Do you know that 60 percent of rebates don’t get redeemed? While sometimes this is because people just don’t bother to send them in, there is an even bigger problem: rebates that don’t get fulfilled.
I found this one out the hard way when a $75 rebate that I was promised never got fulfilled. And then when I finally did get my prepaid card, the card did not work. I was then told to reapply for the rebate, which of course by that time had expired. Despite putting in countless hours for this rebate, I still don’t have it. And, I am not alone.
The Better Business Bureau has been receiving more complaints than ever before concerning rebates, thousands and thousands each year. Still, it doesn’t look like anyone will be responding to these complaints any time soon.
Rebates are popular with manufacturers, especially on big ticket items, because most of the time, the rebate just winds up being free money for the manufacturer or the store. The slightest thing can make your rebate ineligible, from putting your phone number down in the wrong format or not including the extra four digits in your zip code.
There are so many tricks that manufacturers use to prevent rebates from being fulfilled. Short deadlines is one of them. Sometimes the deadline on the rebate could be as short as a day after purchase!
The popularity of giving you a rebate through a prepaid card is another trick. Many times the card has to be activated, which seems nearly impossible to do or results in the card being turned into a credit card with a high interest rate! Sometimes a fee is charged each month on these rebate cards, meaning that if you don’t use them right away, the rebate will disappear.
To avoid getting burned by a rebate rip off, do you research. Find out if other people have had issues with the rebate, the manufacturer or the store. In my case, the rebate was on the purchase of a Sears appliance, a mistake I won’t be making again.
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