Netgear Rebate scam - seeking information

I bought something for $5 with a $5 rebate from Office Max. Months later I get paperwork from the rebate people saying that I hadn't included some essential thing. Since I had my copy showing that indeed I HAD included the essential thing I took the letter and my copies to the Office Max store where I'd purchased the thing. The manager said he'd straighten it out, called the head office, sacrificed a chicken, whatever. I should go home, sit tight and wait for the check.

A month or so later nothing had happened. I went back to the store and demanded that the store give me the rebate since it was obvious that the rebate people weren't going to do it. As we discussed the problem my voice got louder and louder, arousing the interest of other customers.

The manager suggested that perhaps he could give me a $5 gift certificate. I told him that that would be acceptable only if he then redeemed the certificate for cash on the spot. After a certain amount of hemming and hawing that's exactly what he did.

Since we have to go somewhere on our bicycle rides, Office Max was as good a destination as anything else -- no trouble at all, in fact, since it was easier than our regular bike ride.

Don't take no for an answer. Make waves. Sometimes it works.

The only costs are stamps and xeroxing. Travel to most of the stores costs nothing, and I have to go somewhere anyway. Since I'm retired, my time is worth nothing. I find it pleasant that the fact that most people don't redeem their rebates means that I get stuff cheaper.

I still can't figure out why you get screwed and I don't. You're a smart guy and you're probably even more punctilious than I am about this stuff. Maybe there's a god after all and she doesn't like you...

If your time is too valuable to fight the battles, don't. Fill out the form and send it in, then forget about it. A rebate is found money, and the lost ones are a miniscule bother.

Unless you buy something with silly rebates on it, like my friend's Compaq laptop with over $300 in rebates. She did get it all, and I doubt that she regrets the time spent.

Or throw the money away. That will make the manufacturers even more interested in rebates than they are now, since you are contributing to the "breakage".

Glad to hear someone can afford returns to Worstbuy. Last year, I had to return no less than 3 mouses (mice?) that were faulty. I finally bought the identical model elsewhere and had no problems. Now was a costly experience & waste of much time. Since it's not the first time I've had problems with what was likely repackaged, returned goods & poor service, it'll be a looonnnng time before I ever set foot at worstbye, although I do use their web site to establish pricing (which is now always done elsewhere). My experience has been that Worstbye (even excluding return aggravation / pathetic service ) typically isn't the best buy.

Wish I had free travel. My costs are a realistic 40 cents/mile. Do you call upon friends and family to haul you around or just sneak on the bus?

Not much of life if you value your time as "worth nothing".

No store is. That's why we have full-page ads and stores offer to match one another's prices. Even at Fry's we've bought far more good stuff than stuff that needed returning.

A friend said that Sears now requires a 50% restocking charge if the stuff isn't defective. The reason for buying stuff at Sears rather than elsewhere for possibly better prices was their return policy as well as their lifetime guarantee on tools -- without the show-your-receipt requirement. Hmph.

We only take the truck out if we need to carry something that we can't carry on our bicycles, if where we're going is too far away or if we will return after dark.

You'd be surprised. We're retired. Are you still a wage slave?

I find it really difficult to understand why you have so much trouble with rebates that they find them unreliable. Are you incapable of following sneaky and sometimes contradictory instructions? Brush up on your English. Did you fail the "reading for comprehension" part of the test?

Time spent dealing with rebates results in an effective hourly rate of at least $100/hour. Fine with me.

You CAN'T find similarly-priced rebateless equivalents. That's the only reason rebates work.

Thats why current ads don't show only the after rebate price or list the after rebate price in a large font and show the details in a small font. When they advertised "ipod for $10" they were backing the rebate.

"stopping to smell the roses" makes much sense, but spending time to in a chance of getting a few cents / dollars rebate when you can generally find a similar priced item without the likely bogus rebate is quite questionable.

Now if you enjoy tracking down rebates, it's a whole different matter.

Maybe you can't, but I usually do. That's what I don't typically play the rebate game. Hint - it's a gimmick to draw attention, not necessarily to reduce the price.

Nope - 58 / retired for 5+ years & enjoying every minute of it. Then again, I don't generally consider shopping the enjoyable experience that many appear to do.

It's Richard Nixon's fault.

What's that saying... "stop and smell the roses"... How much would that cost in wasted time?

Hawking is awful. I have made the mistake of buying their stuff twice (never again). What I did a couple of weeks ago was fire off an email to

snipped-for-privacy@hawkingtech.com snipped-for-privacy@hawkingtech.com Rebate_Customer snipped-for-privacy@compusa.com (assuming you bought there)

telling them that I would be filing complaints with "appropriate government authorities" if I did not get my check mailed out within a week. I got email back the next day from someone who signed as "Director of Sales" who said that I was correct about my rebates taking too long and that he was having them approved for payment. Of course, I still have not gotten into the "payment sent" state, but at least I moved from step 2 to 3. The problem is that the check will not get cut until Hawking sends some more money to the rebate house. I guess it is time for another email.

To answer your questions, there probably are legal requirements but good luck getting them to honor them. And the problem with manufacturers rebates is that some are really good (Symantec) and others are really bad (Hawking).

Bill

Maybe that's true in your state, but not in most. In Connecticut (which may be where you are) they print the before-rebate price large, and the after-rebate price small. It's by state law, and it makes it very difficult to find the great rebate deals in the ads.

Bill

Do not call Netgear. Call the phone number on your rebate form (which you have a copy of, right?). That rebate processor, Parago, typically will approve rejections just by calling (one would ask why they reject it in the first place). In your case, you may need to read them the UPC code for them to approve it. If they won't approve it over the phone, you can ask them for a toll-free fax # to resubmit it to. But check again in a week because as you have discovered, the resubmission part isn't very reliable. That's why it is easier to just get them to approve it by phone.

BTW, recent Netgear rebates have started to require the serial number as well as the UPC code (they are all on the same panel). Hopefully no one gets stung by this, but it shows why you have to read the form carefully).

Bill

So your 'time is money' line is a complete wank.

Doesnt take much time to actually do the shopping, particularly if you get out to exercise etc anyway.

Yup. Let's dig him up and burn his body in front of the Department of Commerce building.