Mail-in Rebate Scam

Recently I had bought a couple of items because they were very cheap after the Mail-in Rebate (MIR). A full size laptop backpack and a spindle of 100 DVD-R. After the purchase, I had submitted my MIR form after carefully reviewing the requirements and ensuring that the MIR was postmarked in the dates mentioned with all the required documentation.

Suddenly last week I received letter from both of the rebate processing centers stating that my MIR were invalid because it was missing some details. To be precise the reasons were:

1. For the Backpack, the letter said that the submission was missing the purchase price
2. For the DVD spindle, the post card said that the submission was missing the UPC code.

No matter what, I was quite certain that I would not miss these details at all! I checked my copies and verified that I had submitted all the details. Once I had done that, I called each of the rebate processing centers.

I was surprised to hear their response, to say the least. They just verified my name and the tracking code (a nine digit number just above the name) and they said, "Since you are our customer, we will honour your rebate and process the reward." That's it. Nothing else was asked or verified. I guess I should be happy that my claim was processed and that I will not lose the money.

But then I thought what if someone doesn't follow up and just drops it because it is a pain in the b*** or simply did not keep copies of the documents? Is this is a way for the manufacturers to earn some extra cash all the while showing that they actually earned less because of the rebates? That's when I decided to post this on my website so that people can benefit from my experience.

Hope this helps someone. This definitely is not an attempt at spreading FUD or sensationalism. This is purely my first hand experience.