The “In The Wind” section of this Blog has become kind of a catch all Blog for subjects that do not fit into the other Blogs on this site.

I figured I would do a little Thursday morning rant since it is about to rain here in Southern California so I cannot ride my motorcycle today.

I am absolutely fed up with the bait and switch rebate scams that seem to now be the norm rather than the exception these days when you go shopping for items. You know what I am talking about. You see a computer advertised for let’s say $999.00. You go to buy the computer; only to find out that the in-store price is actually $2,000.00 with a rebate of $1001.00.

They then tell you to look at the fine print of the ad for the rebate verbiage. You have just been sucked into their store by a bait and switch scam.

At this point at least in California, it is legal for stores and companies to advertise in this way. I think it is time for the California State Legislature to enact laws which prevent the bait and switch rebate scams that are going on.

The advertisers know full well that you are looking at the big price of the item when you look at their ad. They purposefully make their ads this way so that you will get in your car, and waste your gas to go to the store, only to find out that the actual price of the item is not what is advertised.

Technically, if the rebate companies (discussed below) actually honor the rebate, than the price ends up months later to be what was advertised, however you are still paying sales tax on the full price of the item, and not the advertised price.

What the retailer or the manufacturer that pushes these rebate scams do not tell you is that they ordinarily outsource the actual rebate process to 3rd party companies. These 3rd party companies do everything in their power to not honor the rebate. I have personally been screwed by these rebate companies. I did everything that they said to do; cut off the original bar code from the product; send the original receipt by a certain date, etc., only to have the company come up with some bullshit excuse not to honor the rebate. Then to make matters worse there is no way to actually communicate with the rebate company to dispute their rejection of the rebate.

Furthermore, once they have your original receipt and barcode cut-off, they can then turnaround and state; “well we need the original receipt and barcode cut-off to give you a rebate.” Since you already gave it to them, they then deny your claim for a rebate using this scam as well.

Another issue related to rebate scams is that the manufacturers who play the rebate games count on a large percentage of people not actually jumping through hoops to get the rebate, or the 3rd party companies that they use to find ways to not pay the rebates. The manufacturer gets your money in their account, and earns interest on it, while you do not get the product for the price that was advertised in the first place.

Here is my solution; boycott retail outfits that use the rebate scams! Do not shop at their stores. Make complaints to management and their corporate offices that you will not shop at their stores unless they give you a discount price without having to play a rebate game. If enough people boycott the stores that sucker people in, with false and misleading advertisements than they will change their ways.

Another solution is to write your State Legislature and complain about the false and misleading advertising, and request that they do something about it!

As for me, I am not playing rebate games anymore. I will refuse to shop at any store that uses this deceptive form of advertising, and if for some reason I am offered a rebate and do not get the rebate, I will file a lawsuit against the manufacturer.

As consumers, and voters, we have much more power than the normal person realizes. It’s a matter of us all getting together and saying in a loud and clear voice that we refuse to be suckers no more!

By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq. ,© 2007