A Note about Rebates

I found out that companies are not allowing as much time to mail in rebates as they used to. When we ordered my laptop just before Christmas, there were several rebate offers. Late last week I suddenly realized that almost a month had passed since buying it, and I hadn't mailed in the rebate paperwork for the "free" printer that came with Macbook.

I went to MacMall's site and followed the links for rebates for that printer and printed out the one that we originally qualified for. When I started to fill it out, I was dismayed to see that they only allowed 20 days from purchase to send it (postmarked) instead of 30! And there I was at day 30, with not much time before the post office closed.

I went back to the website and looked at other rebates for the printer-computer combination. I found one that still allowed 30 days. Frank cut the UPC code off the printer box while I filled out the form and prepared an envelope. Then I copied everything and drove to the post office.

Aleshia was taking down the flag as I drove up but the OPEN sign was still on the door. I asked her if my envelope would still get postmarked for that day. She said yes and hand-canceled it; the envelope being awkwardly thick from having the piece of cardboard inside. When I got back in the car, it was still one minute before closing time.

Another rebate story: Since our refrigerator quit prematurely, we called Frigidaire (Electrolux) and complained. They emailed us a form for a substantial rebate on a new one (around half the price of the replacement). We received the rebate the other day, and today we received a credit from Lowe's for the delivery charges. Pretty good considering that they delivered it the same day we called!

Coincidentally, a week after we replaced the fridge, our Frigidaire dryer stopped working! We called Matt's Appliance Repair (in Timberville) again, and the same repairman came out. This time he felt that the appliance might still have some life in it. He got the drum to turn again and told Frank to check the exhaust hose for blockage, for it was likely to have gotten bent in some way that stopped it from working properly.

Frank had to move the washer and dryer to do this, but he did get the hose unbent and cleaned out. We think it got bent when it was moved during the kitchen remodel. Anyway, it has worked fine since he fixed it, thank goodness.