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Rebates from hell


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OK, this is a 2 part rant on the same topic...rebate processing. Last August, I bought $300 worth of Big Fish Audio CD-ROMs at my local Guitar Center, with an offer of 50% off in the form of a cash rebate. I sent in my receipts and rebate form via return receipt mail. No $150 back yet, and it's mid-March. Last October, I send in another rebate, this time for $30 on a QPS CD burner bought from Outpost.com. Again, no rebate yet. Two things are common to these problems: - they used the same fulfillment house, Wheresmyrebate.com (should be "wherethef*ckismyrebate.com"), which blames Guitar Center/Big Fish Audio and QPS for not paying the rebates, - neither Guitar Center nor QPS will take responsibility for not paying the rebates. This is a case of "make a customer happy, they tell 5 people; make a customer unhappy, they tell 500". It's going to be a LONG time before I buy anything discounted with a rebate. Has anyone else experienced similar problems?
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It's all about cash flow baby. They wanta keep that money as long as they can. You basically loaned them that money for 2 or 3 months at no interest. If sell a lot of products it turns into big money. You really have to stay on their ass. Did you ever see that website CyberRebate.com? They had a lot of items,computer stuff, etc. free after rebate, BUT the price was jacked up fifty to a hundred percent. So they had this huge sum of money that they got interest free and could play with for two or three months. Great scam huh? I went to their website recently and their was a notice they were in BANKRUPTCY. I bet a lot of people got burned on that.
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Yeah, Iomega burned me a few years back on 2 Zip drive rebates totaled $100 each. They burned me again with their shit Jaz drive that barely worked. Needless to say, I haven't bought anything from that company again. Fuck rebates :evil: - just get the best deal you can at the time and don't sweat it.
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Ask workers at Best Buy about rebates. They have around a 15% return rate. First most people don't get around to sending in the paper work, then most of those who do give up rather than follow up. The last one I did was with Korg. Last summer Keyboard Mag arrived with a Korg Karma video tape and a cupon for a free Key's expansion ROM if you bought the Karma before July 1st and sent in the coupon with a copy of the receipt. I got my ROM within two weeks. Then I got a $200 bill from Korg for that ROM for the next 6 months. Robert

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On the positive side - A while back I bought 5 Quantum Atlas Vs for my MX-2424. They had a $75 per drive rebate. The letter w/ the receipts and paperwork got misplaced for a couple of weeks before I coould mail it. Maxtor had bought Quantum's SCSI division in the meanwhile. I sent the reabate stuff in to the Quantum address and got a check from Maxtor inside of a month. :thu:
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Oh. I forgot about PC Wearhouse. They had the system down. For a long time it seemed that half of the items in their catalog had "price after rebate". As computer buyer for my company I stopped buying from them because of that rebate system. Rules for each rebate item. 1. Fill out paperwork by a certain date and send to the manufacturer. 2. Include UPC code or proof of purchase from box. 3. Include origional receipt. What you get when you order from PC Wearhouse. 1. Your item. 2. A packing slip listing all items. (Not a receipt.) 3. A credit card bill or invoice at some later date. 4. Rebate slips which are occasionally outdated. By their own billing methods no rebate was valid. I took my business elsewhere and insist that prices are given to me "as delivered and invoiced." Robert

