The invisible Rebate!

I am dying to meet someone who has actually received a rebate from a cell phone company. Well, perhaps I should amend that to say anyone who has received a rebate without having to scream down the phone at the people in charge of handing out the rebates! You have to admit that it is a great sales gimmick. You go to the cell phone store and they quote you an incredibly attractive price on the phone after you have received your invisible rebate. In the back of your mind you realize that you still have to pay the full price up front but it won't be so bad once you get 50% of your money back.

So you pay up and off you go with your fancy new phone. Now I have to admit that a couple of times I have forgotten to even fill out the rebate form - something I am sure that the cell phone companies are counting on. However, there have been at least 2-3 times when I have laboriously filled the thing out thinking 'I'm going to make them give me the rebate this time'. Off it goes in the mail and then I forget about it (this is something that I think the cell phone companies are also hoping happens).

So, perhaps twice over my relatively long history of cell phone ownership, I have bothered to follow up. After a good hour on the phone with the rebate center I am near screaming point. Eventually I get someone on the phone who mumbles that it must still be in their system and to try back in another couple of weeks. You have to ask yourself 'is it worth it?' The benefit of the rebate seems like some long distant memory compared to the benefit of staying sane. Staying sane requires that I no longer have long, painful conversations with the rebate center at the cell phone company.

So they win! No rebate for me - again. Let's be honest here - this is a great sales tool. The invisible rebate. It get's me every time.