Screwed by Canon Rebate

John wrote:
I know that the institution of rebates is meant to rip you off so I'm
quite anal about paying attention to the details and ALWAYS sending in
the rebate with delivery confirmation. The delivery confirmation at
least minimizes the "Sorry, we never received your rebate" or "Sorry, we
didn't receive your rebate in time" excuses.

I read the rebate forms several times looking for the "gotcha's". I know
I go through way more trouble than I should for $20-$50 but it's the
principle. They make it as annoying as possible to claim a rebate so
that most people won't bother. I'm the one that bothers.

I send in my rebate to Canon along with all the rebate form, purchase
receipt and I cut out the UPC code from the box and put that in the
envelope. My new tactic is to use wide tape and tape the UPC code to
the rebate form.

I checked on my rebate status just now.

Error(s): An original qualifying UPC was not included

Yep. No matter how hard I tried, Canon still managed to screw me over.

Since they want "an original" qualifying UPC", my copy won't suffice.

Canon, the next time I'm in the market for a product I'll remember this
incident.

Mail-in rebates are always a scam. Why do they do them? Because
people buy based on this.
50-80% never claim them.
Rebates take 8-12 weeks and often are never delivered, another 50%
forget about them.
They force you to call someone to fix the problem or ask where your
rebate is 16 weeks past due delivery time.
At the end of it all, according to various business studies, only 3% of
rebates are ever paid out. So, they can boost sales with what might
amount to a 0.5% overall discount paid.
It is business genius.

RichA wrote:

John wrote:
I know that the institution of rebates is meant to rip you off so I'm
quite anal about paying attention to the details and ALWAYS sending in
the rebate with delivery confirmation. The delivery confirmation at
least minimizes the "Sorry, we never received your rebate" or "Sorry, we
didn't receive your rebate in time" excuses.

I read the rebate forms several times looking for the "gotcha's". I know
I go through way more trouble than I should for $20-$50 but it's the
principle. They make it as annoying as possible to claim a rebate so
that most people won't bother. I'm the one that bothers.

I send in my rebate to Canon along with all the rebate form, purchase
receipt and I cut out the UPC code from the box and put that in the
envelope. My new tactic is to use wide tape and tape the UPC code to
the rebate form.

I checked on my rebate status just now.

Error(s): An original qualifying UPC was not included

Yep. No matter how hard I tried, Canon still managed to screw me over.

Since they want "an original" qualifying UPC", my copy won't suffice.

Canon, the next time I'm in the market for a product I'll remember this
incident.

Mail-in rebates are always a scam. Why do they do them? Because
people buy based on this.
50-80% never claim them.
Rebates take 8-12 weeks and often are never delivered, another 50%
forget about them.
They force you to call someone to fix the problem or ask where your
rebate is 16 weeks past due delivery time.
At the end of it all, according to various business studies, only 3% of
rebates are ever paid out. So, they can boost sales with what might
amount to a 0.5% overall discount paid.
It is business genius.

I get every damn rebate I file, so I'm saving money at the expense of
illiterates/incompetents - so what?

RichA wrote:
John wrote:

I know that the institution of rebates is meant to rip you off so I'm
quite anal about paying attention to the details and ALWAYS sending in
the rebate with delivery confirmation. The delivery confirmation at
least minimizes the "Sorry, we never received your rebate" or "Sorry, we
didn't receive your rebate in time" excuses.

I read the rebate forms several times looking for the "gotcha's". I know
I go through way more trouble than I should for $20-$50 but it's the
principle. They make it as annoying as possible to claim a rebate so
that most people won't bother. I'm the one that bothers.

I send in my rebate to Canon along with all the rebate form, purchase
receipt and I cut out the UPC code from the box and put that in the
envelope. My new tactic is to use wide tape and tape the UPC code to
the rebate form.

I checked on my rebate status just now.

Error(s): An original qualifying UPC was not included

Yep. No matter how hard I tried, Canon still managed to screw me over.

Since they want "an original" qualifying UPC", my copy won't suffice.

Canon, the next time I'm in the market for a product I'll remember this
incident.


Mail-in rebates are always a scam. Why do they do them? Because
people buy based on this.
50-80% never claim them.
Rebates take 8-12 weeks and often are never delivered, another 50%
forget about them.
They force you to call someone to fix the problem or ask where your
rebate is 16 weeks past due delivery time.
At the end of it all, according to various business studies, only 3% of
rebates are ever paid out. So, they can boost sales with what might
amount to a 0.5% overall discount paid.
It is business genius.

