Persistence is key to getting Amazon Mac OS X 10.2, Photoshop rebates

We continue to receive a flood of reports relating to Amazon.com's failure to pay the $50 rebate promised to a number of customers who purchased Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar). Continually contacting the company's customer service department and gradually escalating the issue has resulted in receipt of a rebate (or at least promised checks) for a some.

Amazon is sending the following response to some users who have complained in the past 48 hours, and originally received an "invalid SKU" declination letter from Amazon:

"Thank you for contacting Amazon.com with your concern. In an effort to compensate for this matter, I've requested a refund of $50.00 to your credit card. This refund should go through within 7-10 business days and will appear as a credit on your next creditcard billing statement. We'll send you an e-mail message to confirm when the refund has been processed.

"In addition to our large selection, one of the benefits we try very hard to offer our customers is convenience, and we have not met that standard in this case. Please accept my sincere apologies."

We also continue to receive complaints that Amazon is not fulfilling $50 US rebates for the purchase of Adobe Photoshop 7.0. Steven Gardner writes:

"My rebate was sent in on 8/27/2002 and I have still not received it yet, so Amazon customer service tried to find it with no luck, and finally stated that it must have been lost and is not in their system. So customer service took my information by phone and happily said I can expect a check in 6-8 weeks when all the receipt information has been verified! By the time I get this check, if I get it, I could be looking at a 5-6 month wait since submitting my information for a rebate refund from Amazon."

It should be noted that some people are receiving rebates. Oddly, it seems that those who ordered Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) in the hours leading up to cancellation of the rebate are most likely to receive reimbursement.

Amazon's rebate page states "Terms and conditions of individual rebates vary, but everything you need to receive a rebate is either printable from an item's product information page or included in the package in which the item will arrive. In order to qualify for a rebate, you must place your order by the date specified. We carefully check the validity of all rebates listed on the site and, for your convenience, display both the price you'll pay for the item and your final net price after you claim your rebate. If you believe some of our rebate information is inaccurate, please contact us with as many details as possible so that we may correct the error. We can offer compensation for a discrepancy only if the rebate comes from Amazon.com."

The company offers a contact page that directs users to an e-mail form.

Insight on this issue? Drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources