Trouble with Canon Rebates..?

Have other Folks out there been having outrageous trouble with the

submission and receipt of their Canon Rebates..? I�ve sent

originals forms/UPCs via USPS Priority Mail w/delivery confirmation,

and then had to re-submit them. I�ve sent several emails, and

receive replies addressed to persons whose names are not mine. I�ve

been told that I�ve already sent in UPC for a canon product, that

I�ve never owned. I�ve been told that my rebates checks will arrive

in 7-10 business days, over a month ago. Canon owes me over $500 in

rebates and so far not one check� Someone please tell me that I not

alone and am cursed..! Someone please tell me how they overcome

this dilemma!

I submitted forms for rebates on the EOS 3 and 70-200 f4L at the end of January. Got my checks at the end of April.

Your not alone with rebate problems. I had a 4 month wait for a $250 Dell rebate, and numerous others that never showed up or were denied for the wrong reason. The companies that use rebates want it to be a pain in the ass so people either don't bother to ever fill it in, or don't put up a fight when its denied because they used the wrong shade of blue ink. Or, as happened to me, denied because the purchase was made outside the authorized time period, and then deined because they wouldn't accept a copy of the receipt showing the date was infact correct and they couldn't read.

 

Never rely on a rebate to make a deal into a good one. Unless you have a lot or spare time to blow tracking them down. And just how much time to you want to devote to any one rebate?

No probelm with Canon rebates at all. Followed the instructions and got my check when promised. As for Dell, they even called and reminded me that I forgot to submit my rebate form, then submitted it over the phone for me after the deadline. Now that's customer service.

Very slow. Had to send in the forms twice.

<i>"I've sent originals forms/UPCs via USPS Priority Mail w/delivery confirmation"</i>

 

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That may be part of your problem. The rebate processing places most likely work best with the regular mail that comes in as opposed to mail that somebody needs to sign for.

 

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I sent my rebate forms in January via regular mail. Got the checks back in April sometime.

 

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Call up Canon and complain. While Canon most likely is outsourcing the rebates to another firm, they should still make it right.

 

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--<br>

Eric<br>

<a href="http://canid.com/">http://canid.com/</a><br>

You guys are lucky. I submitted a double for two lenses and so far have only recieved $15 for one lens of the two. I should have recieved $90 for the 2X double for the Two lenses. I'm going to email James at Canon first. Then call if need be. I have heard nothing about the double submission from the crummy rebate company at all. I got a rebate for the 550 flash, and got an email from the rebate outfit after submitting that one, but nada from them on the double!!

I had trouble with multiple claims for lenses last year, where they were supposed to double (or triple) the rebate for each lens depending on how many I purchased. The rebate contractor was unable to understand the scheme and I had lots of back & forth with them.

 

Finally I phoned Canon and got through to the rebate claims administrator. Their phone number is on the web site somewhere. The fellow I talked to couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. He asked for my info, didn't insisit on copies and I got my checks a few days later.

Also, absolutely keep copes of everything and send your claim via Registered Mail.

Last year (mid-summer), I bought a flash and two lenses that offered rebates, three separate transactions from two vendors. I sent in the rebate redemption paperwork for all three in one envelope via regular mail; eventually received my $70 check. I don't know how long it took, but I do remember it was towards the end of the promised time frame.

 

Today, I received a rebate check ($20) in the mail for an MP3 player that I bought in January. I had totally forgotten about it. So I second the opinion above to never let the value of the rebate influence your purchase decision.

 

Once you've decided to keep the item, send in the rebate request and forget about it. If you eventually receive your rebate check, great (and it'll be a pleasant surprise!).

 

Count the days/weeks/months until that damn check arrives, if ever, and you'll be needlessly putting yourself through temporary hell.

Canon rebates are slower than most other companies. Not happy.

 

Personally, I *hate* the rebate games so many companies play. It is a *negative* factor in my purchasing decisions. I get 90% of the rebates for which I am eligible.

 

The only time I hesitate is if the rebate is a significant fraction of the purchase price.

I've applied for Canon rebates on three occasions. Each time I received my rebate check in 3 to 4 weeks. So, I was pleased with their service. On the other hand, I had a Umax scanner rebate take a year to arrive!

Almost all rebates are outsourced. The outsourcing company bills the manufacturer for rebate forms received (monthly), and then pays the rebates out of the proceeds. A lot of rebate places are constantly running in arrears, and are understaffed with poorly trained recruits.

 

This, then is a PR nightmare for a company like Canon, whom I'm sure is not out to screw customers with their rebate offers, but can ill afford to staff up an internal fulfillment center every time they run a rebate.

 

Why do companies like Canon do rebates? The fluctuating U.S./Yen exchange rate is a big reason. After filling the wholesale/retail channels with product, if the exchange rate causes a devaulation in the Yen (meaning the U.S. price paid on an imported item drops), then Canon can do one of two things:

 

1) Attempt to adjust the U.S. prices (and refund the channel partners), and do it all over again when the exchange rate reverses or drops more,

 

Or

 

2) Run a limited-time rebate program, that involves only the end-users that actually bought product, and the parent company (or its assigned fulfillment house).

