rebates
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The UK just eliminated its EV rebate incentive
The UK government has ended its plug-in car grant program effective immediately.
China's extension of EV tax rebates is good news for car makers
Electric cars had their best year ever in 2017, but the market is still fragile -- without subsidies, prices still aren't cheap enough for the average consumer. The US decided to keep EV tax credits for 2018, much to the relief of EV fans and automakers, and China has announced that it will also extend them until the end of 2020, Reuters reports. The move, confirming previous rumors, will "increase support for innovation and development in new energy vehicles," China's Ministry of Finance said.
Motorola's rebate site goes live: $100 credit if you need to upgrade to get Jelly Bean
During Motorola's keynote on Wednesday, the company announced a nice little bonus for loyal fans -- should your 2011-or-later handset not receive a Jelly Bean update, you'll get $100 if you upgrade to one of its new models. Well, a website for the deal has gone live and the initial Ts&Cs don't make it sound like an immediate discount, but that the Benjamin will instead be reimbursed as a gift card, carrier credit or a cash equivalent of Motorola's choice. We're still in the dark about which specific phones will be denied a taste of Android 4.1, although the list is expected "very soon." In the meantime, you can sign up at the source link below to receive details of how to update, or how to claim the rebate once the fate of your old handset has been decided.
Company turns to bribery for 5 star Amazon reviews
In a world where word of mouth and the judgment of the hive mind is worth more than any ad or the ruminations of many professional reviewers, companies will do just about anything to ensure a strong rating on outlets like Amazon. It's clear that dummy accounts simply aren't the way to go, but what about bribing your existing customers? Apparently VIP Deals thought that route was perfectly acceptable and offered rebates to people who rated their products on Amazon. Now, the offer letter (which you can see at the more coverage link) doesn't explicitly ask for a five star review, but it is strongly suggested that the company expects one in exchange for receiving the product for free -- in this case, a leather Kindle Fire case. VIP's reviews and its products have all since been booted from Amazon, but it certainly raises plenty of questions about the ease with which some companies are able to game the system and how a reputable outlet can protect its customers from ratings scams. Hit up the source for the full story.
Fallen Earth store goes all the way with a 100% rebate event
You know what's better than spending a bunch of money on buying in-game items for your character in the soon-to-be free-to-play Fallen Earth? Spending a bunch of money on buying in-game items for your character and then getting all of that money back. Sounds too good to be true? It's not. From August 18th to August 23rd, GamersFirst is holding a 100% rebate promotion for the game, where every purchase will come with a nice big rebate of every credit used in the purchase. Now, before you ask, it's not quite free -- the rebate comes after the end of the promotion, meaning that if you spend $20 during the promotion, you will be credited with $20 after the promotion ends. Still, it's a chance to pick up all sorts of fun accessories, several of which are deeply discounted during the promotion. Fallen Earth players would be well advised to browse the market and decide if there's anything worth buying -- after all, it all comes back to you in the end.
California's zero-emissions rebate program ironically runs out of green
Californians will have to look elsewhere to start receiving cash back for buying eco-friendly vehicles, as the California Air Resources Board has just announced that its ever popular rebate program is no more for the time being. CARB, as the board also goes by, launched its Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) in March of 2010 with initial funding of over $11 million to go around -- but we knew it wouldn't last. According to the CVRP website, the program has issued a little over $7 million worth of rebates thus far, with the rest pending or reserved for the already existing EV-owners. The board hopes to bring the program back within the next fiscal year by charging it up with $17 million worth of rebates. It'll create more opportunities to get some of these rebates, while simultaneously extending the duration of the CVRP by decreasing the maximum amount to $2,500 (about half of the previous maximum). If you're doing your math correctly, that equates to more than 6,000 total rebates that'll be up for grabs -- opposed to the 1,400 first-rounders who were awarded the rebates already. With luck and some economical upturns, Californian volt-heads can cruise into 2012 with their non-petrol-deficient wallets a little bit fuller.
Latest Verizon rebate form confirms big-ticket rebates are going away
That rumor yesterday about Verizon dumping rebates on smartphones priced $150 or greater? Yep, it's looking more legit than ever now that BGR's scored Big Red's latest rebate form -- and nearly all of the big-ticket smartphones are now gone. Also notable: the Droid 2 R2-D2, currently priced at $199.99, is on there with a $50 rebate, which suggests the phone could see a price drop to $149.99 on or around Monday. At the end of the day, you'll be paying the same for most of these phones -- but it'll be nice to pay a little less upfront.
Verizon dumping some mail-in rebates, going with lower upfront prices instead?
