How to participate
Reserve your rebate online at www.OhioApplianceRebate.com or by calling (888) 686-8896.
Purchase your appliance within three days of your reservation.
Recycle your old appliance: Many retailers will do this for you.
Redeem your rebate via the same Web site or phone number, also within those three days.
Send in your forms. Mail rebate form, receipt and proof of recycling within 30 days.
Within the first eight hours of the Cash for Appliances rebate program, more than $3.6 million of the $10.3 million available had been claimed by Ohio residents.
“We handled 119 (reservations) per minute within the first hour,” said Bethany Close of the Ohio Department and Development, which is administrating Cash for Appliances.
The state-run, federally funded Ohio Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program, as it is officially known, offers $100 to $250 in rebates on the purchase of Energy Star-qualified washers, dishwashers, refrigerators and water heaters, when you recycle your old appliance.
The program started at 8 a.m. Friday, March 26, and is expected to continue until funds run out — which could be sooner rather than later.
“We anticipated a high demand,” Close said. “ ‘Ohio Appliance Rebate’ was the No. 1 Google search (Friday) morning.”
At Sears at the Dayton Mall, the first customer was in the parking lot at 5:20 a.m., according to store manager Vickie McClary. The store opened at 6 a.m.
McClary said Sears, which is helping customers go online and secure their rebates, endured some of the early glitches of the program, such as online error messages, messages telling customers that their reservation number did not match their phone number, and an old message left on the toll-free number.
Due to the high demand, some consumers also had to wait hours to secure their reservations Friday.
“My husband got on the site at 8, but stopped trying at 10,” said Bellbrook resident Angi Dabbelt, who was buying a dishwasher at the Home Depot store in Sugarcreek Twp. “But I went on the site (around noon) and got through. It really wasn’t too bad a wait.”
Most Friday shoppers said they were pleased with the program.
“We missed out on Cash for Clunkers,” said shopper Jeri Foust of Miamisburg. “But we finally did something right!”
For more information about the program, visit www.OhioApplianceRebate .com or call the toll-free number (888) 686-8896.
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