Rebate Bait Stinks
I recently resolved to not buy anything with a rebate offer - unless the rebate was given at time of purchase (dream on, Mar.) However, I’d already bought a MacBook from MacMall, back in December. As I download, print, and fill out forms; copy invoices; and clip barcodes off the box…here are my questions for MacMall:
1. If you don’t know if it shipped, why did you give me the UPS tracking number?
2. If you don’t know I bought it - why are you billing me?
3. If you don’t know what you sold me (including stock and serial number) - how can you bill me?
4. If you’re not obliged to give me the rebate due to your ignorance of #1, 2, and 3, why do you expect me to pay you?
Of course, these questions are from the “duh!” file since companies really do know all this stuff - they just don’t want to give the rebate. The rebate is marketing bait - and really old, stinky bait at that. The whole rebate game is based on two things: 1. Only a certain (small) percentage of customers will remember to claim rebates; 2. Making it as difficult as possible to get the rebate.
Here’s how it should work, MacMall (if you wanted walk your talk):
1. Give the rebate on the first invoice as a credit.
Or
2. Reduce the price upfront and forget the whole rebate silliness.
OR, when outsourced: Automatically send a copy of the order and confirmed shipment to the third party doing the rebate fulfillment. Don’t ask customers to prove to you that they bought the thing for which you’re billing them. DUH-OH!
I’m fully expecting to have to do another round or two of mailing, maybe even write MacMall’s CEO to get the rebate. We’ll see.
P.S. I just got a call from a survey firm asking about my satisfaction with the MacMall purchase. I flummoxed her since I didn’t follow survey process. Sure, the purchase went just fine and the product is cool (It’s a Mac, after all). But the issue is the goofball marketing process. I told the women all the above, after apologizing for throwing her off her script. Based on my past experience doing surveys - I’m pretty sure my response will be thrown out all together, since it’s not “statistcally valid” It might show up at the end of a report under “other comments.” Oh well.
P.P.S. I was also entitled to a $10 rebate on shipping - but that’s not even worth my time to track down the forms from somebody, somewhere. See how the rebate game “works?”
Related Post: The Never-Ending Rebate Wars
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Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting, web marketing, customer service, rebates, MacMall rebates
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January 22nd, 2008 at 10:27 am
We head nearly identical MacMall experiences. The absurdity of copying a number off of a MacMall-generated invoice onto a MacMall form to send back to MacMall just got to me. It makes me less likely to bother with them again.
I will say this for them, though; when one of the assorted rebates didn’t show up, I called them, and they had it sorted out very quickly and a check on its way to me, so I think however dumb the whole concept is, they actually are doing better than most at playing fair.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
That’s heartening. But isn’t it also a trifle sad that we give them kudos for - like - givint the basic service. They should be responsive to such things.
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:31 am
Having been rebate-stiffed twice in two years by MacMall for the same reason (”rebate request was postmarked after the required date”) I have decided to attempt to initiate a class action suit against the company and any of its associated enterprises (PC Mall?).
While not overtly deceptive, this nonsense clearly begs judicial attention since so many are being taken advantage of.
If you are interested in the cause, please reach me at rodjaros@yahoo.com.
In both my instances the items were Christmas gifts from my wife, purchased well before 12/25, but not opened until after Christmas, precluding the ability to submit on-time the required myriad forms and codes.
I spent time calling ahead this time to make sure I would still qualify. The ultra-polite (rehearsed) response was positive — after minutes on hold. I submitted the ton of paperwork only to get three identical letters today: no shipping rebate, no wireless transmitter rebate, and no ipod case rebate. Score another one for MacMall.
February 5th, 2008 at 7:29 am
[…] - Seth Godin, Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? Example #1: MacMall. I called re a problem with my rebate. When I asked the rep for the CEO’s name and contact info, he told me, “We’re not […]