Since last week’s update, CSPLF has jumped from $5.12 to $7.10 and CMM has jumped from $16.34 to $18.70. CSPLF seem to be drilling for something. CMM seems to be entertaining offers to sell itself. I’ve been in both for a long time; but I’m not rushing to get out of either, even though CSPLF will almost surely fall back if the news is not good (we’ve drilled for things before).
TIVO
Cyrus Ginwala: ‘After several years of happy TiVo service, we decided to try the local cable company’s new supposedly TiVo-like DVR service. Aside from the ability to record and watch two different live programs simultaneously, it is inferior to TiVo in every way. We’ll probably dump it. It makes me appreciate the simple intuitive genius of TiVo. I hope TiVo survives and thrives.’
George Hamlett: ‘If it’s hidden TiVo codes you’re after, here‘s a good place to find them. You’ll waste ALL the time you save skipping commercials.’
JD: ‘The feature I would like most from my TiVo, is some mechanism that will allow me not to feel embarrassed that it ‘thinks’ I’m a 14-year-old girl.’
REBATES
Susan: ‘I am one of those folks who almost never gets around to sending in rebate forms and I’ve lost out on hundreds of dollars over thee years, but lately there’s one store where I have consistently submitted the rebates and have had a 100% success rate! At BJ’s Wholesale Club they print everything you need on the receipt to apply for the rebate online. They must actually want people to get the rebates they advertise.’
John Ebert: ‘I have bought computers and printers at Best Buy with rebates as incentives. I followed ALL the instructions printed on the several feet of cash register tape that spewed out at the time of purchase, and I received every cent promised. I can tell you that the hundreds of dollars I got for the time invested FAR exceeded the hourly rate for any job I’ve ever held.’
Richard Factor: ‘CompUSA are evil, but I can’t resist their sales! I bought a UPS for $10 ($25 before rebate) and am still waiting for my $15. I will get it, just as I got the $50 rebate on my MP3 player after fighting with them and the rebate center for almost a year. They are pros, as your reader says, but I am more than a match for them. Besides, they can’t spend all their time plotting how to keep customers from getting rebates – they need to devote some of it to their ‘bait and switch’ tactics.’
Jim Hickel: ‘I am a mail-in rebate junkie, but seriously question whether it’s worth my time. I’ve learned to always scan and keep a copy of all the supporting documentation. About 40% of the time, I get one of those ‘you didn’t qualify’ postcards, and then I re-submit copies of all the paperwork (including the all-important UPC code) with a polite letter demanding my rebate. The second submission almost always seems to work. In my experience, the most consistent offender is not CompUSA but Symantec (the Norton software people), who NEVER seem to be able to find all my paperwork the first time I send it in.
‘There are other annoying aspects of mail-in rebates. Here’s a recent message I received, acknowledging the receipt of my rebate submission: ‘We have received your submission and are currently processing your order. Please allow 6 – 8 weeks to process your request. If approved, you will receive another e-mail notifying you that your rebate has been mailed.’ Six to eight weeks to process a rebate? Including the mailing time, it is typically three months or so between the time I send the rebate and the time the check arrives — assuming that the submission is accepted as complete on the first go around. And don’t even get me started on ‘remote disbursement,’ which is covered here. We rebate junkies have sent more mail to Young America, Minnesota than we send to our actual relatives.’
