~~~~ Rebate Tracking Thread ~~~~

[allisolm]

Supposedly the serial number is written inside the battery compartment.

 

[stillkicking]

I am getting the impression that there is either a huge level of incompetence with the rebate processors or else a deliberate collusion between them and the companies offering the rebates to systematically toss out a certain percentage of submissions. Here is my experience recently.

CompUSA-Mad Dog DVD player $35 rebate
At $45 shelf price this was way too expensive but with a $35 rebate it became a steal. Except, I was the one stolen from. The rebate center claims no receipt of my paperwork. At that time I wasn't making copies. Figures.

CompUSA-Fuji 50 CD pack $12 rebate
I registered over the phone and shipped the paper work the same day. Within several days the Fuji rebate site showed that I was in the process line. That was 4 months ago. I emailed then asking what was taking so long and never received a reply. I phoned, 58 minute wait, and talked to some expressionless character who informed me upon getting my last name and zip code that the day my paperwork had arrived was the same day their computer system went down and all the information was lost. Now let's see. Their web site showed me as being in the process line. The call operator here is able to find me within seconds after getting my name and zip code. But I am somehow lost as far as being paid goes. Now the story is that it will be another 2-3 weeks. Based on other posts I feel that Fuji is consciously culling out a certain percentage of submissions and waiting to see what happens.

CompUSA-Haugguage TV card $25 (?) rebate
Paid in full within 7 weeks.

CompUSA-Net Gear router and usb adapter $75 rebate ($20, $20, $20, $15)
I've got to laugh at this one. Final price after rebates was about $33. And the equipment, which claims reception up to 150 feet indoors, won't work beyond about 25 feet. To ship it back to CompUSA means about a $26 loss so I keep everything with the hope that maybe someday I can get it to work. Of the 4 separate rebates I am notified by email by 3 of them that I am in the process line. A month later the 4th rebate sends me a postcard denying the rebate claiming that I was past the purchase date. Well, I beat the end date by one day with my online purchase but it wasn't shipped unitl 2 days after the cut off date. I resubmitted copies of everything (I now scan EVERYTHING before submitting) and told them to look at the purchase date on my email confirmation and not at the shipping order. Time will tell on this one.

Circuit City-Klipsch 2.1 speakers $50 rebate
Paid in full within 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best Buy-Seagate 120 HD $60 rebate ($10+$50)
The $10 rebate showed up within 3 weeks. The $50 rebate is not to be found. What a surprise. You know that if one of the two was going to disappear it certainly wasn't going to be the smaller.

Radio Shack-Ridata 50 CD pack $15 rebate
It's only been 17 days but I am still not showing up on their rebate web site. I have tried calling their 888 number all morning and it is shut off (We're sorry but all circuits are busy now. Please try again later.) I am starting to get a bad feeling about this one.

Office Max-Belkin CD cases $? rebate
I've forgotten how much this one was that I bought last January. It was such a good deal that I went back a month later and bought another case. There was nothing I could see on the rebate that said anything about one case to a household. OK, this is a good one. The first rebate never showed up. Ever. The second rebate was rejected literally within the week and I received a post card telling me that it was only one submission per household. Fine, so where's my original rebate?

Office Max-Maxwell CD pack $? rebate
Paid in full within 6 weeks.

Currently I also have outstanding a $35 rebate on some software from Frys and a $25 rebate on an ATI TV card from Circuit City.

My feeling from all of this and what I have read elsewhere? These rebate centers are obviously staffed with people earning minimum wage. Many rebates arrive illegible or are missing something. Still, the fact that I have been outright burned or else stalled on such a high percentage of submissions tells me that something is fishy about this whole rebate system. It's too bad some agency or sleeze lawyer can't do a mass purchase/submission to see if certain rebate centers and/or complanies have a substantially higher rate of failure to pay than others. It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that there is in fact some conscious fraud taking place.

 

[Karaktu]

My Syntax rebates for the FAR deal at Tiger Direct back in February have finally moved into the "Approved" column and indicate that a check "should be mailed soon."

Also, my $40 Tiger Direct rebate for the Seagate 200 gigabyte drive that was on sale earlier this month was received and approved yesterday.

So, it looks like TD is doing better on the rebate front. I'll update when they show.

