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Getting to the Bottom of the PowerBook G4 Rebate Confusion

by Paul Cesarini

There appears to be a fair amount of confusion over recent promos announced for new Macs, particularly the PowerBook G4. Last month, Apple launched a PowerBook G4-specific promo offering an external VST CD-RW drive free after a mail-in rebate. Last week, Apple launched a printer promo applying to any new desktop or laptop Mac. In this case, it amounts getting a free consumer-level color inkjet printer or a substantially-discounted high end color inkjet printer. Both the CD-RW promo and the printer promo apparently can be combined when buying a PowerBook G4. The problem is, depending on where you buy the PowerBook G4 from, you might have to mail the original UPC bar code from the PowerBook G4 box to two separate locations -- one for each promo. As there is only one UPC bar code on the box, this is of course impossible.

Here's what I've learned so far. After reading the fine print for the VST CD-RW offer for the PowerBook G4, it specifically mentions that offer can be combined with the free printer offer. The text on the Satisfy Two Burning Desires for the Price of One page reads:

"This offer may be combined with the Apple/Epson Printer $69 Rebate Offer, the 50% Instant Savings Memory Offer, and any other offer or promotion specifically permitting such combination, but, otherwise, is not valid in conjunction with any other Apple offer or promotion."

The wording of that sentence seems pretty bullet-proof to me. If anyone at Apple is saying the two offers can't be combined, I believe they are mistaken. Of course, there's still that problem with both offers requiring the original UPC bar code cut-out from the PowerBook box.

Meanwhile, the Your Life. To go. For less. also states that the printer offer "...is valid with the PowerBook G4 free VST CD-RW Drive mail-in rebate offer." Again, there's the UPC bar code problem.

After speaking with a Supervisor at Apple Sales Support, I've confirmed that there is, indeed, a problem with combining the two promos -- but it depends entirely on where you buy the PowerBook G4 from. If you order it through the Apple Store, you'll either get a $69 instant rebate on a Lexmark Z32 printer, making it effectively free, or a $69 instant rebate off a Lexmark Z53 printer, which cuts the price down to roughly $70. Since both are instant rebates and not mail-in ones, you can then still complete the mail-in rebate for the VST CD-RW drive. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, if you order a PowerBook G4 through a reseller, such as Club Mac or Mac Warehouse, it's not so easy. Resellers still offer the VST promo, but the printer promo is slightly different from that of the Apple Store one. Resellers offer mail-in rebates for the printers, not instant rebates, as evidenced by the rebate form from Club Mac (PDF, Acrobat Reader required). Additionally, the printers for this rebate are slightly different. Rather than offering a Z32, resellers offer a Z22 or Z23. Don't ask me what the differences are. This promo knocks $50 off a Z22 (making it effectively free) or $80 off a Z23 (also basically free). A third option cuts $80 off a Z53 printer, which drops the price down to roughly $40 - $50.

Keep in mind that, even for the free printers, in most cases you'd still be paying shipping and sales tax. However, some resellers might not charge sales tax, and many offer additional incentives such as free ram. I won't get into the whole E-Commerce sales tax debate, so let's move on.

The bottom line is that if you're buying a PowerBook G4 through an Apple-authorized reseller, the rebate criteria has made it virtually impossible to get both the free VST drive and the free Lexmark printer. Both rebate require an original bar code, when only one such beast exists. The Supervisor I spoke with from Apple said he'd look into the matter and get back to me with a solution. He has my number. He has my email address. Let's see how it goes.