LM, I understand your dissappointment to an extent, but every pro shop that received the promotional material also received a letter explaining how the program worked. We expected that each shop would be able to explain this to the customer. I've spoken to several shops that wanted to make sure they understood the rebate completely so they could guide their customers. Some shops chose not to participate for the very reasons you stated, but other shops have used the rebate program for their customers and it has boosted sales during a tough time for them. I agree, it can be misleading if the information is not shared with you, the end customer, but it is by no means a scam or gimmick.
Like a few have already stated, the rebate is the perk, but should not be the reason for buying the ball. We tossed around numerous ways to try and get cash back into the consumers hands and this was a way to maximize the value. I'm sorry that your shop was not able to inform you of the rebate plan, but short of visiting with or contacting each shop individually, we gave them as much information as we could to help make this a successful program for all involved. I realy hope you will reconsider your opinion of Brunswick and continue to enjoy success with our products. Are intentions were to provide a great product and attach a rebate with it that helped the customer justify the purchase in these difficult economic times. We plan to do more consumer type rebates in the future for this very reason, so we will study the results of this program and determine how we can do it better.
Seriously, we want you as a customer and really don't want you to feel that you've been "dupped". It is a rough time for many consumers these days, so to ask someone to put out $200+ for a bowling ball can be too much for some, so we hoped that this rebate would help some. By no means did we want to disappoint anyone with this offer.
Regards,
Robert Lawrence
(SW Product Specialist - Brunswick Bowling)
--------------------
I'm gettin' old, I'm hurtin', but I've got Brunswick balls.......Color me competitive.