 

[Engineer]

Was just denied on two rebates from RebatesHQ (Staples). Both were done online and the form (with barcode) printed and mailed. Denied on the basis that the ORIGINAL rebate form wasn't sent? WTF? I called them and asked how did they even know where to apply my UPC/receipt if they didn't receive the rebate form? Bastages!!!

Have to fax it in before they will apply it!!!

$40.00 VTech phones
$8.00 AT&T phone

Just a bunch of cheats!

 

[NetDeals]

Speaking of Syntax rebates, I have submitted 4 total so far, all of them from Tiger Direct purchases. I have received only one check so far, and one rebate is still "in process." However, I have had 2 rebates denied because I did not include the "original serial number." They also state that there are no resubmissions allowed.

The worse part is that they ask for the "UPC" which doesn't exist, and they show a very small half tone image of another label. I attached this label, but failed to include the serial number because it was on a separate smaller label immediately below this larger one. I have called them, and they said they would review this issue, but I still have denied rebates.

Has anyone else had a similar concern and gotten anywhere with these guys?

Net$Deals

 

[pieman7]

Regarding OfficeMax's June 23rd only Panasonic Digital Voice Recorder RR-QR400 rebate: The downloadable pdf rebate file says: "Mail your completed form to: ..." but there are no fields to complete. No fields asking for a name, address, email, nothing. It just says this under #2 of How to claim you $20 Rebate:

2. Send your name, address, phone number along with the serial number label, with a copy
of your delivery center receipt with the purchase price circled. IMPORTANT: You must
cut out and include the original label from the carton, which includes the UPC code,
model number and serial number, or your claim cannot be processed.

Does this mean just write the information on a blank part of the page? Most rebates at least have fields to fill out.

Also, it sounds like they are asking for the serial number label, not just write down the serial number. Has anyone been successful in unpeeling the lable without destroying it?

Thanks for your responses.

 

[Lanyap]

Originally posted by: NetDeals
Speaking of Syntax rebates, I have submitted 4 total so far, all of them from Tiger Direct purchases. I have received only one check so far, and one rebate is still "in process." However, I have had 2 rebates denied because I did not include the "original serial number." They also state that there are no resubmissions allowed.

The worse part is that they ask for the "UPC" which doesn't exist, and they show a very small half tone image of another label. I attached this label, but failed to include the serial number because it was on a separate smaller label immediately below this larger one. I have called them, and they said they would review this issue, but I still have denied rebates.

Has anyone else had a similar concern and gotten anywhere with these guys?

Net$Deals

I have not done any Syntax rebates but I know others who have and were denied just like you. Here's an example: LINKY

 

[welst10]

Originally posted by: akers
I submitted the rebate for the Fuji DVD+R 50-pack, They acknowledged it on their web site, gave me a rebate number, etc. and the "check was in the mail" so to speak. Weeks later, instead of a check I received a post card that says that the rebate cannot be paid but does not say why.

I have been a LONG, LONG time Fuji customer, I shoot nothing but Fuji film and have used mostly Fuji CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs, etc. and in the past even Fuji cameras, and now a digital camera. When I say that it includes my wife son and daughter. Well, Fuji just lost my family as customers. Memorex, Maxell, Kodak ... I am sure they will just love to have us as steady customers in the future.

It is a matter of principle, I protest the way it hurts them the most, in the bank account.

OMG, I submitted the same rebate for Fuji 50-pack DVD+R. It is the single worst rebate experience I have ever had. After 4 months and several emails and phones calls, I still haven't seen the rebate. I reported to the BBB, they told BBB that complaint was sent to the wrong department. WTF, the address have the same phone number as one on the rebate website. How could it be wrong? I gave up now. FUJIFILM simply sucks. Never will deal with thme again.

 

[Kelemvor]

Just got my second confirmation email from CircuitCityRebates for the 2x$40 hard drive rebate from a month ago. Sent them both at the same time but one got entered 2 weeks after the other one. Says they will process on 7/6/04 and ship on 7/16/04.

 

[pieman7]

Originally posted by: pieman7
Regarding OfficeMax's June 23rd only Panasonic Digital Voice Recorder RR-QR400 rebate: The downloadable pdf rebate file says: "Mail your completed form to: ..." but there are no fields to complete. No fields asking for a name, address, email, nothing. It just says this under #2 of How to claim you $20 Rebate:

2. Send your name, address, phone number along with the serial number label, with a copy
of your delivery center receipt with the purchase price circled. IMPORTANT: You must
cut out and include the original label from the carton, which includes the UPC code,
model number and serial number, or your claim cannot be processed.

