Mail-in Rebate? No Thanks.
I’ve written fairly often about rebates. Mostly about the problems they have caused both marketers and consumers.
As a consumer, I can understand the frustration people experience. Buying a product promoted with a mail-in rebate means shelling out more dollars upfront, filling out sometimes complicated and lengthy forms, keeping track of receipts and product codes, mailing all the forms and then waiting and watching for the check to come. The process can further frustrate consumers if the form wasn’t filled out correctly or the proper receipt wasn’t attached.
I was shopping last weekend at a Verizon store for a new cell phone for a Christmas gift. The phone was expensive, but since it came with a $100 rebate, I bought it. But as I was paying, I couldn’t help but feel a little annoyed that I had to shell out the $100 upfront only to have the company turn around and give it back to me. Why couldn’t they just offer a price promotion: $100 off the retail price?
I now have to wait until the gift is open to make sure it’s in working order before I can complete the rebate form. I also have to get the packaging back so I can retrieve the product code to include with the form.
With price discounts the preferred promotion of the season for many retailers, as a consumer, offering a mail-in rebate seemed like the mean ‘ol stepsister, the next best thing, second, maybe even third, place.
As a marketer, I understand that mail-in rebates have their advantages. They provide a wealth of consumer data and the chance to communicate with a known, qualified buyer to cross-sell products, services or promote joining a loyalty club.
Best Buy used to be a big promoter of mail-in rebates until 2004 when it found itself being sued over failing to honor rebates and other problems with the promotions after numerous consumers complained and legislators stepped in. This holiday it is running a TV spot criticizing rebates. The ad says in part: “and you won’t even have to fill out any of those annoying rebates.”
Despite the benefits to marketers, what happened to the No. 1 rule, “The customer is always right.” If people find mail-in rebates bothersome or exasperating, why use them?
December 18th, 2009 at 11:22 am
A much better system was what I encountered at the Apple store the other day. There was a $100 rebate on a printer, and the clerk processed the rebate for me online before I even left the store, so I had to do nothing!
December 22nd, 2009 at 9:34 am
I don’t buy anything that involves a rebate. I’ve had rebates refused because they say I didn’t fill out a form correctly or the UPC code I sent didn’t work… I feel like they’re looking for any excuse to NOT send the rebate.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
I run a mail-in rebate expediting company and about 70% of the rebates we receive from consumers are still being submitted improperly. Consumers have been forgetting UPC codes, receipts or not following the tedious directions. We have shifted a majority of our resources to contacting consumers whose rebate submissions are incorrect. We now consider our customer service to be our biggest asset.
The most important task when submitting a mail-in rebate is this…Read the instructions carefully. I cannot preface this enough. Most processing companies will disgard your rebate submission if you have any mistakes or are missing any of the required materials.
Greg Yevich
Rebate Remedy
http://www.RebateRemedy.com