That is a pretty typical practice. They applied it to the selling price. I would think that you would have seen the math on the sales order? The alternative is that you can pay $500 more for the bike and get the bonus bucks. It's all a wash in the end. When I purchased my Wing there was $1000 in bonus bucks, they took it off the price of the bike, which was to my advantage because that was $1000 I didn't pay sales tax on. Maybe they should have explained it better but I don't think they did anything devious.

I have learned over time that you really need to educate yourself before a large purchase, no matter what your buying. Not biting on you at all but that $500 offer has been out there for months. Had you researched things a bit more ahead of time you might have negotiated the deal differently. Knowledge is power.