Mailing List Archive

Lol Grant wrote:

> > From: Tony Maro <tony@maro.net>
> >
> >Did anyone else buy one on a raincheck and have all the rebates rejected
> > for being outside the "rebate period"?
> >
> > I'm about to go down to OfficeMax for a refund of the HD.
>
> Well, I did wonder about this myself. I asked at OfficeMax when I
> picked up the rainchecked disk and they told me that the rebate period
> had been extended (of course, they also gave me the wrong month's
> rebate book, so I didn't want to necessarily take them at their word).
>
> Anyway I called both rebate
> companies (this was a $79.99 disk with two separate $30 rebates),
> explained
> the situation, and after some delay while they consulted who knows
> whom, both rebate companies said the same thing: the rebate *would* be
> honored, but they recommended that I include an explanatory letter
> along with the rebate submission detailing the exceptional
> situation. So that's what I did, along with a copy of the raincheck
> itself. I haven't been able to check the rebate status as yet.
>
> I haven't knowingly lost a rebate yet (except for some Kbyte memory
> sticks
> when I didn't notice it said only one per household, and I'd bought two),
> but I am getting pretty sick of all the paperwork involved. Maybe I'm
> just
> beginning to value my time more that I used to. Must be getting old...
>
> I may just start to avoid buying rebated items. This week, I
> bought a KVM switch at Fry's and didn't even realise it came with a
> rebate till they gave me the form at the checkout.
>
> Dang. My first posting to myth-users and it's a rant...
>
> __
> Lol
>
> For those of you who like to know about these things, my mythtv system
> is running on an old HP-7975/AsusTek P4B-LA OEM Intel chipset mobo/
> 2GHz P4 CPU, because that' s what was spare when I got fed up with not
> being
> able to predict exactly what my replaytv unit was actually going to
> record at any time.
> I added a Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, 512M PC2100, 450GB of disk,
> GeForce4 MX 420 and PVR-250 + AVerMedia M179 (both from ebay).
> I mostly watch recorded TV in a small mplayer window while writing
> code, so that means I almost never run mythfrontend, just mythweb and
> mplayer, and it's very stable.
> My main regret at this point is that the TV programming in general
> just isn't
> getting any better...
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users@mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

As a guy from England, I have no idea what this rebate thing is all
about! (Well, ok, I can guess)

Sounds like a lot of hassle. Is it just a scam to get lazy people to pay
more? Not looking for a flaming, just curious as we have nothing like
that over here... But then again, I pay more for my goodies.

-Garry

--
"From yourself, you can't run away." - Killswitch Engage.

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----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Maro" <tony@maro.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 9:28 AM


> Did anyone else buy one on a raincheck and have all the rebates rejected
> for being outside the "rebate period"?
>
> I'm about to go down to OfficeMax for a refund of the HD.
>
> -Tony

I hope that's not the case because I still don't have a rebate or reply from
them.

Malcolm

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Are these for HD's bought the day after Thanksgiving? I got all my rebates
for those.

-Shay

At 10:52 AM 3/25/2004, you wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Tony Maro" <tony@maro.net>
>Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 9:28 AM
>
>
> > Did anyone else buy one on a raincheck and have all the rebates rejected
> > for being outside the "rebate period"?
> >
> > I'm about to go down to OfficeMax for a refund of the HD.
> >
> > -Tony
>
>I hope that's not the case because I still don't have a rebate or reply from
>them.
>
>Malcolm
>
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-users mailing list
>mythtv-users@mythtv.org
>http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

> From: Tony Maro <tony@maro.net>
>
>Did anyone else buy one on a raincheck and have all the rebates rejected
> for being outside the "rebate period"?
>
> I'm about to go down to OfficeMax for a refund of the HD.

Well, I did wonder about this myself. I asked at OfficeMax when I
picked up the rainchecked disk and they told me that the rebate period
had been extended (of course, they also gave me the wrong month's
rebate book, so I didn't want to necessarily take them at their word).

Anyway I called both rebate
companies (this was a $79.99 disk with two separate $30 rebates), explained
the situation, and after some delay while they consulted who knows
whom, both rebate companies said the same thing: the rebate *would* be
honored, but they recommended that I include an explanatory letter
along with the rebate submission detailing the exceptional
situation. So that's what I did, along with a copy of the raincheck
itself. I haven't been able to check the rebate status as yet.

