- Dec
- 17
So, it’s great to buy something that has a rebate. You pay full price but the manufacturer is willing to send you a portion of that price back. The downside is that you often have to wait up to 2 months to get your check.
I just purchased the Samsung A737 from AT&T a month ago with a $50 rebate. It’s a slick phone and the idea that I would get money back is a nice incentive. I fill out the form, cut out part of the box, and get ready to mail it when I read the fine print. It says fairly normal stuff, legal notices and such. But it also tells me that I have to wait 8-12 weeks to get my $50 in the form of an AT&T Rewards Card. That idea bugs me. That means that I purchased their phone, at full price, but the money I would be getting back can’t be redeemed for cash and I instead have $50 to spend with AT&T, again. I’m trying to sort out how I feel about that. On one hand, I am getting money back and, certainly, I could put it towards my AT&T bill or something, but, maybe I wanted to spend that money somewhere else. Can’t they just send a $50 check?
Also, two weeks after mailing, I get a text message from AT&T saying that my rebate was received and is being processed and the payment should be sent out in 8-12 weeks (2-3 months). Now, we live in a world where I can access my money 24/7 on my bank’s website. I can pay any one of my bills instantly over the internet. I can pay AT&T money in the blink of an eye, but I have to wait 2-3 months to get money from them? My services get cut off and I’m fined a late fee if I pay past a bill’s due date, but I have to wait 2-3 months for them to cut me a check?
The 3 rebate schemes I can think of off the top of my head are a check mailed to you, a promotion card mailed to you, and the instant rebate. I’m not sure I like any of those ideas. The first 2 make you wait for your money. The instant rebate seems silly because if you’re just going to take money off the retail price at the register, why not simply discount the product to a lower price in the first place? Is it the illusion that you’re spending less on the product with the rebate then one without? Is this a straight psychology thing to get us to purchase one product versus another? Is a rebate really an incentive?
I’m not one of the people deciding which product gets a rebate and why that makes sense from a business perspective, so I can’t answer those questions. So instead, I’m sitting here waiting for my $50.
