Rebates - Have you had problems??

[BLKFRI]

I am still waiting on a $100 rebate from my computer monitor that I ordered from Woot last year. The company the processes the rebate sent me an email stating they had run out of money for the rebates. I have never heard anything like that. I definitely got ripped off!!

If you would have kept on top of this and checked the Woot! forum, you would have seen that Woot! gave everyone that correctly completed the rebate a $100 refund to the credit card you used. All you had to do was ask.

 

Office Depot also covered the HannsG rebate and sent me a check+ extras for my troubles.

 

The main thing is to keep track, copies, and follow up on your rebates to get them. If you don't want to commit, don't sent them in and don't whine when you don't get them. Its YOUR fault. I have sent in over a thousand dollars or more in rebates every year for the past 7 years and have never failed to receive the checks. I admit some have taken over a year to collect and over 20 e-mails, and faxing of copys, etc, but I got em!

[H_Hancock]

 

The main thing is to keep track, copies, and follow up on your rebates to get them. If you don't want to commit, don't sent them in and don't whine when you don't get them. Its YOUR fault. I have sent in over a thousand dollars or more in rebates every year for the past 7 years and have never failed to receive the checks. I admit some have taken over a year to collect and over 20 e-mails, and faxing of copys, etc, but I got em!

I've rebated for years.........and had only two out of several dozen rebates submitted ever give me problems.

 

But here's a whine for you and let's see you solve it.

 

PNY memory rebate from Newegg. Sent it in with all paperwork....and yes, before you hastily and condescendingly ask, copies were made of each and every scrap of paper sent in.

 

Got an email 4 weeks later stating they only got the UPC, nothing else.

 

Hmmmm.......so how did you email me if I forgot the rebate form, I reply.

 

Mysteriously, several pieces of info they claim was missing suddenly show up on their website as being there.....all but the receipt. It's missing....and it wasn't, but anyway.....they gave me a fax number to resubmit it....and I did.....all of it.

 

Now, 8 months later, I'm going round and round with PNY because.....get this....I didn't pay enough for the memory to "qualify" for the rebate. Nowhere on the form did it state I had to pay $XXX amount for the memory. I cannot help it that I had credit with Newegg at the time and it was applied to the price I paid for the memory.

 

As far as I'm concerned, I paid full retail. The credit was on a return of a DOA item that I chose to have the refunded monies kept at Newegg for credit instead of returned to me....I was in the process of building a couple of systems and was going to eventually use the credit anyway, so didn't make much difference to me.

 

But to PNY....I guess I stole the memory or something. Newegg has repeatedly contacted PNY about the situation. I have forwarded the documentation that led up to the credit being applied to my Newegg account and the purchase process I went through for the memory.

 

But PNY continues to deny the claim.....and now, since it's way outside the time frame of the rebate, they are now starting to say it's too late.

 

A true no-win situation. I'm not going to pursue it much further....my time is somewhat valuable and I figure I've got more than the measly $40 the rebate's worth in time invested in this debacle.

 

So, sometimes it's NOT OUR FAULT, despite any condescending attitude you try to put off on anyone else.

[BLKFRI]

Thats strange from PNY. They have never questioned any of my rebates.

Newegg should have fixed or covered this for you.

 

Several retailers have covered my rebates when the MFG has not. I just show them all my stuff, and get a check a couple months later. Most retailers have a department for handling these non-payment by mfg requests.

 

You are right about the time you spent exceeding the rebate.

As some one else mentioned, SOYO is the worst. It took me 2 years once, and 1½ years another. I will never buy SOYO with or without a rebate.

 

And I try not to buy stuff with rebates of only a few dollars.

The time spent copying the stuff alone wipes those $'s out.

 

What I meant is you must notify the company the day the time for receiving the rebate is up. If it says 6 weeks, on day 43, scream "WHERES MY MONEY?". No reply in 2 days, scream "2nd notice WHERES MY MONEY? I am notifying the State Attorney General."

This they don't like to hear. (See how much company's like Office Depot and Office Max have had to pay in fines because of being slow to pay.) Then write to the state and complain anyway. The more people that do, the more of a chance of having it investigated. If you just kiss your rebate bye bye, they have won!

 

If you have ever sent in a K-World rebate, there are a couple more companies that operate the same, but anyhow, they will not send your money unless you ask for it. Then you will get a company check that is actually signed by a real person. K-World has done this with me 4 times in 3 years.

[dec458]

Ok, I stood in line for 3 hours and got some fantastic deals. $80 MIR! $30 MIR! Another MIR for $30. then I went to 3 other stores. All total, I had a grand total of about $400 in rebates. Only ONE rebate was paid on schedule. That was HP for $80. All others required me to make multiple phone calls to find out there was no such PO box or they didn't receive my papers or or or or. I didn't start seeing the money back until the begining of August. Kohl's was kind enough to send me the rebate in the form of a gift card (I was happy to get that after 6 months).

 

I will never buy anything with a MIR again. Did you know that two states have sued the company in MN for not processing the money properly?

 

Please share your stories. . . and thanks for listening. I'm hoping that I can help somebody else avoid the hassles that I had.

The only store that is reliable year to year on rebates is Staples. After last year's rebates from Officemax, Radio Shack, Best Buy, etc., I was lucky I got them all. I had to threaten just about everyone through the BBB to get my money back from all of them. Radio Shack has advertised an item had a rebate in their Black Friday ad, then when I filed it, tried to claim it wasn't available for rebate till like a week later even though I had the ad in my hand. If you do use buy anything with a rebate, make SURE you keep the original ad, the receipt, and a copy of the rebate form, barcodes, etc. Send the rebate forms in by a method you can prove that you mailed it or they always claim they never received it also.

[Rockfordmom]

Anyone have a problem with Buffalo Tech? I'm currently having a problem with them, Circuit City sent me my rebate but they will not! They claim that I didn't send my orig. UPC and will not accept a copy of what I sent only the original UPC but I kept telling them that I already sent it but according to what was entered on their computer I did not so they will not send me my rebate!?!?!

[diecastbeatdown]

i've had my share of problems. when you do it often enough you'll eventually run into them.

 

make copies before and after you fill them out. this may not be reasonable for everyone so chose which one you think is best, just make copies either way. get in contact with the rebate centers to check status and see if they received it.

 

the biggest rule: do it right away!

 

sometimes little things like the serial number was incorrectly written, item did not qualify (when it clearly did). usually a phone call can correct these things.

[wnielsen1]

Rebates are a problem only if you let them become a problem:

 

1. Deal with only reputable rebates companies (examples given above).

2. Submit it correctly (according to the terms).

3. Submit it timely - as soon as you have everything you need (UPC's, etc.). Get it in the mail (or online - those are the best).

4. Keep a copy of everything submitted.

5. If not received within the documented time frame or if I get some kind of letter or postcard saying I was "missing" something or something was "incorrect", I send a written response respectfully requesting payment within 30 days and I include anything (from the copy I kept earlier) I deem necessary to prove my case. You can call and that will work in most cases, but I prefer to write - offers more evidence in case I need to invoke #6 below.

6. If nothing still after 30 days from my written response - BBB complaint is opened. That gets their attention.

[dmmiller]

I never got my rebate back from kingston last year. Of course I lost all my copies

of everything, so cant prove it even if I wanted to.

Lesson learned.