LOL at Gigabyte refunds

I know Gigabyte's rebate scheme is completely ridiculous, but my experience was a new one. I bought one of their motherboards in January. Been waiting all this time for a rebate. I left them an e-mail at their Web site, which they responded to. A couple of weeks later, nothing, so I added a comment on their site, and the reply was that my request was being forwarded to the Sales & Marketing department.

Today, I get a big UPS Ground envelope in the mail. Inside is a envelope with my name hand-written on the front. And inside that envelope -- an old $20 bill. Yes, someone in Sales & Marketing sent me a $20 bill in the mail. It was so wrinkled, I assume he just took it out of his pocket.

I see I am not alone, all I ever get in the mail are bills.

From January to April is not an unheard of amount of time for a rebate.
It usually takes 1-4 months. I'm 6 for 7 on rebates and still waiting for 7.
So you got your rebate, and in cash....be happy!

Sucky rebate process was a reality even before the recession, unfortunately.

I put together a new computer in December from parts purchased entirely at Newegg including a Gigabyte motherboard, Corsair RAM and PSU, and a Sapphire Radeon. All of which included a total of just under $100 in mail in rebates.

I received the parts, put them together, made sure they ran for a month while I installed software and, once I was satisfied there were no problems and everything functioned, I filled out the forms, cut out the UPC codes and sent them all in.

They came in slowly over the last 4 months though the last one, the Gigabyte, came in only a couple of weeks ago, just under 4 months later. The two Corsair rebate cards (I hate those) came in first in only a month, and the Sapphire was in the middle.

Each rebate had information on tracking which worked perfectly. Not only did they use the e-mail address I provided to send me confirmation e-mails but I was also able to track the rebate's progress on the websites they provided in the rebate form. I knew when they were received, approved, processed, and sent.

So not only did I get all of my rebates but I was able to use the savings to purchase a FREE case for all the components.

I've been tracking rebates since 1995 for all my computing purchases and I've received almost $2000 back so far. I've only been denied a rebate twice (about $20) for unknown reasons. Unfortunately, I've also spent about $40,000 in my computing hobby so the $2k is a mere drop in the bucket.

Even though my rebates have been successful all these years, I wish they'd just lower the prices and stop with the rebates as they are a hassle.