UPDATE! Philips CDRW PCRW80 $40 Rebate

[Ice69]

this is why i don't do rebates anymore

that and wheresmyrebate.com denied my perfectly good samsung 753df 40 dollar rebate(stupid staples item numbering) and 20 dollar 128mb ram tiger direct, oh yea my 20 dollar ubid one too, still gotta work on that one

not to mention the $80 i was expecting on this one, (the 2 $40 rebates, i should've guessed this would happen), only rebates to come were a linksys 10/100 nic(10) and my $50 ipaq 3150(yup 3150)

so i'm waiting on 180 bucks in rebates still, not pretty considering i'm only 17 and working just barely over minimum wage.

 

[slickpants]

Oh yeah, Parago is still in business. Funny, I overheard a guy at work talking about starting a project with them. I should stop by their office on the way home since I pass it every day. I did some work for Parago a little while back. The company that did their rebate processing software is now in bankruptcy. I never was impressed with How2, umm, Parago. I can't believe I sent them a rebate....

 

[Rab]

<< that and wheresmyrebate.com denied my perfectly good samsung 753df 40 dollar rebate(stupid staples item numbering) and 20 dollar 128mb ram tiger direct, oh yea my 20 dollar ubid one too, still gotta work on that one
>>



I initially had the same sort of problems with Maxtor, who denied not one, but FOUR hard drive rebates.

That's why I bought my own copier, during OM's clearance on some of the the Canon PC series.

(I later "resolved" the issue w/the help of the consumer affairs office of my state atty. general's office. Maxtor was most apologetic, and I haven't had trouble with them since.)

There's nothing like a faxed copy of all the particulars from the state to convince CSR's to speed things up.

-Rab

 

[TJ22]

The phone number is no longer working

 

[UncleJohn]

Phone # working, did the same to me, tried 15 mins. later and it went threw to Phillips...

Also if you go to Deal talk over at FatWall@t, you can file online complaint with FTC, they have information, short form..
If enought people do that, maybe we will get our money before Christmas...

 

[Shagger]

I sold it to a guy at work for $35 so I am not to worried about my $40 coming...I did get an email for Parago about my rebate yesterday - I guess I'll respond and wait another 6 weeks for $40 rebate - UGH!@!(*&$(!@*&%

 

[bargainshopper]

I don't know if Philips is the bad guy or Parago. However, Parago has handled all my other rebates (mostly from Staples) without any major problems. I have to call them for couple of my rebates but they were resolved after one call.

 

[culan]

I'm sure Phillip want to screw customer up. Because Parago still handle rebate
and I still receive their rebate handle for Staples in timely mainer.

Phillip cdrw is a pieces of crap. My can not burn any more after 1 week.

Call them since the end of Sept still did not see any check.

 

[Justincase]

>>> don't know if Philips is the bad guy or Parago.<<<

Trust me - it's Philips...their CSRs lie.


>>>However, Parago has handled all my other rebates (mostly from Staples) without any major problems.<<<

I have over $2,000.00 out in rebates, and I get rebates from Parago every single week, no hassles. Got a couple today and Saturday. Parago is still in business and is not the problem.

 

[hotstuff2000]

I bought my CDr drive on 8/3/01 along with McAfee viruscan. I received the Virusscan $20 rebate, but not the $40 drive rebate, so obviously RebatesHQ is not the culprit, as they processed both of these. The RebatesHQ lists:
Date Received: 08/24/2001
Status: Processing Rebate
Status Detail: We have received all of your required information and documents. After your information is processed, we will process and mail your rebate reward. Thank you.

It has said this for a VERY long time, and it does not take that long to look at a UPC code and verify that it came from a CDWR drive.

I just got off the phone with the Philips# posted here (after pressing option 5) and the CSR took my name, address, etc and date and store of sale. She did not ask for UPC number or anything. That makes me a little nervous.. if they're not bothering to VERIFY that we bought the darn thing, are we even going to get our checks?? Maybe they will verify with the RebatesHQ database. She told me there was some problem with the fulfiller so now they are doing them in-house. Of course you have to ask them leading questions to get these answers, and I must say that I am not at all impressed with the intelligence levels of the CSRs. She says in 2 weeks I should receive a letter in the mail TELLING ME WHEN I WILL RECEIVE MY CHECK (HA!! I laughed when I heard that one). Anyway, I am going out of the country in January for a semester abroad, and if I don't receive it by then, I guess they will have ripped me off. I wasn't really looking for a CDWR drive, but it is cool and I thought hey for $8 I will buy one. For $48, Im not so sure..

