Best Buy ending rebates
posted April 2nd 2005 12:05PM
Is Best Buy planning to kill their rebate program? They got
busted last year for not honoring rebates (among other
sketchiness), and now apparently they're promising to end their mail-in rebate program entirely within the next two
years. Those deep rebates always seem so tempting at the time, but both electronics retailers and manufacturers
deliberately make you jump through lots of hoops to file your rebate and then wait a couple of months to get your money
back. They're betting that a certain percentage of people who are lured by the promise of a serious bargain won't end
up bothering to file their rebates—and then there's always that nagging problem of them "losing" your rebate claim
forms (we once had a Sprint rep tell us that our claim form had gotten jammed into a processing machine, which is why
we never received our rebate—no joke!). Sounds like Best Buy finally realized that their byzantine rebate program was
doing a really good job of alienating a certain percentage of customers, but what's not clear yet is how ending these
promotions is going to affect the prices they charge for stuff. They're said to be considering some sort of
points-based rewards program, but given how competitive the electronics biz is these days it's hard to imagine them not
cutting their prices (at least a little bit) to replace the discounts previously offered by rebates.
[Via Slashdot]
I personally love the rebate thing at Best Buy. It often results in the lowest price around for electronics. I have always received my rebates (granted, it takes a couple of months), and occasionally you can get more in rebates than you paid for the item itself. This was the case when I bought a DirecTV system from BestBuy, I ended up with rebates totalling almost $500 when the system itself cost only $200+tax.
Of course some people won't bother to send them in, that's part of the "game." Also if BestBuy does stop the mail-in rebates, I'm sure they will just alter it so they have more "instant" rebates which are often supplied by the manufacturer.
They already have a points-based rewards program in place called Rewards Zone. I know, I'm a member. As much as they and electronics manufacturers in general make the public jump through hoops to get their rebates, I think Best Buy must thoroughly plan the pricing of their products. I had a Rewards Zone certificate which was going to expire the 16th and I had to find something that was over $20 to purchase not including tax. It was pretty difficult for me to find something that was close to $20 without being too much over. Don't know, just an observation.
Their point based Reward Zone program already exists. In fact, they cut back on how much the points are worth recently. That's why this news is not as good as it sounds.
I haven't had any problems with rebates, you just need to keep copies of _everything_ and report them to the BBB if nothing comes through.
For a month or two, Best Buy changed their "wordage" for rebates-- they ystarted calling them "guest checks" instead... sounds better, doesn't it? I guess it caused too many questions or problems, because I now notice they've gone back to just calling them "rebates" again...
I've sent around ten rebates in over my lifetime (I'm not usually one to be taken in by them, hence the low number) and I've gotten about five back. One of the ones I didn't get back was actually the infamous Iomega scam that almost put that company out of business. I'm actually currently waiting on a $10 rebate for a router, which I supposedly should have gotten by now but haven't... no big deal as I didn't buy it based on the rebate, but as long as it comes with one, I am not going to give them the satisfaction of not sending it in (which is what they want, and hope for).
I personally *hate* the fact that you have to look at the fine print in almost any electronics store ad these days just to see the real price. I don't have a problem with the idea of rebates in general, but a) they need to honor them, all the time, in the time period they say they're going to, and b) they need to flip the advertised prices around so the out-of-pocket price is the big number and the after-rebate price is in the fine print. That'll help restore a little honesty to the process.
Rebates are intended to convince people to come look at a product and then purchase a better one. There is never a strong intent to deliver on the rebate. 3 out of 5 BestBuy rebates have never materialized for me, and I am not surprised - I was burned by Iomega as well and it taught me that lesson pretty well. As for the RewardZone??? BIG JOKE. I have yet to receive an e-mail with the coupon attatched. When I called to ask, they tell me that I would have to disable my firewall and spam filters... as if. They are just as dishonest about their practices now as they always have been. They will never fully honor these commitments. If it comes to a lawsuit, they will simply do away with rebates and rewards. In the future - going to stick with smaller more reputable retailers and skip the rebates. If they were serious about giving rebates, they would do it at checkout.
"I personally *hate* the fact that you have to look at the fine print in almost any electronics store ad these days just to see the real price."
