Rebate Centers ...

[Darth Mandarb]

Okay ...

About 2 months ago I bought two new 17" Samsung LCD monitors (SyncMaster 712n) and set up a dual-monitor system.Ã,  I got them because I found them on special through Office Depot (an office supply chain of stores in the US) with 2 $50 rebates on them.Ã,  So a total of 100 dollars off of each.

The first rebate was through Office Depot itself, and the second one was through www.wheresmyrebate.com

Before making the purchase I specifically called both places and made sure that it was okay to receive two rebates from each place.Ã,  I was told this wouldn't be a problem.Ã,  The fine print said, "One rebate per item" not "One rebate per household" or anything like that.Ã,  The problem was I didn't log the calls ... no record on my part of who I spoke with.

Well I received notice from www.wheresmyrebate.com saying that one of my rebates was sent so I went to their website to track the other to find out why it wasn't sent ... (I sent both rebate forms in the same envelope)

After near 40 minutes on hold some woman answers the phone (who hardly can communicate in English) and proceeds to tell me that there was a limit "one per household".Ã,  I then explained to her that I had called and was specifically told it was allowed and that if it hadn't been allowed I would have had the second rebate mailed to a different location.

She wouldn't back down and kept repeating the same thing over and over so I said, "put me through to a manager or supervisor"Ã,  She wouldn't ... she said they'd just tell me the same thing so I said, "That's nice, put me through"

She still wouldn't and said that if I could tell her the name of the person who told me it was okay to send 2 rebates they could go ahead with it.Ã,  I said, "fine ... her name was Diana" to which she instantly replied "there's nobody here named Diana"

So I snapped back, "okay ... her name was Phyllis."

She then said, "Okay, you're making up names, you're lying.Ã,  Have a nice day"

I said, "Don't you hang up on me!Ã,  I was on hold for forty minutes and you're NOT hanging up on me"

"Well sir, you're lying, have a nice day."

"Don't you fucking hang up!"

"Now you've used the F word" click.

That bitch hung up on me after calling me a liar!

Have any of you dealt with www.wheresmyrebate.com before?Ã,  I went to the website (after this little call) and took screen caps of the rebate pages in case they try to delete the rebate and say it never existed or something like that.

I called Office Depot, which has already sent 1 of the $50 rebates (which I thought was odd as both forms were in the same envelope) and was told it was an error on their part and they were sending the other one out immediately!

Now ... regardless if I misread the fine print of the wheresmyrebate.com rebate form (which I didn't) ... I was told it was allowed and wouldn't be a problem and then that bitch was completely rude and unhelpful and then hung up on me.

Does anybody know what I should do?Ã,  I keep trying to call back but the line is busy.Ã,  Should I contact Samsung directly?Ã,  Do I have any hope of winning (getting the other rebate)?Ã,  Should I swallow pride and let it drop?

So to anybody who has taken the time to read this here is my advice:
Make (and keep) a copy of the rebate forms and receipts and log ALL calls made (times, names, dates, etc.)Ã, 

What pisses me off is that I know this ... I've been burned before because I didn't note down who I spoke to and when.

Sorry for the long post ... I'm just REALLY angry and needed to vent.

[Evil]

I have terrible troubles with rebates. Every once in a while though, I'll get $10 keyboards with $20 mail in rebates which I can sell to people for another $10 bucks. But through all of my times of getting bad rebates, I've learned one thing: If you're on hold for more then 30 minutes for a rebate, it's not worth it. I mean, if you bought the TV's just for the rebate, you're just asking for trouble. But if you bought the TV for the TV, then why complain about a rebate on something you'd buy anyways?

[Darth Mandarb]

I disagree.

Sometimes if the choice is between two products, both equally good, but one has a rebate, you take the one with the rebate.Ã,  Easy choice then.Ã,  I wasn't buying it for the rebate, I was buying it because of the rebate.Ã,  And I'm not complaining about the rebate, I'm complaining about the way I was treated.

Anyway, it's not really an issue of the 50 dollars ... It's the principle behind it.

If somebody tells me they're going to do something for me, I expect it to be done.

What I don't expect (or accept) is some twit on a phone calling me a liar and hanging up on me.

Also, I wasn't notified (in ANY way) that the rebate had been rejected.Ã,  They didn't send me anything to notify me, even though they have my eMail address and my home address.

I'm going to keep calling them every day until they're so sick of me they send me the fifty dollars to leave them alone.

[jaz]

Well, you probably forgot the first and only rule of rebate: Lure the fools, promise the money back and let's hope that only few will actually use the mail in coupon... :-)

[Pumaman]

I don't think I quite understand what these 'rebate' things are? Is it like getting a discount when you buy something, but they say "we won't give you the money off now, we'll give it to you later"?

[Darth Mandarb]

Yes, exactly.

You have to send them the store receipt (or a copy of it) and the UPC code (or a copy of it) and then 8-10 weeks later (on average) you get a check in the mail.

The offer was for the Samsung SyncMaster 712N for $389.00 (USD) which, in and of itself was a great price!
It had a $50 (mail-in) Office Depot rebate and a $50 (mail-in) rebate from www.wheresmyrebate.com.

So, after rebates, each monitor would be $289 USD.

Here's the same monitor (basically, only mine are black) normally from OfficeDepot.com and it's $469 (with no rebates)

So, now, after the rebates I have received it ended up costing me $630 total, instead of $580.Ã,  Like I said, the money isn't the issue.Ã,  It's the fact that they told me one thing, and then didn't come through.

[LostTraveler Unlog]

Better Buisness Bureau!

If she was that rude then you should be able to get the money and possibly more, you need to find out the number of a superviser, call and tell what happened, threaten with legal action and bam, your in the money.