BURZICHELLI/MORIARTY/COHEN BILL GIVING CONSUMERS
'ON-THE-SPOT' STORE REBATES PASSES ASSEMBLY
Legislation Would Make N.J. Third State to Require Stores
To Charge Advertised 'After-Rebate' Prices

(TRENTON) -  The Assembly today passed legislation Assemblymen John Burzichelli, Paul Moriarty, and Neil M. Cohen sponsored to require retailers to charge consumers an advertised "after-rebate" price at the time of purchase, rather than making buyers send in coupons or log on to manufacturer's Web sites to claim their savings - a process that can often take months.

"Customers should not be deceptively lured into stores by low prices that only exist after they take the product home, cut apart the packaging, fill out aggravating paperwork, and then wait weeks or months for a check," said Burzichelli (D-Gloucester).  "Retailers who want to advertise a 'post-rebate' price as the actual cost to the consumer should be the ones who have to jump through hoops to claim a money-back offer."

Under the legislation (A-1494), retailers that advertise a product's "net price" - the price after a manufacturer's rebate is applied - would be required to charge that price at the time of sale.  It then would be a retailer's responsibility to complete the rebate redemption process.

New Jersey would become the third state to enforce such a consumer protection if the bill were to become law, following Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Violations of the measure would be punishable under the state's consumer fraud act, with fines of up to $10,000 for a first offense.  Repeat offenses could be punished by up to $20,000 in fines, as well as injunctive relief, triple damages, and restitution.

The lawmakers said the measure would not prevent manufacturers from offering rebates to New Jersey consumers, but would only prohibit stores from deceptively passing off a net price to unwitting customers.

"Quite simply, the price shown in the newspaper should be the price the consumer pays at the cash register," said Moriarty (D-Gloucester). "Filling out rebate forms can be confusing, complicated, and drawn-out. Consumers should not have to navigate a sea of fine print and corporate red tape when they could have been charged an honest price to begin with."

According to research conducted by Vericours, Inc., a corporate consulting firm, approximately 40 percent of manufacturer rebates are never redeemed, costing consumers more than $2 billion annually.  The company also estimated that unredeemed rebates have saved computer manufacturers $10 billion.

The Better Business Bureau reports that consumer complaints over rebates - including burdensome rebate-claiming processes and promised rebate checks that never materialized - increased to 2,715 in 2005, a nearly three-fold jump over the past five years.

"It should not a customer's job to take extra steps to make up the difference between what a retailer boldly advertised and what is actually paid at the counter," said Cohen (D-Union).  "This is money that should be left in consumers' pockets at the time of sale."

The measure also is sponsored by Assemblymen Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson), John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), and Peter Biondi (R-Somerset).

The measure passed 62-12-2.  It now heads to the Senate for further consideration.

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