 

If Canon drops prices across the board on product, then it is much more difficult to raise them again, when they need to. If they offer a limited-time rebate, it is effectively the same as dropping prices (and the channels won't complain about eroding margins), but when the rebates expire, the rise in prices won't be greeted with the same notes of derision that a 'real' rise in prices would have.

 

In a global market with fluctuating exchange rates, rebates have become a fact of life. If you don't take advantage of them, and see to it that the fulfillment houses do their job, you are only screwing yourself.

 

Of course, you could decide not to patronize any company offering rebates, but it might severely curtail your choices in cameras and related electronic items.

>>If Canon drops prices across the board on product, then it is much more difficult to raise them again, when they need to<<

 

I think I disagree with that - all they would have to do is have a Limited Time SALE (i.e. *instant* Rebate) and it would be cheaper to them as they wouldn't have to pay the lousy outsourcing. Fact is that our money is put to work during the time that they 'hold' it; in addition, they figure that a certain percentage of people will NOT redeem the coupons. Thus, they sell product and make money :)

 

I have never really found Canon's rebates to be attractive enough to go through the hassle. I do them often on computer products, however.

Dave: Your post as to the reason for rebates (temporary currency fluctuations) is a very lucid, intelligent and well-written viewpoint. But I disagree with it.

 

I think the only reason for rebates is to stimulate sales at a lower cost to the manufacturer than running "sales." Due to breakage (unclaimed rebates on purchases), more items are sold at full price, and the manufacturer avoids the administrative hassles of temporarily lowering its prices to the distributor (same for the distributor to the retailer and the retailer to the consumer).

 

And something the consumer often fails to consider is that, even if the rebate is properly redeemed and fulfilled, he still pays all applicable (i.e. sales) taxes on the purchase. Also, there's the consumer's administrative burden and costs of completing the rebate submission requirements, mailing it in, waiting for the check (and waiting and waiting), and finally depositing the check.

I see very little evidence of Canon changing prices in response to exchange rate fluctuations - at least not with any frequency. I think they actually hedge exchange rate exposure forward. The falling greenback should have resulted in some pretty sharp price increases in the US, but these simply haven't happened. I suspect that increased arbitrage by customers buying in the cheapest market (these days that means importing from the US, though Asian sourcing e.g. ex Hong Kong has been cheapest at times) is about the only thing that will force a change of policy.

Certainly I would agree that there are other drivers besides exchange rate fluctuation for rebates.

 

And it is very true that Canon, et al, would prefer rebate programs vs temporary sales for all the above reasons.

 

I was applying experience in another market that is dominated by Pacific Rim manufacturers, that of Amateur Radio gear. Three companies, all Far East based (Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu), dominate the market, and have all had large price excursions brought about over the years from exchange rate fluctuations.

 

I purchased an Icom radio in 1986 (an IC-735, which I still own). During the intervening years (especially in the early 90's when the Yen inflated so much), I could have easily sold the rig used for much more than I paid for it new, because the U.S. street price had almost doubled since I had originally purchased it.

 

In recent years, the U.S. prices have returned more to normal, and Japenese manufacturers had been offering rebates up until recently. Now, those rebates are not only expiring, but various ham importers are announcing price increases for the first time in years, due to the deteriorating U.S. dollar.

 

Now, the price/feature ratio for ham gear has been relatively stable over its history (dating from about 1910 or so, not much after photography become a fact of life), mainly because Moore's law hasn't traditionally applied heavily to that sector of electronics, which has a lot of analog and rf power electronics involved. Transceivers don't succumb to micro-miniaturization quite as easily as the next pentium processor, but the trend towards packing them with tons of CPU-intensive features, like hundreds of memory channels, DSPs, and ultimately moving towards 'software defined radios' will probably tilt the scale more in Moore's law favor. The Yaesu handheld radio (the VX-5R) I bought a couple of years ago is about one-third the size and weight of the ten-year-old Yaesu dualband FT-470 it replaces, yet boasts an additional ham band (6 Meters) and general coverage shortwave, AM/FM, and all the usual scanner receiver features you might get in a handheld scanner. It also cost about half as much, in real-year dollars (not adjusted for inflation).

 

In digital cameras, especialy the P & S variety (less so in DSLRs, so far, but I can see it accelerating with introductions like the 300D and D70) Moore's law and the cutthroat mass-market-oriented camera business has sent prices tumbling, and featurism sky-high. With things moving so far, so fast, a lot of companies find that the only way they can stay on top of the market is to regularly stage 'reabate-fests', or to discard models faster than ever before, in favor of ones that have more features, but cost less to build.

 

Instant rebates, while appealing to the consumer, doesn't do much at all for the companies or channels involved. It's just as big a headache as just running a manufacturer's approved sale, and rebating (internally) all the channel partners.