S$W Rebate

[knot4reel]

Anyone receive their rebate money from them yet? I'm starting to think they've hoodwinked a lot of us.

 

[snorko]

Rebate just ended 6/30 with the deadline to submit 7/15. I doubt they started processing them until about now.

 

[worddoer]

Apparently they did not expect there to be so many purchasers using the rebate program. I copied this letter from someone at the Smith and Wesson Forums...link below.

Got a rebate letter

Dear Valued Smith & Wesson Customer,


Thank you for your recent purchase and on behalf of Smith & Wessonfirearms, I would like to personally apologize for the delay you have experienced in receiving your rebate on this purchase. Typically we are able to process rebates within a few weeks of receipt, and our recent performance does not meet our standard.

The “Savings You Can Carry” program has been very popular, and the tremendous response we received temporarily overwhelmed our systems. I have personally overseen our correction of the situation, and am committing to you that if you submitted your rebate in the month of April, your rebate submission will be processed no later than July 7, 2017. If you submitted your rebate in the month of May, your rebate submission will be processed no later than July 31, 2017.

Nothing is more important to us than your loyalty. Please accept our sincerest apologies and our appreciation for your patience, as well as your dedication to the products we are so proud to deliver.


Regards,



Matt Buckingham
President, Smith & WessonFirearms


To check the status of your rebate, visit Milano Online Rebate Inquiry. If you have additional questions please call the consumer rebate inquiry line at 1-866-963-7933 or the Smith & Wesson customer service department at 1 (800) 331-0852

 

[Expat]

I sent mine in on 4/15. Nothing. I will never trust them on a rebate again. I own several guns made by them. I am disappointed in them. I don't buy that they didnt expect this. They had the guns in the pipeline to meet the demand.

 

[snuffy33]

They just started another rebate July 1

 

[NyleRN]

I sent mine in on 4/15. Nothing. I will never trust them on a rebate again. I own several guns made by them. I am disappointed in them. I don't buy that they didnt expect this. They had the guns in the pipeline to meet the demand.

No kidding. Even when guns sales are slower than they have been pre-election, who would think shields wouldn't fly off the the shelf for $200?

 

[kaveman]

People who sent their rebates in during the first half of April are seeing checks. My first rebate was submitted 4-8 and posted to the Milano website on the 14th. Got my check 7-10 so they're running a full three months for early submissions. I'm sure they're behind the curve and later submissions will take even longer. Smith & Wesson surely expected to sell a bunch of pistols but I seriously doubt they planned for the massive price war that the various vendors launched. The best available price on Shields dropped 60-70 dollars between April and the end of June and it brought out a LOT of buyers, many of whom bought multiples. S&W didn't seem to have any problem supplying the guns but Milano is doing a relatively poor job of processing the rebates,......but it'll all happen eventually.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

I placed my order for a Shield 45 from Palmetto State on June 23. Finally arrived at my LGS Wednesday. Went to pick it up yesterday morning and got delayed (my first delay ever) on the NICS check. Even though it was done online, which usually goes through very quickly, it took at least 15 or 20 minutes for the "delay" to come back.

The owner told me that was a sure sign the NICS system was the problem. He said he even got delayed on his last purchase. He has a UPIN and I always put my SSN on the form to avoid this, so despite Hillary losing, apparently the NICS system is still getting overwhelmed. Hopefully S&W will still honor the rebate when I am able to send it in, since the pistol was bought before the end of the promotion. I printed off the mail-in form just in case it "went away" online.

 

[xoregonian]

Keep the faith. My wife sent in for the 3 free mags offer when she bought her Performance Center 9mm. We had totally forgotten about them until they showed up several months later.

 

[CallSign Snafu]

Rebate just ended 6/30 with the deadline to submit 7/15. I doubt they started processing them until about now.

Deadline IS 7/31

 

[ACC]

I bought a Shield 45 the first day of the rebate and sumitted my rebate form the following week. I just got my rebate in the mail this week.

 

[Expat]

When I bought the Colt DE, I think I got my rebate merchandise in about 5 weeks give or take.

 

[kaveman]

Both the other guys who bought Colt DE's probably got theirs about the same time.

I'll bet Smith has sold a couple hundred thousand Shields in the last three months, not to mention the SDs and Bodyguards. It doesn't sound like Milano's handling the volume too well. Things like website updates and email confirmations should be instant but evidently they input all that stuff manually. Crazy. I received my first rebate a week ago but the website still doesn't even show it as sent,.....and sometimes two weeks passes between 'sent' and 'delivered'. The website is pretty much worthless for real time info.

 

[M67]

Can you image the amount of work S&W has to do for a rebate this large? Making sure that receipts aren't forged, people turning in guns purchased 3 years ago, duplicate serial numbers, making sure no one went over their limit, etc.? It's a giant PITA and S&W sold a TON of guns in the past several months.

Instant gratification isn't something the gun world knows

 

[Hornett]

This rebate is not being handled by Smith & Wesson.
They hired it out to Milano Promotional Services.

You can check on your rebate here.
Milano Online Rebate Inquiry
It won't find anything but if you try it gives you this message.
"The claim may not be available at this time, please call 866-963-7933 for additional assistance."
This number puts you through to a call center that will tell you they are still working on rebates from May and they can't tell you anything either.

Long story short:
If you got a "rebate completed" screen after online filing, well, all you can do is wait.

 

[shootersix]

I wonder if smith is a little cash strapped due to the gemtec purchase?

 

[knot4reel]

On the S&W forum some of the early purchasers are just starting to receive rebate checks.

 

[doublesharp]

i was an earlybird and my shield rebate came today.

 

[two70]

Most rebates seem to take 8-12 weeks to arrive even if they had a far smaller response than S&W likely had. Hornady has averaged right at 3 months to fulfill their yearly Get Loaded promotion for the last few years. Look at it as an opportunity to practice a bit of patience or at least learn to adjust your expectation that the later estimate is closer to the minimum time than the maximum time to receive your refund. Then it is a pleasant surprise whenever one arrives early, like my Browning rebate(~ 3 weeks) and Winchester rebate(~5 weeks) did earlier in the year.

 

[jhart0990]

I got mine back a week ago. It took about 3 and a half months to get the rebate back. I still have another rebate from my performance center shield. It will come in a weird envelope that wont look like a check. I think it showed MST holdings or something like that. Its like they made it almost look like junk mail.