I haven't knowingly lost a rebate yet (except for some Kbyte memory sticks
when I didn't notice it said only one per household, and I'd bought two),
but I am getting pretty sick of all the paperwork involved. Maybe I'm just
beginning to value my time more that I used to. Must be getting old...

I may just start to avoid buying rebated items. This week, I
bought a KVM switch at Fry's and didn't even realise it came with a
rebate till they gave me the form at the checkout.

Dang. My first posting to myth-users and it's a rant...

__
Lol

For those of you who like to know about these things, my mythtv system
is running on an old HP-7975/AsusTek P4B-LA OEM Intel chipset mobo/
2GHz P4 CPU, because that' s what was spare when I got fed up with not being
able to predict exactly what my replaytv unit was actually going to
record at any time.
I added a Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, 512M PC2100, 450GB of disk,
GeForce4 MX 420 and PVR-250 + AVerMedia M179 (both from ebay).
I mostly watch recorded TV in a small mplayer window while writing
code, so that means I almost never run mythfrontend, just mythweb and
mplayer, and it's very stable.
My main regret at this point is that the TV programming in general just
isn't
getting any better...




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>From: Lol Grant <lolgrant@hotpop.com>
>Reply-To: Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users@mythtv.org>
>To: mythtv-users@mythtv.org
>Subject: [mythtv-users] Re: The OfficeMax hard drives we all talked about
>Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:32:48 -0800
>
> > From: Tony Maro <tony@maro.net>
> >
> >Did anyone else buy one on a raincheck and have all the rebates rejected
> > for being outside the "rebate period"?
> >
> > I'm about to go down to OfficeMax for a refund of the HD.
>
>Well, I did wonder about this myself. I asked at OfficeMax when I
>picked up the rainchecked disk and they told me that the rebate period
>had been extended (of course, they also gave me the wrong month's
>rebate book, so I didn't want to necessarily take them at their word).
>
>Anyway I called both rebate
>companies (this was a $79.99 disk with two separate $30 rebates), explained
>the situation, and after some delay while they consulted who knows
>whom, both rebate companies said the same thing: the rebate *would* be
>honored, but they recommended that I include an explanatory letter
>along with the rebate submission detailing the exceptional
>situation. So that's what I did, along with a copy of the raincheck
>itself. I haven't been able to check the rebate status as yet.
>
>I haven't knowingly lost a rebate yet (except for some Kbyte memory sticks
>when I didn't notice it said only one per household, and I'd bought two),
>but I am getting pretty sick of all the paperwork involved. Maybe I'm just
>beginning to value my time more that I used to. Must be getting old...
>
>I may just start to avoid buying rebated items. This week, I
>bought a KVM switch at Fry's and didn't even realise it came with a
>rebate till they gave me the form at the checkout.
>
>Dang. My first posting to myth-users and it's a rant...
>
>__
>Lol
>
>For those of you who like to know about these things, my mythtv system
>is running on an old HP-7975/AsusTek P4B-LA OEM Intel chipset mobo/
>2GHz P4 CPU, because that' s what was spare when I got fed up with not
>being
>able to predict exactly what my replaytv unit was actually going to record
>at any time.
>I added a Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, 512M PC2100, 450GB of disk,
>GeForce4 MX 420 and PVR-250 + AVerMedia M179 (both from ebay).
>I mostly watch recorded TV in a small mplayer window while writing
>code, so that means I almost never run mythfrontend, just mythweb and
>mplayer, and it's very stable.
>My main regret at this point is that the TV programming in general just
>isn't
>getting any better...
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-users mailing list
>mythtv-users@mythtv.org
>http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users

I posted the original message and I always figured that it wouldn't
be a walk in the park. On the other hand, I heard about some
local people who went to OfficeMax, got the rain check and when
they went in to get the drive later on paid only $20 without having
to send in any rebate (and saved the tax to boot!!!!).

As always, YMMV!

-- Harry O.

