- Companies are complicating the customer experience.
- The hassle of getting what you've been promised.
- Broken promises
Lets start with a basic definition of "Rebate" from the free dictionary
re·bate 1
n.
A deduction from an amount to be paid or a return of part of an amount given in payment.
tr.v. re·bat·ed, re·bat·ing, re·bates
1. To deduct or return (an amount) from a payment or bill.
Complicating the Customer Experience
Back in college, I remember my first accounting professor making us repeat back to him in the manner of a rally slogan. "WHAT DO WE WANT?" "CASH" "WHEN DO WE WANT IT?" "NOW!" The point of the exercise was that anything less than cash wasn't as good. (less flexibility) and anything other than now, brought all kinds of constraints in terms of timing etc. So the point was that not all payment is equal. With cash you can purchase anything anywhere, with a cheque, you can put it in the bank and hopefully there is money to cover the cheque, with credit card, there are processing charges and delays in payment. With gift cards, you are constrained to purchase in only one location.
By the same token not all "discounts" are created equal. Remember the accounting rally slogan? Lets modify it a bit. "What kind of discount do you want?" "CASH!" "When do you want it?" "NOW!". So the best discount is the one you don't have to pay for in the first place. Instead of the price being $150, its $100, you only pay $100 and thats the end of the story.
What about those offers where you spend $150 and they'll give you a $50 Gift card? Well it fails the "cash test". You can't buy gas for your car or food for your family with that, or make a charitable donation, you have to spend it at that store. Sure if it's a store that stocks necessities you would otherwise use a grocery store etc. That might be fine, but chances are its a store that stocks some luxury item you wouldn't buy otherwise, and now you've got your choice of stores limited to 1.
Several years ago one of the local electronics retailers switched form mail-in rebates (we'll discuss those in a minute) to "instant rebates" these were processed at the till and got the customer the discount right then. Well, is it cash? (did it reduce the price you paid out of your pocket?) YES, did you get it right away? YES. Good deal. Those rebates sound OK. We've seen store rebates, manufacturer's rebates, and the similarity to "coupons" is pretty minor at that point, apart from perhaps filling in all kinds of personal information to get yourself on junk-mail lists... Make sure you NEVER SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION. They don't need it. Make stuff up, skip the question, whatever.
flickr credit: philosophygeek
The hassle of getting what you've been promised.
Normally the hassle of getting what you've been promised in a rebate is related to you taking some action "after the sale" to get your discount. It might be "providing a valid product UPC" (ever seen a product with multiple UPC codes? which one did they want???) It might be "providing an original sales receipt", it might be "including the rebate form". Essentially you gave your money away, (the money you are going to have them send back to you). Now you spend your time (your employer pays you money for your time...) and you use an envelope and postage to send papers to the "rebate company". They say it will take 6-8 weeks (8+) And after 8 weeks you inevitably dig up their contact information and ask them about the status of your rebate. They will say one of the following;
- It's in the mail (hmm...)
- What was your rebate tracking number? (huh?)
- Oh yes, I see here you were missing your;
- original receipt
- UPC code
- Rebate form or rebate form details
- Your product doesn't qualify. You bought model ABCDEFG-1 not ABCDEFG-2
- (sometimes retailers play with model numbers so they don't have to match competitor prices, so sometimes the retailer advertising the rebate is actually complicating your rebate collection process).
- The offer has expired
- "Sorry this rebate processing center has gone out of business. (they got arrested for fraud)
flickr credit: Brendan Shigeta
You will re-send (because you did everything right the first time) whatever they ask for and they will tell you it will take another 6-8 (8+) weeks. Assuming you have an above par experience you'll get your rebate as promised on a cheque that mispells your name, but your bank will allow you to deposit it because they probably don't actually look at the names on the cheques you deposit ;-)
So the "rebate processing center" had your rebate money for 16 weeks. They couldn't spend your money (unlike the rebate guys who got arrested for fraud above) because they had to pay you eventually, unless you gave up on your rebate and let them keep the money... Its not like the retailer actually checks to make sure you got your money. If they cared about you getting your rebate that much, they'd just do it themselves. As far as they are concerned, as soon as you leave the store your rebate is someone else's problem. The rebate processing center can collect interest on your money until you cash the misspelled cheque they send you at the end of your ordeal.
Broken promises
Companies sometimes offer rebates to get you to sign up for their programs (contracts). Contracts are always written to favour the company, not to protect you. So read that fine print and don't believe Xavier the sales guy who tells you he can waive a clause for you. He won't record it and you'll be on the hook when the foreign call centre doesn't have a record of Xavier's promise to you.
Watch out for "conditional rebates" These are the rebates they want back from you if you decide to cancel their service, or similar evil. Sure if you dig through the fine print, there will be some mention of this, but the sales person won't draw it to your attention. It's a trick, don't feel bad, just get angry. Remember you are the customer, you are the person making their job possible, and you should not be tricked, you should be honoured and treated with appropriate respect.
There was one deal where there was a rebate for some VOIP phone equipment that enabled me to become a customer of a popular VOIP phone company. Essentially they wanted me on the monthly payment plan (which is reasonable if there is good service) I had to purchase this overpriced piece of electronics which was designed to only work with their service, and then to make me willing to pay for this I was offered a "rebate".
I was all excited about becoming a part of the "experience" and tried it out. Most of the time it was great, but sometimes just really poor quality. Not suitable for the way I use phones, so I cancelled the service. While cancelling, Von... oops, the VOIP company told me I was going to have to pay them $150. A cancellation fee and a "REBATE RECOVERY FEE". After wasting a hour of my life arguing with the guy on the phone I had the cancellation charges reduced to $33, but not without a fight. Funny enough I probably would have blogged on how that company had really good service (except when talking to people on cell phones). But in their corporate greed they turned an optimistic potential spokesperson who might once again have become a future customer, into someone who will speak out about their greed, service failures and absolute disrespect for their customers.
Free Advice
Let me encourage you to memorize the "Accounting Rally Slogan" "What kind of discount do we want?" "CASH" "When do we want it?" "NOW". Don't go into these "offers" blindly. Don't settle for "gift cards" if you can get cash. Don't settle for "Later" if you can get it "now". And maybe most important, don't buy it because of the rebate. Buy it because you need it.
I'm a big fan of customer rights. I think it boils down to honesty, to respect and honour, to treating your customers the way you would want to be treated. Unfortunately people may have consciences but corporations, outsourced divisions and shareholder meetings do not necessarily have a conscience. As we introduce greater layers of separation between customer, decision maker and employee, we create the potential for great injustice.
Cheers, I hope what I've written here saves your bacon, and protects you from the "headaches" of Rotten Rebates.
Greg.
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