John Boyd enjoyed your recent ‘rant’ about ‘being on TV again,’ and sent me a rant of his own. He believes mail-in rebates SUCK:

I became a Mac switcher, purchasing a MacBook in June after they were updated. I bought it through MacMall. I ordered via phone. I specifically did it by phone, rather than on-line, so that I could address any questions they had, and I could get all my questions answered immediately, before the order was processed. My order went off pretty much without a hitch. The salesperson I talked to even e-mailed me four mail-in rebates that were in effect at the time of my order, while we were still on the phone with each other.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. I painstakingly copy every piece of documentation required for the rebates, I copied receipts, UPC codes, shipping labels, etc. I read, re-read, and re-re-read everything to make sure that everything was filled out as directed and required, and dropped four envelopes at the post office.

Fast-forward another few weeks, and I get two different letters from MacMall telling me that they don’t recognize two of the rebates for which I’ve applied. As I said, *their* salespeople e-mailed me the coupons that I used, but they deny any knowledge of the rebate. How convenient. I then go on-line to research MacMall. Too late for me, I find that they’re batting about .500 on honoring rebates. Silly me. I should’ve done my homework *before* ordering, obviously.

They’re not the only ones with which I’ve had problems. I got screwed out of a rebate from Cingular a few years ago. I’ve bought things at CompUSA and BestBuy and never got those rebates, either..

Moral of the story? Don’t buy anything where you’re counting on actually getting the rebate. It’s dishonest for the companies to do mail-in rebates. First, they ‘hand off’ the whole rebate process to a fulfillment company, which gives them “culpable deniability” in the whole process. The fulfillment company either doesn’t respond, or waits to respond until the effective dates for the rebate has passed, and they ultimately don’t honor it either. And on the front end of the whole process, the retailer *counts* on about thirty percent of the customers who’ve bought the item to never send in the rebate request in the first place. So, while they give the public appearance they they’re selling something at a ‘sale’ price, they actually have to sell very few at that advertised price, and the fulfillment company helps them screw several additional percent of the customers out of the rebate by themselves.

If the retailer truly wants to sell something on sale, then they should do so. If they don’t, then don’t. But they shouldn’t hide behind mail-in rebates and fulfillment companies and act like they’re giving a good deal, when they’re actually double-dealing.

As for me, I won’t buy another thing from MacMall, rebate or not. I’ve found too many other vendors with better reputations. And I will not buy anything where the savings is based on a mythical mail-in rebate either. It’s either a good price without the rebate or it’s not. If it’s not, I’ll look somewhere else.

I am enjoying my new MacBook, and I’m enjoying your newsletters and videos. Keep up the good work. Best to you and Ponzi.

I don’t like anything but instant rebates, but I’ll take a mail-in rebate over anything else so long as I don’t have to purchase another product to save money.

Mail-in Rebates: Are They Worth It?