coupondink
11-19-2008, 04:56:59 PM
Hey everyone!
I have been doing rainchecks for riteaid rebates for years now. Thought I would let everyone know what I have been doing, to help the newbies, and those who are unaware that you can submit rebates after the rebate period if you have a raincheck.
We all love Riteaid rebates. We love freebies. We love trying new items every month. However, everyone here knows that Riteaid is not very good about stocking their FARs (free after rebate). But fret not! Luckily Riteaid allows receipts using rainchecks to be submitted after the rebate period. Sweet!
If your store is out of stock of a FAR...
1. go to the cashier and ask for a raincheck.
2. clip out the picture and the price in the circular and staple it to the raincheck. This serves two purposes. It will help you find the item later, and it is clear as day if a cashier questions the wording on the raincheck.
3. keep your eyes open for new coupons while you wait for the item to be in stock. This inconvenience to you often times turns into a moneymaking opportunity.
4. check the stores every week when you are you going for your weekly deals.
5. when the item is in stock, buy it. Make double sure that the receipt says "raincheck". Make triple sure you buy the right item. Right size, color, flavor, brand, everything. Carry the rebate book with you as you select.
6. mail the receipt and your information to:
Riteaid Single Check Rebates
PO Box 8340
Wilmington, DE 19803
or fax to: 1-800-457-2243
include your name, address, phone number, rebate offer month, rebate offer number, item name, rebate dollar amount owed to you. I also include my email address.
7. follow up with persistent nagging emails to rebates@riteaid.com
and calls to 1-888-468-4356 x2225
Now, here are the perils you need to be aware of, so that you are able to nimbly guide through them:
1. every cashier will give you this line "oh it is coming in on the truck tomorrow. Come back tomorrow". Um no. It is not on the truck. I will place a $100 bet it is not. I know for a fact that the managers see it is FAR and order a lot, and they send them a few (3 or 4 sometimes!). Don't fall for this line. Use my stock answer "I am busy. I can not come back tomorrow. I am here today and you do not have the item. Please give me the raincheck. Thank you." This works every time. If by some chance you get a moron (I am shocked when I read the posts some people write about their horrid experiences!)...They legally can not say anything to this. If they do, don't get mad, don't fight...calmly call corporate (saved handily on your cell phone) right there right in front of them and hand the phone to the cashier after you speak to the customer service representative. I've done this several times. They will turn a million shades of red in front of all the other customers. This trick only works during normal business hours, when they answer the hotline.
2. 98% of the cashiers are not aware that you can submit receipts if you have a raincheck. They will try to dissuade you because they are too lazy to write a raincheck. Too bad. You know better. Insist. I once insisted and they had to write 9 rainchecks. I couldn't stop laughing. If they had only stocked the item! Sucks for them!
3. Make double sure the receipt says "raincheck". Sometimes the cashiers and managers are improperly trained and don't know how to do a raincheck properly, and they just adjust the price down. No. It must say "raincheck" or the rebate program will not accept it. Insist.
4. make sure you buy the right item. Make triple sure. This is my biggest advise. I've lost money by grabbing the wrong item, and by the time they get back to you to tell you that, it is past 30 days to return it.
5. this process is time consuming. If you don't have patience or time, just don't do it. Just grab the FARs that are in stock and be happy with that.
6. you have to followup. I have lost money in the past because I got busy or frustrated and just didn't have time to follow up. Once again, if you don't have the time or patience, don't do it. They want to make it difficult on you so that you just drop it. That is the cardinal rule with all rebates. Got time and patience? Follow up and see it through.
For a while, a poster shared a number that a nice lady at the SCR answered, and she did the rainchecks right there on the phone. Wow! I was so happy. That was short lived. Now they are back to telling us to fax them in. If that is the game they want to play, we can play it too.
For a while, I found out that they were turning off their fax machines. Nice. I would fax it in, call, they would tell me to wait the 2-3 weeks for processing (couldn't even tell me if they got the fax!), I would call, they would tell me they never got it, I would fax again, call, fax again, call....until I used a fancy fax machine at one of my jobs in Manhattan that detected that the fax number I was calling was actually turned off. Caught ya you little sneaky snakes!!!!!
But the hardest part is that you have to be super persistent. I have done hundreds of raincheck rebate submissions.....so I am here to tell you it can be done.
I've attached a template that you can use. I filled in the name, address, etc...and saved it on my laptop. I just fill in the other stuff (offer #, etc) each time. Easy!
Don't have a fax machine always available but you have a scanner??
Here is what I do:
Scan your receipts. Use faxzero.com. Easy. Free. Just go to faxzero.com and put your name and email and the ra's fax # and upload your template document and the scanned receipts. Click the link in the email they send you. I just did it right now and it took all of 30 seconds to fax. Easy!
One final note:
Some stores will give you the item free right there in the store once it comes into stock. I only know of one store near me (kinda far) that does that, but many posters here have shared their success with this. Call your store right now and ask the manager if they do that. It would be worth the call. Even easier! But make sure you ask him to tell his cashiers too, so that they don't think you are crazy when you ask for an item for free.
Good luck. Go get your FARs!!
