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Buy a $999 Water Heater, Get $1050 Back?

The ad seemed too good to be true: Buy a new-fangled GE Geospring Hybrid Water Heater for $999, and get back a $750 cash rebate, plus a $300 federal tax credit:

GE Water Heater

Surely, this neighborhood appliance store is hiding something critical like you have to buy a furnace too.

*MOUSE PRINT:

None!

Well, there is a ton of paperwork and fine print (like what type of heater it must replace, and where you are putting it), but the offer as stated is valid in Massachusetts through participating utility companies. And similar but not always as generous rebates are available in other states too.

Utility companies across the country are trying to promote the installation of energy efficient appliances, and providing rebates for that purpose is a big incentive for consumers. The federal government also has a $300 tax credit for an actual dollar-for-dollar reduction in your federal tax bill when you install certain energy efficient products. (You are only allowed up to $500 in these federal tax credits, so if you have already used them up on say energy efficient windows, you cannot get an additional credit for these water heaters.)

To see what rebate, if any, applies to the purchase of a super energy efficient water heater, use this lookup from GE. It will tell you how much you can qualify for both in state and federal programs.

These programs are not limited to GE brand super efficient water heaters, so do compare features of other brands. Because this type of water heater uses principles of a heat pump, GE says it can save you $325 a year. Are the savings claims true? Consumer Reports tested an older model a few years ago, and did find significant energy savings year after year. You can do your own calculation here based on local electric rates to see what your savings might be. Here is general information about this heater.

Remember, of course, that you will have to pay for installation by a licensed plumber. And, the $999 sale price for the GE hot water heater appears to end on February 20.

The moral of the story: if an offer sounds too good to be true, on rare occasion, it may be the deal of a lifetime.

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Dumb Coupon Fine Print

Last fall, Boston Market sent out an email offer to people on their mailing list promising a free rotisserie chicken. Of course, once you open the email, you learn that you have to buy a “family meal” in order to get it.

Worse, the coupon was geographically limited:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Boston Market

Considering those stores are 3000 miles away from MrConsumer… thanks, but no thanks.

Two days later, the company realized its blunder and sent out an apology, including a coupon:

Boston Market

*MOUSE PRINT:

The coupon requires “no purchase”, but the fine print indicates that you cannot use it if you buy one of their heavily discounted meals. In other words, buy nothing and dessert is on us, but buy something cheap, and like the soup Nazi might say, no dessert for you. Huh?

Clearly, the company merely copied over its standard exclusion language for other coupons without thinking. This is the most minor of issues, but there are other times when standard language in other companies’ coupons can be used wrong-headedly against a customer by an over-protective cashier.

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J.C. Penney Intros “Elsewhere” Price Comparisons

Just a year ago, J.C. Penney’s new CEO, Ron Johnson, promised to do away with that chain’s use of phony sales and “fake prices.” Finally, an honest merchant. What integrity. How pro-consumer. His reward: consumers left in droves and sales plummeted.

Now one year later, guess what’s coming back? Although not to the same degree, the chain is re-introducing sales, and has begun making price comparisons again to prices it never charged.

Here is a sample item from their website:

elsewhere

This shirt is being offered at its regular price of $25, but just above it is a $34 price crossed out, described as “$34 elsewhere.” Well guess what, this shirt is NOT $34 elsewhere because this is JCP’s own brand and it is not sold elsewhere. So what does “elsewhere” mean?

*MOUSE PRINT:

elsewhere explained

JCP says it means the price for the same item or a comparable item at some other seller. To the average person, “elsewhere” in this context most likely is understood to mean that that item sells elsewhere for such and such a price. If JCP wants to refer to the price of a similar quality item elsewhere, they should use the more commonly understood term for that — “comparable value” or “compare at” — as you might see at TJ Maxx and Marshall’s.

Now, moving over to JCP’s jewelry department, if you are shopping there for Valentine’s Day, heaven help you, because they have a new type of price comparison for jewelry — “appraised value.” The lengthy definition is above.

It is unfortunate that JCP has taken a step backwards to once again make price comparisons to inflated prices it never charged, but we, as consumers, are really to blame. We just love a bargain, even when it is a phony one.

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