If you hate mail-in rebates, you may like this...

I do not enjoy mail-in rebates - I doubt anyone does. I also dislike CompUSA; my experiences there have mostly been less than satisfactory, as I usually know more about what I am buying than the salesperson does. It is this dislike (not quite "hate") of CompUSA that compels me to purchase things there that are cheap or free after rebate. Ok, that and the sometimes amazing values I can achieve. Like this story...

I burn a lot of CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, so I by them by the hundred, without cases. Lately, I've needed a lot of DVD-Rs, and my stock had dwindled to around 60 blanks... so last week, when I saw the CompUSA Sunday ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, I was happy to note their sale of 100 packs of DVD-R or DVD+R discs for $24.99 without mail-in rebates. Not bad... I typically pay around $40 for 100 namebrand 8X media (and when burning DVDs, speed REALLY matters).

The media CompUSA was selling was their own brand of 4X discs, not the fastest stuff available, but they'll only take me about 25 minutes to burn an verify. And $0.25/disc is a very good price.

But not the best I could do.

It turns out the CompUSA has had a deal with America Online to encourage people to sign up. If you spend a $25, you can sign up and get $10 off your purchase. If you spend $50, you can sign up and get $15 off your purchase. The sign up processes is a bit cumbersome, but less so (and quicker) than the mail-in rebate process: The CompUSA associate must fill out a web-based form with your information, including a credit card number, and print out a sheet for you with your information on it. Also, if you go at a slow time, you can talk the salesperson into giving you multiple sign-ups for multiple discounts. Which is exactly what I did.

I bought 3 packs of 4X DVD-Rs for $14.99 plus tax each.

Now, the kicker: you're thinking "Hey! didn't you just sign up for AOL 3 times?" Yep, and a quick phone call and some fancy talking later will cancel those three accounts without any bill on my card. I've done this a LOT.

And the kicker, part II: AOL only lets you use the same credit card to sign up for the discount 5 - 10 times. After that, they deny the sign-up BUT YOU STILL GET THE DISCOUNT. THERE IS NOTHING TO CALL TO CANCEL. I didn't even have to call to cancel these three accounts.

Just another day screwing with CompUSA.