by KYW's Amy Feldman

Well it’s about that time, the time after those really expensive Christmas presents—the ones you bought because with the rebate they were such good buys—have been unwrapped, played with briefly and put on a high shelf.  But if you could justify them at all before you knew that they’d be interesting only for about 12 seconds, they could become even harder to justify if you lose the opportunity to get the rebate. Here’s what you need to know about actually getting the rebate you were promised.

Under the Fair Trade Act, it’s false advertising if manufacturers or retailers get you to buy something by promising a rebate if they aren’t going to give you one.  But that doesn’t mean that they have to make it easy for you.  So if you still haven’t sent back the rebate, you should do the following:  hang on to your receipt and all the packaging until you’ve made sure you have all the required proofs of purchases to get the rebate.  Make copies of all the documents before you mail them in.  And put a note on your calendar around the time the company promises you the rebate so you remember to follow up in case you don’t receive it, and report it to the state attorney general’s office if you don’t.  

Remember, like your interest in the product itself, the rebate offer will expire, so make sure you turn it in if you haven’t already.