I Hate Mail-in Rebates

Why not just sell a product at the sale price or have an instant rebate? Why have mail-in rebate offers? Those are rhetorical questions answered here by a rant and follow-up to a Twitter I sent the other day.

We were looking around a local computer store recently and stumbled on a display with some cute USB flash drives. The item had a mail-in rebate offer that made it seem like a good value. Dianne got one for work and as an impulse buy I got one for my use at home. Dianne very kindly filled out the rebate paperwork and sent everything in promptly. Life should be good, right?

A few days ago we received a postcard in the mail from the rebate processing center saying “our records indicate the reference number is a duplicate from a previous submission.” What’s up with that? If you have any questions, call yada yada yada.

On Monday I called. After getting a blister on my finger by working through the menu triage system, I get a recording that says something like “all our representatives are busy. Due to an unusually large call volume, long delays are likely. We suggest you call back at a later time.” Sigh! After holding for 20 minutes, I decide to follow the suggestion and call back later.

On Tuesday I tried again early in the day. I go through the prompts and get the exact same recording. Either they have 1 service rep or a boatload of issues to deal with – or both! I put on my headset and started working while waiting on hold. After about 15 minutes I hear a real person. I explain the postcard and ask for an explanation. He asks for enough information to do a TSA background check in order to pull up the rebate information. “Oh yes,” he says, “there are duplicate entries for you.” Duh! I knew that much from the postcard! Why are there duplicate entries? “Let me check,” he says. Clickity click keyboard sounds fill my ear. “Hmmm...it appears our system created duplicate entries for the same item and that is blocking your rebate.” I explain the situation and he says, “I’m sorry…Let me fix that.” Clickity click click….click click….”this’ll just take a minute”…clickity click…click. The whole time I’m wondering if he’s really typing or just running his fingers randomly across a dead keyboard that isn’t even plugged into a computer. “OK…the error has been corrected and you should have your rebate in 3-4 weeks.”

That reminded me of a similar situation Dianne handled a couple years ago for a larger rebate associated with a Sony camera purchase. In both cases, there was nothing wrong with the rebate submission. The representatives released the rebate after we called, but we had to make the extra effort. I wonder how many people don’t send in the rebate, don’t call, or don’t wait on hold to resolve a rebate “issue”. I suppose companies save a lot of money with these rebate hurdles rather than cutting the price directly. But in the long run, as people get fed up with all the follow-up and challenges to get a rebate, will that affect purchase decisions? Ultimately will they ‘save’ money with that type of promotion if people don’t buy at all?

I’ve learned my lesson – especially for items that are impulse buys. Avoid the mail-in rebates.