MIR- A scam

[Ugly n Grey]

I just went to check the sales on goods at a retailer and there are things I want to buy, especially RAM and PSU's. All the deals have MIR's. I'm done with this, I won't buy an MIR product again. These opinions are my own and this is a rant I freely admit that. Feel free to toss out a counterpoint.

- MIR's are a way to get the consumer to finance some of the volatility in the parts market INSTEAD of putting stock management and pricing back on the channel and the manufacturer where it belongs. You want a loan? Hit the bank, I'm not financing your stock management out of my wallet.

- Every MIR rejected because of a simple mistake by some poor slob is cash in the pocket of manufacturers and a bonus to the clearinghouse.

-MIR clearing houses INTENTIONALLY drag out the duration of payouts in order to reap as much interest off your money as possible. Their process is structured for this.

-I say some clearinghouses artificially raise their reject rates to increase their profits. No one has been taken to court yet but it's only a matter of time.

- "only one rebate per household" - I rarely want ONE of anything. Maybe that's atypical, but I usually want to have extra stuff around. Give me an honest sale price so I can buy a couple PSU's without getting rooked.

- every forum I hit has MIR gone wrong threads. I don't care if you are putting the blame on the consumer filling out the forms wrong, how long until it's me that forgets to dot an *i* that worth 70 dollars?

You want to give me a deal and put an item on sale? Then do it. I'm sick of this whole concept of having to keep track of where MY money is and why it hasn't been sent to me.

The worst offenders this week were Mushkin, OCZ and Patriot. OCZ had some stuff I would have really like to have purchased except for the MIR. GSkill had sales on with NO MIR. Guess what I picked.

Absolutely no offense to the support guys here that I know, but you are in a really awkward position defending corporate policy on MIR's and forwarding complaints instead of doing your real job of helping guys squeeze cycles and get good customer service. You marketing types who think this is great for your numbers just suck.

I'm so steamed about the entire MIR process and how down right crooked it seems to be I've started firing off hand written letters to every consumer affairs official I can find and have included the privacy commissioner as I feel that what I buy is my business, not something to be stockpiled in Mushkins stats.

Ticked off
UnG

[AngryArtichoke]

When I bought my video card, the rebate said I had to register my name, phone number, and address online. They also said that all this information could (would) be shared with other companies for promotions and such.

No thanks.

[DShankar]

QFT. MIRs suck. Instant rebates are nice though!

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

this is why I never figure in the MIR when comparing prices. Chances are you will never get your money.

[twiggy]

this is why I never figure in the MIR when comparing prices. Chances are you will never get your money.

Same here. I've had atleast 4 rebates that I've sent out and never got anything in return. So now I say rebates! It really pisses me off. Once I bought a ti4200 and a 19" monitor, both had 50$ rebates so I was like hell yeah. I never got that 100$ back.

[Serra]

I'd quite like to see an online store that would, say, offer no MIR's on products but offer a discount worth about 70-80% of the MIR (obviously, they submit the MIR themselves). Overall, I think both parties would win. A little more profit for the store, and customers don't have to put up with this BS.

[Soulburner]

I've saved $200-300 with MIR's in the last year. I bought a lot of hardware though, and some rebates never came. Some came around 6 months later, but I don't expect the rest.

I agree though this price difference needs to be figured in elsewhere, and not on the consumer.

Companies that are good at getting you your rebates (whether in 1 month, or 6):

ABIT
BenQ
Crucial
Circuit City
ClubIT
Corsair
EVGA
HIS
Logitech
NZXT (these are the ones that took 6 months, 2 PC cases)
OCZ
Western Digital

[twilyth]

Boycott ALL MIR's - just because you get one once, doesn't mean you will the next time. These are processed by third parties so you can't expect consistency and you never know if the issuing company will change subcontractors for the next round of ripoffs - I mean rebates.

[Omastar]

Boycott ALL MIR's - just because you get one once, doesn't mean you will the next time. These are processed by third parties so you can't expect consistency and you never know if the issuing company will change subcontractors for the next round of ripoffs - I mean rebates.

So true.

MIRs are a scam to encourage you to buy something at full price, banking on the credulous promise that you'll get half of that money back. Economically, it makes perfect sense for retailers/etailers to do MIRs because it means a bigger bottom line for them on the outset. That is, they bill you for the advertised price, and that's what they get. So this is helpful for stores nearing the end of a quarter or the end of the year; it makes them look good when they end on a highly profitable quarter thanks to tons of MIR deals floating around.

You, of course, are at the mercy of the rebate processing entity.

[Movieman]

On 2 occasions I have had MIR's refused. I printed the emails on the MIR refusal and took the used item back to the store and returned it telling them that the conditions under which I bought it weren't honored.
One of the two gave me a bad time so I went down and filed fraud charges against them in small claims court..It never went to court and I also got my costs for filing the claim against them.
And YES UNG, You said exactly how I feel on these.
Lets have more honest dealings with the public.

