I mailed in all pertinent information: two receipts, bar code part from old version of Norton, first born son, etc. Three weeks later I receive a postcard saying "you are missing original cd in your submission so next day I send original cd with postcard in VERY EXPENSIVE cd envelope back to address on postcard. Now, I log on to check status of my rebate and “there is no record”. There is no customer service number listed on website, only a snail mail address to write to. So I am writing and my letter is gonna start: I will NEVER BUY A PRODUCT FROM YOU WITH A MAIL IN REBATE…
That’s fucking lame. I wonder if there have been any class-action lawsuits against these companies and their bullshit rebate policies.
Huh. I got my rebate from them with no problems whatsoever.
Of course, that was two weeks before I realized that my university provides Norton Antivirus free.
But yes, mail-in rebates are a pain in the butt. That’s the way to keep customers from bothering. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t be surprised if your rebate actually did show up eventually, even if it isn’t on the website.
mischievous
Yeah, in my experience you’re only likely to get about 75% of your rebates back without having to throw a bitch fit as part of the process.
What I love is “you didn’t send in your original UPC. You’ll have to send it again.” I don’t have one because I already sent you motherfuckers the UPC!
I wonder what the percentage of the rebates are deliberately lost.
On the positive side, I got my Lexar rebate ($30 off $80 on a 1GB stick) in five weeks.
Five! Go lexar!
-Joe
Which is why you should scan/photocopy and retain a copy of everything submitted for a rebate. I put them in a file with notations of when I should call to bitch. Works well.
Last week I found myself going through a 5 step online process, cutting and pasting UPCs and stickers, printing out copies of invoices and pasting stamps so I could get back… 3$!!! (Hopefully US, but I didn’t check).
I figure only the fact that I was doing 5 similar rebates simultaneously made it worth the time and resources.
The idea that I may never even get said rebates did occur to me - I send off for enough that I wouldn’t know if the occasional company had a black hole for a mail deptartment. I got as far as wondering if the company bug tracking software could be co-opted for rebate-tracking use before deciding it wasn’t worth 3$ of my time either. 
I have had bad luck with a Symantec rebate. Since it was $75.00, I had
a scan of the original CD and of the certified return receipt.
Took many emails to reverse the original denial for “lack of documentation”.
Sure, but does that work? After all, you STILL don’t have the original UPC.
-Joe
How timely. I went to renew my firewall subscription earlier this week, and was led to a screen where McAfee offered a $20 rebate for people who upgraded to their “security suite.” So I took the bait and paid $69.99 for their security suite (vs. $34.99 to renew my firewall). When I printed out the rebate form, it said that I needed the confirmation e-mail of the product I had just bought (no problem) AND, since it was an e-version, the confirmation e-mail from of my original McAfee purchase (because if it came with your computer, it wasn’t eligible for the rebate). Which doesn’t sound like too much, except my original purchase was back in 2000 when I signed up for a cable connection.
Asswipes.
I was getting ready to write a nastygram to them, when I thought “What the hell?” and started going through my e-mail archives. Sure enough, there in my “Orders” folder, I found the original McAfee subscription e-mail!
Bwa Ha Ha! I gleefully printed it out and stuck it in the envelope. Bet they never thought I’d find it!
May I suggest you make the following modifcations to your letter:
I will NEVER BUY ANY PRODUCT FROM YOU AGAIN UNLESS YOU FIX THIS.
I had a similar issue with Dell when I bought my last PC. You have to send in your original packing slip, then they sen you (a month later!) a card that you have to sign and send back to them, then you get the rebate 6 WEEKS LATER, if you’re lucky. WTF is the extra “card” for other than that they hope you don’t see it.
Well, well, my guess is symantec is a doper…two days, yep, two days after posting…I GOT MY REBATE!!!
Of course, that still doesn’t explain why I couldn’t track it on the rebate site however…I am now $30 richer!
- Follow the instructions to the letter.
- Make a photo copy of everything you mail in.
- If asked for more info/part. Mail it with copy of request and reference numbers.
- “Bird dogem” till you get rebate.
Ah yes.
A few years ago, I signed up for a buying club that would allow me to cancel within sixty days at no charge to me. Additionally, they offered a $50.00 savings bond to try their service.
I cancelled within sixty days and, per their word, they didn’t charge my card.
But yeesh, it was like fighting in a phonebooth with a wildcat to get that Savings Bond!
According to my welcome packet, in order to get this Savings Bond, I had to call them to start the process.
Then, they mailed me a form which I promptly filled out and returned. This form was needed (per instructions appearing on such form) so that they could send me an application for the Savings Bond.
Then, they mailed me an application for the Savings Bond, which I filled out and returned.
Then, they mailed me an official Government Savings Bond Request (the same one that one would fill out when purchasing a Savings Bond from your local bank). I dutifully filled it out and returned it.
Sure enough, several weeks later, I got my Savings Bond.
I’m sure that they were hoping that most people would throw up their hands and say “Oh the HELL with it!” rather than play their game.