Making Sure You Don't Get Your Rebate Money: Patented!
from the fun-fun-fun dept
Here's a nice story that combines two things people around here tend not to like: annoying rebates that never get paid and ridiculous patents. We've all heard stories about the difficulty in actually getting your money from certain rebate programs. In fact, the FTC has had to crack down on companies more than once over the failure to pay out rebates. However, the latest, as pointed out by Good Morning Silicon Valley is a just-granted patent on a system for managing a rebate program. Perhaps there could be some innovative ways to manage a rebate program, though it's questionable if that really deserves a patent. But, what's much more interesting, as GMSV points out, as you read the patent, you realize what they're really patenting is a way to make sure those who run a rebate program can more efficiently make sure people don't get paid. The patent discusses this pretty frankly, explaining that the goal of any rebate program is to "reduce the number of successful rebate claimants" by "requiring post-purchase activities." Any time someone buys a rebate-eligible offering, but fails to get the money, that's considered "breakage." This patent, then, is designed to provide "a more consumer friendly method for processing rebates that maintains a breakage rate." In other words, a more efficient process for making sure you don't get paid. In fact, the patent later highlights that their system, while being more customer friendly, "retains hurdles sufficient to maintain breakage." Sounds just great.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Wow
sweet jeebus.
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Re:
They would have gotten one but it was too much of a hassle.
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CompUSA sucks
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Re: CompUSA sucks
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Re: CompUSA sucks
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Re: CompUSA sucks
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Re: CompUSA sucks
Good luck on that there are hundreds if not thousands of reviews showing that no rebate ever comes out of Tigerdirect and Onrebate is actually the same company just a different division I would do a Google on Tigerdirect reviews and check it out.
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Untrue and potentially libellous
Glad to see you remained anonymous. The last rebates I got from TiggerDirect came through after about five months... but only after I had phoned them up and asked nicely.
Recent legal action may have helped them to clean up their act, but I have not been able to bring myself to risk it since then.
Moral: Geeks have long memories.
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Re: Re: CompUSA sucks
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rebate schmebate
this is an insane thing.
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Re: rebate schmebate
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Breakage
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Re:
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pay with credit card
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Re: pay with credit card
Let's get a petition to get companies to distribute rebates 30 days after the deadline date and have FTC enforce it. Then that might work.
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Re: Re: pay with credit card
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Re: pay with credit card
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Still love the DVD player, though.
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Rebates
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New Horizons
Think - new methods for defeating security systems, blasting bank vaults and perpetrating frauds are all now patentable in our brave new world of patent law. If this had been possible in the past Ponzi could have gotten rich off the royalties for his business method and left the actual crime to someone else.
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Re: New Horizons
Want to see a REAL rebate scam? Look at the US Government!
C'mon, now! The Greed For The Almighty Dollar now replaces God Almighty! WTF is your problem with this concept; what part of "I'm gonna screw you because the Government says I can" do you fail to understand? Just bend over and take it; do NOT expect a reach-around, or any K-Y!
Either get with the program, SUCKER, or CHANGE IT!
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Good patent!
It's effectively like a scorpion killing itself with its own poision.
Let's drink to it.
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Here's and idea
That government body would then send the amount of the original rebate back to the comsumer, and keep the rest for 'administarive fees'.
Everybody wins. ^^
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Vonage
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Breakage happens. So what.
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Re: Breakage happens. So what.
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Screw brick-and-mortar retailers
People have gotten sick of lousy customer service, empty promises, and pseudo-pricing.
Why spend the time driving to the stored just to get played by some "ingenious" marketing ploy.
NEWSFLASH TO BUSINESS:
People are waking up to the fact that most of you are only out there to screw us over in one way or another. It might be a good time to review the way you treat the people who make your existence possible.
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Re: Screw brick-and-mortar retailers
Online retailers do more Rebates than B&M's do.
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rebate
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REBATE REWARDS
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Re: REBATE REWARDS
If my time were so cheap, I'd be more inclined to.
As it is, dinky $10 or $20 rebates are not worth my time to fill out and return, especially if it's going to require a half-hour of more work on the back-end to actually get the money promised.
And that's what the companies are really counting on.
