You know what this is? This is a picture of Dan’s rebate form and UPC code, the very UPC code that whoever does Office Depot’s rebate processing says wasn’t attached to his rebate form. Yes, Daniel is the kind of person who takes pictures of all his rebate materials before sending them in, just in case something like this should occur. Companies love rebates because they can get you to buy something thinking you’re going to get a deal, and then if you fail the rebate process, they still get to keep all your money. Even if you do everything right, they still might deny it. Why? Because the rebate company has a certain quota, their contractually agreed upon “redemption rate” of rebates to deny that they have to meet. If too many legitimate rebates get in, guess they have to “figure out” ways to meet their numbers. Inside, the correspondence between Office Depot and Dan and a full-sized pic of his rebate and UPC code…
Thank you for visiting the Office Depot Mail In Savings Center. Our records indicate that the submission we received was missing one or more of the required items. We want to ensure that you receive your rebate so we’ve placed your file on hold and we mailed you a notice on 3/28/2008 indicating: Your submission did not include a UPC bar code from a valid Brother Product.To ensure that you have ample opportunity to send in the missing information, we’re holding your file open. Would you please forward the copy of the UPC barcode to the special handling address below? Please be sure to keep a copy for your records.
Office Depot Mail-In Savings Center
Attention: Resubmit Department
PO Box 317006
El Paso, TX 88531-7006Or by fax to:
Office Depot Mail-In Savings Center
Attention: Resubmit Department
#1-866-238-3145Upon receipt, we will apply the missing documents to your file, and re-attempt to process your rebate. Please feel free to check the status online in approximately 2-3 weeks after you send the information back to us. If you have any questions, or do not see a change in status within that tie frame, please do not hesitate to contact us by telephone at 866-541-0284.
Sincerely,
Natalie O.
Customer Care
Dan replied:
Please review the originally submitted paperwork again. The card I received from you states that I did not include the UPC code. This is not true. The code was physically attached to the upper right hand corner of the rebate form. I have pictures of the form and the UPC code attached to it, taken before mailing. If you’d like to review them I can forward them to you through e-mail.I feel that you need to bring into compliance whoever you contract your rebate processing to. What is being done to your customers is ILLEGAL. While I took pictures and have documentation, I’m sure that many people do not, to them your lies cost money.
I will forward a copy of this letter to http://www.consumerist.com to be placed on the site as a warning to other shoppers who are considering making a purchase at Office Depot.
Sincerely,
Dan V.
Instead of calling it a rebate they should just call it a lottery game.
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I’ve had really bad luck getting my rebate back from Sprint for the purchase of two cell phones with mail-in rebates. Luckily I had purchased the mobile phones from Fry’s Electronics, and their customer services folks were surprisingly helpful checking on your rebate for you. I think it’s a good strategy to try and get the store of original purchase on your side; using their relations as a vendor of the manufacturer’s products is more likely to result in action in your favor (IMHO at least).
Cheers,
-L
I used to work at Sprint, although their customer service is bad enough, their rebate department was an absolute joke.
I routinely took 3 or 4 calls a DAY from folks who had a valid rebate denied and couldn’t figure out why. Rebates are EVIL. Buyer beware.
I always try to avoid rebates because of crap like that.
Me too… I never received my $200 rebate from “optoma projector” purchased from MicroCenter in St. Davids, PA. After having to comply with senseless rules, cutting up a very difficult box, filling out an extremely long form, purchasing unusual sized envelopes to mail all of this crap … i was refused. I will NEVER believe a REBATE promotion again!! NEVER. In the end they just do whatever they want and the consumer is SOL.
I’ve had great rebate experiences with GE & Apple. Every step of the process was documented and I received e-mail updates at regular intervals. If all rebates were handled this way I don’t think rebates would have such a bad reputation.
On the other hand, after two failed rebate attempts with the computer store MicroCenter I vowed to never shop there again (and they used to make about $2000-$3000 annually from me). For the greed of saving a few hundred bucks Microcenter lost a once-loyal customer who had been shopping with them for nearly a decade.
@parabola101: Ha! I guess I’m not only one with MicroCenter complaints. I guess I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one.
I’m in the Chicago area, btw.
Why don’t companies just completely eliminate rebates and lower their prices instead?
