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The days of the cell phone mail-in rebate may be numbered, as many consumers view the tedious process as little more than a scam.
Subscribers once paid a premium for the latest handset models. Now wireless retailers are so eager to move phones that they're promoting their purchase as a way for consumers to earn extra cash.
"You make $60!" screams the Best Buy Website in blaring red, alongside an image of an LG phone offered through Verizon Wireless. Over at LetsTalk.com, seven out of the 10 best-selling phones are listed for "Free!" Go to Wirefly.com and you'll see that same word. And not once, but many times, applied to many different phones and many different service plans.
How can retailers and carriers afford to offer something for nothing? The answer is mail-in rebates that often go unclaimed.
The rebate frenzy that was started in the 1970s by Proctor & Gamble has spread to virtually every sector. Consumer electronics manufacturers have used them for years to spark sales.
"Rebates are an important promotional tool for carriers. They're also a good way for manufacturers to push certain models," says Clint Wheelock, vice president of wireless research for NPD Techworld.
Wheelock estimates that 12 percent of phone purchasers use mail-in rebates, compared with 9 percent who have received instant rebates.
Unlike instant rebates, the mail-in variety requires some work. But if a consumer doesn't mind spending time reading the fine print, correctly filling out a rebate form, wrestling with scissors to cut the product label off the bottom of the box without slicing off a serial number, making copies of everything, then stuffing the rebate form, product label and receipt together into an envelope and sending it to the right address, they can theoretically get a free wireless phone.
They also must not object to waiting by the mailbox for months - and when the check finally does arrive, they must make sure to cash it within the allotted 90 days. In addition, they'll likely be asked to sign a 2-year contract or commit to a carrier's new data service.
GROWING COMPLAINTS Because mail-in rebates are such a hassle, sites listing consumer rebate complaints are cropping up as quickly as the online retailers offering them. The...