I needed a new cordless phone/answering machine. I figure I can save some time by walking to the Staples up the street. I get there and find my phone. The Staples boy went to find the phone I wanted. It took him 20 minutes and no phone. OK I’m patient plus I would just be warming my chair at “Chicken head University.” Staples boy says “we don’t have it let’s look online.” Fine. I can’t find the phone I want but I do find an equivalent model. It’s about 30 dollars more but it has a 30 dollar rebate. I have wasted like almost an hour now. So I order the Damn phone and go. The Staples boy gives me the receipt and sends me on my way. Then theses crooks call me up the next day to tell me they are out of stock but it will be here in a week and I have to waste more of my time calling them back to say whether I will take it or not. At this point I am thinking screw them I can go someplace else I mean we need a cordless phone answering machine. But the SO says no be patient it will be here we can go on using the clunky cord phone and 80’s answering machine. I call these Jackasses up and say ship it. So the phone comes a week later and low and behold I have to log onto their web site for the rebate. OK no problem. But the web site sucks and every time I type in all my info and hit submits it says “no go due to technical problems.” Another Damned 45 minutes. Now I am a bit annoyed with their shitty service. I can print the rebate form and send it snail mail so I do. Then last night these bastards send me a card that says “purchase was not made within the required date for the rebate” Well why the fuck was the rebate on the website?! And why did Staples boy direct me to it? OK so I call up customer service and they are like no way you purchased it on July 7th and the rebate ended on the 2nd. So forget about it. The best they can do it direct me to the store manager. I call this clown up and he’s like “Well bring everything you’ve got up here and we will see what we can do.” I have wasted probably 2 hours with these pricks. Now they want me to walk 20 minutes up the street to argue with some Pirate!! Are they FUCKING KIDDING? I will not give this shitty company one more dime. Frankly I am not sure if it’s worth getting pissed off again with the clown who manages the lousy store.
Please, for your own health and sanity, take a deep breath.
Now repeat after me: I will not go to Staples anymore. However, I will not let their bad service make my blood pressure shoot through the roof, because I value my own health.
Seriously, I sympathize with you. I love rebates, and would hate it if someone told me I couldn’t get it even though they said I could!
Here’s what I think you should do. Put on a pair of good boots or sturdy sneakers first. Take old clunky cordless (you’re not using it anymore, right?) over to the Staples, and pretend that it’s the phone you just bought. Walk in there and in your best yelling voice announce to the whole store that you’re sick and tired of Staples lousy customer service, and here’s what you think of their damn phone and their damn store. Proceed to smash the phone on the ground and stomp on it, screaming “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Leave before they call the cops.
You will get to vent your anger, plus you’ll become a living legend to all of the cashiers watching.
The reason that rebates are so popular among manufacturers and retailers now is that they’re hoping (with good reason) that more consumers will forget to send it in/will send it in late than will actually take timely advantage of it. That way, they can promise a lower price without actually having to lose that money on a consistent basis.
Of course, quite a few manufacturers handle their rebates so horribly, even for those who do send it in correctly and on time, that the whole thing is very much an under-the-table scam.
Because then everyone would get the rebate, and they’d make less money. As it is, rebates are such a hassle that they can count on a (significant) percentage of people not going through the hassle of getting theirs. So they get the best of both worlds: they can advertise it at a low price (only mentioning in the fine print what it really costs) to get people in to the store, get full price for it, and only pay the rebate to the people who go through the trouble of applying for it.
Am I wrong or is this sort of thing called bait and switch? Granted we’re not talking advertisements, but he found the phone on the shelf didn’t he? If it’s not bait and switch, I think retailers have just found a simile of it which appears to be very sucessful.
Sorry about your rotten experience, bannerrefugee. After many instances of a) forgetting to send in the rebate, and b) sending in the rebate, but never receiving the check, subsequently forgetting I sent the rebate, I’ve decided to ignore any prices on sales literature that contain the words, “After rebate.” As far as I’m concerned that price obviously doesn’t apply to me. If it’s not a good deal *before * the rebate, I’ll look elsewhere. Fool me once…but not anymore!
The other thing that annoys me about rebates is that you pay sales tax on the full price, and you don’t get that sales tax refunded when the rebate comes. It may be a small thing, but that retailer/manufacturer is making me pay sales tax that I would not have to pay if the price were discounted.
