Many customers who would prefer to eschew rebates find themselves instead having to fight to get their check. "Rebates are one of the most pervasive frauds in business today," wrote one reader. "While I've has success hounding some of them, the cost of my time and aggravation exceeds the amount of the rebate -- which is what they're counting on. I'd like to see federal regulation of standards for how rebate claims are handled."

Everyone from individual consumers to IT managers can feel the pressure created by after-rebate prices that aren't as low as they seem. "My boss sees these great (after-rebate) prices advertised in the paper, and so he expects that's what he's going to pay," wrote an IT manager. "If you factor in all the hassles of schlepping down to the store, filling out all the forms, screaming when the rebate check doesn't arrive after months and months, etc., our regular vendors can actually give us a much better deal. But he just sees that price."

Deadbeat rebates are all the more costly because they now often represent money no one wants to lose. "We purchased two seats of AutoCad that had a rebate of $200 each," wrote another reader. "We registered for the rebate online and then mailed the required paperwork per the program. Weeks after the specified payment period, I telephoned the rebate center and was asked to re-submit the paperwork via fax, which I did. After another period of months, I called the rebate center to be told that the program had ended, and no further processing was being done. I talked to supervisors and was transferred directly to AutoDesk, who transferred me back to the rebate center when they found out the subject of my call. This circular process went on for about three cycles before I gave up. It looks like we're out $400."

As I've often said, if the company really wanted you to have the after-rebate price, they'd just give you a discount instead. This becomes even more obvious in the case of rebates offered by on-line retailers. "I ordered some software on Amazon.com," wrote one reader. It includes a $30 rebate that is from Amazon. So, why can't Amazon just deduct it from the price? They know it's me that got it. They know they shipped it to me. They know I qualify. So, why do I have to get the software, print out their rebate and receipt -- which they KNOW I have -- and then send it back?"

As always, readers reported a wide variety of lame excuses and sneaky outs used by the deadbeats. "An (OfficeMax rebate) on an HP LaserJet 1200 was advertised for $100," wrote one reader. "The rebate was prominently listed in the OfficeMax February flyer, and ads for the rebate were prominently displayed over the printer on 10 February, when I bought one. The very fine print on the rebate coupon claimed only three days in January and Feb 1, as the purchase window. Why the signs were left up in the store two weeks later and why 'February's' rebate book prominently listed the rebate -- and why their cash register gave you a rebate slip for that item -- one can only guess."

So who did readers say was the worst offender when it comes to debate rebates? It was a close vote, with Autodesk, Amazon, Canon, Circuit City, CompUSA, Dell, HP, IBM, Maxtor, Microsoft, OfficeMax, Parago/RebatesHQ.com, RebateStatus.com, Roxio, Sony, and Toshiba all receiving multiple votes. Coming in a strong second was our old friend Intuit, mostly on the basis of complaints about TurboTax rebates. (Yes, at the very same time Intuit was alienating so many TurboTax customers with its product activation scheme, it was also annoying them with rebate problems.)

Edging them out all out, though, was Symantec. Most of the problems with Symantec seemed to involve difficultly in communicating with the company and/or rebate fulfillment house RebateStatus.com over missing rebates. "For me, the champ is Symantec," wrote one reader. " Two software suites, neither rebate was honored, for nonsensical reasons. Additionally, they don't answer e-mail . . . they have an (automated system) doing that. They're bye-bye for me, as opposed to buy-buy. When my subscription runs out, it will be the end of the line."

Of course, it should be noted that a number of readers said they use rebates all the time without any significant problem. And some rebate purveyors received praise, mostly notably Sam's Club. Readers reported the WalMart-owned membership warehouse makes it easy to apply for rebates on-line, and will even notify them by e-mail when they are in danger of missing the application deadline for a rebate.

So apparently there is more than one way to play the rebate game. If rebates are a game we must play, let's just hope that Symantec, Intuit, etc. learn to do it the right way.

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