Mail-In Rebates

begin rant

What a crock! Usually I don't have much of a problem with doing rebates because they take just a few minutes of your time and in a few weeks you get a nice little cheque in the mail. But today's really took the cake for me.

I ordered a second hard drive for my computer because the one I have is getting a little tight for space. It was a pretty sweet deal - $115 (after rebate) for 300GB of space and I needed to get a DVD drive for the computer I'm putting together for the church. So, I went ahead an ordered the drives and they arrived in a spectacularly short time - 2 days after ordering!

Today I finally got around to looking through the rebate instructions and thought they didn't look too bad.
First, I had to go to a website and give them a whack of information so that they can mail me the cheque. I had to enter the invoice number, my home address, phone number, all that jazz. Then I had to get the number off the box for the hard drive. No big deal, it took me maybe five minutes to get everything in. Then I continued on, and it's saying it's going to take 8-10 weeks to deliver the cheque... BUT! I can pay them $5 out of my rebate, and they'll assure that the cheque will be at my door in 2-3 days! Wow! Extortion, I love it! I passed on that option because I really don't need the cash that badly. And it's a $50 rebate, so it's not like it's a huge amount anyways. So, the next step says that I have to confirm my e-mail address so they can send the cheque (huh?). Right, so they're supposed to send the e-mail and I just copy and paste a confirmation number. I check my e-mail 5 minutes after it's supposedly sent... doesn't show. I try waiting a little while longer... no dice. I have to put in the confirmation within 24 hours or it won't go through... great. Oh wait, there's a button to resend the confirmation! I click it... lo and behold both confirmations (the original and the 're-send') arrive in my inbox. Hurrah! I copy and paste the numbers over and continue on through the process. Now I have to print out a form, fill it in, then mail all the documentation in... yeah, this is a really simple process, I love it.
So, I fill out the form and all that, and notice that it says I have to cut out a section of one of the pages with the address to send the papers to, and put it on the envelope. Ok. I don't have gluesticks in my house. I have tape and crazy glue. I'm gonna have to use the tape... it's safer. How much do you want to bet that my rebate is 'lost in the mail' because the label wasn't properly attached? *sigh* So, I staple everything together and fold it up to put in the envelope. I notice that this label is addressed to FLORIDA! What the...!? So, I look at my corkboard where I keep my stamps... I have some leftover ones from before they last raised the postal rates (.50). It's $.85-$1.05 to mail to the US. I have three .50 stamps left. Right on. So, I'm a little over on the postage rate... hope they don't return it *rolling eyes*. So now I'll just mail this in and all will be dandy.

I wonder how many people screw up this rebate process by not noticing that you have to mail in a form, getting the address wrong, forgetting one of the many documents necessary, having their mail lost, not putting on enough postage because it's in the US, or some other stupid reason? We'll see if I get my cheque... rebates really should be easier.

Oh, and I had a sticky note with a list of books I wanted to go out and buy, and now I can't find the darn thing. I'm more than a tad annoyed! I know one that I wanted was Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveler. I've heard good things about it. Another was one that was recommended on BoingBoing a few weeks ago... something with Red in the title... I'm going to have to go hunting... *sigh*
/end rant

In other news... I'm starting to make loose plans for travelling to Europe this summer. My current through process is something along these lines:
Fly Detroit/Toronto - Copenhagen
Spend a day or two in Copenhagen with my buddy, Rune. Then we'll fly to Zurich, Switzerland, spend a day or two there, then travel by train through the Alps to Venice (two or three days). Then to Florence (two or three days), on to Rome (three or four days). Next a 20-hour ferry to Barcelona across the Mediterranean Sea. (three or four days). Then I'd fly back to Canada, and Rune to Denmark... or something like that. I've got about two weeks to work with, and Rune starts school on the fifth of September. Assuming I go to General Council in Thunder Bay this summer (August 13-19) that means I can leave as early as the 20th of August... which yeah, makes for a busy month, especially since I'm going to see DMB in New York towards the beginning of the month... I hope I don't go broke in the process!
Anywho, I hope all is well with you and yours!