Rebate System on the Way Out

Rebate System on the way out?

Brief:

The article is basically about the rebate system and its assessment from consumer point of view. The article suggests that rebate system is losing popularity and it will vanish in the near future. That suggestion is backed up with one major reason: a real hassle for the customer.

Some rebate forms have a lot of instructions on them and if you miss a single requirement you will not be able get your rebate. In addition, even if you fulfill all the requirements, sometimes it takes up to eight weeks to get your rebate. In eight weeks you will already forget about it, and in the case of not receiving it you will not be aware of it. To avoid all this, some stores such as Best Buy developed an online rebate program. However, they just announced that they plan to phase out the whole rebate system at the end of the year.

My opinions regarding to the issue:

When I first came to States in 2002, rebate system was one of the first things I literally hated. I went to Best Buy with a friend of mine -who was American- to a buy a new TV. I started to shop for the deals and I saw that on every TV there was a tag saying "after rebate". I asked my friend what that means and he said: "oh, you pay $500 now then you fill out a form, post it and you get your $100 back, so you end up paying the after rebate price of $400." I was confused. Why would I have to do such thing? Why don't I just pay $400? He said it's not a big deal all I have to do is to post a form and get a check. Well I bought the TV for $500 and I totally forgot about the whole rebate thing and when I remembered it my receipt was already lost. Since then, I always refused to buy items that have rebates on them. I consider the rebate system as a dirty way to make money for corporations. According to a research, four of 10 who are eligible for rebates never collect. (Rebates) The corporations are taking advantage of disorganized, busy and forgetful customers. To get your rebate here is the hassle you need to go through:

- Read and understand requirements

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