Rebates Suck
Okay, so everyone knows this, but why aren't rebates illegal? It seems every Consumer Electronic gadget being sold has a rebate nowadays. It's such a con game. All these stores out there advertise one price heavily (with a little star next to the price) and then have this Mail In Rebate included next to the price which only a very small portion of the consumers actually get around to sending in.
I bought a TiVo for my parents for Christmas. Now that's a $100 rebate which I'm definitely going to send in, but the $20 on my Creative MuVo? Well, it's too late because I accidentally threw the box out, and the receipt from Fry's? Well, I'm not sure *what* bag that's in. It probably got thrown out with the rest of the Christmas shopping. I've got one or two other rebates floating around here as well. I doubt they'll ever get mailed.
I wish California at least would do something about it. Very simply, if the company offers a rebate, you should be allowed to collect at the counter. I think we'd suddenly see real pricing show up then, wouldn't we? Not all this crap and lies.
-Russ