If this helps some folks, maybe the mod can sticky?
I have been doing rainchecks for riteaid rebates for years now. Thought I would let everyone know what I have been doing, to help the newbies, and those who are unaware that you can submit rebates after the rebate period if you have a raincheck.
We all love Riteaid rebates. We love freebies. We love trying new items every month. However, everyone here knows that Riteaid is not very good about stocking their FARs (free after rebate). But fret not! Luckily Riteaid allows receipts using rainchecks to be submitted after the rebate period. Sweet!
If your store is out of stock of a FAR...
1. go to the cashier and ask for a raincheck.
2. clip out the picture and the price in the circular and staple it to the raincheck. This serves two purposes. It will help you find the item later, and it is clear as day if a cashier questions the wording on the raincheck.
3. keep your eyes open for new coupons while you wait for the item to be in stock. This inconvenience to you often times turns into a moneymaking opportunity.
4. check the stores every week when you are you going for your weekly deals.
5. when the item is in stock, buy it. Make double sure that the receipt says "raincheck". Make triple sure you buy the right item. Right size, color, flavor, brand, everything. Carry the rebate book with you as you select.
6. mail the receipt and your information to:
Riteaid Single Check Rebates
PO Box 8340
Wilmington, DE 19803
or fax to: 1-800-457-2243
include your name, address, phone number, rebate offer month, rebate offer number, item name, rebate dollar amount owed to you. I also include my email address.
7. follow up with persistent nagging emails to rebates@riteaid.com
and calls to 1-888-468-4356 x2225
Now, here are the perils you need to be aware of, so that you are able to nimbly guide through them:
1. every cashier will give you this line "oh it is coming in on the truck tomorrow. Come back tomorrow". Um no. It is not on the truck. I will place a $100 bet it is not. I know for a fact that the managers see it is FAR and order a lot, and they send them a few (3 or 4 sometimes!). Don't fall for this line. Use my stock answer "I am busy. I can not come back tomorrow. I am here today and you do not have the item. Please give me the raincheck. Thank you." This works every time. If by some chance you get a moron (I am shocked when I read the posts some people write about their horrid experiences!)...They legally can not say anything to this. If they do, don't get mad, don't fight...calmly call corporate (saved handily on your cell phone) right there right in front of them and hand the phone to the cashier after you speak to the customer service representative. I've done this several times. They will turn a million shades of red in front of all the other customers. This trick only works during normal business hours, when they answer the hotline.
2. 98% of the cashiers are not aware that you can submit receipts if you have a raincheck. They will try to dissuade you because they are too lazy to write a raincheck. Too bad. You know better. Insist. I once insisted and they had to write 9 rainchecks. I couldn't stop laughing. If they had only stocked the item! Sucks for them!
3. Make double sure the receipt says "raincheck". Sometimes the cashiers and managers are improperly trained and don't know how to do a raincheck properly, and they just adjust the price down. No. It must say "raincheck" or the rebate program will not accept it. Insist.
4. make sure you buy the right item. Make triple sure. This is my biggest advise. I've lost money by grabbing the wrong item, and by the time they get back to you to tell you that, it is past 30 days to return it.
5. this process is time consuming. If you don't have patience or time, just don't do it. Just grab the FARs that are in stock and be happy with that.
6. you have to followup. I have lost money in the past because I got busy or frustrated and just didn't have time to follow up. Once again, if you don't have the time or patience, don't do it. They want to make it difficult on you so that you just drop it. That is the cardinal rule with all rebates. Got time and patience? Follow up and see it through.
For a while, a poster shared a number that a nice lady at the SCR answered, and she did the rainchecks right there on the phone. Wow! I was so happy. That was short lived. Now they are back to telling us to fax them in. If that is the game they want to play, we can play it too.
For a while, I found out that they were turning off their fax machines. Nice. I would fax it in, call, they would tell me to wait the 2-3 weeks for processing (couldn't even tell me if they got the fax!), I would call, they would tell me they never got it, I would fax again, call, fax again, call....until I used a fancy fax machine at one of my jobs in Manhattan that detected that the fax number I was calling was actually turned off. Caught ya you little sneaky snakes!!!!!
But the hardest part is that you have to be super persistent. I have done hundreds of raincheck rebate submissions.....so I am here to tell you it can be done.
I've attached a template that you can use. I filled in the name, address, etc...and saved it on my laptop. I just fill in the other stuff (offer #, etc) each time. Easy!
Don't have a fax machine always available but you have a scanner??
Here is what I do:
Scan your receipts. Use faxzero.com. Easy. Free. Just go to faxzero.com and put your name and email and the ra's fax # and upload your template document and the scanned receipts. Click the link in the email they send you. I just did it right now and it took all of 30 seconds to fax. Easy!
One final note:
Some stores will give you the item free right there in the store once it comes into stock. I only know of one store near me (kinda far) that does that, but many posters here have shared their success with this. Call your store right now and ask the manager if they do that. It would be worth the call. Even easier! But make sure you ask him to tell his cashiers too, so that they don't think you are crazy when you ask for an item for free.
Good luck. Go get your FARs!!
If this helps some folks, maybe the mod can sticky?