It's time for a positive Best Buy story. I have found myself shopping there a lot more since they did away with the mail-in rebate. They no longer have them on any product! All savings are "Instant Savings" (what we used to call 'Sale Price'). I bought something Monday that was $479 at Office Depot after three (yes, 3) mail-in rebates, but was $489 "Instant Savings" at Best Buy. I gladly paid the ten extra bucks to get the price without messing with mailing in THREE different rebates, cutting out the UPC and all of that. Staples is also doing more and more of this and Office Max is in the process of eliminating the mail-in rebate. But they are gone for good from Best Buy and it makes for a more pleasurable shopping experience. No more, "Okay, it's $500, but there's a savings of $50, then a retail store mail-in rebate for $25 and a manufacturers rebate for $40, which brings your final price to $whatever." I hate those things and I thought it was a good time to say thanks to Best Buy for listening to the customers.

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I like it...I am the worlds worst when it comes to sending in a mail in rebate

Yeah, I hate those mail in rebates myself. As a matter of fact, when I do buy something that requires a mail in rebate, I get the rebate info sent off the same day I bought the product. Then, I wait for two months to get the rebate.

I was supposed to get a $60.00 VISA card from AT&T, since I signed up for their phone and internet service. Three months later, and I am still waiting on it.

I hate rebates. My most recent rebate experience was with Circuit City- should be about $200, broken up into $30 and $50 rebates. I mailed them 7-8 weeks ago and haven't heard back yet. Supposedly you can track your CC rebates online, but the website just says that they don't recognize my information.

I guess I'll be shopping at Best Buy instead, from now on.

I detest mail - in rebates and I let the stores know it. I will not buy something that offers it. Staples always has them. So does Sprint.

We have one grocery store that used to give stamps then you had to place them on a card in order to get a rebate. Forget that!

I think that one might make a pretty good living, however, just off of getting a rebate, then selling the item on eBay....etc. I know college kids who do just that.

The only reason why rebates became so popular with stores is because not everyone would use it. Many people would either forget or not fill them out properly.

I have had a good expeirences with Circuit City. The last time I was in the Portland store, the salesman put them together for me and even provided envelopes. All I had to do is buy the stamps and drop them in the mail. I was paitient, and I saw my about ten weeks later.


I was in there yesterday and they told me they are backing away from store rebates and offering finance promotions instead. Manufactures still offer them in both Circuit City and Best Buy. So Best Buy has not done away with them entirely. They only have elimnated them on sale items.

You have to understand rebates come in to the rebate centers from all over the country. Sometimes there are hundreds of thousands of people asking for the same rebate you are. I used to work retail and every store wants their customers happy. If they ripped everyone off they would eventually close.

Even Wal-Mart knows that consumers are not stupid. You tick them off enough times and they will never return.

In general, I think rebates will go away. Just like S&H Green Stamps did.

S&H Green Stamps - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S&H_Green_Stamps)

Ohhhh I LOVED S & H Green Stamps! Now...THAT was an incentive to buy and you actually got something GREAT! My Mom and Granny were avid Green Stamp users. I bet all of my illnesses, today, came from licking green stamps way back when! LOL

Ahhh the Memories....a nice cup or glass in the Quaker Oats, or a dish towel in the laundry soap.......a real prize in the Cracker Jacks.......a real toy in the boxes of cereal......Just like a Happy Meal, today.

Hey! Where's My Prize!

There are much better deals to offen than mail-in rebates! It's good to hear that they're going the way of the dinosaur.

I recently made an extensive purchase (after much thoughtful debate and research) at Best Buy. The guyS helping me hammered home that they didn't work off of commission, but I wonder.... Anyway, right after I made the "big" purchase (I don't know why I used "__", it WAS big), I found out some faulty information about the product I had purchased. I took it back a couple of days later, no problem. But the employees aren't as smart as they seem (didn't know to warn me), and the return lady couldn't properly refund all of my purchases with my fiance constantly correcting her...*thumbs down*

I'll stick to Ultimate Electronics where at least they know what they're informed on product information when it concerns the more expensive electronics/accessories. I've had really good success at their stores!

I think it's funny to be in those stores and hear the BS the salespeople use to sell stuff. Best Buy without the rebates has been much better. Instant Savings I think they call them are much better. But man, they know how to BS.

^ But I think customers are becoming moree & more savvy. That's why I took my purchase back, and that's why I'll stick to Ultimate Electronics, where it isn't just college students working their way through school with no useful information.

Ritalin version of my reply: Best Buy is the WalMart of electronics. Go there if you need something that's a cookie-cutter solution for your needs and the results aren't incredibly important to you. Circuit City is right there with them for the most part.
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Tolstoy version of my reply: I pretty much only go to Best Buy for a couple of things, primarily movies, as they have the biggest selection in town. Once in a while, I'll buy a bigger-ticket item in there, but only items that have a high failure rate...Like the XBox 360 or a laptop (can't build those for cheap, so I have to buy them). And their return/warranty policies are easier to deal with than mailing crap back and forth to some random website. I've never been in one of ther Magnolia stores, so I can't comment on them.

With few exceptions, their salespeople know absolutely squat about thier products and most of their product lines are lower-end merchandise. They've got a decent selection of TV's, but that's about it.

Ultimate Electronics is much better for sales staff knowledge and higher quality products, but you pay a premium markup for both of those things. I use them only for brands that I can't buy online and still get a full warranty (Klipsch speakers come to mind).

I'm probably not the target consumer for Best Buy, as I research my larger purchases before buying. And if I'm buying local, I'm MUCH more apt to go to a store that sells ONLY the product for which I'm shopping. Like say for...Camera stuff...I go to Epperson's. Not some place with people pushing a warranty instead of a product. Their staff knows their stuff, uses their stuff, and will not only patiently hand you 5 different cameras while explaining the pros/cons of each...They'll help you out after a purchase as well. The trip down there cost me about $400 more in the short term, but saved me thousands over the next couple of years because of something I'd not thought of. That's what I get for talking to a professional camera salesman.