I agree that rebates are more like lotteries these days than rebates.
I wonder what it will take to make a law against them…
Does any state or local ordinance ban mail-in rebates?
@MonkeyMonk: Why don’t companies just completely eliminate rebates and lower their prices instead?
Because they bank on the fact that people won’t send them in or will forget something. In other words, if everyone claimed a rebate, they would probably end up losing money.
Had the same problem with these clowns. They owed me 100 clams on a computer rebate. Went to the state’s Attorney General’s website and filled out a quick online complaint. A couple of weeks later someone from office depot called to personally to say my rebate was on the way. Shook them so much they sent me two $200 checks.
I always had the same problem when I would submit OfficeMax rebates (a practice they were later taken to court for by the Illinois AG). My solution was to take my copies into the store and speak to the manager. They would go off, make a call and come back promising the rebate had been approved, which would then arrive in a week or two. Not a legal practice but my choice would result in the resolution I wanted.
There are also issues of miscommunication. A few years back I bought a Samsung WS monitor from Circuit City on black friday. It was a great deal, 22”for 250 USD after 150 USD in rebates. The 100 USD was from CC and with their online easy-rebate system that was no problem. However the Samsung needed to be sent in. I forgot about it for acouple weeks (bad thing) but sent it in 2 days before post mark expiration date. Well, after acouple weeks I get rejection letter saying I was past exp limit. Problem was CC had printed the wrong date on the receipt, just mirroring their own. Thankfully I didn’t have to fight too hard, I spoke to 1-2 people and they corrected issue and I got my 50 USD check.
Oh, I also forgot what I originally wanted to say. I would only get rebates if they’re directly from reputable manufactures or someplace like CC who has easy rebate. Its like dancing with the devil if you try to get anything from OD, TigerDirect, Fry’s.
ATI did that to me once… No UPC they claimed. What they didn’t know was that I worked at a rebate processing center for 1.5 years and I called them on it. They were unwilling to do anything and said I wouldn’t get any money. So for ATI if you see this that was for a 9800pro. I have since then purchased:
a 6800GT,
a 7800GT,
and now an 8800 GTS
I’m not going to total it up but needless to say I will not be spending any more money on your video cards… ever.
I don’t buy anything because of a rebate either. Why can’t the d-bags just offer me the better price to begin with?
Last rebate I did was on a cell phone and it was $100, it was worth the $5 spent on Certified mail with return receipt. When the scumbag rebate processor claimed they never got my rebate form and UPC code and receipt…I said “well, then you need to talk to the person who signed for the envelope and signed the return receipt. The Post office says you got it.”
If the law says that valid rebate requests have to be honored. Then it should be ILLEGAL for a merchant or manufacturer to quota their rebate processor for X amount of rejections.
Hell, I think rebates should be illegal period.
I’ve only had one problem with a rebate and that was with a company that was going out of business, and even then I still got the money.
A couple things I note about the above photo:
A. The photo could have been taken at any time.
B. The UPC doesn’t look attached, just sitting there.
C. The UPC code is blacked out on the UPC, but the valid code is listed in the rebate terms. Why black out the UPC?
As for filing rebates, I suggest the following:
1. Store electronic copies of everything related to a rebate in a directory (including scans of reciepts, UPCs, etc.). Keep each rebate separate.
2. If possible, find an electronic copy of the rebate form. Many offers are made available in electronic form on the sellers website.
3. Read the instructions for filling out the rebate all the way through. I’ve had a rebate or two that have additional requirements buried in the fine text.
4. Print in clean block letters in black pen.
5. Better yet, with electronic copies see if you can type in the text.
6. Print the envelop, don’t write it down. Copy and paste the address from the electronic rebate form, if available.
7. Keep a spreadsheet with the date the rebate was sent along with the estimated turn over time. Also note if they offer an online rebate status site.
8. Every couple weeks check the spreadsheet and note if any rebates are past due.
9. Many rebates look like junk mail, so actually pay attention to your mail. I almost tossed a $50 rebate because it looked like a junk mail postcard.
Of the 100+ rebates I’ve submitted in my life, I’ve only had an issue with the one I mentioned before.
Ben
@MonkeyMonk: Why don’t companies just completely eliminate rebates and lower their prices instead?
