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"David J Taylor" wrote in message ... Bill Rude wrote: [] I think Panasonic would have contracted another company to fulfil the rebate deal and unfortunately, many of these fulfillment companies are not much more than scammers. In the end, Panasonic or whoever the original company is gets screwed too, in terms of cost and customer satisfaction. Rebates seem to be a rather American way of encouraging purchases, at least that's the impression I get. In the UK many people buy mainly on price or sometimes "free flight" etc. offers. It is something in the American character which produces "rebate mentality" or did things just develop that way? With all the problems people report, I would have thought that a lower price up front would have been better for both vendor and customer! Cheers, David It appears to me that the american retail market is struggling, and always trying to find ways to drum up business. The classic mechanism is the "sale" - the one week sale, one day sale, six hour sale, etc. Rebates are just another way to spin the "sale" concept that costs the merchant less because of the percentage of people who don't bother to redeem the rebates (it's amazing that it actually costs less when you consider how much overhead the rebate process must create). If I have a choice to buy a product with or without a rebate I will go without the rebate (within reason g). Often you can pay less up front for a product without a rebate then you can for the same product with a rebate. You may pay a little less in the long run going with the rebate, but that assumes that your time filling out forms, and waiting for your money to come back is not worth anything g. In the case of the FZ20, at the time Circuit City was the only retailer selling the camera. Since I didn't want to mail-order it CC was the only choice. |
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On Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:06:03 -0700, Bill Rude wrote:
On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 02:32:41 GMT, "Swingman" wrote: Rebates are just another way to spin the "sale" concept that costs the merchant less Usually rebates don't cost the merchant at all, usually the manufacturer supplies the rebate, the merchant gets increased sales and the manufacturer hopes that few will send in a properly filled out rebate form. The manufacturer may work the deal on the rebate with a store but the store doesn't pay off the rebate. I hate rebates! I hate manufacturer mail in rebates. In-store "instant" rebates I don't have a problem with since it will be applied at the time of purchase. Mail in rebates though feel too much like I'm loaning the manufacturer money at zero percent interest and in exchange I might get a check or merchandise later from the company as payoff on the loan. What's bad though is when a company on the verge of going out of business offers attractive mail in rebates on their products to unsuspecting consumers. Just google "Cendyne rebates" as an example. Rebate checks that you thought were good can bounce at the bank, and the stores that sold the products may not agree to cover the manufacturers rebates and pay the buyers. |
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