After my last post about Symantec’s crazy rejection of my rebate form, I spent an hour tracking down the rebate within their processing system, in the end reaching a human being who said he would validate the rebate, and I should look for it in a couple weeks. That check has now arrived, so I have to say that Symantec in the end made good.
But they didn’t make it easy. It took an hour because of a Byzantine rebate web site that in the end couldn’t help me, and a terrible phone system that never offered me the opportunity to speak to a real person. It was only by visiting every menu and sub-menu, and repeatedly pressing “0” for the operator, that I actually reached a happy conclusion.
Which just goes to highlight the fake nature of these “rebates” that are offered by virtually all of the consumer software companies. They offer you $30, but they know the numbers. A certain percent won’t send in the card, a certain percent won’t fill it out correctly or in time, and a certain percent won’t fight a rejection, even if it’s bogus. I would imagine that a $30 rebate translates to about a $5-10 discount off the actual per-unit revenue to the company.
So don’t be fooled by those rebates! Or at the very least, be religious about filling out the forms and sending in the paperwork, the same day you make your purchase. That’s the only way the rebates work out for you in the long run.