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."
Of Course They Do.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Rebates are a racket, always have been. I know from experience because I admin'd them years ago for a peripherals manufacturer.
Back to work!
Re:Smackdown (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:That's the reason (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally, I keep an Excel (well, oocalc) spreadsheet of all my rebates, what, where, how much, when sent in, when to check, when received, etc. It's quite helpful. (Wow! I just added up my `how much' field -- $1723.)
Gullible is no longer in the dictionary (Score:1, Interesting)
We're talking about a small shop here. If you've ever worked in one, everybody knows what everyone else is doing. The so-called CEO could well have done it himself in order to spare himself from potential blackmail in court with a witness.
Re:Scam? (Score:3, Interesting)
I got the run-around on a $100 rebate on a $2000 fujitsu laptop, and my CC company happily took back the entire $2k until I finally got it.
Strangely enough, just days after the chargeback they seemed very interested in fulfilling the rebate.
Especially when you have a PO Box (Score:2, Interesting)
Needless to say, this cuts out a LOT of rebates, which demand sending the check by US Mail to your street address. Which in my case will just get bounced.
Occasionally, the form will accept the 9 digit zip code, so I can sneak that in and hope for the best.
I've offered to write a small database to match the PO boxes with the actual street addresses, but they (the PO), couldn't care less.
Always wondered if it's legal to force US mail to a non-deliverable address, but I haven't found out anything which describes this situation.
Often not the retail that plays the game (Score:5, Interesting)
Just don't go getting mad at the wrong party.
Small claims court. (Score:5, Interesting)
Months later and after much friendly teasing from me without even the hint of a rebate, my brother got angry and filed a small claims suit against them that was ultimately successful. After maybe an hour or two of research and an afternoon at the courthouse he received his rebate along with all of the expenses incurred in pursuing his claim. I was actually surprised at how simple the process was and effective the outcome.
My point is, there are ways you can get that rebate without incurring any cost to you.
Re:Rebates are a scam (Score:5, Interesting)
In my country, Denmark, it is indeed illegal. From what I understand, I am glad it is so.
Did I mention that we have never had your problem with telemarketing either? Or that email and SMS spam is strictly illegal and swiftly and harshly prosecuted?
Or that we actually have an efficient and respected state department which looks after consumer rights in cases like deceptive marketing and defective products? For example they recently went after Apple when Apple refused to repair faulty macBooks [rixstep.com].
Sometimes, more and more frequently lately, I am glad I don't live in the US.
Re:Not surprising (Score:3, Interesting)
There are other reasons. Can't return the product after cutting out the original UPC. Sometimes products break down after a few days, or are not as advertised. And time is money, so the longer they can use your money, the better for them.
If the rebate system can't be tightened up, it should be outlawed. Bad for the honest merchants, but the system is just too easy to abuse. All this nonsense of sending "proof" of purchase is, as you said, a cover for getting your info, and also a hope that the hassle will discourage some, and generation of excuses for not honoring the rebate. Plus, the inordinate delay is just that much longer they get the use of your money. It's so easy to have much more efficient ways to verify and honor rebates. Like, why not have a nice credit card service that handles the proof of purchase and the rebate, posting the rebate amount to your account the instant you've had the product for 30 days?
Re:Whereas I disagree (Score:3, Interesting)
My only fry's rebate experience... (Score:3, Interesting)
At the register, I was told that they didn't have the rebate form, and that I'd receive one in the mail.
3 copies in separate envelopes showed up in my mail several *weeks* later. Weeks after the rebate period had expired.
Re:Often not the retail that plays the game (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Gullible is no longer in the dictionary (Score:4, Interesting)
OT: Vastech? Did they used to sell Vaseline or do vasectomies or something? Did someone tell them, "hey, rebates man, that's where the REAL money is!"
Stop Shopping at Fry's (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Of Course They Do.... (Score:3, Interesting)
Bottom of the barrel wage earners working an admittedly unglamorous job tosses a few out.
And as we all know, the best way to get a better job is to royally fuck up at your current one. I'm sorry, throwing out rebates in indefensible.
Re:arrest warrant for key managers (Score:3, Interesting)
That is what they get those huge incomes for, it's not for their witty banter or great story telling.
Fry a CEO or two really hard and you will see the corporate world straighten up overnight. nothing put in line an overpaid prima donna like a real threat of being jailed with icky poor people.
Re:a bad employer (Score:2, Interesting)
In fact in one case they screwed up and gave me the money twice.
Re:That's the reason (Score:4, Interesting)
Given the expenses incurred when applying for rebates, I have made it my policy not to buy into rebated items unless the list price matches the normal list prices of no-rebate stores. Another reason I rarely bother hunting for rebates is that they are often precursors to price reductions and new product introductions. For technology products, I generally consider them as blinking and screaming "End-Of-Life / Discontinued" tags, indicators that I should avoid buying the stuff or at least be particularly wary.
I have applied for rebates only twice ($15 on a $40 DI-524 and $45 on a $100 Audigy 2ZS) and got both back 2-3 months later. In both cases, the counter prices were already lower than other stores and in line with what I considered to be a fair price so I did not care too much whether or not the rebates came back... but I certainly would have made it a point to make it known to as many potential customers as possible if they did not.
Wow... all the horror stories (Score:4, Interesting)
However, I've sent in hundreds (Close to 300) of rebates over the past 3 or 4 years, and I've had exactly 6 come up with problems, which were resolved with a call to the company or to send in copies of my rebate submission.
One company in particular, which I'm not sure what name they use, though, so they might actually be part of the retailer itself, as opposed to a rebate company proper, has been the lions share of problems. They claim part of my submission was not included... Well, I always keep copies, so I know what is included and what isn't, but on more than on occasion, they claim they got the receipt, but not the UPC or something... the funny thing is, the submission has the UPC and receipt on the SAME PHOTOCOPIED PAGE... so it's physically impossible not to receive one without the other... yet they claim it is so. Obviously they try to scam some people... Either way, once I send them in another copy of the SAME page, they send me my rebate.
But, I digress. My point is that out of the nearly 300 rebates I've sent in, a very small percentage has ever given me a problem, and a large part of that very small percentage has been from one company in particular. Otherwise, I've always received my rebates without hassle, even if it takes 4 or 5 months for them to arrive.
There's a program out there called "Rebate! Rebate!" that keeps track of your rebates. I don't have a link, but it works pretty well.
I like rebates... kind of a pain to send in, but they do offer some really good/incredible deals now and then and are worth the effort, so long as you follow the requirements exactly, which usually isn't that hard.
Re:a bad employer (Score:1, Interesting)
e.g. Buy an item for $1000 + sales tax (around here that would be $90). . . . get a rebate for $200 . . . . you paid sales tax on $1000, not $800, so where's the rebate for overpayment of that tax?
That's why rebates will never go away. The government collects sales more tax than they would normally collect. It's a ripoff, courtesy of your greedy politicians.
Re:a bad employer (Score:4, Interesting)
If something I want has a mail-in rebate on it... (Score:2, Interesting)
And if they try to call my bluff, I grab a flyer and go to one of the other stores in town to get a 'price match', in which I get them to factor in the rebate. So far I've been lucky and haven't lost yet!