I’m not sure this has a close, direct relationship with psychology, but as a consumer in this crazy American society we live in, I feel compelled to participate in my fair share of purchasing stuff. Some stuff I need, some stuff I don’t. I figure I’m a fairly average and normal consumer.
Recently, however, I’ve begun to suspect that there’s something of a scam going on against consumers. Best Buy, Circuit City and others herald prices in their Sunday circulars for consumer electronic goods. A closer look at those wonderful prices often shows they come with a small catch — you have to send in a rebate form and meet the conditions of the rebate.
One Sunday I saw a very good price on an item I wanted to purchase. I bought it, according to the rebate advertised, at the higher price, and within a week’s time sent in the materials necessary to receive the rebate. A few weeks later I get a letter from Circuit City (the particular retailer I purchased this item from). It says, sorry, no rebate, for “Invalid Purchase Date.” Huh? I saw the price advertised in the sale circular and purchased it based upon the sale price for the item. There’s no way it wasn’t within the purchase date the item was good for.
The problem is, they want a response for me to “submit the missing information.” How can I submit proof that this rebate should be honored, as the purchase fell within the rebate dates specified? I know, I should’ve made photocopies of everything I sent in, but like many consumers, I don’t usually do that — and didn’t do it for this one.
I love consumerism, but I recognize rebates for what they are — a barrier to receiving the advertised price for a good on sale. Even when you follow the directions, you have no guarantee of ever seeing your money.
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3 Comments to
“Are Rebates a Consumer Scam?”
Right on. Here is Dilbert’s take on rebates:
I agree 100%. I recently bought a computer at Office Depot. I also was told to send in the information to receive the rebate.
However, the forms wanted so many security numbers off of the receipt and did not state which codes were the correct ones. If
you filled in the wrong codes, the rebate was denied. I basically felt that the store made the process so obscure and difficult
to follow, that people would just give up, like I did.
Because mail-in rebates were the Number 1 customer complaint at OfficeMax, they have decided to discontinue using them:
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6090290.html
The problem with rebates is that is a nameless, faceless redemption organization (that has virtually no association with the retailer) actually handles the paperwork. If something goes wrong, as has happened to me twice now in the past 6 months, you have to go through this secondary organization — which doesn’t care anything about customer satisfaction. That results in a lousy consumer experience, one where most people (even when they get the money) feel like it’s take up a lot of their time and effort for very little reward.
It’s fairly similar to coupons, although there’s a lot less hassle to redeem them. Why not just give everyone the discount? Why make people go through the archaic routine of sitting down with hundreds of pieces of paper each week to save $0.25? Seriously, do any consumer product companies really believe this makes people feel more positively toward their brand?
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 1 Jul 2006