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>From: Lol Grant <lolgrant@hotpop.com>
>Reply-To: Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users@mythtv.org>
>To: mythtv-users@mythtv.org
>Subject: [mythtv-users] Re: The OfficeMax hard drives we all talked about
>Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 14:32:48 -0800
>
> > From: Tony Maro <tony@maro.net>
> >
> >Did anyone else buy one on a raincheck and have all the rebates rejected
> > for being outside the "rebate period"?
> >
> > I'm about to go down to OfficeMax for a refund of the HD.
>
>Well, I did wonder about this myself. I asked at OfficeMax when I
>picked up the rainchecked disk and they told me that the rebate period
>had been extended (of course, they also gave me the wrong month's
>rebate book, so I didn't want to necessarily take them at their word).
>
>Anyway I called both rebate
>companies (this was a $79.99 disk with two separate $30 rebates), explained
>the situation, and after some delay while they consulted who knows
>whom, both rebate companies said the same thing: the rebate *would* be
>honored, but they recommended that I include an explanatory letter
>along with the rebate submission detailing the exceptional
>situation. So that's what I did, along with a copy of the raincheck
>itself. I haven't been able to check the rebate status as yet.
>
>I haven't knowingly lost a rebate yet (except for some Kbyte memory sticks
>when I didn't notice it said only one per household, and I'd bought two),
>but I am getting pretty sick of all the paperwork involved. Maybe I'm just
>beginning to value my time more that I used to. Must be getting old...
>
>I may just start to avoid buying rebated items. This week, I
>bought a KVM switch at Fry's and didn't even realise it came with a
>rebate till they gave me the form at the checkout.
>
>Dang. My first posting to myth-users and it's a rant...
>
>__
>Lol
>
>For those of you who like to know about these things, my mythtv system
>is running on an old HP-7975/AsusTek P4B-LA OEM Intel chipset mobo/
>2GHz P4 CPU, because that' s what was spare when I got fed up with not
>being
>able to predict exactly what my replaytv unit was actually going to record
>at any time.
>I added a Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, 512M PC2100, 450GB of disk,
>GeForce4 MX 420 and PVR-250 + AVerMedia M179 (both from ebay).
>I mostly watch recorded TV in a small mplayer window while writing
>code, so that means I almost never run mythfrontend, just mythweb and
>mplayer, and it's very stable.
>My main regret at this point is that the TV programming in general just
>isn't
>getting any better...
>
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>mythtv-users mailing list
>mythtv-users@mythtv.org
>http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users


Sorry for the 2nd reply:

BTW: OfficeMax LOST THEIR SHIRTS on this deal!!!

I think I heard that they had to order 30,000 extra drives to
fill all of the rainchecks they gave out.


-- Harry O.

_________________________________________________________________
Get tax tips, tools and access to IRS forms – all in one place at MSN Money!
http://moneycentral.msn.com/tax/home.asp

> I may just start to avoid buying rebated items. This week, I
> bought a KVM switch at Fry's and didn't even realise it came
> with a rebate till they gave me the form at the checkout.

I absolutely hate mail-in rebates as they always try to screw you out of the
rebate on one excuse or another. Not to mention the fact that they have use
of my money for a period of several months even when they honor the rebate.

I have found that most times I can take the rebated price from one place and
go to another like Circuit City and get the identical price without a
rebate. CC refers to this as an instant rebate. I have pulled the trick
several times now and plan on doing it again when I buy my dvd recorder.

They must be getting tired of seeing me by now LOL.

I didn't get in on this particular deal, but go to the OfficeMax where you
bought them and see if they'll give you the rebates on the spot. If not,
call the rebate center and I'm sure if you explain the situation to them
that they'll validate your rebate claim.

- Jared

-----Original Message-----
From: mythtv-users-bounces@mythtv.org
[mailto:mythtv-users-bounces@mythtv.org]On Behalf Of Tony Maro
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 10:28 AM
To: Discussion about mythtv
Subject: [mythtv-users] The OfficeMax hard drives we all talked about


Did anyone else buy one on a raincheck and have all the rebates rejected
for being outside the "rebate period"?

I'm about to go down to OfficeMax for a refund of the HD.

-Tony

On Wednesday 24 March 2004 13:38, Garry wrote:

[snip]

>
> As a guy from England, I have no idea what this rebate thing is all
> about! (Well, ok, I can guess)
>
> Sounds like a lot of hassle. Is it just a scam to get lazy people to
> pay more? Not looking for a flaming, just curious as we have nothing
> like that over here... But then again, I pay more for my goodies.