In most parts of USA and Canada, you never see the real price anyway (when shopping in-store). That's because the sales tax is added at the time of paying. The price tag may say $9.95 but you end up paying $10.54 or $11.27 or some other odd amount. This makes it hard to figure out if you're really paying what you thought you'd be paying, espcecially when buying multiple items... Did that $250 item cost you $293.15 because of added taxes or because of some rebate game? Unless you're good at mental arithmetic, it's hard to tell.
Compare that to countries with value-added taxes, where the price tag includes the sales tax. If you walk up to the cashier with 2 items priced at $249 and $44.95 and you're asked to pay more than $295, it's immediately obvious that something's wrong.
Thank goodness Best Buy is doing this! The truth is that the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) should have outlawed these a long time ago. Allowing retailers to advertises prices that are "after rebates" is a completely misleading form of advertising and should be against the law. So much for the government protecting it citizens from scams huh? It seems Best Buy is more likely to protect you than the government and only because people complained about it enough.
I once bought two LCD monitors at CompUSA because the shelf price seemed pretty good only to find out, when I got home and read the fine print on the rebate form, that the offer was limited to ONE PER HOUSEHOLD. In my opinion tat was pretty clear case of misleading advertising. But once I got them home I wanted to use them and I was too lazy to take them back. Plus I needed two matching displays so I was basically screwed out of the $200 rebate on the second monitor. CompUSA should not have been allowed to advertise that price, even with it advertised as "after mail-in rebate" is that price didn't apply to every single on purchased. I am glad somebody is finally stopping this hideous process so that the price we see on the shelves is the price you pay to take the item out of the store. I have no problem with additional rebates provided by the manufacturers provided they're NOT part of the advertised or on-shelf price. The first store to outlaw this practice is the one who is going to get the majority of my gadget business and I buy a LOT of gadgets.
Anytime you are committing to a product that has a contract or some sort of required monthly payment (satellite dishes, cable, cell phones), you better make sure you're getting some free stuff through rebates to make up for paying out the ass every month. I bought a $300 cell phone off amazon a while back, and ended up getting paid $100 to take it off their hands.
Our family has requested dozens of rebates. The vast majority have been fine. It sounds like Crap Buy has a big problem with rebates. Crap Buy's customer service is the pits. We steer clear of Crap Buy all together.
I have received every rebate I ever sent it. Maybe I just know how to follow directions. Who knows.
As for the RewardZone points, I didn't like when they changed the number of points required but I have had no problems with that program either.
I never received my Milli Vanilli rebate refund from that settlement a while back.
best buy sucks as do rebates. following directions isnt the problem dude get with it.. besides you are paying more in taxes...
Almost every item I buy for computers & electronics has rebates. I have always received the rebates except once and that was because I moved. The total number of times is easily in the hundreds. I believe that most errors are either due to sloppy writing or not following directions.
I finally got my Rewards certificates in the mail. It took many pointed calls to BestBuy's customer circus line (at one point the floor supervisor refused to speak to me)... I received the first rebate card just today as well. I sent it in through certified mail with proof of delivery to ensure it was delivered. The processing took only 2 weeks. My other experiences with BestBuy rebates in the past were not positive. Easy Rebate from Staples is great! Nothing to mail-in, just log into the system and request. Staples has the right idea with an automated (although a reqest) system, now 'That Was Easy'.
What they really need to do is get rid of their annoying extra warranty service thing. I'm sick and tired of having some brat talk to me like Im stupid because I'm rejecting the $99 extra warranty on the $250 device.
Bravo, Best Buy! For those willing to search & wait for delivery, "no rebate" pricing is usually available on the internet. You can often find the same item at the "net" price after rebate by using pricewatch.com or other shopper sites to compare online vendors. Best Buy, as the largest electronics retailer, is following the lead of Wal-Mart/Sam's Club which seldom, if ever allow rebates. Who wins? The consumer will ultimately benefit when net prices sans rebate become the market price for advertised electronics.
I've easily claimed thousands in rebates over the years... Yes, thousands... sick. ($600 last month alone on 2 laptops). I've only ever been stiffed on one of them which WAS in fact from Best Buy. I think if you're diligent about copies and sending them in as soon as you get home, there shouldnt be too many problems. An easy fix for messy writing is using those nifty address labels. They cant possibly deny being able to read that.
I hate filling the rebates out but it ends up being a LOT of money in my case. If they do away with rebates, those of us who claim them will end up paying higher prices in the end.
