Saturday, January 07, 2006

Rebates and why I won't buy from Brother

Update 1/11/06: The rebate showed up today, 12 weeks after I sent it in. So it was 50% past its deadline but it did appear. I also found the rebate company had quite a good web site (though it didn't match to my rebate, probably due to a data entry error) and very good phone service (which did locate my rebate and told me it had been mailed out). So I'm annoyed, but no longer angry.

I bought myself a Brother MFC-7820N multi-function device about 10 weeks ago. It's got some bugs, but on the whole I'm very pleased with it.

Even so, I won't buy from Brother again.

Why?

It came with a $50 rebate. I don't make buying decisions based on rebates, but this was enough money it was worth submitting. After 8 weeks I wrote the rebate site asking what had happened. No response. Now it's been 10 weeks. I don't have time to pursue this further.

I'm human though. And humans, as we know, are programmed to punish cheaters. It's a large part of what has made us a successful intensely social species. Brother cheated. Logically, since the device is worth more to me than what I paid for it, I should still recommend buying it. In this case though, I'll go with my biological imperative.

I won't buy from Brother again. Cheaters.

2 comments:

  1. I got mine remarkably quickly for a rebate. Meanwhile, a $50 rebate from Cingular and a $15 rebate from Verbatim have yet to materialize, more than 4 months after sending them in.

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  2. I have blacklisted many companies including Lexar Media, APC and CompUSA. Now I've had enough and I'm going to do something about it.

    I believe mail-in rebates should be illegal. I will be posting a site soon:(www.makerebatesillegal.com)

    Send me your comments directly at makerebatesillegal@hotmail.com.

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