Hmmm,
I always got my rebate check. Only thing is it takes upto a few weeks to
get it. Follow the procedure and mail it and be paitient.

Bob (but not THAT Bob) wrote:
RichA wrote:

John wrote:
I know that the institution of rebates is meant to rip you off so I'm
quite anal about paying attention to the details and ALWAYS sending in
the rebate with delivery confirmation. The delivery confirmation at
least minimizes the "Sorry, we never received your rebate" or "Sorry, we
didn't receive your rebate in time" excuses.

I read the rebate forms several times looking for the "gotcha's". I know
I go through way more trouble than I should for $20-$50 but it's the
principle. They make it as annoying as possible to claim a rebate so
that most people won't bother. I'm the one that bothers.

I send in my rebate to Canon along with all the rebate form, purchase
receipt and I cut out the UPC code from the box and put that in the
envelope. My new tactic is to use wide tape and tape the UPC code to
the rebate form.

I checked on my rebate status just now.

Error(s): An original qualifying UPC was not included

Yep. No matter how hard I tried, Canon still managed to screw me over.

Since they want "an original" qualifying UPC", my copy won't suffice.

Canon, the next time I'm in the market for a product I'll remember this
incident.

Mail-in rebates are always a scam. Why do they do them? Because
people buy based on this.
50-80% never claim them.
Rebates take 8-12 weeks and often are never delivered, another 50%
forget about them.
They force you to call someone to fix the problem or ask where your
rebate is 16 weeks past due delivery time.
At the end of it all, according to various business studies, only 3% of
rebates are ever paid out. So, they can boost sales with what might
amount to a 0.5% overall discount paid.
It is business genius.

I get every damn rebate I file, so I'm saving money at the expense of
illiterates/incompetents - so what?

No problem, I'm just pointing out the differences between mail-in
rebates and instant rebates.
Having automatic computer verification of rebates at the time of sale
would increase payouts massively, but the companies don't want that at
all. Meanwhile, there is also the chance with instant rebates your
name and other information wouldn't be sold to a 1000 different
databases months afterward....

RichA wrote:

Having automatic computer verification of rebates at the time of sale
would increase payouts massively, but the companies don't want that at
all. Meanwhile, there is also the chance with instant rebates your
name and other information wouldn't be sold to a 1000 different
databases months afterward....

The problem with instant rebates is that there is no way they
could validate that you're not doing more than one like they can
when you have to mail it in. So people could easily end up with
multiples, and the companies do not want that, especially with
the free (after rebate) stuff. For stuff like giving $100 back
on an appliance, or Sears giving free shipping after rebate,
there's really no excuse for a mail-in rebate, other than
avoiding paying it.

BTW as someone who does a LOT of rebates, there is absolutely NO
evidence that my name is sold as a result of rebates (I do get
mail specifically from a couple of companies whose rebates I
claimed). And I don't think that anyone has been able to prove
this -- it's just paranoid people like you who keep claiming
that it is true. If you have proof, post it here.

Bill

On 28 Dec 2006 18:13:17 -0800, "RichA" wrote:

John wrote:
I know that the institution of rebates is meant to rip you off so I'm
quite anal about paying attention to the details and ALWAYS sending in
the rebate with delivery confirmation. The delivery confirmation at
least minimizes the "Sorry, we never received your rebate" or "Sorry, we
didn't receive your rebate in time" excuses.

I read the rebate forms several times looking for the "gotcha's". I know
I go through way more trouble than I should for $20-$50 but it's the
principle. They make it as annoying as possible to claim a rebate so
that most people won't bother. I'm the one that bothers.

I send in my rebate to Canon along with all the rebate form, purchase
receipt and I cut out the UPC code from the box and put that in the
envelope. My new tactic is to use wide tape and tape the UPC code to
the rebate form.

I checked on my rebate status just now.

Error(s): An original qualifying UPC was not included

Yep. No matter how hard I tried, Canon still managed to screw me over.

Since they want "an original" qualifying UPC", my copy won't suffice.

Canon, the next time I'm in the market for a product I'll remember this
incident.

Mail-in rebates are always a scam. Why do they do them? Because
people buy based on this.
50-80% never claim them.
Rebates take 8-12 weeks and often are never delivered, another 50%
forget about them.
They force you to call someone to fix the problem or ask where your
rebate is 16 weeks past due delivery time.
At the end of it all, according to various business studies, only 3% of
rebates are ever paid out. So, they can boost sales with what might
amount to a 0.5% overall discount paid.
It is business genius.