#15 - yes, the higher taxes on your item do suck, but it usually doesnt make a HUGE difference.
#18 - I HATE those snots selling services too... but there are certain things I do buy those stupid warranties for... like laptops. Im really rough on them. Best buy is NOT the place to buy any service warranty by the way. They will pitch everything under the sun but when it comes time that you need to make a claim, the usual response is "that's not covered"
Aside from the hoops you have to jump through, the time you have to wait, and the gamble as to whether you actually receive the rebate, the real problem I have had with rebates is that typically, rebates are only good for a quantity of one per product per household. For example, there was a great deal on 80GB hard drives. I wanted three because I'm doing home video editing and wanted lots of work space and lots of archive space. But I could purchase only one at the after rebate price because the offer was limited to one. While there are less-than-honest ways around that, it's still a real hassle.
I had purchased a computer package for $950 in which $330.00 was supposed to get sent back to me, o ya, that worked. I did excactly everything I supposed to, I then recieved a letter stating that they need ANOTHER COPY OF THE ACTUAL BOX THE COMPUTER WAS IN!!!!!!!! Please let me know how in thier right mind is not going to break down a box and throw it away within a 3 months time. Thats a big time joke and an easy way of getting out of giving back what was mine. I will never purchase again if it has a rebate, they SUCK BIG TIME!!!
Best Buy is a shady operator. Either that or all of their employees are total duffuses (duffi?)
I recently purchased 3 Mag monitors, each with a $50 rebate. I asked the salesman if that was a total of $150 and he said yes. The cashier printed out all three rebate forms for me. When I got home I noticed the "one rebate per offer" fine print but sent them in anyway figuring I would make a stink later if they failed to honor the rebate.
Sure enough today I got my rebate check for only $50 rather than the $150 they owed me. The rebate center claimed that the fine print (my term not theirs) said one rebate per offer but I explained to her that the store employees made no mention of this restriction, quite the opposite. The fact that I had to actually BUY the product in order to see the fine print made no difference to the rebate center. They essentially said, go to the store where you bought it and complain to them.
This is what I did. They asked me what I wanted and told them either give me the $100 you owe me or allow me to return the monitors and I'll go someplace else and buy them (which is what I would have done had they told me up front that it was one rebate per customer). The customer service department at the store told me that they couldn't give me the $100 and I couldn't return the monitors since I was about 2 weeks late making the return (of course, the rebate took 7 weeks to arrive so I had no way of knowing that I was going to want to return them until it was past their return deadline.)
Long story short, any company that fails to see how shady of a practice this is should be avoided like the plague. Best Buy uses false advertising, not just in their ads but also in their very corporate identity.
These people are crooks.
-B
In May of this year we relocated to the Houston area. After the close of our new house we needed to buy two refrigerators. After shopping around it seemed that Best Buy had the ones we wanted in stock and with the promis of their Reward Zone rewards, they would have the best price. We purchased the appliances two months ago and still no rewards.
We've tried calling their 1-800-EAT-CRAP number just to get the run around. We tried going to the store, but they told us they have no control over the Reward Zone promotions. Since they do not want to honor their own promotion, I am going to try to return the units. It is disappointing that a company like this would use such deceptive and fraudulant business practices. I will not spend another dime at Best Buy. I would ask those that consider shopping there to think twice about it. If the price is good WITHOUT the Non-Reward Zone promise, then buy it at there.
Reginald
Missouri City, Texas
U.S.A.
In May of this year we relocated to the Houston area. After the close of our new house we needed to buy two refrigerators. After shopping around it seemed that Best Buy had the ones we wanted in stock and with the promis of their Reward Zone rewards, they would have the best price. We purchased the appliances two months ago and still no rewards.
We've tried calling their 1-800-EAT-CRAP number just to get the run around. We tried going to the store, but they told us they have no control over the Reward Zone promotions. Since they do not want to honor their own promotion, I am going to try to return the units. It is disappointing that a company like this would use such deceptive and fraudulant business practices. I will not spend another dime at Best Buy. I would ask those that consider shopping there to think twice about it. If the price is good WITHOUT the Non-Reward Zone promise, then buy it at there.
Reginald
Missouri City, Texas
U.S.A.
Rebates are a pain, if they are willing to sell soething for that special low price then they can sell it to me now and Besy Buy can send in for the rebates and wait for the money!!!