most of the rebates out there are handled by 3rd party companies...
Those companies are pretty much like collection agencies in reverse... They pay out the rebates as rarely as possible, and I believe they get paid by Tiger Direct (or insert the name of some other supplier) when you 1st make you purchase...wether you go through the motions of trying to collect your rebate or not.
Its all marketing and it is all a border-line scam.