This panel mirrors my disgust with the "rebate" version of sales so prevalent in electronics. Who ever gets the rebate?

It's gotten so bad that if a rebate is offered, I either don't buy the item or will not take any ephemeral savings into account when I comparison shop, taking into account the idea that any company offering the rebate automatically starts out with a "slimier" image in my head.

Here's how a typical rebate works, from my experience....

You pay for the item, take it home, it becomes a fixture in your life. You fill out the rebate coupon/slip/napkin and mail it off. Six months later, you realize you never did get that 300 bucks. "Hey, wassup," you write in an email to said company.

" Well, you didn't qualify for the rebate because (insert multitudes of previously unmentioned rules and regulations regarding the offer) the yak milk futures market tanked in Mongolia, and it clearly states in paragraph 4982 of the booklet you should have ordered at the time of purchase that we are not responsible for...blah, blah, etc."

Yeah.

In short, you're not getting your money back. Too bad.

Rebate offers suck.