Yep, you've hit the nail on the head... mail-in rebates are a way that a
manufacturer (or reseller) can advertise a lower price than what you
actually pay at the cash register. In order to get the rebate, usually
you must mail in a completed rebate form, together with proof of
purchase (usually a dated sales receipt + a clipping from the product
package, like a serial number). There are usually all kinds of
restrictions on rebates regarding eligibility dates and the like. I
once purchased a rebate item from Circuit City and discovered that the
rebate was only valid if the mail-in form was postmarked no later than
that very day... I never rushed to the post office so fast!

Needless to say, companies that offer mail-in rebates count on a certain
percentage of them never being filed due to laziness, forgetfulness, or
incomplete applications. So the short answer is "yes", it is just a
scam to get lazy people to pay more :-)

-JAC
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>>As a guy from England, I have no idea what this rebate thing is all
>>about! (Well, ok, I can guess)
>>
>>Sounds like a lot of hassle. Is it just a scam to get lazy people to
>>pay more? Not looking for a flaming, just curious as we have nothing
>>like that over here... But then again, I pay more for my goodies.

I wouldnt be surprised that those dont exist in England because they've been
outlawed as a scam-like marketing tatic. Buy your $50 piece of equipment for
$100, send in a $50 rebate. We hope you forget to send it, or forget to send
it with the receipt, or something else, and now your $50 piece of equipment
just cost you $100.

The ONLY plus side to rebates that I see, and try to take advantage of, is
my credit card gives me points for purchases that I can use for bonuses and
the like. I want a hard drive, I pay $100 for it, and get a $50 rebate. SWo
it costs me $50, BUT I charged $100 on my credit card, I get 100 points
instead of 50, if it had been on sale for $50.

Also, sometimes I can get discounted circuit city gift cards... I pay $80
for $100 in gift cards. So if I pay $80 for $100 in cards, buy that same
drive with them, and get a $50 rebate, I get that $100 hard drive for $30
instead of $50 (I paid $80 for the cards, which paid for the $100 drive, and
then I got $50 back in rebates... net cost: $30)

So there are SOME advantages IF you know how to use them right.

Joseph A. Caputo wrote:
> On Wednesday 24 March 2004 13:38, Garry wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>
>>As a guy from England, I have no idea what this rebate thing is all
>>about! (Well, ok, I can guess)
>>
>>Sounds like a lot of hassle. Is it just a scam to get lazy people to
>>pay more? Not looking for a flaming, just curious as we have nothing
>>like that over here... But then again, I pay more for my goodies.
>
>
>
> Yep, you've hit the nail on the head... mail-in rebates are a way that a
> manufacturer (or reseller) can advertise a lower price than what you
> actually pay at the cash register. In order to get the rebate, usually

I think you are missing the number one reason for mail-in
rebates: Junk mail. They have your mailing address, you
will now get junk mail. They sell their accumulated
addresses to, oh maybe, AOL (probably via 1+ middlemen) and
AOL sends you "AOL 27.0 Advanced Super-dooper" on CD.

> Needless to say, companies that offer mail-in rebates count on a certain
> percentage of them never being filed due to laziness, forgetfulness, or
> incomplete applications. So the short answer is "yes", it is just a
> scam to get lazy people to pay more :-)

No, it is a scam to get people to "opt-in" for more junk
mail. My former roommate, a marketing type, explained it
all to me years ago.

Garry wrote:

