The RRC Editor’s Blog

If you noticed a lot of postings about Samsung rebates for some kind of NFL-related promotion, you may have wondered if these are legitimate. Answer: I don’t know, but they appear to be. On the rare day when I have time to look over the list of recent entries, I sometimes remove any that are obviously bogus. This is actually very rare. But, if I see that it’s clear that one person has posted essentially the same complaint several times, I’ll remove the extra postings.

In this case, I’ve looked over the postings and they appear real. I think the reason we have so many is that people have posted links to this site to let other customers know that if they have a problem with the Samsung NFL promotion, they can look here for more information (or can post their own experience here).

So, I think that’s why we have so many of these in a short period of time. If you know anything to the contrary, please tell me via the site’s contact form.

I received the following e-mail from a representative of TRENDnet and have only just now had time to post it. I have not tried to verify whether this letter is accurate, but I have no reason to believe otherwise. Here it is:

from Zak Wood
to RebateReportCard@gmail.com
date Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 8:28 PM
subject James Barger: Message from TRENDnet

Dear Mr. Barger,

I am contacting you from TRENDnet, a networking hardware brand based near Los Angeles. Recently, a mail-in-rebate provider that we were using (and many other brands) went bankrupt and reneged on payments related to a batch of mail-in-rebate checks. TRENDnet has taken immediate action to correct this issue.

I was wondering where would be the appropriate place to post a message to TRENDnet customers on your site.

Sincerely,
Zak Wood
Senior Marketing Manager
TRENDnet

And, a note to TRENDnet customers and employees… I apologize for the delay it posting this. Law school and work and family are keeping me insanely busy.

Most companies are working against their best interests when make rebate instructions difficult to follow and keep rebate deadlines as short as possible. They think they are maximizing profit by reducing the chance that the consumer will succeed in claiming the rebate. Not so, according to rigorous, scientific, marketing research.

They are going to be shocked if they ever find out about research from the University of Florida that shows consumers are actually more likely to turn in rebate claims when subjected to shorter deadlines. And, those companies’ executives might have strokes if they read further and learn that we turn in those rebate claims faster, and in greater numbers, when subjected to more difficult instructions.

Now, you might be thinking “If the science is right, then I don’t know if I want companies to change their ways. Maybe things will only get worse for us consumers.” But, would things get worse, if companies did what this research implies they should? Answer: yes and no. Let’s consider what would happen if companies used longer deadlines and simpler instructions for their mail-in rebates.

As a group, consumers would be less likely to turn in those rebate claims, according to the research. But, those few individuals who fought against instinct and behaved rationally, would benefit from easier instructions and looser deadlines. And, they’d have the University of Florida and Rebate Report Card to thank, for getting this information out.

Anyway, there’s not much reason to worry about companies changing their ways anytime soon. This research was done in 2003. If the company executives haven’t read it by now. I really don’t think they care.

The research cited above was conducted in 2003, by former UF marketing instructor Timothy Silk. You can read a summary of his research project at:
http://news.ufl.edu/2004/06/15/rebates/

You can read the abstract and full text of the project results at:
http://edumacation.com/RebateDissertationTimothySilk