So far nobody has mentioned the other obvious benefit to companies of rebate programs, which is the personal information that they obtain which they then can use for marketing (to you as well as for research purposes).
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REBATES
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Rebates are a waste of time no matter what
Even without breakage, I find rebates to be insulting. Is it really worth my time, my privacy, and my brainpower to read that form, fill it out following all the rules, and then wait 4-6 weeks for my money? My time is worth more than that.
Not only that, but once I've sent off the rebate, I can't return the item to the store because you have to cut off the UPC off the box.
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So can I...
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Just think about it for a second before flaming
Now, if you actually read the patent, which is linked to in this article, you will read "the rebate processing system provides a user friendly interface, yet retains hurdles sufficient to maintain breakage." All that this means is that the program is more convenient to use than mailing in paper rebate forms, but will still pose similar situations which would cause breakage, such as actually having to get onto the website, a reluctancy to give out personal information, actually remembering about the rebate, etc.
All of this is very logical, and I'm glad that this patent has gone through. Honestly, when I'd buy rebatable items, I rarely sent in the rebates (unless is was for over $20), because of the trouble, no matter how minimal, but with this rebate system, I will fill out the rebate forms, because it's much easier and I'm usually on a computer anyway.
New motto: think before you flame.
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I have done probably 20-40 rebates in the last 3 years and have gotten all of them except for one I thought I sent but found in a bag with UPC and everything ready to go...
I always make sure to triple check the checklist of required things, tape the upc and stuff to the form, take pictures of it all together, and then send it out a few days/weeks before the postmark date. One time I couldn't find a copy of the upc or receipt or something of the sort and after calling the rebate place they said to just leave a note saying I couldn't find it anywhere and to sign it. I got that rebate with no problems too...
Also, a lot of rebates people have problems with are handled by Continental Promotion Group which I think is out of Niagara Falls. You can track those rebates through http://rebatestatus.com I took a screenshot when it showed both of my rebates listed there just in case. It was kind of funny because a few days later one of them was taken off of there. I was going to follow up on it and show the pic and stuff but it arrived on it's own in the mail a few days later...
My brother has always had horrible handwriting and he complains about never getting rebates so I assume it's related.
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It is no secret that rebates are simply marketting gimmicks to drive sales and companies would rather not honor the rebate.
So, I ignore them. If they want to drive sales via lower selling price they will do this via a legit sale where my cost at checkout is less.
Anything else is simply a wanna be scam and I don't care to waste my time of such things.
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Re: Best Buy eliminating mail-in rebates
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Re: Re: Best Buy eliminating mail-in rebates
The fact that they and TiggerDirect got smacked around in court over rebates might have had something to do with it....
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Re: Re: Best Buy eliminating mail-in rebates
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No Mail-in Rebates
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Close, but no cigar...
In my experience this is not really true. OMax is the nearest tech store to my house, and was my preferred store until about a year ago, when the rebate deals dried up. Most of the killer deals - along will ALL of the free-after-rebate offers that interested me - vanished.
Rebates are not the problem, at least not for me. Dishonest rebate houses that use tricks and delays to avoid paying out are the problem. This is why I still do rebate deals (NewEgg, BUY.COM etc), but I don't buy from TigerDirect (for instance).
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My Official Flip off to all rebating companies!
Until then they may consider themselves officially flipped off,and that is my gaurantee.
Lewis Savage
682-438-2431
Fort Worth,Texas
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Won't happen
I have gotten plenty of "free after rebate" items (including a TiVo, which cost me the sales tax on $150). Would they give stuff away? I doubt it.
Not to blow my own horn, but here is my humble offering on the subject.
http://wizardprang.wordpress.com/rebateguide/
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HELLO?????
This may actually be a good thing for once.
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rebates
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And this is...
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I ignore rebates too
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Am I missing a point here or ...
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Some of you are crazy
Anyone who says differently must work for these rebate companies.
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Well if EVERYONE avoided this trap....
right now im only getting 1/2 of my rebate due to marketing tactics, but believe me Ill never shop at tiger direct again on a mail-in rebate headache promotion, in fact ill just order most my purchases online, that way it really cuts out the middle man.
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