simply will not buy anything with a rebate...will shop on Ebay first!

A nice touch is using the advertised price w/ rebate to get another store to price match, even if they do not have the rebate! BEST BUY will usually do this, as will my local Circuit City. That way you know you are getting the low price and do not have to wait for the rebate! Some like Circuit City will also discount an additional 10% after they price match (MUST BE EXACTLY THE SAME ITEM)


As someone here said, they count on a large % of people just not sending them in, then, if everything is not perfect...you are cooked, then you wait, wait, wait....baloney!

IMHO the worst offenders are CompUSA, and Best Buy....Best Buy carries it a little further. if you see a Best Buy web price, it is not always available at your local store for that price!


As for routers...also suggest you look at the SMC barricade w/ a USB printer server built in...I love it. It also has a decent hardware firewall( as do most) that can email you when it detects an attack or prob)

Most people forget to turn the wireless WAP/WEP protection, and their wireless signal can be picked up by their neighbors or worse...be used by a neighbor or someone in a car with a laptop. They would also have an "in" to your PC...if not properly shielded!!!

JEFF

 

[Purogamer]

Has anyone heard of someone downloading kiddie porn off of someone else's wifi yet? I'm shocked it hasn't happened here yet, you'd think those guys would be all over that for the alibi possibilities...

 

[bpickell]

I sent in a rebate form for a sprint cell phone, and received 8 weeks later a post card that stated the receipt was not legible enough and had 10 days from the date on the postcard to supply a legible receipt. I received it 14 days after the date on the postcard. I immediately called the number and told them that it was already too late, and they told me not their problem.

You want to talk about scams.

 

[mikew]

I bought a refer from Best Buy. It came with "free delivery after rebate". So I pay for the refer and delivery, complete and submit the rebate form. The day after the refer is supposed to be delivered, I called BB to find out why it wasn't delivered. They said they were out of stock! They rescheduled my delivery a week down the road. Four weeks later, I get a letter from BB Rebates stating that since I "cancelled my order", the rebate was denied. I contacted them and they went through the computer to find that, indeed, to furnish me with the back-ordered refer, they cancelled my original order, then created a new order. Amazing! Their system could see the transaction of the cancelled order, yet it couldn't see the new order that was placed. I then went through several phone calls. I needed to go back to BB, have them reprint my receipts (of which I thought there was only 1 there were actually 3) and re-submit my paperwork and get it done and back to them before the offer expired (which would have given me 2 days to have it in their hands). I finally called corp and they sent me a $50.00 gift card instead.

Had a similar issue with Sirius. After 7 months, they finally credited my CC the amount of the rebate that never showed up.

I HATE REBATES !!!!

 

[Foxbat]

Has anyone heard of someone downloading kiddie porn off of someone else's wifi yet? I'm shocked it hasn't happened here yet, you'd think those guys would be all over that for the alibi possibilities...

There was a story from 2004 about someone who had taken advantage of unsecured Wi-Fi installations to extort a competitor. The hypothetical case from the Black Hat Expo regarding the stolen Annapolis documents was interesting.

 

[bpickell]

I haven't heard of anyone downloading kiddie porn, but have heard rumors of people who have done it to download music. And there was the two kids that used wifi to hack into Home Depot's network and rip off credit card numbers.

 

[digitaldogger]

If I Could Recommend Something, Depending On The Size Of The Town Or City That You Live In, Sometimes Going Into A Computer Place That Focuses On One On One, You Might Pay 10-40 Dollars More, But You Are Talking To A Computer Tech, And You Will Get The Treatment You Deserve And Most Important Specific Questions Answered About Your Computers, Routers Etc. It Might Save You A Back And Forth Issue If You Would Have Mistakenly Purchased The Wrong Thing At A Big Chain Store, With Little To No Help From Someone Experienced. Our Town Offers 2-3 Specific Computer Places, That Is All They Do, And Provide Good Customer Service, Good Luck!

 

[biged007]

These Sirius people are Liars. Disallowing rebates is big business . I havent had too many problem getting them in the past, but lately they are getting rejected. I got a $50 rebate form when I bought my Sporster Replay off ebay, filed for the rebate online after talking to a Sirius Rep when I activated. I filled out and mailed all the appropriate paperwork with barcodes ect. all during the middle of the qualifing period. I got a email saying rebate disallowed. Then I called Sirius got a Rep Supervisor he said fax in the info........bad fax #......called back...got another guy....he gave me another # and I faxed info to that #. A couple weeks later I got a postcard stating rebate wasnt sent in during qualifing period. LIARS
My advice dont buy anything based on a rebate. I had the same thing happen to me last year with Norton Utilities.
These companies are playing us for fools and suckers. Im I the only one this has happened to, or have others been scammed too!

 

[sidekick]

The only time I had a problem with a rebate was when I waited too long to send one in and therefore lost the opportunity. That was my fault though, and I have no one to blame but myself. I also learned some lessons; read carefully, and don't procrastinate. Those lessons have served me well in all areas of life......

 

[DarrellP]

I stopped into Worst Buy today and saw a 50 pack of DVD-R's for sale for $14.99, normally $39.99 so I picked up the last 2 packs on the shelf and when they were rung up, one was $14.99 and the other was $49.99. I about crapped so I told her that was not right and we looked at the two packs and the more expensive one was a slightly different labeling but looked very similar to the one on sale. Oddly enough, the cheaper one was a 16X disc and the more expensive one was a 4X