Costco is listing the Panasonic AX200 with a $400 Mail-In rebate and clearly shows the after rebate cost as the online price less the $400.

This is fraudulent. There is no $400 rebate. I don't think it's intentional, but it is certainly misleading and not true.

Panasonic is offering a Blockbuster Rental Card worth up to 52 free rentals (~$400 value) and 2-year limited warranty - not a rebate.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=805880

Do you know this for a fact, or are you jumping to a conclusion based on the value of the rental card and rebate matching up? This store (which is not to be named on this forum) is pretty clear about things like this. If they say rebate, you get a rebate, if it's a rental card, they also state so explicitly. I've purchased projectors from them getting either both, or just the rebate. It probably wouldn't hurt to call them and find out what the real situation is.

Costco is listing the Panasonic AX200 with a $400 Mail-In rebate and clearly shows the after rebate cost as the online price less the $400.

This is fraudulent. There is no $400 rebate. I don't think it's intentional, but it is certainly misleading and not true.

Panasonic is offering a Blockbuster Rental Card worth up to 52 free rentals (~$400 value) and 2-year limited warranty - not a rebate.

Many people have gotten used to cash as the form of the rebate but in fact anything can be used that has equal value to the cash amount.

As with any rebate, read the ENTIRE form and follow all instructions exactly.

That is misleading, shame on that unmentioned warehouse discounter. For example, go to one of the forum sponsors website and you see that they clearly label the details of the rebate on the purchase page.

No, it's not misleading at all. It's a perfect example of Caveat Emptor.

You ASSUME you will get a $400 check because you are used to that form of rebate. The link provided to the PANASONIC rebate form shows that you will receive $400 in the form of a Blockbuster card as well as the warranty extension.

A rebate does not have to be cash.

When I first saw the ad I was ready to finally pull the trigger, but read the specifics on the Panasonic offer and decided to try to make others at least aware that the retailer's web page was at a minimum misleading.

I agree - Caveat Emptor, but this is not a rebate. You lawyers can spin it how you like, but a rebate is a refund of some fraction of the purchase price and this aint that. Good old cash has a specific value which is not dependent upon the holder's perception, but a gift card is dependent upon the gift recipient's desire to use the service.

Apparently the company in question is in agreement because they've pulled the item from their site presumably to redo the page.

In this case it was more than a link to the manufacturer's form to claim the extra goodies. Where the company in question clearly went wrong is in showing the final price as including the $400 "rebate" which is completely bogus since no money was to be returned to the customer by Panasonic.

No, it's not misleading at all. It's a perfect example of Caveat Emptor.

You gotta love these folks - half the time I'm convinced that they must be working for a PR firm that trolls forums for corps, as it's hard to believe any normal human being would be this protective of a questionable business.

There may not be anything fraudulent about the C page, but misleading? Hell, it could appear in the dictionary under the word. It's misleading sales talk like this that caused the idea of caveat emptor like this to exist in the first place.

Now, i've been buying online since amazon was a single flat search page with a little green river squiggle at the top - and I am a fan of big old C, but this was misleading and far below their usual high standards. I misunderstood it too at first, and it's nice to know that any buyers who did misunderstand will be able to take advantage of their return policy.

Now, given that this was not an all-fired deal, perhaps all those interested in an ax200 could patronize one of the fine forum sponsors who are selling this fine pj for the same price.

panasonic has done this on quite a few of their projectors (block buster cards)

I was going to get the ax200 anyway, the $400 rental card is just a bonus, the $300 rental card I got from my last panny is just about out heheh

You gotta love these folks - half the time I'm convinced that they must be working for a PR firm that trolls forums for corps, as it's hard to believe any normal human being would be this protective of a questionable business.

There may not be anything fraudulent about the C page, but misleading? Hell, it could appear in the dictionary under the word. It's misleading sales talk like this that caused the idea of caveat emptor like this to exist in the first place.

Now, i've been buying online since amazon was a single flat search page with a little green river squiggle at the top - and I am a fan of big old C, but this was misleading and far below their usual high standards. I misunderstood it too at first, and it's nice to know that any buyers who did misunderstand will be able to take advantage of their return policy.

Now, given that this was not an all-fired deal, perhaps all those interested in an ax200 could patronize one of the fine forum sponsors who are selling this fine pj for the same price.

You gotta love the underhanded name calling when someone points out the obvious and someone else doesn't like it. It's not protective posting, it's reduce the ignorance posting.

It's only misleading when you assume you will be getting cash. Rebates can consist of ANYTHING of market value the company wants to give you. It's THEIR REBATE, not your terms.

And yes, it is nice of that company to allow people who haven't done their homework have a do-over. It's a new PJ - everyone sells it for pretty much the same price. The incentive is a PANASONIC offering, not the warehouse store.

The forum sponsors do a very good job of helping you get a great deal and understand what you are getting. If you are having trouble keeping yourself from clicking the absolute cheapest, best, unbelievable deal you find on the web, maybe you should give the sponsors a call and let them educate you first and then you won't be so upset when you find out your forgot to read.

You gotta love these folks - half the time I'm convinced that they must be working for a PR firm that trolls forums for corps

http://www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/guide/mental-health-schizophrenia

:)

I would hope that people here on the forum are smart enough to read the details of a "rebate".

If they do, it should clearly state what you are getting...if it doesn't, then yes, someone should call the vendor and if the vendor doesn't make it clear, warn people.

You're missing the point. C***** clearly showed the "Final" price as the list price - $400. This was not true and there is no way to spin it as somehow, with lots of hand waving, accurate. They have recognized their mistake and redone the sales page to show the promotion for what it is.

My original post was just a courtesy notice to other forum members to read the promotion details closely.