> Lol Grant wrote:
>
>> > From: Tony Maro <tony@maro.net>
>> >
>> >Did anyone else buy one on a raincheck and have all the rebates
>> rejected
>> > for being outside the "rebate period"?
>> >
>> > I'm about to go down to OfficeMax for a refund of the HD.
>>
>> Well, I did wonder about this myself. I asked at OfficeMax when I
>> picked up the rainchecked disk and they told me that the rebate period
>> had been extended (of course, they also gave me the wrong month's
>> rebate book, so I didn't want to necessarily take them at their word).
>>
>> Anyway I called both rebate
>> companies (this was a $79.99 disk with two separate $30 rebates),
>> explained
>> the situation, and after some delay while they consulted who knows
>> whom, both rebate companies said the same thing: the rebate *would* be
>> honored, but they recommended that I include an explanatory letter
>> along with the rebate submission detailing the exceptional
>> situation. So that's what I did, along with a copy of the raincheck
>> itself. I haven't been able to check the rebate status as yet.
>>
>> I haven't knowingly lost a rebate yet (except for some Kbyte memory
>> sticks
>> when I didn't notice it said only one per household, and I'd bought
>> two),
>> but I am getting pretty sick of all the paperwork involved. Maybe
>> I'm just
>> beginning to value my time more that I used to. Must be getting old...
>>
>> I may just start to avoid buying rebated items. This week, I
>> bought a KVM switch at Fry's and didn't even realise it came with a
>> rebate till they gave me the form at the checkout.
>>
>> Dang. My first posting to myth-users and it's a rant...
>>
>> __
>> Lol
>>
>> For those of you who like to know about these things, my mythtv system
>> is running on an old HP-7975/AsusTek P4B-LA OEM Intel chipset mobo/
>> 2GHz P4 CPU, because that' s what was spare when I got fed up with
>> not being
>> able to predict exactly what my replaytv unit was actually going to
>> record at any time.
>> I added a Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, 512M PC2100, 450GB of disk,
>> GeForce4 MX 420 and PVR-250 + AVerMedia M179 (both from ebay).
>> I mostly watch recorded TV in a small mplayer window while writing
>> code, so that means I almost never run mythfrontend, just mythweb and
>> mplayer, and it's very stable.
>> My main regret at this point is that the TV programming in general
>> just isn't
>> getting any better...
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> mythtv-users mailing list
>> mythtv-users@mythtv.org
>> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>
>
> As a guy from England, I have no idea what this rebate thing is all
> about! (Well, ok, I can guess)
>
> Sounds like a lot of hassle. Is it just a scam to get lazy people to
> pay more? Not looking for a flaming, just curious as we have nothing
> like that over here... But then again, I pay more for my goodies.
>
> -Garry
>
Thanks for the explaination guys....

It's a shame we don't have large PC component shops here. The only large
one, where you can pop in and browse is PC world, but they charge WAY
over the top for components. For example;

40gb Western Digital 7200 drive. Normal ATA.... £79.99 ($145)

256mb 133mhz SODIMM £59.99 ($108)

Yeah, we can get cheaper by buying online, but come on... :-)

-Garry.

--
"From yourself, you can't run away." - Killswitch Engage.

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--- "Kevin D. Snodgrass" <kds.mythtv@cox.net> wrote:
> Joseph A. Caputo wrote:
> > On Wednesday 24 March 2004 13:38, Garry wrote:
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> >
> >>As a guy from England, I have no idea what this rebate thing is all
> >>about! (Well, ok, I can guess)
> >>
> >>Sounds like a lot of hassle. Is it just a scam to get lazy people to
> >>pay more? Not looking for a flaming, just curious as we have nothing
> >>like that over here... But then again, I pay more for my goodies.
> >
> >
> >
> > Yep, you've hit the nail on the head... mail-in rebates are a way that a
> > manufacturer (or reseller) can advertise a lower price than what you
> > actually pay at the cash register. In order to get the rebate, usually
>
> I think you are missing the number one reason for mail-in
> rebates: Junk mail. They have your mailing address, you
> will now get junk mail. They sell their accumulated
> addresses to, oh maybe, AOL (probably via 1+ middlemen) and
> AOL sends you "AOL 27.0 Advanced Super-dooper" on CD.
>
> > Needless to say, companies that offer mail-in rebates count on a certain
> > percentage of them never being filed due to laziness, forgetfulness, or
> > incomplete applications. So the short answer is "yes", it is just a
> > scam to get lazy people to pay more :-)
>
> No, it is a scam to get people to "opt-in" for more junk
> mail. My former roommate, a marketing type, explained it
> all to me years ago.
>

I'm pretty sure using rebates as a loss leader is quite common as well. How
many people go into best buy for that awesome hard drive and end up buying some
batteries and maybe a movie on an end cap on their way out. Getting people
into the store I would imagine is the hardest part of doing business.

Billy

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