Anyone else screwed by Tigerdirect and Onrebate
 

Okay, I was stupid and bought what I though was a good deal from Tiger Direct, 17" flat monitor for about $200, but after the supposed rebate it was less than $100. Got the monitor, its okay, I keep it on the pc near the kitchen to check emails and watch the tv news in the morning.

I jumped through all the hoops that their other company, Onrebate (wasn't hard to dig around the web to find they are the same company) requested, fill this out, cut out the upc, mail it in, they send you the money, supposedly quickly. They even send you all these nice emails on when things are approved and the money sent.

Well two weeks after they email me to say the check has been sent and I don't have it, the little girl on phone says "oh, just wait another week and call me if it doesn't show up". So I wait another week and call back, then she changes her tune, "oh, policy says we have 8 weeks to send you the check" Wait a minute, you said you mailed the check 3 weeks ago. "I know sir, but by policy you have to wait 8 weeks" WTF?

So now I have waited 12 weeks with no check in hand. It's after the 30 days I had to return the monitor and get all my money back, and I get no returned emails from Tiger Direct or Onrebate.

What would you do?

A check can be written on pretty much anything. I have noticed lately that some rebate checks are issued on little postcards that look like "junk mail", possibly in the hope that they get tossed and never cashed.

BTDT - that's what I don't fall for rebates any more.

Companies like this count on a certain level of attrition to keep advertised prices low. They know a certain number of their customers won't bother to apply for the rebate and for the rest that do, they make it fairly onerous to get the promised cash back. Rebate offers are for chumps. I always ask the retailer to handle it for me or I'll move on.

Would you have bought it wihtout the rebate? If so, consider the rebate - if you remember to send it in, etc. - as a bonus. If you need the rebate to make the purchase worthwhile, it isn't a good deal.

I think I have been screwed out of 90% of rebates that I have applied for. I don't do the rebate thing anymore.

Same here...

Although I have to admit I bought a shredder a Staples (with the rebate it was twice the size as the other shredders at the same price) only because the assured me the rebate could all be done online. I went to the website on the receipt, punched in the numbers, got a check in about a week. I wouldn't hesitate to do that again.

It was one of those funny postcard checks but it worked.

Oh and we bought a bunch of GIANT flatscreens from tigetdirect at what we though was a great price. When we got them we noticed they had some scratches, then we looked at the boxes and noticed they were marked "refurbished".
Would not buy from tigetdirect anymore.

BTW funny how friendly people are when you are rolling a pallet of 30" flatscreens through the office. ;)

Yep...
 

Yep... I don't buy anything that has a rebate attached... I refuse to be suckered in again!

Internet and some sellers still use the 80's technology of cutting rpc codes and sending to po boxes hoping for a check back. I hate rebates also. They coun't on you either not sending them in or they not sending it back to you. Just take the money off the price.

I've had mixed results with OnRebate. The rebate doesn't make or break the purchase for me, but if they are giving one, I'll send it in. I have the payments sent to my PayPal account instead of in check form. A couple of rebates from earlier in the year were paid within 2 weeks of approval. Two others I submitted at the end of July should have been here by now but are not.

I wonder if they are having any sort of financial problems?

I do rebates all the time... recently, more than ten in the last few months. I haven't had a problem yet.

Most of mine are manufacturer rebates... and mostly purchases from NewEgg... don't know if that matters or not.

- Skip

I use Tiger Direct quite often and never had a problem, but you're right, they don't cut you a break on the rebates...always takes weeks to get them back.

Anyway, they've always been prompt with returns, definitely much better than Buy.com (literally took 6+ months for a refund on an item...even when following their strict directions).

Rebates in general: It's got to be something I want badly and a heck of a price (after rebate) to make me bite. By the time you get the check back are you really getting a deal? I wrestle with that.

Same here, no big problems at all. I used to work for a guy who ran a rebate company and he taught me the tricks.

Photo copy everything, staple everything together and if they do not reply within a reasonable time frame, email the rebate company AND the company selling the product. The maker of the product does not want any unhappy customers and usually makes the rebate company do something.

+1 to everything said here. Rebates are for suckers. If they can't give you the cash off right then and there, I plan on never having it. When you look at a lot of stuff that way, the products the rebates are being offered on really don't represent the best deals all that often. In other words, completely disregard that the rebate even exists. Based on this, I think the last time I found a situation where the best deal overall WAS the one that just happened to have a rebate associated with it was about six years ago.

Don't bother with 'em. They're for desperate penny-pinching housewives with an eighth-grade education. I can't believe people still fall for them.

Company finally emailed me last night and asked for an updated address, they are reissuing the checks....uh huh....