1300 Unopened Fry's Rebate Forms Found In Dumpster 433
blackmonday writes "The Consumerist is reporting a find of 1,300 unopened rebate submissions in a dumpster belonging to Vastech, a rebate processor hired by Fry's Electronics. Vastech's management blames it on a bad employee."
No surpise... (Score:3, Informative)
To my knowledge most rebate handling companies are given x amount of dollars to in turn give out y dollars to the customers. Whatever is leftover is theirs to keep.
x - y = profit
So they're not really inclined to process every single rebate form that comes through there.
Re:Not surprising (Score:5, Informative)
I've also never had a problem with a rebate. Maybe because I have easy access to a photocopier, and always include a note that indicates that I kept a photocopy of everything in the event that there is a problem with the rebate. I've done about 20 rebates of $10 or more over the last 5 years with zero failures.
Whereas I disagree (Score:3, Informative)
In fact, if you want to go into details, the manufacturer of my laptop actually offered a rebate on it about two months after I bought mine. That pissed me off, so I doctored up a copy of the store receipt with a later date. It was honored, and I'm not sorry.
Re:Not surprising (Score:2, Informative)
People always say this, but I'm not convinced. I've sent in and received a whole bunch of rebates over time, and I don't immediately recall sending one in and never getting it back. I'm also very careful to follow the instructions to the letter.
However, it still is better for them because people forget about or don't bother with the rebates. When I got my monitor, it was $300 with a $50 rebate. However, I didn't send in the rebate immediately, it got buried and forgotten about until I unearthed it a few months later, and they kept their $50.
I think this is probably the biggest reason that they offer rebates instead of in-store discounts. I also wouldn't be surprised that they have people looking out for any procedural issues that would give them an excuse to deny the rebates, but I've never heard any evidence that there's an active conspiracy to defraud or anything.
(Rebates also means that, if you cut the UPC out, you are probably going to have a hard time returning it to the store.)
Let's Play "Rumor"! (Score:5, Informative)
I read the original Mercury-News story earlier today. It's version is that Vastech is a computer accessories company that distributes through Fry's (among other retailers) and that processes its own rebates (hey, throwing them out is "processing" isn't it?). The dumped envelopes were discovered by an employee at a neighboring company, who gave them to his boss, who gave them to Dean Takahashi, who wrote the Mercury-News story.
The story was quoted in an article on Consumerist, which in turn is quoted in this article. By the time Slashdot had posted it, the envelope's had been retrieved by the reporter, and Vastech had morphed from a flaky hardware reseller [vastechinc.com] to a Fry's rebate processing contractor!
Ok, it's natural that a story should change a little as it passes from ear to ear. But to get so many facts wrong after just two iterations? Come on, people!
Another thing that bothers me is Takahashi's outrage over those 1300 envelopes. Not that I don't share his hatred of rebates. But the big offenders are not little companies like Vastech (which would probably have gone out of business soon anyway, even if Fry's hadn't just cancelled all their orders). It's big companies that go through the motions of honoring rebates, but almost always have an excuse for not paying or an indefinite "processing delay". If we're going to be pissed off, let's be pissed off at the right people!
No surprise! (Score:5, Informative)
I can't understand why some enterprising state legislators don't introduce a bill to prohibit the use of mail-in rebates entirely, or to create a "rebate death penalty" whereby no retailer or manufacturer could advertise rebates after proof that valid rebate requests were rejected. Of course, one issue is that states collect sales tax on the rebate amount (since the consumer pays the full price, and gets a rebate for the purchase price but not for the extra sales tax).
I recently returned a laptop computer ("$549 minus $200 rebates = $349") to Circuit City (this was really a $400 laptop marked up to $549 so they could boast a price of $349 "after rebates"). It was a "sham" offer. First, the two rebates ($50 and $150) were BOTH to be sent to Circuit City (at two different addresses in two different states), but although both were advertised together, each form clearly stated that only ONE rebate would be paid "at most." Then I read on, and found a complete and total disclaimer of ANY duty by Circuit City or any other entity to process or pay any rebate; there was even a provision requiring that I wait 120 days for the rebate to be issued, along with another provision provided that any claims regarding unpaid rebates would not be considered unless they were be presented to Circuit City within 90 days after purchase. When I called for clarification, I was given many reassurances that contradicted the paperwork, but a flat refusal to put anything in writing; when I returned the computer to the store, they insisted that my concerns were unfounded, but again would not put any of their reassurances in writing. Of course, Circuit City took $80 out of my refund as a "restocking fee," despite the fact that their fraud and their refusal to honor their promise was the sole basis for my return.
Fry's is certainly a "bad actor" in the rebate space; over the past 20 years, I've caught them many times advertising rebates that have expired or combining mutually-exclusive rebates together. But in fairness, Fry's Electronics seems to offer FEWER "deals" that include rebates than the larger chains like Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA. I have lots of reasons to dislike Fry's, but I can only think of ONE product that I purchased at Fry's that had a rebate -- and I bought it because the price before rebate was still lower than the competing products. (I probably wouldn't have spent the postage to mail the rebate form if the purchase weren't on behalf of our 12-year-old child; getting the crumpled-postcard $5 check four months later was a nice, unexpected bonus.)
In terms of fairness and honesty, one of the new "scams" is the use of "debit cards" to fulfill rebate promises; these are a huge hassle and are intended to create additional profit, and I was outraged to receive one of these instead of a check (as promised) from Symantec a couple years ago; I won't buy another Symantec product.
I now mentally edit out rebates whenever I look at any offer. In the cell-phone store, I ignore the large bold price because I know it reflects the application of one or more rebates which might or might not be paid.
Re:That's the reason (Score:5, Informative)
I think the entire industry is a scam, though I have a friend that works in it, and says that they, like casinos, don't need to cheat to make money.
send as registered mail. (Score:2, Informative)
Misleading Summary (Score:5, Informative)
Vastech is NOT a "rebate processor hired by Fry's Electronics", it is the manufacturer who offered the rebate. They make small PC mods and accessories such as case fans and USB harddrive enclosures.
You can see their webiste at http://www.vastechinc.com/ [vastechinc.com]
Fry's Electronics does not offer any rebates themselves. All the rebates are though the manufacturer of the item you are purchasing. We even have a rebate department in each store to try and help you force though rebates or resubmit them.
While everyone likes to poke fun at Fry's (the Walmart of electronics stores, I call them), they were not really in the wrong here, it really should be Vastech found at fault. I do hope Fry's sees this as an opportunity to put in some good will and issue their own refund checks to all affected customers.
Re:Fry's Merely Chose the Wrong Company (Score:5, Informative)
Did not work with TigerDirect (Score:4, Informative)
But, not TigerDirect. TigerDirect swore up and down that they would honor the gaureenty that they proudly display on their web-site, if I sent them all the receipts and photocopies of certificates via. certified mail.
So I spent another $3.50, stood in line at the post office, etc. When I called back, they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about. Unless I wanted to take them to court over $80, I had no recourse.
TigerDirect also require an insanely bothersome online process before you even mail in the receipts.
That was the one-and-only time I ever did business with TigerDirect.
Read rippoff-report about TigerDirect, I wish I had.
Re:You accept this corruption? ! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:If something I want has a mail-in rebate on it. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Fry's Merely Chose the Wrong Company (Score:3, Informative)