Pure profit. The general rule is that the amount of the rebate is equal to the percentage of people who will file for a rebate, up to a point. So that $5.00 rebate will have about 5% of the buyers submitting rebates. This is trend continues up into the $75-$80 range. That’s why you see a lot of $5 and $10 dollar rebates and not as many high ones.
Ben
I’ve been doing rebates heavily for the last 5 years, and at the last count had recieved around $21,000 in rebates over that period of time.
I seldom have rebates rejected, and when I do I can usually fix it with a quick call to the rebate center. I do keep PDF copies of all my upc’s and rebate forms just in case, but in general a phone call is all it takes.
I don’t really buy the theory that this is all a brilliant plot – I don’t ascribe to malice what can be explained by simple incompetence. rebate centers are often offshore and are staffed by the cheapest labor possible – so they make lots of mistakes, lose stuff, ect.
There are certain companies that I avoid rebates for – usually anything that goes to an address in California. These companies usually process their own rebates instead of paying a third-party company, and they often never come.
If you have trouble with a rebate, the rebate forum on fw is a great resource – it includes a thread with contact info for most rebate centers – and often a quick call will turn a rejected rebate into an approval because “you are such a valuable customer” (and they know they screwed the pooch).
Had a similar problem with an OD rebate, but it was fixed by talking to “Beeel” at their rebate center, who said he didn’t know why I didn’t get my rebate, but would take care of it, and DID (gave me a new tracking #, and I got my $150 in a week, although the check said ‘Customer satisfaction rebate’ instead of ‘HP Notebook Rebate’ ….hmmm.
I think to be completely safe you need to videotape yourself filling out the form, sealing the envelope, and dropping it in the mailbox.
He misspelled Rebate. The correct spelling is Rip Off. As long as suckers keep falling for the scam, the manufacturers will keep doing it.
I’ve had almost no success with rebates on technology purchases. Even after reading their instructions carefully and filling out the forms, attaching proof, etc. as per their wish, they’ve been denied for such things as “no receipt attached”, “wrong UPC code”, and my favorite “not purchased from an approved vendor”.
That one was a Netgear router purchased at CompUSA. I never got the rebate – nor was I ever able to find the elusive list of approved vendors.
The best experience was with Sony. They did eventually fulfill the rebate but instead of 4 to 6 weeks it was 8 months.
I’ve done some research into what goes on and it’s like this: Most companies contract with a outside fulfillment house to handle the rebates. That contract commonly contains a “maximum redemption” clause which is under 50%; sometimes well under. The fulfillment house knows that they can just reject everything and only a small percentage of applicants will follow up on it. They also understand that they’re in a different state than you are; good luck taking them to court to collect your rebate. You’ll find that often the fulfillment house will have multiple divisions in multiple states just to make sure you’re never dealing with a division located in your state.
Here’s the current “winner” for fulfillment houses: hold the rebate applications until 4 or 5 days before the rebate deadline then reject them for missing information. Even if you’ve got copies of those documents you won’t be able to get them to the fulfillment house until after the rebate offer has expired.
Those of you who went the extra mile and got your rebate check: congratulations! That makes you one of the 15% that actually got the rebate. They were expecting you; overall, they still meet their targets with room to spare and pick up a nice bonus besides.
The cure for this perennial problem is to eliminate rebates; make them illegal. If they want to give you $50 off, they can do so at the point of purchase by simply lowering the price on the item. Any incentive cash from the manufacturer can go to the retailer to offset the loss in profit.
Consumer rebates are a scam. They’re specifically designed not to pay the promised rebate. Just say no.
Too bad there’s no thumbs down for article on Consumerist. There are many reasons why the UPC could’ve been missed (i.e. it was loose and fell out, csr didn’t check the envelope too thorougly). That’s why I typically staple all my stuff together.
That being said, I still once in awhile get the we did not find your UPC, but they always provide a recourse allowing you to fax in a copy of it to them, which then usually solves the problem.
Most new rebates TELL you to keep records of all your rebate materials in such events.
I have stopped looking at rebates as a savings tool for purchases and merely look at lowest priced non-rebated items when I shop. The reason being that it’s too much of a hassle to get companies to cough up the money, even when you do get it back it wasn’t worth the wait, and I save all my UPC codes in case a place needs PoP for warranty repair.
