Mail-In Rebates: Dance, Monkey, Dance!

[Bill Dungsroman]

Yeah I know Mail In-Rebates are the deveel etc. BUT ANYWAY, I'M CHEAP AND THIS IS PRACTICALLY LEGAL TENDER I HOLD IN MY HANDS YOU KNOW.

Has anyone, you know, successfully gotten an MIR from anywhere? I got a couple with the shit I bought off newegg, it's like $50 in total rebates, so it's wurf it, dawg.

I DLed the PDF rebates. It says to register first online, so I guess I do that. Then I have to cut the what, the barcode off the boxes (not my precious boxes nooooooooo) and send those within the alloted time window after registering online and bleeding a Kimodo dragon over a Mayan calander crafted out of human fingers, or something. Stupid fine print.

Does that sound about right? Hell if I know. Are these mostly the same for computer parts? God I hate modern commerce sometimes.

[CLWheeljack]

Not exactly a rebate, but the only thing I've ever successfully gotten from a mail-in process was the 6 BluRay movies that sony offered with a PS3 purchase, it was about the same process as a rebate.

I may have gotten a $10 or so rebate once or twice, but the failures far outweigh the successes. There have been several times that a cashier was supposed to print out / give me the rebate form and had no idea what I was talking about, too.

[wisefool]

The Staples rebates are fine, you can even check online.

The Logitech rebates (I consume a decent amount of peripherals) have been ok except for that one time around Christmas 2008 where this major processor had financial difficulties.

I've been burned by enough random "rebates" that, all other things being equal, I won't order the item with the rebate. It costs me money to make photocopies, archive, and put two stamps (cause you don't want the post office to return the damn thing for being too thick or something.)

[Jazar]

Just make copies of everything and keep it in a file someplace safe.

Damn TiVo ows me $100! :(

[olaf]

Yeah that is how it works. I have gotten a lot of them through newegg. One time though I bought some WAY offbrand LCD from them that had one, and I never got that rebate and basically had no recourse except to whine. Ineffectively.

[Marged]

I successfully got my MIR for my T Mobile phone ages ago. It's a pain and requires a little organization but otherwise you've just been totally suckered and I hate that feeling.

[Leah C]

I've gotten several MIRs. The last one was for a phone that I bought from an AT&T kiosk. The guy selling me my phone did all the paper work and box cutting for me so all I had to do was stick it in an envelope. Score!

[awdougherty]

I do the whole MIR thing all the time, but it's almost always from newegg or tiger direct purchases. The instructions are usually a little convoluted (like you described, preregistering on a website), but it should work out fine as long as you follow their instructions.

[Morkilus]

Worked for my Verizon LG phone.

[WarrenM]

I did it once for a copy of Microsoft Money. It took WAY too much time gathering up the required reagents for the spell, but it did eventually work.

[extarbags]

I've done it successfully a bunch of times for computer stuff from newegg/tigerdirect/etc. Actually, I don't think I've ever not gotten one, but I do generally avoid them just because of how much of a pain they are.

[Jason McCullough]

I think since high school I'm 9/10 or so. I don't buy very much crap though, and it tends to be from reliable companies.

[Slainte Mhath]

I never have an issue with NewEgg's rebates, they even keep the forms downloadable for weeks after the "purchase by" date so that you can claim after the fact. Staples and Office Depot tend to be more 50/50 on reliability, often you may have to call the number on the form to prompt them to "check on" your rebate (at which point they simply release it). Rules to live by when submitting MIRs:

1) Copy copy copy. You want to have a legible copy of everything, even the damn UPC. Keep copies of the form, the offer, the UPC and the receipt. When your rebate fails to show after 8 weeks, call the number and offer to fax the copies of everything, that usually prompts them to "find" your rebate and fall all over themselves to release it.

2) Follow Up. Don't be afraid to call 3-4 weeks after submitting the rebate to see if they have you in the system. While the form may say it takes 8 weeks to process the rebate, they usually put people into the system within a few days of receiving the claims. Many places have online status checking now, so check after a couple of weeks and call to follow up if you don't appear in the system.