Does this mean just write the information on a blank part of the page? Most rebates at least have fields to fill out.

Also, it sounds like they are asking for the serial number label, not just write down the serial number. Has anyone been successful in unpeeling the lable without destroying it?

Thanks for your responses.

Follow-up. I talked to the OfficeMax Rebate Center people and asked them about the above. As I suspected, they were a bit clueless. They told me it should be OK to write the name, address, and phone number on the printed instructions. They couldn't find any other documents with fields to fill in for this rebate. As for the serial number label, they didn't think it made sense to include the actual serial# label from the unit itself, and that the instructions probably meant the serial# on the UPC symbol. It turns out that there is no number on the cardboard label at or near the UPC symbol that matches the serial# on the unit. So to be on the safe side, I peeled off the label from the unit (fortunately without destroying it) and mailed that in along with the cardboard UPC stuff and rebate instructions. I better be getting my rebate! Funny how much time and effort can go into claiming these rebates! But $20 is still $20.

BTW, this is a decent digital recorder. Lots of features with good sound quality. Awesome value if they actually honor the rebate.

 

[Karaktu]

Originally posted by: Karaktu
My Syntax rebates for the FAR deal at Tiger Direct back in February have finally moved into the "Approved" column and indicate that a check "should be mailed soon."

Also, my $40 Tiger Direct rebate for the Seagate 200 gigabyte drive that was on sale earlier this month was received and approved yesterday.

So, it looks like TD is doing better on the rebate front. I'll update when they show.

Just an update...

I got my Syntax check for $107.98 today and have already cashed it. It did take 5 months to get, but the CSRs responded to every one of my inquiry emails and things happened in the time frame they said it would.

 

[NavGeek]

I wish I had such good luck with Staples. I ordered several items online and submitted 4 rebate requests. 3 of 4 were rejected on first try. I did get 1 resolved quickly via email ($160 Peachtree rebate), but I keep getting rejected on the Ziplinq cable ($3.00) and Belkin surge protector ($5.00) because I "didn't submit the original rebate form." Problem is, since I ordered online, there IS NO original rebate form that I know of...

Any clues? It's not worth the time and hassle for 8 bucks.

:disgust:

 

[esquared]

I just received my $10 rebate from Best Data after 5 months. It was for their 64 MB AGP video card, the GeForce 2 MX 400. I finally sent them 24 emails in a row threatening to call the BBB, State Attorney Generel and to go to Fry's and recommend that Fry's drop them as a vendor. That was on 6-28-04. I received an email on 6-30-04 stating a check was mailed. I received it on 7-8-04 with a 6-28-04 check date. This is the way I had to extract my rebate from them last time. Never again will I buy Best Data products. They are a bunch of cheats. Not worth my aggrevation for $10. By the way, this rebate promotion runs nearly every week in Friday's Fry's ads. It's in Friday ads again this week.

 

[allisolm]

I wish I had such good luck with Staples. I ordered several items online and submitted 4 rebate requests. 3 of 4 were rejected on first try. I did get 1 resolved quickly via email ($160 Peachtree rebate), but I keep getting rejected on the Ziplinq cable ($3.00) and Belkin surge protector ($5.00) because I "didn't submit the original rebate form." Problem is, since I ordered online, there IS NO original rebate form that I know of...

Any clues? It's not worth the time and hassle for 8 bucks.

Have you tried emailing through here, calling 1-800-856-9210 or calling 1-800-3STAPLE? There are several Staples contact numbers, including the office of the president, listed at the beginning of this thread.

I've seen others reporting the same problem (rejected for no rebate form when they purchased online) and all of them got it corrected by calling the phone number on the form.

Hope some of this information proves useful for you.

 

[Kelemvor]

Circuit City HDD Rebates (2X$40 from this thread). BOth my submissions have check numbers and sdtate they shipped on 7/12 and expected receipt date of 7/22.

Woo Hoo.

 

[hallf]

Hitachi 250G drive from Outpost....My drive arrived yesterday in a glossy red and white Hitachi box, and I looked all over it and there's no UPC barcode!!! Both rebates require a UPC and all there is on the box is a sticker that has two barcodes and two numbers one is a "CPN" and one an "SN"...but they aren't in a UPC-type format. Looks like I get to spend some time on the phone explaining this to the rebate companies...

