Originally posted by: verbage
Greetings fellow Hot Dealers,
Apparently, there has been a slight policy change regarding online rebate submissions (e.g. staplesrebates.com) for items purchased at B&M Staples stores. Nowadays, you must include the original rebate form printed out on B&M cash register tape even if you do the rebate submission online. The was not the case before. I confirmed this change with a staplesrebates.com representative by phone this afternoon.
Many times in the past, I would purchase a item with rebate at a Staples B&M store. Instead of dealing with the meter of tape printed out at the cash register, I would simply submit the rebate online via staplesrebates.com. After printing out the online submission form, I'd follow the line #2 proof of purchase mailing instructions and include the original store receipt and/or UPC code as necessary. I did this many times, and never had a rebate rejected.
In June 2004, I purchased a Netgear MR814 wireless router at my local Staples B&M. I did an online rebate submission as usual, and along with my printed out submission form, I included my original Staples B&M register receipt as was specified on line #2 of the mailing instructions. Several weeks later, I received a rejection postcard stating that my rebate had been rejected because:
"You did not submit your rebate form with your entry."
Despite successfully completing and receiving many dozens upon dozens of rebates from tons of different retailers, I assumed this time I had screwed up, and bone-headedly had not included my rebate form in the envelope. Fortunately, I scan and PDF *everything* associated with a rebate before sending it out just for situations like this. Anyway, I called up staplesrebates.com at the end of June, they had me fax them a copy of all my paperwork again, and that rebate was approved and delivered.
In mid-August, I purchased two more items with rebates at my local Staples B&M, and I did an online submission of them like usual. Well, lo and behold, today I received a rejection postcard for one item which cited the same problem about not submitting my rebate form with my entry. I went online to track my rebates at staplesrebates.com to figure out what happened, and I noticed the second mid-August rebate had also been rejected with the same message!
Anyway, I grabbed my archived PDF submissions, and called up staplesrebates.com. The representative told me that the two mid-August rebates were rejected because I had not included the original B&M cash register rebate form. I mentioned that I had never done this before, and that I always got my rebates by sending in just the printed out submission form along with the proofs of purchase specified on line #2 of that submission form. She said that a policy change had taken place recently, and that online submissions of B&M purchased items must now include the original B&M register tape rebate form.
We politely chatted about this for a few minutes, and she mentioned that when the policy change was made, the wording/details was not synchronously updated everywhere. I pointed out that I had another B&M purchased item from just last week, and that the register tape *still* said that I could submit the rebate either online *or* by completing the cash register tape rebate form. So apparently they are still updating the wording/details everywhere.
To be fair, I went back and scoured my PDF archived materials. For the first June 2004 rebate that was rejected, nowhere does it say the original B&M cash register tape rebate form must be submitted. On line #2 of the printed submission form, it simply states that I need to include my original register receipt (not the rebate form).
For the two mid-August rebates that were rejected, line #2 on the printed submission form also says only the original receipt is necessary along with the printed submission form. However, in the "Promotion Details" fine print of that same submission form, it also says "For purchases made at Staples Stores, send the completed ORIGINAL rebate form and ORIGINAL rebate receipt." This is definitely a new clause they have added--I have years of PDF archived submissions, and none of them say to include the cash register tape rebate form.
So anyway, basically, buyer beware. No longer can you just submit the proofs of purchase specified on line #2 of the printed out submission form. This is obviously an area where the wording/details has not yet been synchronized.
--verbage