I realized last nite that all the rebates from the purchase of my mother’s xmas present (laptop, printer, wireless router) expire on the 24th of this month. What the hell?! They require that your purchase be made between Dec 19 and Dec 24, and they make the rebates expire on Jan 24?! Who has time the month after xmas to cut out all those stupid cardboard proofs of purchase and collect all the receipts to mail to all these companies?

To make matters worse, there’re 2 rebates per product. That’s 6 separate forms I gotta send in to 6 different addresses with 6 different requirements. The laptop’s rebates are easy enough. But the router and the printer are only rebate-able with the purchase of the laptop, and the forms are totally confusing as to what form pertains to what product, and it has the barcode for the laptop AND the rebate product on the form, and then it’s vague about whether it needs me to send in UPC symbols from just the product getting the rebate, or also for the laptop to prove that I bought both together. And some rebates take photocopies of receipts and UPC symbols whereas others require the originals. Unfortunately, I only have 1 original UPC cut-out for the printer and it looks like both printer rebates ask for originals.

There are 6 piles of forms with their corresponding cardboard cutouts and photocopies, and on the photocopies, I’d even labeled what product they pertain to and what rebate it’s for. To err on the side of caution, I also included a copy of the laptop UPC with the products that only give rebate with the simultaneous purchase of the laptop.

I hate mail-in rebates now. Hate them. Why are they so vague?! Why do they make them conflicting?! Why do they require a college graduate degree in order to get a stupid $350 back?!