[Sparky]

I don't count on a MIR working. I will send it in, and if I happen to get it back sweet, if not whooo big surprise. Cooler master was really bad about the $15 MIR I sent in for a case a while back - the "6 to 8 weeks" MIR took 6 to 8 months. by then I had figured it got lost or screwed up so whatever and when it did finally come I was scratching my head trying to figure out why CM was sending me $15

[Flo4ts]

I would buy products off of sites like tigerdirect or just from a store like futureshop or bestbuy. Lets just say I read through every rebate I've ever sent more than once. Checked to make sure I filled it out right, even went as far as getting other trusted individuals to read over my MIR forms. to make sure everything was PERFECT!

I sent all of my rebates on time. probably with in a week of the purchase and that was the absolute latest, And guess what I HAVE NEVER RECIEVED ANY OF MY MAIL IN REBATES BACK Not one. Note one from tigerdirect, none from futureshop and I haven't seen any from best buy. So after buying atleast 10 products with MIR attached to them probably worth more than $500 in savings I haven't seen a dime.

Its been probably two years or so sense I have bought a product with a mail in rebate. I'll never buy any products with rebates again.

[STEvil]

I've never done a MIR, they are pointless to me when I can get a competitors product for a price within reason that does not have the hassle of a MIR attached.

That said, its easy to see how MIR's work: You pay X+Y and in the time it takes you to get Y back the company holding your money makes interest on it in their bank account. It adds up.

[Zytek_Fan]

I try to avoid MIRs when I can, but if the product I buy has one, I might as well send it in.
MIRs sure as hell won't entice me to buy something

[KTE]

I generally avoid paying for electronic goods.. I always get a full cost MIR it seems

I have taken MIR deals many times but not often. Not being into it much past needs, I don't end up being scammed at all and we have the internet to teach us all user experiences to learn from, so partly yourself to blame if you choose anything you knew was filed with problems and difficulties in the first place. It's as risky as dealing with an old fraudster who claims he's repented. The MIR system obviously, just like any other, is there not for pure user benefit but mainly for the firms benefit in more than one way. Most systems nowadays use deceptive, mind boggling, slimy, double faced, manipulating, twisting and taking advantage of the vulnerable and gullible petty methods to draw your money in one way or another; this is part of our new world so we should be used to it. First and biggest one is everywhere: use a female in anything to get anything sold and for the product to look attractive. Even when you can't see her, the hand is always hers.

Have you never seen why things look so different and brilliant in Tv ads than when viewed in real life? The list goes on and on, but this yet again, is just another way a human will take if money becomes the end object of desire. Unscrupulous in our eyes but cunning perspicaciousness in theirs.

[Ugly n Grey]

I understand it's a world of buyer beware. I've made some pretty big purchases in my life - in some cases I've led corporate buyouts. I'm not the new kid on the block.

I am however still outraged by what I believe is a blatantly deceptive marketing practice. Let's see if we can't have the advertising all changed on MIR's to clearly state :

"You may never get a single penny because we count on some you making mistakes in order to rip you off" It is the truth, no matter how the marketing gurus spin it.

[zanzabar]

im guilty of buying for rebates but if i want something and i dont need it right away within a month there is usually a rebate and thats when i get it, or when im getting something like a grafix card and tehy are the same but with different badges and one has a rebate but they are the same price before i will go for the rebate one

[metro.cl]

MIR just suck, i dont live in the US but many times have bought things there and i always get asked to fill the form so i put a friends address in the same state he has never gotten anything.

I just dont understand why you would buy something with a MIR just because of the MIR, plain stupid. I muchr rather buy from a company that is really clear about their policies that is a 100% more valuable than a MIR.

[adamsleath]

ive been scammed once;- never again....and yet i have received other mir's
annoying
i agree with buying on the basis of non-mir price/performance just incase a$$holes dont make good on their offer.

[Kingcarcas]

Received mine from eVGA for $30 IIRC, all others i never did, but i didn't expect to. Usually i was only tempted at a place like CompUSA, then i discovered Newegg and that was over.

[[XC] DragonOrta]

I have to say, Crucial are really good about their MIRs. You send them in, when they get it they send you an email, and you can track your rebate online.

[Soulburner]

Agreed, check out my list of MIR's that I have had good results with. Crucial being one of the better ones.

Logitech also sends a confirmation email and lets you track the status.

[NickS]

Thermaltake is actually awesome with RMA's. We received a Patriot one too, a few days ago. We sent it in October of 2007.

[xytrius]

I love Staples easy rebates. You can check status online and there is a 800 number you can call. You don't have to mail anyting (like UPC or receipt), just enter some stuff on the receipt online. I got a 4 GB flash drive for less than $17 and a label printer for $10 (both after taxes in Chicago). I got back all my MIR's. When I called for status (a week after I entered the stuff online), the friendly CSR told me that they wait for the return period to run out and then mail the check. Besides all this, I can just go to the store and they can reprint the receipt and check status.

[Ugly n Grey]

Well I've gotten one answer back on this already, Privacy Commissioners office called me and I am to voice my concerns to somebody to take notes over the phone. Apparently, mine is not the first complaint. A big concern is with databases being held outside the borders and not under jurisdiction of their office.

I'm going to scream my head off to every politician I can.

And yes, I realize the vast majority get their MIR. That's not what I'm complaining about. The first post I believe covers the issues and I think MIR's are not good business ethics.