Rebate debate

On the radio on my way in to work, I heard something about a New Jersey legislator, didn't catch which one, who wants to end the practice of companies offering rebates on items where you have to fill out forms, send in receipts, clip bar codes off boxes, jump through hoops and mail it out, then wait eight weeks for your five bucks. This legislator says the rebates should be given at the time of purchase. The radio report said companies save billions on personal computer rebates each year, by people not sending them in or not filling out forms properly.

That's all well and good, but how can a New Jersey rule affect a rebate outlet in Young America, Minn., which is where all my rebate applications end up? I just had an interesting experience: I bought a cell phone for $50, with the promise of a $50 rebate. Both the saleswoman and the technician who programmed it emphatically said I should keep the box intact for a couple of weeks, because if there's anything wrong with the phone, I would get an immediate exchange for 30 days, I think, but I had to have the box fully intact. So I left the rebate application and the box in the bag on my desk for about a month. My phone worked fine, so I got out the rebate application. Lo and behold, it expired two weeks after I purchased the phone. A call to customer service rectified that. The agent said they do recommend you keep the box intact so they would send me my rebate. But how many others wouldn't bother calling? And how many people never sent it in?

The thing that makes me laugh is, this is a bill out of New Jersey? The state that takes too much of your property taxes, then makes you fill out forms, file applications and jump through hoops to get a rebate? Ha!