The Rebate Scam – Part 2

A few days after I made my first post on this, CBC ran a special report on The National about these mail-in rebate schemes. According to that report, the company’s involved said as few as 10% of customers actually end up sending in the rebate information to claim their money back. They also interviewed a couple of people who have had trouble with actually getting companies to honour rebates, and it turns out that in some cases, even the people who end up sending in their information don’t always get the rebate in a timely fashion.

As evidence of the lure of these things, it was Oct 24th that I purchased the webcam and I just now got my rebate information sent off. Beyond the hassle involved, this one presented me with an interesting situation. Part of the requirements for this rebate is that I send back the UPC code from the original package (it specifically states I can’t use a photocopy of that code), which necessitated me cutting up the bottom of the cardboard vase the webcam came in. Given that most refunds today require the original packaging, by applying for my rebate I have effectively removed my ability to return the product for a refund.

According to the documentation, the whole process should take less than 8 weeks. For now, there’s nothing to do but wait, but I do have photocopies of all the relevant documentation in case something goes wrong. It’ll be nice to get a $30 Usd cheque sometime shortly before Christmas … or so I expect anyway. Take this as a test of the rebate system … I’ll post another message when I get the rebate, or in 8 weeks time if I haven’t.