@gwong: Staples rebates are always pretty painless. Otherwise, yes. Rebates suck.
A legal threat and announcement of a consumerist.com posting is perfectly in line with what the rebate sponsors need. I’ve been duped too many times by rebates.
Staples online rebates close the loop of messing something up, so there is a clear way to get it right. But if making free money off someone else’s frustration raises quarterly profits, why not… It’s this shoddy rebate system that has moved $2000 per year to Staples (sorry office depot). Staples even sends you email reminders to fill out their online rebate form if you bought a rebate item once you have an account set up with them.
@MonkeyMonk:
On the other hand, after two failed rebate attempts with the computer store MicroCenter I vowed to never shop there again (and they used to make about $2000-$3000 annually from me).
So you used to spend $40,000 to $60,000 a year there? Damn, that’s three times my annual income!
That’s based on an average 5% markup (which is much less on electronics on sale). It pisses me off when people come in saying “Do you have any idea how much money you make from me!?” Well, retail stores DON’T make a lot of money from individuals.
@krunk4ever: Did you read his letter? The code was “physically attached”.
I just received my brother printer $40 rebate without any problem.
I’m going thru a similar situtation with my girlfriend’s $10 Sonicare rebate. I photocopy everything, including the dated postmarked envelope, before sending in any rebates.
Sonicare’s card asked only for the receipt, not the UPC. I mailed it in Dec. 17th. They rejected it because there was no UPC. I called and spoke to a gentleman, then faxed him proof that they didn’t request the UPC. He said he’d send it to the rebate department again… and they rejected it a 2nd because of no UPC. So I called and spoke to some woman, who said she’d take care of it. Well, two weeks later, still no rebate, so I call to find out it was rejected a 3rd time! This latest woman said she is forwarding to the corporate headquarters to bypass the rebate group… we’ll see. It’s only $10, but I will be a pebble in their shoe until we get it.
@SecureLocation: BellSouth inadvertently sent me two $50 rebates about 4 years ago after I wrote to their CEO and copied the state’s Office of Consumer Protection about their bogus rejections. I had online billing, which at the time consisted of PDFs consisting entirely of a 12-point courier font with no graphics, no bold, not even italics. The rebate required I send a copy of my bill, but the rebate house (Parago) said that didn’t qualify since anyone could’ve typed that on an IBM Selectric — in other words, it was impossible for me to qualify!
I have to make a pitch for the much-maligned BBB here. Like many posters, I take a scan of all materials I submit; when a rebate disappears or a rejection comes back, I immediately file a complaint with the local BBB, many of which have web-based complaint submission. The typical pattern is that the original complaint is ignored by the company; but 30 days later, when the BBB sends the notification that the complaint is about to be marked as not resolved to consumer’s satisfaction, the company springs into action. I’ve seen some amusing email chains result from this, and I get my rebate without a resubmission.
How’s this:
I ordered a laptop from PCMall in January that had several rebates attached to it (free memory upgrade after rebate, free shipping, etc). When I received the laptop, they had obviously shipped me a returned item – not only had the box been opened, the laptop booted (I could tell because first-boot “welcome” scripts didn’t run), but the UPC label had been cut out of the box.
So I called PCMall in a righteous fury, and agreed to send me a new model and a shipping label for the original. To their credit, I had a replacement laptop the next day.
However, they had processed the exchange as a return and a new order for the same item, not a defective item exchange, so when I submitted the rebates, they were rejected because their system showed I had returned the item. Cue steam from ears and another angry call to PCMall.
Good news is, I was able to explain their stupidity to them, and eventually managed to get the rebates. However, it was way too much effort than it should have been. (I still would like to know how a company manages to restock used product as new, without even noticing that the UPC has been removed).
I have the same problem with Office Depot in Israel. I bought a Samsung laser printer and I’m still waiting to receive my $40 mail-in rebate… over 1 month later. Luckily, I made copies of everything before I mailed in the rebate form. Furthermore, the telephone number I’m supposed to call for “rebate related inquiries” goes to an answering service in which none of my calls are returned. Looks like I’ll have to visit Office Depot and sort this out. I suggest all of you avoid mail-in rebates whenever possible.