According to this article at MSN's Money Central, one of the rebate processing companies is filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I, for one, am happy to see the failure of anything rebate-related... well, anything except when people fail to get their rebate checks.
In case you haven't yet inferred this, I hate rebates. I despise them. The depth of my anger toward rebates burns with the intensity of a thousand suns. Rebates are nothing more than a scheme designed to get the consumer to pay more up-font based on the premise that they will get some of that money back later on. Screw that! Give me the best price you can up front.
The rebate is nothing more than a scam designed to bilk the consumer for a few more dollars. The producer can semi-legitimately claim that they have the lowest price, all the while knowing that many customers won't bother to fill out the rebate slips. And for the people who do ask for their rebate? Well, the producer still gets to keep their money for a while... when millions of people purchase a product, that's tens of millions of dollars the company gets to keep, which lets them earn interest on our money.
The long and the short of it is that rebates are a scam. They suck. And when I see a rebate, I think "sleazy vendor" and avoid them. The only way I go with a rebate is if I happen to be purchasing that exact product anyway. And if that happens, I'm damned sure processing the rebate. Otherwise, I avoid rebates and the manufacturers who rely on them. I recommend that you do the same.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I agree- but that said- we rarely actually process the rebate for the simple reason that the rebate actually has stupid requirements like the reciept has to be faxed to them on a certain sized and weight paper or some such nonsense as that....by the time we jump thru all the freaking hoops to GET the rebate- the difference is usually shot to hell anyway so what's the point?
Just a lot of annoyance and stress added to our already hectic life.
No Thanks- and Good Riddance to Rebates.I'm with you- Gimme the best price possible up front and be done with it and you'll get my business for years to come.
Today's verification word is chromist- I suppose the guy who chromes all those shiny parts on your bike...Yay Him!!!
;-)
I'm the guy who chromes my bike. I just bought a kit that will relocate my turn signals, with the plan of buying saddle bags this winter.
Yay me!
so tell us how you REALLY feel about rebates.
8)
Post a Comment