By the way, mine won't burn at 8x either. The buffer runs down to 0% within less than a minute of burning! And I am using Fuji 24x media.. I have WIN98SE and 128MB of RAM running EZCD 5.0 also. So now I just burn at 4x for both r and Wr disks.. kind of makes the CDrs useless--why not just always burn CDWR. But anyway I will try that firmware update, although it makes me a little nervous that I can't find it from the Philips website....
(the search-by-product-type link doesnt work and when I put in 'PCRW804' I get:
We're sorry-your request could not be completed because:
We do not have downloads available for this product or category. )

WHY COULDNT THEY HAVE PUT BURNPROOF ON THESE DRIVES?!?!?!?!?!

THANK YOU ANANDTECH USERS FOR PUTTING THIS ANNOUNCEMENT UP FOR ALL OF US WHO WERE DUPED INTO PHILIPS REBATE!!!

 

[dawman45]

dam...i have 4 of these rebates outstanding

Thanks for the heads up tho!

 

[karbon]

I had to send my Phillips CDRW for warranty service recently -- less than 3 months after I bought it. The tray went spastic, continuously ejecting then reloading any CD placed in it. I only hope their repairs are more timely than their rebates.

 

[manly]

hotstuff2000,

I wouldn't believe their line that RebatesHQ didn't do the job. The reason rebates take so long to process is because the manufacturer's want it that way. If Philips had paid RebatesHQ to have our rebate checks cut, believe me it would have happened.

There is definite circumstantial evidence to this effect, since as you said, Philips is not asking for validating information. Apparently, they have already received our information from RebatesHQ. Again, if they wanted to pay us now, they would have done so.

I think they just aren't used to losing this much money on a product. It isn't our fault they flooded the market w/ 8X burners when 12X burners were already well-established, and on the way out.

They had to entice customers with hefty rebates to buy their 8X burners, and they probably received many more rebate claims than they projected. Now, whoever controls the money within the company probably isn't releasing it to the person(s) in charge of fulfilling rebates.

Just my two cents.

 

[jimmyhaha]

my philips cdrw sounds like a jet engine when it reads cd..
no rebate from philips yet..

what give... ?

 

[zmatrix]

Just checked rebateshq...they received my claim on 10/10 and are still processing it. Hopefully I will only wait another 4 weeks before I get it.

 

[Hawk]

I guess I got lucky, I *think* I already got my rebate a month or two ago. Good luck to you guys, but at least we know they pay the rebates (right?).

 

[ashneel]

called around 4-6 weeks ago gave them the serial number and model number now when i called to check the status they say its not on file i am phucken pissed. stupid ass phucken people. i should take the drive and stick it up their ass.:|

 

[Marm]

It is something when I called up the CSR asked for all my info and put me on hold to check it out and said that it was in process and I should be getting my money. Why is all my info in there and I did not get any money I think that Philips lost too much money, the burner is a piece it is giving me all kinds of grief, good thing it was real cheap after all the rebates.

 

[poppagene]

I got the 30$ rebate from bb still waithing for the $4o rebate from rebateshq.

 

[SeiyaMan]

just called too. CSR told me I should get a letter within 2 weeks to say when I should get my rebate?!?!? Anyways, I'm pretty pissed :|
Only thing I could say is that fortunately my burner burns at 8X and it's been very reliable. Over 150 cds since July and still no coaster. Still I want my $$$

 

[chat]

I call philips and give them all the information about the rebate.
They do give me a case # and i got my rebate check abt a week later !!

But, I am still waiting for my Best Buy $30 Rebate !!!

 

[RBC]

Just an update:

I just spoke with Chantel in CS, she spoke with Rhonda in promotions who said that she would email the rebate center, again, for immediate release of a check. If I didn't get it within 5 days she said I should call back.

 

[Justincase]

Bah. Philips sucks. 17 weeks since I mailed my rebate, 6 weeks since I got a case number, 5 weeks since the matter was escalated...and I still can't get one straight answer out of their stupid CSRs.

Today, I was told that I should give it 2 weeks from the date my case was escalated, then I asked what date it WAS escalated - answer 10/22. Duh. - it's been 5 weeks. I will never again buy so much as a light bulb from Philips.

 

[WhiteMouse]

Thanks. Sometimes, the store would solve the rebate problem.

 

[RBC]

Yeah, but you can't go back to the original store, because if it OD of BB, they've already paid their rebates. I think I got my BB rebate in less than 3 weeks after submitting it.