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General discussion

accursed rebates

Oct 21, 2004 3:07AM PDT

I am curious to know if anyone else has these problems,

I recently bought some hardware and blank CD's from microcenter, all of which offered various rebates of 5-10$. I dutifully filled out the microscopic forms, addressed the envelopes with the 12-digit po boxes, sawed up the boxes and labels for the upc codes and sent everything in to the rebate offer fulfillment center. this was last july. 2 of them didn't come back. If I were a sane person I would have ignored the loss of 15$ but instead I actually looked everything up and sent emails, to be informed that I had not included this upc code or whatever. One was a genuine mistake on my part, they wanted both the upc code AND another boxtop . . . but another they just deny that I put the right upc code in the envelope, and I have to send the them the right upc code or they won't give me my $5.

I guess my question is, WHY are there rebates, and 2) is this sort of avoidance of payment a common occurence? thanks - fj

Discussion is locked

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Re: accursed rebates
Oct 21, 2004 3:49AM PDT

Rebates are handled by one of a few "Rebate Centers" and not by the seller. You might complain to the vendor of the equipment. Tell them you bought their product in good faith, but if they cannot solve your rebate problem you'll never buy from them again. And since you have internet access you'll post their poor service all over the Internet.

It worked for me once.

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Re: accursed rebates
Oct 21, 2004 4:06AM PDT

I feel for ya.

The plain fact is they try to keep it simple in order to get thier way and hope you forget to send it on time. You *HAVE TO* verify what you're doing before sending anything in and make a copy of the forms. I also, don't do business with rebates if I can help it and then use the merchants that generate a receipt type rebate form. Also, I try to use any online rebate process. So, there you have it. Many times I simply avoid any rebate offer unless its a good one, I do mean good one. -----Willy

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Re: accursed rebates
Oct 21, 2004 5:19AM PDT

Frank, EVERYBODY has these problems with rebates. They do it on purpose. They have forms they send out as soon as the rebate form is received even before they look at it and having no real bearing on facts-like no date, no price, wrong price, etc. This is to buy more time. If you don't respond, bad luck, no rebate. I always copy everything, even sheet with UPCs pasted on. Once I got a card as mentioned saying something (price I think) wasn't legible. I called them immediately to say "Well. I'm looking at a copy and it's very clear. You have the original." Told them as per the rebate terms, they had 8 weeks. If the check wasn't physically in my box by that day, I would introduce them to the Attorney General in my home state and theirs. Best Buy has their own rebate center and ships promptly with no hassles (probably others out there). Also printed out form others mentioned is next best. Experts suggest choosing
merchandise a little more expensive if a rebate isn't
involved. As you can tell, sore spot with many. chuck

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Re: accursed rebates
Oct 21, 2004 9:12AM PDT

They get information about you such as your home and E-mail address....sometimes Ph#. This information isn't necessary kept in private. You are being profiled as a potential target for advertizing. I am wondering how much junk mail and spam starts with submitting a rebate form.

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spam from rebate forms
Oct 22, 2004 4:56AM PDT

well I have to say I always use my "ghost" e mail for rebate forms . . . but I don't think I have ever gotten spammed from one. I think the worst spam source i have found is from posting on google newsgrops, that gets me a "microsoft update" virus attachment on my ghost account about once a day day - fj

PS note microcenter is trying to get my rebate for me -- fj

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Re: accursed rebates
Oct 25, 2004 1:17AM PDT

Netgear is the worst offender I have seen so far. I have bought products from sony, samsung, and other vendors without much difficulty in receiving rebate checks, although it sometimes takes an eternity.

However I have bought 3 Netgear routers and 1 netgear wireless pc card, and haven't gotten a single rebate check yet (it has been more than 8 weeks). I did, however, get emails stating "receipt missing, invalid, etc."

this apparently is not unique. I think the only solution is to discourage others from buying products with artificial prices because of false rebate promises. NETGEAR seems to especially like doing this. If you don't believe me try to call 888-NETGEAR and get a live person on the phone to help resolve a rebate issue, or worse, try to call their "rebate resolution center" at (914)633-0977 - I think i was on hold for like 15-20 minutes, for an unhelpful robotic idiot to read back to me what I saw already in my email.

Here is a partial copy of their email:

Thank you for participating in our rebate promotion.

Your rebate submission has been received.
Unfortunately your rebate is denied for the following reasons:
INVALID INCOMPLETE OR ALTERED RECEIPT

If your submission was denied for missing information please
mail a copy of this message WITHIN 30 DAYS with required materials to:
TCA Rebate Resolution Dept
145 Huguenot Street Suite 105
New Rochelle, NY 10801


RIDICULOUS! Please avoid NETGEAR products with rebates, and collectively perhaps buyers can discourage rebates in general, over fair pricing to start with.

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Re: accursed rebates
Oct 25, 2004 7:40AM PDT

This is not Netgear. This is the Rebate Center they (and many others) are using. Situation the above posts was talking about. chuck