I'm NOT interested!!!

[Dave1982]

GAAH!!!!! Again....AGAIN I get the raw end of the deal when covering for a cashier!!!!


Current deal: $7.59 ream of paper for $2 after rebate. About the only redeeming thing about this particular SC encounter was the 8x11 sign was AT the register, so I didn't have to go and fetch it for this guy.

Anyway.

A cantankerous old man bought a ream of said paper and a package of pens that was on sale for $1 (point of sale price. No rebate on that one).

Me: $9.02 please.

Cantankerous Old Man pays, I give him his change, and only THEN does he start complaining.

SC: How much were those pens?

Me: $1

SC: Ok, that paper is $2, so how'd I get to $9?!?!

Me: Well, the paper has a rebate, which is printing up right now.

SC: No, the sign says $2!!!!!! *points angrily at sign*

I picked the sign up and calmly pointed to the words "AFTER REBATE" which were right there, plain as day. Not hidden in the fine print.

SC: You know what....I'm not interested.

Me: Ok fine.

I start to take the paper back out of his bag so I can give him a refund.

SC *REALLY mad now*: Excuse me WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

Me: You said you weren't interested, so---

SC: NO! I'm not interested IN YOUR REBATE!!! I'm still buying that paper.

Me: Um....OK.

SC: You know, that's not right. It's not at all clear.

Me *holding up the sign again*: Sir, it says "after rebate" right on it.

SC: I can see that!!!

Me:

SC: But it's just not plain!!!

*leaves, without rebate form*

Not plain? How much MORE plain than "AFTER REBATE" can you possibly get?

And you're just going to throw away the $5.29? I don't understand that logic at all.

[Bright_Star]

It could be a mile high in flashing bright lights & they STILL would complain that it's not plain. SC's see what they want to see. "Selective perception" at its finest.

[jjllbb]

I HATE when they do that. "It was misleading" "it was unclear" "that's unfair" I'm sorry you're so dumb!! PERIOD.

[TheSHAD0W]

Mmm... I have a strong dislike for rebates, myself. I won't buy things with rebates, or only if they're a reasonable deal before rebate and then won't send them in.

I don't throw a tantrum if I discover something has a rebate, though.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

When I worked at the wireless store, my manager insisted on displaying the AFTER REBATE prices on all the phones, meaning the devices on display would always cost MORE to pick up than the price tag indicated and thus the FREE phone wasn't really free right away. It did say "after rebate" in microscopic print below the giant price.

[MadMike]

Mmm... I have a strong dislike for rebates, myself.

Same here, especially after this one company tried to screw me on a rebate. They rejected it, claiming I hadn't sent the UPC symbol, and told me to send it along. Problem was, I no longer had it because I had in fact sent it, so I couldn't send it. I sent a complaint letter thru PFB, just for the sole purpose of venting, not thinking it would actually help. Surpringly, they changed their minds and sent me my rebate.

Still, those things are a royal pain, and I avoid them if at all possible.

[Midnight_Angel]

I am no fan of these rebate things either, for two reasons:

a) Being no US citizen, I am not elegible for the vast majority of these rebate actions. Which means that about any price tag of $5.00 (after rebate) translates into 'the full price (quite often more than outside the rebate promo), plus tax' for me.

b) Even when and if I am able to use a rebate (I could for a time, as my parents used to live in the US, and I could send the credit their way), I still pay way more than advertised, as an item offered for $5 after rebate (official price $49.95) will cost me $49.95 plus tax, minus $44.95... which leads to way more than $5, or $5 plus tax.

[chocoBug]

well yno this is clearly your fault. You have a large, obvious sign in plain view of the till. You are trying to cheat people and personally, i think you should give alllllll your savings to this poor, old man.

He's a daft howler monkey. Not worth your time!

[edible_hat]

Same here, especially after this one company tried to screw me on a rebate. They rejected it, claiming I hadn't sent the UPC symbol, and told me to send it along. Problem was, I no longer had it because I had in fact sent it, so I couldn't send it. I sent a complaint letter thru PFB, just for the sole purpose of venting, not thinking it would actually help. Surpringly, they changed their minds and sent me my rebate.

Still, those things are a royal pain, and I avoid them if at all possible.

In Australia, the words "consumer ombudsman" magically make companies do the right thing.

For example, the phone company said they couldn't connect the phone at my sister's house because "it hasn't been disconnected". Turned out the tennant (it was a rental property before my sister bought it) "disconnected" the phone by not paying the bill. They then demanded that my sister pay the outstanding bill even though she had nothing to do with it.

Her then-fiance (now husband) said he was going to email the telecommunications ombudsman from work the next day, half an hour later they had a working phone.


(turns out the guy who was living there was very dodgy, in the first 6 months after my sister moved in, detectives from three different police stations came around looking for him. He was dumb enough to leave a fowarding address.)

[cinema guy]

Rebates aren't at all common here in the UK. I've only seen them on mobile phones. And I didn't buy one with a rebate precisely because I could see they were a going to be PITA (and some companies had a reputation for not paying out).

[infinitemonkies]

It's a well-known fact that manufacturers like to do mail-in rebates as opposed to sales/discounts because a significant number of people won't bother to send it in.

I'm beginning to suspect that some of them ignore/reject them out of hand at first, and only offer the rebate to people who complain, the way some insurance companys are alleged to do with claims.

Awhile ago, I was shopping for a wireless mouse for my laptop, and saw a fantastic deal on a very nice wireless mouse/keyboard combo at Staples. Regular price, $110. on sale for $80, with a $45 mail in rebate. End price (in theory) $35.

As it happens, I was in on the morning the sale started, and the in-store sale price wasn't set up properly in the computers. No big deal, no fault of the employees, it happens, but it took about 20 minutes and 2 managers to get it to ring in properly and print out the rebate form.

I fill out the form, and send it in with the upc and a copy of my receipt... and nothing happens. After 8 weeks, I email the manufacturer to ask about it, and they tell me I'm not eligible because I bought it before the offer started. I reply that no, I bought it on the first day of eligibility, and it clearly says so on both the receipt and the rebate form. Thay reply: ok, sorry our bad, you'll have it in 2 weeks.

2 weeks go by, nothing. I contact them again. This time thier reply states I'm ineligible because I didn't send in my rebate form within 30 days of purchase. I point out that A) yes I did, and B) I've already been told the check is in the mail. They again apologize and say my rebate will get sent right out. 2 more weeks, nada. This time I call, and I'm told my check was sent out about 2 weeks after my initial purchase date. I ask if thats the case, why was I told 6 weeks after that point that I wasn't eligible for a rebate, and why do I have 2 later emails admitting responsiblity for errors and promising payment?

This final time they sent my check.




Another much shorter and happier rebate-ish story:

When I got my current cellphone, it came with a 256meg memory chip, but if purchased between certain dates I could send in for a free 1gig chip. I bought the phone (a Nokia 5300 I'm very happy with) and filled out the online forms. 6-8 weeks later, nothing. I call in, they tell me they never received my form. I tell them the confirmation number I took the time to write down. They say: Oh, yeah, there it is, sorry about that. We'll send it out right away, and upgrade it to the 4gig chip by way of an apology. I got it a week later. I <3s Nokia

[mdog]

It could be a mile high in flashing bright lights & they STILL would complain that it's not plain. SC's see what they want to see. "Selective perception" at its finest.

We were selling some collegiate items at our store after college football season ended, and we'd put them on sale except for food items, and there was a sign advertising the sale on a "sidewalk sale" table, and at the bottom it said "Excludes Food Items". One person that was buying stuff from that table didn't realize that food items were excluded, but didn't complain but said the message should be bigger. I agreed with him, as whoever made the sign did print it somewhat small. But then I reprinted the sign with the "Excludes Food Items" in much bigger font that is almost impossible to not notice, and what did I get the day later? Someone trying to buy food items off that table thinking they were on sale, and complaining very bitterly about false advertising and that the sign should've said that food items were excluded. I told her that the sign actually did say that very plainly (now that I made the font much bigger). Nevertheless, she stomped out of the store angry, and for the record, she didn't even walk back to where the sign was to even see if I was telling the truth about it.

I get this all the time with other things as well: People trying to return food when the receipt CLEARLY says "food items can't be returned" (it's because of tampering reasons), and even big print signs around the store that say the same thing. The excuse is always the same: "You should have made the sign..." "...more clear", "...more readable", "...bigger print", "...in a better location", etc. Even things like "You print that bulls*it on the receipt just to try to protect yourselves. Nobody ever actually reads that bulls*it on their receipts." Definate proof of selective reading.

[Catwoman2965]

I can deal with rebates, but what gets me is now a lot of companies are not sending checks as rebates, but prepaid VISA or Am Ex cards, which are a royal PITA to use! I just upgraded my cell phone, and am with the "can you hear me now" comapny. They have a program where whenver your contract is up, you get X dollars credit towards a new phone. The catch is you have to pay $50 up front, and then mail in a rebate. I had a $100 credit, the phone I wanted was $79, after a $50 mail-in rebate.

They guy tried to tell me that they don't do checks anymore as they get lost in the mail, etc. Yeah, please don't insult my intelligence; i KNOW its only done for the benefit of the company, NOT the consumer. I did find out however, that my bank will cash in the prepaid card, so I will have the $50 to pay my cc I used when I got my new phone.

My cable co does that as well, only they are offering $250 to switch to their triple play, but it says, and I have to give them credit as it is easy to read, its a $250 Am Ex GC....

[aurelemsrealm]

One symptom of cranial-rectal inversion is selective reading.....

[sms001]

It's a well-known fact that manufacturers like to do mail-in rebates ....I'm beginning to suspect that some of them ignore/reject them out of hand at first,

I was reading the ads in the back of a (computer hardware) trade rag once and saw several ads for the places that process rebates.
A couple of them used their pay-out percentage as an inducement to use them instead of other rebate centers.
Some guaranteed paybacks "...of less than XX%." (Forget what the amount was, this was the mid-nineties.)