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 …
Before posting, please read our blog moderation guidelines. The comments below begin with the oldest comments first. Click on the last comments page to jump to the most recent comments.
Before posting, please read our blog moderation guidelines.
Post a Comment:
Copyright © 1992-2012 Psych Central. All rights reserved.
Site last updated: 25 May 2012
|
Right on. Here is Dilbert’s take on rebates:
http://stephen.evilcoder.com/archives/2003/11/08/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?
Cell phones are one of the worst. Every Verizon phone is advertised at the a certain price–fter the rebate.
Of course every business is going to do what’s in their best interest-these false prices increase their bottom line since people forget to return the materials, lose their receipt, or sometimes the hassle of getting the rebate is not worth it or the opportunity is lost when the task is put off for later.
Worse than rebates are those reward cards where they mail you the coupons. Then you forget to bring them to the store and its not worth making the trip back to the store to use your coupon, or you end up spending more money as you make another trip to use your reward coupon. Funny, each item you purchase is tracked-but they don’t have a record of your rebate/reward due in their computer when your card is scanned at the time of purchase. The rebate information is obviously stored in the same system, so it should be automatically deducted from your purchase the next time you make a trip to the store. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost out on these rewards by forgetting to bring the paper coupons.
They make it so time consuming and a hassle to get the so-called sale prices. Complain, call, write letters-or boycott these stores. There’s not much more we can do.
I wonder why I’ve never seen these tactics in Europe? Anyway, you are not the only one who is becoming fed up with all the sales gimmicks out there!