Rebates

[M. Worthington]

Do you fall for them any longer?

I know the photo and electronics companies love to trot out rebates every so often, so they must really get folks to part with their hard-earned cash, hoping to "get in on a good deal."

But of the half dozen or so rebate forms I have diligently filled out over the past year and a half, being sure to include the necessary paperwork, destroying my lens and camera boxes in the process, and dotting all the "i's" on my form, here's the amount of money I have actually received from the companies that claimed to be offering me a rebate:

$0.00

Actually rebates have COST me a lot of money in time and hassle, filling out forms and following up. Invariabley, though, I get nothing.

There ought to be a law....

[JohnC]

I never base my purchases on a rebate. But I have taken advantage of them over the years. In the past few years I have used the Canon single (spring/summer) and double/triple (fall winter) rebates a number of times and have got the rebate check with no problems in a reasonable amount of time from when they were sent in.

Much prefer an "instant" rebate that you get right at the store. But the Canon rebates have worked well for me.

John

[Athena]

I just signed the back of a $350 rebate check from Canon...
The rebate didn't decide the purchase for me, but it sure was a nice plus.

[jfrancho]

I've received every rebate I've ever applied for, from cameras to computers to latex paint to carpet installations to my school tax rebates. Sometimes the process is tricky.

[eddieli]

I don't recall any of of the rebates I submitted didn't return with a check. You just got to have the diligence and the patience when working with rebates. I think companies do that to temporarily boost up their sale for various of reasons, either to catch up on their quarterly revenue or just simply use your money to make short term investments, which often times, has much higher return than the rebate themselves, and that decides how soon you will get the rebates back.