[mythtv-users] WinTV PVR-250 cards on sale

[Ray Olszewski]

At 08:40 AM 5/13/2003 -0800, Matthew Schumacher wrote:
>Andrew,
>
>The rebate is from Hauppauge (at least it was when compusa did the same 
>thing 2 weeks ago).  I called them to ask about my PO BOX (I don't get 
>mail at my house) and talked to the lady that processes all of the rebates 
>and she was very nice.
>
>While I share your concern of rebates, I feel pretty good about this one.

The biggest problem with rebates ... though there certainly are others ... 
is that a (relatively) few bad apples can cause a lot of distrust in the 
process. My own experience has been mixed ... disk-drive companies I've 
found 100% reliable (and they give *big* rebates, at least around here), 
while some small companies act like whether to honor the terms of an offer 
or not is at their discretion. (I'm currently fighting with Kaser Corp., 
for example, about an overdue rebate on a video card.)

Unfortunately, "very nice" doesn't help sort companies out ... the lady at 
Best Data who stalled me for 3 months past the due date before sending out 
a check, a couple of years ago, was "very nice", just not very helpful. So 
I don't buy products from that company any more, or at least not if rebates 
are involved.

The best way to control this problem, I think, is for customers to talk 
about it in specific terms, so the companies that act badly get bad 
reputations. To that end, I'd hope anyone who tries to get this rebate from 
Hauppauge reports on his or her experience (whether positive or negative).