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Sony NAB Rebate Rip Off
I bought two Sony PMW-EX1 cameras recently during the NAB show. Concurrently with the show, Sony was running a rebate incentive, offering a $500 eCoupon for the Sony Style site with the purchase of an EX1. Well, I bought two and I recently received my coupons, but it turns out they are restricted to “Advanced Amateur/Professional Camcorders and Accessories” on the site. Since Sony does not carry any accessories for the EX1 on Sony Style, or any EX1 cameras for that matter, this means the rebate is only good for buying any number of HDV camcorders and accessories, which is essentially lesser equipment than I bought and have absolutely no use for.
Their eCoupon policy is a complete rip off, which makes absolutely no sense. It’s like saying: “If you buy this automobile, we’ll give you a coupon good for $500 off a moped or any moped accessories.” Since the purchase of the automobile presumably took care of motorized transportation, who wants to spend money on a moped, and what would you need moped accessories for?
Dealing with the Sony Style customer service is a nightmare, since they take a long time to respond and then come up with nothing but the party line:
I apologize for the inconvenience on this special situation, as the coupons are issued after the purchase right now that is all the information I am able to share with you, I would like to have a different resolution on this case for you but unfortunately I do not.
As previously advised this coupons will be able to be redeemed for:
Advanced Amateur/Professional Camcorders, Hard Drives/Tape Recorders and Professional Accessories.
They won’t give out the information on who one can complain to or address this in any other way. Even the retailer where I bought the cameras was misled and doesn’t understand this, but it basically means the coupons and the whole promotion are worthless to me. If I could apply two coupons to the same purchase, I could get one of the cheaper HDV cameras for half price, even though I don’t need one, but that, too, they don’t allow. So they are trying to force their EX1 customers, after spending $7,000 to $8000 per camera (including accessories) to spend at least another $1,500 on something they don’t want or need. And who thought of offering $500 off on accessories for a different camera than you just bought? I mean it is supremely idiotic.
There have to be other people in this situation. Does anyone have any ideas on who to complain to? Is anyone happy with their NAB rebate? Can we gang up on this multinational corporation and fight back about this bait and switch? I have gone as far as I can with their customer “service” and am not getting anywhere. I was on teh cusp of renting and buying and was actually talked into the purchase, because I figured it was $1,000 off – even if it was for some consumer product I could enjoy at home. Now I just feel had…
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14 Replies
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Rebates are what they are- incentives. It’s on you to read the fine print because nine times out of ten unless it’s cash back a rebate is generally on something you don’t want. I’d suggest getting whatever looks most desirable on the rebate site and selling it on eBay, then going on about your life. You can certainly go down the other path of trying to force a multi-billion dollar corporation to change its ways over your 2 rebate coupons but I’m thinking that’s probably a dead end.
Noah
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Are they no longer doing the free SxS card rebate with the EX cameras? I did that on our EX1 and EX3 and they were handled pretty quickly.
Cf
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What about the on-camera light or shotgun microphones. You could use those with your EX1..
Scot Lenter
Midtown Video
Miami, Florida
Service Manager
Rental Agent
scot@midtownvideo.com
305-669-1117 -
You’re right about the dead end – Sony doesn’t seem inclined to budge. However, I didn’t fail to read the fine print, because I was going off the word of three different Sony retailers, who all said this coupon was for the Sony Style site. And the precedent, even with Sony, is that the rebate is at least good for accessories that work with the camera you bought. Clearly I will go on with my life, but I also wanted to share this cautionary tale with others, so that they not take the word of the dealer, but very carefully read the fine print, as you suggested…
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They include one 8GB SxS card in the camera package, which I think they always did, but the additional SxS memory card has been discontinued. The memory would, of course, be much more helpful, but for NAB they came up with the $500 coupon instead. The accessories you can buy with that coupon are not for the EX1 and SxS memory cards are not available on the Sony Style site. I don’t know what the current incentive is, but I suggest reading the fine print with extreme care and not trusting what the Sony retailer tells you…
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You’re right – I guess those are an option that would work. Even if those products are not Sony’s strong suit – there are better and cheaper alternatives – at least I can use the coupon. Thanks
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Personally I would go for the HVL-LBPA on-camera light. They sell it for more than street value but with $500 off it is a great deal. That light works wonders and I guarantee you will get some good use out of it.
Scot Lenter
Midtown Video
Miami, Florida
Service Manager
Rental Agent
scot@midtownvideo.com
305-669-1117 -
You could always do what I’ve done in similar situations… get a grand worth of random stuff from the Sony store, and then turn around and sell it on eBay. You could probably get all your money out of it that way.
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Overall, I agree with your discontent. I also purchased an EX1 after NAB and eagerly awaited my rebate coupon, expecting to pick up a couple of extra batteries or an SxS card for the camera. I was too was unhappy to see the link to consumer-oriented gear alone.
That said, I agree with another poster that the on-camera light seems good, as does their very portable digital audio recorder: https://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665760564g. I’ve read some positive reviews of the latter in professional audio mags.
Does anyone have experience with Sony’s on-camera LED light? How does it compare to the significantly less expensive light from Varizoom? https://varizoom.com/products/lights/ls2000.html
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My link to the Sony digital audio recorder above didn’t work. Here’s a link to a review of the recorder. Seems like a good item to have in your travel kit: https://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2008/01/10/sony-pcm-d50-recorder-review.html. Not bad for the rebate plus $50.00 😉
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