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My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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[quote]Originally posted by Rabid: [b]The last one I did was with Korg. Last summer Keyboard Mag arrived with a Korg Karma video tape and a cupon for a free Key's expansion ROM if you bought the Karma before July 1st and sent in the coupon with a copy of the receipt. I got my ROM within two weeks. Then I got a $200 bill from Korg for that ROM for the next 6 months.[/b][/quote]That reminded of a positive experience I had with a Korg rebate, $100 back on my N1. Received it about a month after I sent in the paperwork. Misery loves company...thanks to everyone for sharing their horror stories.
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[quote]Originally posted by dino321: [b]The whole rebate game is the company betting you won't follow up. Even if it get's there on time they don't have to pay it it's not POSTMARKED by a certain date! I don't play that game.[/b][/quote]BINGO. I get the PC/IT dealer trade publications and it was explained that what they do is play the averages. How can they sell software for $1 after rebates? They count on only 10%-15% of people following through to send in the rebates. Of that fraction, they expect the same percentage will follow up with 'hey, where's my rebate?' more than once, and do it at the right time, in the right format so the fulfillment company doesn't drop it through the cracks. Acer was huge at it a few years ago through the superstores. They both made bucks. If I pursue the mail in rebate directly with the manufacturer by phone with someone in management I can embarass vis-a-vis the company's reputation, not someone in sales or at the fulfillment house, I will get the extra rebate. Most people on the street won't bother with that. I only pursue it if I'm looking at over $50
It's OK to tempt fate. Just don't drop your drawers and moon her.
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I've had good rebate experiences and bad... The best in recent memory was when purchasing a notebook computer from ecost.com. The price was very good to start with and with that purchase you had the option to buy a printer (cheap Epson inkjet) for $50 with a $50 rebate coupon. I sent in the rebate form and had a check in less than a month. Decent printer too, no complaints (even though I'm sure they make all their money on ink cartridges! :rolleyes: ). The worst was for a big safety recall GE had on their dishwashers a coupla years back. Of course, they made it sound like my house was going to burn down if I didn't replace it. They offered a deal where they'd send a check for a certain amount once they received your sales receipt. The amount varied depending on what model you bought for the replacement. Of course, you got more if you bought a GE. Anyway, I bought a pretty nice GE that qualified for a $150 rebate. To make a long story slightly less long, GE wasn't happy with the receipt I sent and I couldn't get the retailer (Sears) to give me a "better" receipt. I got tired of waiting on hold so I basically just gave up. It's been well over a year and I still get pissed when I think about it :mad:
None more black.
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Here I am, plopping my tired butt in a chair after racing over to Staples to get a Brother MFC-6800 printer /fax /copier...for $449...with a $50 rebate. Then I had to deal with mr. Pimply trying to sell me the extended warranty... Usually, I avoid rebates, because it's never worth my time. I also scored on a few of the Quantum drive rebates, but the rest of the stuff is petty. Once, I used a fake middle initila and suite # on the rebate form. Six weeks later, no rebate check, but a shitload of solicitations for all kinds of shit. I guess they sold my info....fortunately, the tel # I put down was for the phone company exchange (for example 212 555 0000). You just gotta know when to fold 'em, & when to hold 'em... :) NYC Drew
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Threaten them - tell them you will file a complaint with the state attorney general's office. Give them a week. If you don't receive the rebate, file a complaint. In most states the AG will mail you the form and provide quite a lot of assistance. Not a hard thing to do.
There are two theories about arguing with a woman. Neither one works.
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  • 2 months later...
OK, so I got my $30 QPS rebate about 2 weeks ago. However, it's been 3 months since I created this topic and I still don't have my $150 back from Guitar Center. It's been 9-1/2 months since I made the purchase. I've been in the store to get action on the problem several times since I posted this. The manager refunded $40 from one of the CD-ROMs I bought, in the hope of reestablishing goodwill. It's going to cost more that $40 to get my business ever again. Probably time for the BBB or the NYS AG office.
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[quote]Originally posted by mzeger: [b]OK, so I got my $30 QPS rebate about 2 weeks ago. However, it's been 3 months since I created this topic and I still don't have my $150 back from Guitar Center.[/b][/quote]The owners of Guitar Center are Ray Schear and Larry Thomas. Call and threaten to call them directly if you don't get your money. Tell who ever you talk to that Guitar Center should make good on the rebate and pay you directly. Also like gatorwing said threaten to file a complaint with the State Attorney General's office. Sly :cool:
Whasineva ehaiz, ehissgot ta be Funky!
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Nawww. Local papers or TV stations love this shit. Most of them have an consumer ombudsman or representative. When they get hold of a story like that, they'll chew the ass out of the store's reputation plus you'll get full satisfaction, ie. $$ Attorneys would drag this out for ages out of sight. Even you wouldn't know what's happening. I've seen reports where people couldn't get their money for months, the ombudsman gets it done in less than a week once it looks like the issue will go public.
It's OK to tempt fate. Just don't drop your drawers and moon her.
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I bought a Syquest drive a couple of years back. It came with a $100 rebate. Sent it in w/receipt, proof of purchase etc. A few months later still no rebate. I call and someone tells me "it's been sent. Expect it in a week or so." Two more weeks go by and I call again. This time I get a voicemail saying that Syquest has filed for chapter 11. Shortly thereafter, they "restructured". I could go after my $100 only if I paid $25 to get in line at banckruptcy court. Basically, they ran the rebates to postpone the inevitable knowing that they'd never have to pay. Fuckers.
"You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer
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[quote]Originally posted by Charlie-brm: [b]Nawww. Local papers or TV stations love this shit. Most of them have an consumer ombudsman or representative. When they get hold of a story like that, they'll chew the ass out of the store's reputation plus you'll get full satisfaction, ie. $$[/b][/quote]Funny you should mention this because I work at the #1 TV station here. $100 is penny ante stuff for any media. But it's a good thought.
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  • 1 month later...
So, here's is how this story ends... Today, I managed to shake out my $140 rebate, in the form of a store check, from the manager at the local Guitar Center. I ran to the bank to cash it. This is 11 months to the day after I made my purchase, 10 months since I sent my rebate paperwork. I again heard how the store wasn't responsible for my problem. Huh? It's a Guitar Center rebate, this is a Guitar Center store, the store is an arm of the company. The manager had the balls to tell me that he was doing this as a courtesy. Huh? The only courtesy extended is from me not having taken more aggressive consumer protection action to collect my money. He gave me a "VIP card" for a "special deal" on a future gear purchase. What a load of crap. I can't imagine ever again buying anything from Guitar Center after getting such a world class runaround. There are simply too many other choices for my retail dollar. With the number of consumers reading this post, was it worth screwing around with my $140? F*** GC. :mad:
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a couple of years ago I bought something from E-mu (through GC) with the promise of a rebate/free item. suffice to say that they honored their promise, and quite speedily at that. now, I just bought something from E-mu this month (not through GC) that had a $200 rebate special...I’ll post on how it goes. :)
Go tell someone you love that you love them.
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I bought an MP3 player from Circuit City that had a $40 rebate. Sent it all in, waited several months, finally got a letter back from a company saying that it wasn't their product and they threw away my rebate stuff! Circuit City had given me the rebate form with the address printed right from their computer. So I went to Circuit City and they immediately put $40 back on my credit card. I was quite impressed. Later, kc
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