Yes he found it on the shelf and I thought it was a bait and switch at the time but I needed a phone and office depot had always honored my rebates in the past.
I wrote the first diatribe after I hung up the phone on the Rebate monkeys at Staples. Anyway I took a deep breath and when I got home dug out my 2 receipts(I was surprised I still had them). Low and behold the Rebate monkeys had given me false information, both receipts said July 2nd and the computer receipt said in plain English “Rebate Available: Great news, there’s a rebate available for one or more of the items you’ve purchased. To get your rebate(s) click here.”
So I called the Rebate monkeys back (thank god I can do this at while working here at Chicken Head University) and just my luck I got the same Rebate monkey manager I spoke with before. I asked him why my receipt says 07/02/2004 but he told me 07/05/2004. He gave me some mealy mouth excuse blah fucking blah. Then I read him the sentence at the bottom of my receipt “Rebate Available: Great news, there’s a rebate available for one or more of the items you’ve purchased. To get your rebate(s) click here.” So the monkeys like OK fax it to me and if the date is valid I will honor your rebate. Then I asked him to call me back when he gets my fax-no go. I say fine I will call you to make sure you get it. When I call the Rebate monkey manager back he is like OK we will send you the rebate in 4 to 6 weeks. Fuck me I did all this fucking work for 30 dollars in 4 to 6 weeks! Shit they probably won’t send it at all.
I have half a mind to take the phone back and try to return it to the Staples store. Maybe the Rebate monkeys fuck up and send me the check anyway.
I hope sharing my email isn’t forbiden here in the pit. And also I am sorry for bringing this up because I doubt others are really intrested-but this kind of does piss me off, so it makes me feel better to pay them back-and it is the pit.
I recieved this a few hours after Mr. Smith at customer service promised me my rebate. Its funny how they lost everything so quickly.
Dear Mr. Bannerrefugee:
Thank you for your rebate inquiry. We are having some difficulty locating your record. Would you please provide the information requested below?
Address:
City, State:
Zip/Postal Code:
Product Purchased:
Manufacturer:
Rebate Value:
Approximate Date of Submission:
Tracking Number (on the postcard we sent you, below the bar code):
Once we receive this information, we will research and respond to you quickly.
We appreciate your participation in this promotion. If there is anything else we can do to assist you, please contact us at rebates@parago.com. We are always happy to help.
I was just saying that it sounded so classically “bait and switch” because of the rigamarole you were go through trying to get the rebate. Forgive for sounding so paranoid, but here’s what stood out with me:
[ol]
[li]You go to store looking for specific phone.[/li][li]They find phone on displayed on shelf, but it’s not in stock.[/li][li]They offer you comparable product at $30 more.[/li][li]They offer you rebate of $30 bringing the final price down to what you originally would have paid for phone not in stock, but displayed on shelf.[/li][li]The rebate folk tell you rebate is no good.[/li][li]They lied, lied, lied.[/li][/ol]
I just think it sounds like a scam. Had they ever intended to give you the rebate, or just reel you in with it? Pretty sneaky, if you ask me. Since it’s not the usual bait-and-switch scheme, it sounds like a tactic that might just be within the law. They could claim it was just a screw up rather than intentional fraud, which is conceivable. But it’s a pretty convenient error for them and inconvenient for you. After all, how many people would go through that much trouble for $30 that was truly due them? Maybe TPTB are counting on that: not that many.
Incidently, you might consider writing a letter to the BBB outlining the details and be sure to copy them on it. I’d be willing to bet you see that $30 rebate check even quicker than 4-6 weeks.
Rebates are a PITA fact of modern retailing. Just see the manager and get your money. He’ll probably give it to you right out of the till. I seen more than retial manager (inc Staples managers) in my life about a rebate, and never failed to get my money.
In addition to that, the manufacturer does not have absolute control over the retailer’s prices, and would like to ensure that the cost reduction is passed on to the consumer, thereby increasing sales. A $30 reduction in wholesale cost would not accomplish this if the retailer simply kept the extra margin. And there’s a psychological angle, in that it’s easier to remove a rebate when the sales do increase (once the water comes in you quit priming the pump) than it is to increase the price by the same amount.
If you don’t have any luck after talking to the manager, try finding a local TV station willing to take your complaint. I had issues with a rebate once; I got my money pretty damn quick once the bastards got a letter from the station.
