Difficulty getting mail in rebates

[gackle]

Recently we purchased a laptop package from Circuit City, which came with free software and several mail-in rebates. After sorting through the maze of details on exactly what to send in and mailing in all of them, we were astonished to get postcards back from most of them saying that we didn't meet the requirements for the rebate. We got two from Circuit City, one from Computer Associates (Internet Security Suite software), and one from d-Link. All at least gave us a second chance. We called on the two from Circuit City as well as the Computer Associates and guess what? They said that they had all the info in the system that they needed and that a check would be mailed out soon! The d-link one was legit as I forgot to include the original UPC code. The same thing also happened with Sprint. After getting new phones and two in-store clerks saying we qualified for the mail-in rebate, we get a postcard in the mail saying that we were not qualified for the rebate because we had the in-store rebate. After calling Sprint they said we did qualify and that the check would be in the mail.
Moral of the story: always question these postcards they send back saying you don't qualify. We can't help but wonder how many people give up after receiving these postcards and how much money these corporations are keeping that's not theirs.

[vsjhoc]

Originally Posted by gackle

Moral of the story: always question these postcards they send back saying you don't qualify. We can't help but wonder how many people give up after receiving these postcards and how much money these corporations are keeping that's not theirs.

This is exactly why the companies can afford to offer rebates. They know that a certain percentage of people will never send them in, and a certain percentage will give up when they are told they don't qualify (like insurance companies automatically denying claims, even if they are valid).

[poundwise]

I pretty much avoid mail-in-rebate offers.