Samsung did something similiar on my rebate. They notified me via
email and regular ail that my purchase was on 11-11-06, past the
deadline of 10-31-06. I made this purchase on 10-27-06. I faxed them
a copy of my invoice and got my $60 approved, finally. Always, scan
your items BEFORE you mail in the rebate, and keep these scans until
you get your rebate. Gosh I hate rebates!

"Bill" wrote in message
...


RichA wrote:

Having automatic computer verification of rebates at the time of sale
would increase payouts massively, but the companies don't want that at
all. Meanwhile, there is also the chance with instant rebates your
name and other information wouldn't be sold to a 1000 different
databases months afterward....


BTW as someone who does a LOT of rebates, there is absolutely NO
evidence that my name is sold as a result of rebates (I do get
mail specifically from a couple of companies whose rebates I
claimed). And I don't think that anyone has been able to prove
this -- it's just paranoid people like you who keep claiming
that it is true. If you have proof, post it here.

Bill

I used to agree but think it has changed. Recently bought a Ultra HDD
enclosure at CC. Didn't look closely enough at the rebate PDF until readying
the paperwork. The rebate has to go through an operation called
OnRebate.com. An obvious data mining operation. I refuse to do business with
an outfit like this and will relinquish the $20 to keep from it. I'll never
buy a product again with a rebate that goes through something like this.

As has been adequately explained here before, rebates are by their very
nature a scam. There is no logical explanation for a rebate program other
than being a scam. The following truth will never change:

If the producer of a product wants to sell you his product at a lower than
normal price, they will give you a price break at the check out counter.
Any "program" to make you jump through silly hoops to get your "discount"
six months later , is nothing other than a silly scam. There is NO logical
reason for a "program" to give you a better price six months later
!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF they wanted to give you a lower price, they would do
it ON THE DAY THAT YOU BUY THE PRODUCT !!

I am glad that this is all cleared up now. But alas, I do know
there are those that believe in the tooth fairy, so here come the
flames........

Oh well........

--James--

I get every damn rebate I file, so I'm saving money at
the expense of
illiterates/incompetents - so what?

he said he followed the directions to the letter... you're
nuts if you think the rebate houses don't often deny for
bull**** reasons. I get all mine too, but more than once
i've had to resort to pretty well harrassing them to do
it. I am meticulous as he is, and i've had them denied
for bogus reasons.

The most recent example was with a Seagate hard drive.
They tried to claim my model wasn't eligible for a rebate,
despite the rebate form itself showing the model as
eligible. They also gave the same excuse to my father, so
it wasn't simply me.... and fatwallet.com had more
examples of people being falsely denied on this rebate,
they were denying legit claims left & right. It was only
after calling & raising hell they reversed the denials and
sent the checks. Still took over 6 mos.

my hassle with a BellSouth rebate was even worse. The
rebate house claimed my copy of my phone bill wasn't
valid. I didn't get paper bills, & the only copies of
bills available electronically at the time didn't look
like normal bills -- everything was in a courier 10pt
font, no graphics, lines anything. The rebate house
repeatedly diddled around saying that wasn't acceptable,
despite it being the only option available to me. And
it's not like BellSouth didn't know I had their product.
I had to write to Georgia's Office of Consumer Protections
to get that one. That got the BellSouth's presidential
escalations office involved.

Others I've had to call multiple times. I note the
dates/times I call or check the website, the CSR i spoke
with, everything... nowadays i even put a piece of paper
in the envelope advising that all contents have been
photocopied, including the postmarked mailing date on the
envelope (i use a machine), and that i will be routinely
following up.

certain rebate houses repeatedly crop up when people talk
about bogus denials. The goal is to deny. If the rebate
house promises a vendor only xx% will be fulfilled, often
they have to eat anything above that amount.

An "instant rebate" isn't a rebate at all, it's just a sale price. And
no doubt that it's better than a mail-in rebate of the same amount, but
you will NEVER find "instant rebates" that are the equivalent of the
larger mail-in rebates. The rebate "system" depends on the fact that
only a minority of buyers will ever apply for the rebate.


RichA wrote:


No problem, I'm just pointing out the differences between mail-in
rebates and instant rebates.
Having automatic computer verification of rebates at the time of sale
would increase payouts massively, but the companies don't want that at
all. Meanwhile, there is also the chance with instant rebates your
name and other information wouldn't be sold to a 1000 different
databases months afterward....