Rebates aren't a new concept, people

[Dave1982]

They might suck, but they aren't new, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Had a guy in tonight (while I was covering a cashier break, of course) who asked for a price check on an el-cheapo POS 2GB MP3 player.

Me: $24.99 plus tax, which is $26.55.

The SC's mouth went agape and he stared at me as if I'd just asked him to recite Proust.

After several seconds, he stammered

SC: But....the sign says $14.99!

BS (overhearing): That item has a $10 rebate, so it's $14.99 AFTER REBATE.

Me: After rebate, sir.

SC: So..................what?

Me: *explains how rebates work*

SC: So you don't take $10 off now?

Me: No, you have to send away for that money.

And then he proceeded to just start STARING at me with this incredulous look on his face, like I'd just uttered some sort of profound insult, and he was in shock and awaiting for me to realize what a colossal gaffe I've just made and quickly apologize and adjust the price down for him.

Good. I haven't had one of these in a while, and I'm real good at staring contests.

As I'd been the last to speak, the ball was in his court, so I just stared right back at him.

And kept staring.

And kept staring.

And KEPT staring.

And just HOPING he'd actually TELL me to take the $10 off now, just so I could bring Maxwell's silver hammer down upon his head (figuratively, of course) and tell him that's NOT the way things work.

Finally, he broke (I win!!!) and said he wasn't interested, then. But five minutes later, he bought it anyway.

Then he came back again with a bottle of Dasani from the Coke cooler. He paid for it, then said "this is too cold for my son. Can I swap it for a warm one?"

A thoroughly bizarre request that I'd never heard before, but....reasonable, I suppose. I had one of the techs fetch a warm one from backstock and we swapped it out for him (he hadn't opened it yet).

[Shimatta]

I just sent in a 10.00 rebate a coule days ago - in six months I might se that money

I also sent in a rebate for 1.50 it was for a new style of pen so it would be free. I felt weird depositing that check at the bank.

[r2cagle]

The warm water is sure puzzling. Wonder if it was for drinking or cleaning up a mess??

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Ugh rebates. The bane of my existence when I sold cell phones. Some genius at corporate decided that the only displayed prices on our phones should be the AFTER rebate prices (you know because they are lower) and leave it to us to explain the rebate to customers.

I got so sick and tired of the anger and frustration I'd get from folks when I had to tell them they'd be paying a lot more out the door than the sign would seem to indicate for that flashy new phone they had their eye on.

Come to think of it, that may have violated some kind of pricing law...

Rebates are an evil scheme cooked up by companies to save money. They tack on a rebate so they can advertise a lower price when that's in fact NOT what is paid up front, then they make you fill out a form and send in your receipt to get your money back.

The great thing for the company is a lot of people will forget to send in the form or not fill it in correctly or send in the wrong receipt or will do something to result in a denial of rebate and BAM! more money for the profit margins.

If it was an instant discount (which would be FAR more consumer friendly), everyone would have to get it, the companies wouldn't make money off the folks who forget and whatnot, so they would never do it.

[ViolaPlayer]

The best part about sending away for rebates? They sell your information. And they get a lot of money for it too, since most people send their correct information to get that rebate.

When I worked at an organization where I did list management, part of maintenance was NCOA (National Change of Address) and then compares with phone number appends through a service that buys the info from rebate companies.

Just wanted to throw that out there for all you conspiracy/big brother haters!

[boringscreenname]

I just bought a new laptop and sent off the paperwork for a $150 rebate.

Actually it's 2 rebates which the salesman neglected to tell us. One is in the amount for a $100 prepaid visa card to their store, and can only be spent at their store the other is a check for $50 from the manufacturer.

[DeltaSierra]

What I hate is when you do everything right, and still don't get your rebate. I got stuck with that when I was supposed to get a $100 rebate for my contact lenses. Did everything to the letter, never got the rebate.

[Mr Hero]

I don't like doing rebates. Then again, I never claimed to be a master rebater.

[infinitemonkies]

I can't prove it, of course, but I'm quite certain that many rebate outfits (mail-in rebate programs are almost always out-sourced for anyone who wasn't aware) simply just don't process any rebates unless the customer calls in after the 6-8 week period to complain about not getting it.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

And I work for a company that frequently does its own rebate sales. You buy one or more of certain advertised products, fill out a form, attach your receipt...and then wait as whoever actually processes the rebate takes its sweet time in doing.

I loathe them.

For Black Friday, we always have Milton Bradley games for three or five dollars after rebate. And then it invariably gets out that Wally World has the same games cheaper without the rebate, or for slightly more than our price after rebate. So then we end up not selling very many games, and having to move them around and around so at least they're on the floor for customers to buy after Black Friday.