I’ve been a fan of Menards rebates for many years — I honestly can’t remember which year I began doing these, but who doesn’t love things that are completely free after rebate? Unlike other rebates, I’ve also found Menards rebates to be very reliable. I’d mail them in, and a few weeks (and sometimes, months) later, a rebate check postcard would arrive in my mailbox.
Whenever a Menards rebate check arrives, I toss it in my wallet and use it to buy even more bargains and free-after rebate items. I buy a lot of the things I blog about in my Menards Deals of the Week matchupseach week.
While some of my readers have commented that they’ve occasionally had Menards rebates go missing in the mail, I never had an issue with this until recently.
Between November and December, I racked up more than $200 in Menards rebate items — everything from motor oil to Christmas gift bags to laundry detergent, air compressor accessories, tool pouches, paint brushes, kitchen towels, and Ball canning jars.
Each week, I fill out my Menards rebate forms and put them in an envelope. I put multiple forms in the same envelope to save on postage, and as the rebate deadline approaches, I mail that envelope in. I also mail my Menards rebates at the post office versus leaving themin my mailbox — a little precaution that I somehow believed would “help” my rebate from getting lost in the mail.
You can check your Menards rebate status online to see when the rebate is received and processed. Menards’ site says to wait eight weeks before inquiring about a past rebate.
Back in February, my mom happened to mention that she’d received her rebate for the free Christmas gift bags that were advertised before the holidays. I hadn’t gotten mine yet, so I logged into Menards’ rebate status panel, and I noticed that none of the rebates I’d mailed in the same envelope as the gift bags rebates had been processed either.
I have always taken photos or made copies of my Menards rebates before mailing them in. I’ve never had to use these backup copies until now. If you read nothing further, please, please, take a moment to photograph, scan, or copy your Menards rebate receipts before you send them in. You should also keep your original, long-form, non-rebate Menards receipts from the same transaction. You will need these to file a claim if your Menards rebate is lost.
On 2/9/17, I contacted Menards via the customer service link at RebateInternational.com to let them know that I was missing rebates from November and December. On 2/10, they asked for the rebate numbers on each individual rebate receipt. These are the long numeric numbers below the barcodes on each rebate receipt which thankfully, I was able to provide because I had taken photos of them:
On 2/14, Menards’ Rebates International emailed a reply:
;Jill,
Re: Multiple Rebates
Currently, we have no record of the rebates in question. Please allow 6-8 weeks, from mail in, for your submissions to be received and completed by our processing center.
Thank you for your patience.
I’d emailed these rebates on 12/1/16, so more than eight weeks had already passed… and I knew there was “no record” of them because they weren’t showing up in my rebate center either. Uh oh. I sent a reply to this effect, and on 2/15, the rebate department asked me to mail them a copy of my original purchase receipt for these items.
As these spanned multiple receipts, I was looking around my house for all of my old receipts that went with these transactions. I found them and mailed them off to Rebates International. Of course, I made photocopies of these, and I mailed them with a tracking number too.
On 3/13, I received a reply that my rebates would be processed based on the information I’d sent! I was relieved, as again, this was over $200 worth of rebates that I was not expecting to lose, or even worry about. (Again, I’ve had such great luck with Menards rebates until now.)I logged in and saw at the top that my very large rebate had finally been processed.
Today, 3/21, my Menards rebate check finally arrived. All of the November and December rebates are accounted for, and some of my recent rebates for other items were combined on this same rebate check.
Based on this experience, I’ve decided I will be sending all of my rebates with tracking from now on as a precaution. If you wish to do the same, I can share that a 6″ x 8″ bubble envelopecosts $2.67 for postage with tracking.It’s cheaper to send these in a padded envelope with tracking than it isto send them via Priority Mail(which is $6.65.)
Anypiece of mail over half an inch thick is considered a “parcel,” and parcels sent first-class come with free tracking. You don’t even have to use a pre-padded envelope– you could stick a piece of bubble wrap or foam padding inside to get the thickness correct, as the thickness is what makes it qualify as a trackable parcel.
I’m also keeping a manila envelope with my postal supplies specifically for storing my Menards rebate receipts until each rebate has arrived. I’m writing the date I mailed each rebate on the back of the receipt. Once the rebate check arrives, I’ll be able to pull the corresponding receipt out and toss it, but I’d much rather have them all in one place from now on — just in case.