3) Be an asshole. Seriously, pester the living shit out of a company until they fulfil the rebate. If they claim you didn't send in the UPC, tell them bullshit and you'll fax a copy over ASAP. If they claim you didn't fall within the purchase dates, offer to fax them the receipt. MIR fulfilment houses are notorious for using every excuse in the book not to fulfil the claims, which is why you need to follow Rule #1 (Copy copy copy) more than any other.


I've only lost one MIR using these rules, and that one was because the fulfilment house went bankrupt before they could process it. I bitched to the store and actually got compensation in the form of a giftcard for that one. I used to buy stuff with MIRs all the time, then resell it on Ebay for slightly less than retail and pocket the difference. It's nearly impossible to do that anymore thanks to a lack of good MIR offers and EPays higher fees for everything now, but I learned how to work the system at least.

[Khoram]

All of the ones I have done were from things I bought on Newegg, and I've never had a problem, ever. I've probably mailed in a total of 10 over the last couple of years. Sometimes it does take awhile (8-10 weeks or something), but I'd say on average it's more like 4-6 weeks.

[ElGuapo]

Shhhh. Insider seckret. Come closer.

Huddle up. Oh wait, you know this anyway. Fuck it. Break!

They count on you not sending those in. It's just a marketing strategy. Normally upwards of 85% of people never send in manufacture's rebates. We did a case study in college where a guy from Masterlock came in and told us that upwards of 95% of people never sent in the $2 rebate on on of their locks. Yes it increased sales of that lock by 30%.

[Houngan]

When I used to build machines from newegg and tigerdirect, I never had a problem with five or six rebates that were included. Or if you buy from a store, they usually have the directions on the receipt, and print out all of the relevant info for the rebates.

H.

[AndrewM]

I've gotten every mail-in-rebate I sent in. One time I got a postcard saying that I didn't fulfill the requirements, but a couple of weeks later I guess they changed their mind and sent me the rebate check.

[JeffL]

FWIW, did a mail in rebate when I got a Verizon phone recently, and was shocked to get the $50 (on a preloaded Visa card) in the mail within 2 weeks of mailing in the forms.

[Bahimiron]

I got a mail in rebate from Toshiba on the laptop I bought from them two years ago. I have to admit, though, that I got that rebate in October.

[Miramon]

Yeah, if I see there's a rebate for something, that's like they're holding up a flag that says "don't buy this". Sometimes it's actually a bigger flag that says "don't buy from this manufacturer or this store ever again".

[Rasputin]

I've never had a problem with MIRs, myself.

My father just did one from newegg, and got a letter saying "If you don't have it by this date, call." That date came and went and he called. They said they'd make sure it went out. Sure enough, a couple days went by and he got the check card; the post date on the envelope was the day he called in.

He now believes that due to the economy, you won't get a rebate unless you call them to ask for it. My father rapidly jumps to conclusions.

[MonkeyPunky]

I'm not sure if this counts as a mail in rebate story or not, but a couple months before HD-DVDs died off I bought a new HDTV and the HD-DVD player for the 360. A couple weeks after that I got one for a friend as a gift. I had purchased both from Best Buy.

Weeks and weeks later HD-DVD's doom was imminent and Best Buy announced they would give $50 (or $75?) to anyone who had purchased an HD-DVD player recently. I had lost my receipts to those by then so I didn't bother with it.

A couple weeks later I received a letter from Best Buy with a gift card for $100 ($150? can't remember). They said they saw that I bought those HD-DVD players from my reward zone records and never claimed the rebate or something, so went ahead and sent the rebate.

So I used that card to help buy a PS3.

[pg]

I'm 2/3 and the one I was turned down I had no means of contacting the rebate company(apparently they don't have a site, phones, or whatever). How convenient. It was just $15-20 or whatever, so fuck it not worth my time to chase it down. They should be illegal as there are too many scams or general hoops to jump through to get them.