Cash Back - is it good or bad?

We recently purchased some technology items that were branded as having cash back which made them quite affordable. However we were nearly stung due to the very short timeframe we had to apply for the money.

It seems to me that the entire process is designed to look attractive whilst making it difficult to redeem the voucher for the money.

I bought a new Acer laptop for basic email and surfing around the house. Not a bad little laptop to be honest for the money. However, when I went to redeem the paperwork I had one day left to apply for the refund. If I had remembered one day later then I wouldn’t have got the refund. We are talking about $150 here so it’s quite sizeable.

Another cash back I applied for was a Microsoft Mouse/Keyboard combination. I’m still waiting on the money to hit my bank account from about 8 weeks ago.

During the process of applying for the cash back (via the web) Acer tried to sell us extended warranty for about the same value as the cash back. Therefore a cynic could say that other vendors give you three years however this is just a sales gimmick intended to confuse you by making it look like a great deal.

The reality is, if you stick to your guns and really know what it is you are buying, remain vigilant as to the terms and conditions of the offer, then cash back can actually work. However if you don’t then you will get stung.

The final thing to note, is that the ATO will soon stop this process because the purchase price ($650) Includes GST. However the refund can go into any bank account meaning a scammer could easily dupe the tax office out of a lot of revenue.