In the wake of a slew of not-so-fun changes in the wireless industry, here's a way to end the month on a bright note: a rumor over on Android Central suggests that Verizon will be killing off its mail-in rebates for some devices in favor of lower sticker prices. Specifically, a leaked screen shot says that if the device runs more than $150, there won't be any rebate at all; if it's less and not a closeout, you'll be dealing with a $50 rebate. Of course, the whole concept of a rebate is a little sneaky to begin with -- the idea is that carriers can advertise lower prices, then get you to pay more at the counter and hope that you'll fail to deal with the mail-in form that you've got to fill out; best-case scenario, they get to sit on your money for a few weeks while you wait for a gift card to show up in the mail. So yeah, our hearts wouldn't be broken if this was accurate -- as long as the new upfront prices completely erase those rebates, of course.
Verizon's new rebate form shows two Droid 2 Globals, Samsung Continuum, and more
Carrier rebate forms have a fun tendency to reveal unannounced hardware, since they cover several upcoming weeks when they're published -- and Verizon's latest for the month of November is a particularly juicy one. Here's what we've got: There are two SKUs listed for the Droid 2 Global, but only one for the Droid Pro, leading us to wonder whether it'll actually be the Global that's getting a cameraless version. Speaking of Motorola, the WX445 Citrus is in the mix for the first time. The Pre 2 is in the system with a $100 rebate. There are two new SKUs for the Bold 9650, possibly indicating the release of new versions with BlackBerry 6 pre-installed. The LG Cosmos Touch is in here, which we imagine will be a touchscreen successor to the Cosmos. There's a Samsung Zeal listed with a $50 rebate, but we're not sure what it is -- we know that Sammy has a number of Android phones in the pipe for Verizon, and we suppose this could be one of 'em (likely low-end considering it's not a $100 rebate). More interestingly, the Samsung Continuum is in here, suggesting that the November 8 event could be for this dual-screened (and Galaxy S-branded) beast. $100 rebate here. Of course, November is a time when retailers of all types and sizes bring out new products in time for the holidays, so we're not surprised to see the mother lode here. Who's excited?
Reminder: Get your free iPhone case by September 30th
Apple's iPhone 4 case program page reminds you that if you haven't jumped on the free case they're offering for the Antennagate issue, you're running out of time. The free case program will expire on September 30th, so if you haven't yet, run on over there, download the app to your iPhone, and choose a case for Apple to send off to you. Or, if you are planning to buy an iPhone 4 but haven't yet, you might want to jump on it before the month ends -- some of the cases can sell for up to $30, so essentially you're getting a nice discount if it was something you would have bought anyway. There are certainly plenty of other cases to buy, and I've been using my iPhone for the past week or so without a case at all and it's worked just fine, but September 30 is the cutoff, so make a decision by then for sure. A better question might be when we're actually going to get the cases ordered from the app -- of course it's going to take a while to ship all of these free cases out to all of Apple's customers, but at this point I'm wondering how long after the program actually expires before Apple has sent out cases to everyone who applied for one. [via Mac Rumors]
iPhone rebates or subsidies?
In the US most carriers offer rebates and/or subsidies to offset the cost of phones and their contracts. Will Apple follow this trend? Rumors are swirling that they might just do so. According to several sources including Apple Insider, American Technology analyst Shaw Wu says Apple is considering offering a mail-in rebate or carrier subsidy in the $50 to $150 range. When you compare this amount to the guaranteed revenues from many data cell phone plans (they can run into the multiple thousands of dollars over a two year contract), it's a drop in the bucket.
Snag a Premium 360 for $200?
The Micro Center rebate saga continues this week. First, they announced the $100 360 rebate (Core or Premium). Next, they extended the deal through the holidays. And now, it seems you can knock off another $100 by employing a little trickery. Signing up for a Micro Center credit card and making a purchase of $399 will net you enough redeemable points to claim a $100 check. For those keeping score, that's $200 off the price of a Premium pack, effectively dropping the price to $199 ... high five! It should be noted that we don't have confirmation that this will work, but considering the credit card deal applies to purchases of $399, it seems like it was actually made specifically for this purpose.Remember, you might have to hoof it quite a ways, though, as there are only 19 Micro Center locations in the US. Our advice: make a detour (or twelve) on your way to grandma's house for the holidays.[Thanks, Dave Zatz]
Shady rebates land Inphonic in hot water
Cellphone retailer Inphonic, which runs RadioShack's and Wirefly's online phone e-shops and has recently penned an agreement with Amazon to do the same, has been sued by Washington D.C.'s Attorney General for offering rebates requiring "onerous procedures" to fulfill. As we all know, rebates are often a boon for retailers and manufacturers because many buyers forget or don't care to fill out and mail the required forms, but it seems Inphonic has taken their rebate scam game to the next level, racking up over 2,000 complaints in the past three years. Besides unhelpful customer service representatives or automated messages (we usually have a rough time telling the difference), Inphonic is accused of making the terms of some of their rebates impossible to meet, like requiring 120 days of continuous phone activation on a rebate that expires in less than 120 days. "Any time you're dealing with millions of customers, as we are, there are going to be occasional concerns," says Inphonic's senior VP; we're assuming that by "occasional" he means "virtually anyone who attempts to claim a rebate from us."[Via MobileTracker]