 

[musicman64]

rebate found

 

[NavGeek]

Originally posted by: allisolm
I wish I had such good luck with Staples. I ordered several items online and submitted 4 rebate requests. 3 of 4 were rejected on first try. I did get 1 resolved quickly via email ($160 Peachtree rebate), but I keep getting rejected on the Ziplinq cable ($3.00) and Belkin surge protector ($5.00) because I "didn't submit the original rebate form." Problem is, since I ordered online, there IS NO original rebate form that I know of...

Any clues? It's not worth the time and hassle for 8 bucks.

Have you tried emailing through here, calling 1-800-856-9210 or calling 1-800-3STAPLE? There are several Staples contact numbers, including the office of the president, listed at the beginning of this thread.

I've seen others reporting the same problem (rejected for no rebate form when they purchased online) and all of them got it corrected by calling the phone number on the form.

Hope some of this information proves useful for you.

Thanks for the info! I finally got a positive response on the Ziplinq... Never got a reply on the Belkin though. I'm wondering if maybe they didn't get my email because of the attachment. Guess I'll try again, but I hate having to spend hours on email correspondence just to get a $5.00 rebate.. :disgust:

 

[dwcal]

TCA, aka wheresmyrebate, is the only rebate processor I've had trouble with. I had a Netgear and Viking rebate that took something like 7 months to arrive. I remember checking the status at wheresmyrebate.com and the status was Mailed for 3 months before it finally arrived. If you see TCA on the rebate form, stay away, far away.

 

[breweyez]

has anyone received their $50 rebate from SOYO?....this would be for a MB purchaed from Mwave a few monthes back....i cant find any record on the web...it says to wait 16 weeks, which is just about now

 

[Lanyap]

Originally posted by: breweyez
has anyone received their $50 rebate from SOYO?....this would be for a MB purchaed from Mwave a few monthes back....i cant find any record on the web...it says to wait 16 weeks, which is just about now

No. I've been following the SOYO rebate situation since they started their big rebate promotion push in March. I have not heard of anyone receiving theirs yet. On their rebate website they say 16 weeks from the final postmark date of the individual promotion. Here is what they say when you check your rebate:


As of 07/24/2004, we are processing rebate postmarked date 03/29/2004.

You can find your rebate postmarked date from the mail-in rebate form. It is located right above where you fill in your name, and states "THIS REQUEST MUST BE POSTMARKED BY ...".

If your rebate postmarked date is on or after the current processing postmarked date, please check your rebate status in a few weeks later. Please DO NOT contact us for status, this will only slow down our procssing time, and we will not be able to response you regarding your status queries.

If your rebate postmarked date is before the current processing postmarked date and you still cannot find your rebate status in our system, please contact us at rebate@soyousa.com for further help.

 

[alrocky]

Audigy 2ZS - CompUSA purchased 5/31/04
$50 rebate received 7/22/04

 

[Borgkiller]

Mad Dog Multimedia Dominator 6-in-1 (MD-8XDVDRW-PM ) 8x DVD±R/RW Drive
Officemax rebates for 06/23/04 deal. Does the rebate status show for anyone?
I checked online using my tracking number and name but no show both ways.
Shouldn't it show something since the form was filled out online and a tracking number asignned?

 

[KnightPalatine]

I created a cash (asset) account in Quicken. I enter the rebate in the "receive" column on the day I submit it, with the company name in the "Payee" field. I enter a transfer to Checking, again with the company name in the payee field, when I deposit the check.

 

[Jscanavan]

Mad Dog Multimedia Dominator 6-in-1 (MD-8XDVDRW-PM ) 06/23/04 deal

Rebate tracking thru officemax doesn't show anything. But, I just got an email with this url;


http://www.rebatetrack.com/promocenter/parago/trackdetails.html?track_number=

Mine was denied due to lack of original UPC. Total BS. I know I sent it.
I faxed copies of everything to 800-886-8370 and emailed jpg scans to rebates@parago.com as outlined on page 1 of this thread. Anyone else get a bogus denial?

PS I just called 877-699-8797 and talked a nice lady. I said I did sent the original UPC, and she validated the rebate. The above rebate page is different now, but still says 'no refund will be issued'. I'll look at it later and see if it changes.