Canon Mail-In Rebate status--nothing available online. Gah.

Dr.Pete wrote in post #9534577
Well, it seems that they've come through. I'm actually impressed with Canon's responsiveness.

That being said, why do mail-in rebates make sense? It would seem that the instant rebate, a la the L lenses last month, would be much less resource-intensive.

The only theory I have for the use of mail-in rebates is that the companies use them to encourage a purchase, hoping that a certain percentage of customers will forget to mail in the form, lose the stuff, etc., thereby saving them some cash. The cynic strikes again...

But seriously, kudos to Canon for their help.

because someone makes money on everyone who gives up. when i bought my 5d kit i would have never gotten my $700 rebate if i hadn't been so persistent. everyone was having problems back then because the middleman -- young america -- was making lots of "errors" that required follow through for you to get your rebate.

ed rader

I just got my $500 camera/printer rebate today. 6 weeks from the time of them getting the docs. Pretty nice.

mail-in rebates make a lot of sense to the company - the rebate take/success rate is infinitely smaller than the % of items purchased under the program, therefore the companies "lose" less $$$ on these sales than it would first appear. Sure, there are aggravated, irate, and livid (ex-)customers, but that's a small price to pay for holding on to an extra $400-$500/transaction. Also, remember a lot of these programs are really a subsidy to the reseller. You pay B&H or whoever full price on that sale. These programs are often really just a disguised vendor financing tool for their retail channel, not really a way of making their end-purchasers happy.

Well, according to the site my rebate check is in the mail... Did I mention I hate mail-in rebates?

I mailed my $500 rebate on March 5th with delivery confirmation. I checked the website yesterday and they have already mailed my check. I should have my check in less than 5 weeks from the day I sent it, pretty good for a mail in rebate. Anybody else have a quick and easy response with their mail in rebate recently.

I sent in my rebate last Monday 3/22 and just got an email confirmation that my rebate was received. And it also says Audit Completed. Now just waiting for the check!

Quatroad wrote in post #9605552
mail-in rebates make a lot of sense to the company - the rebate take/success rate is infinitely smaller than the % of items purchased under the program, therefore the companies "lose" less $$$ on these sales than it would first appear. Sure, there are aggravated, irate, and livid (ex-)customers, but that's a small price to pay for holding on to an extra $400-$500/transaction. Also, remember a lot of these programs are really a subsidy to the reseller. You pay B&H or whoever full price on that sale. These programs are often really just a disguised vendor financing tool for their retail channel, not really a way of making their end-purchasers happy.

Very true, don't remember where I read it about the average redemption for rebates is just 30%. Forget the $400-500 given above but even at $50, that's a pretty chunk of change.

On a happier note, I submitted my Canon $50 loyalty rebate pretty late but got the check in just over month.

I received my check yesterday, took less than a month from the day I sent it out, quickest I have ever received a Mail in Rebate.

The few times I used rebate with Canon, I didn't even bother sending it in. I waited a month after the purchase and called them and told them I sent them in and want to check on status. They can't find it then all I need to do now if fax it in to someone there and they processed it right away and I received my money fairly quick. This has worked for me a few times.

I might add that once I was beyond the deadline and forgot to send it in and decided to call and told them I did sent them in and they just asked me to fax it in again and processed it quickly.

ansh25 wrote in post #9926920
Very true, don't remember where I read it about the average redemption for rebates is just 30%. Forget the $400-500 given above but even at $50, that's a pretty chunk of change.

On a happier note, I submitted my Canon $50 loyalty rebate pretty late but got the check in just over month.

I did the $50 loyalty rebate too, but it took a couple months to get mine back. However, on a positive note, I apparently hadn't registered my old camera on their site, but they sent me an email thanking me for my loyalty and chose to honor the rebate anyway. I thought that was pretty great. I don;t know how many other companies would do that.