Stuck in rebate hell? Wonder why? Mercury News uncovers what many of us have suspected, at least on occasion:
I am staring at more than 1,300 rebate requests sent to Vastech [for Fry’s Electronics promotions] on Bonaventura Drive in San Jose. The envelopes were tossed – unopened – into a garbage dumpster near Vastech. I have two boxes of envelopes that were thrown out without being processed. In all of my years of reporting, I have never encountered such outrageous behavior against consumers.
Of course they responded with the expected, “the person no longer does any work for the company.” It doesn’t sound like they’re overly concerned about this, motivated to improve the rebate situation going forward, or truly remorseful. I wonder how many envelopes they didn’t recover… Buyer beware.
I’ve generally had pretty good luck receiving rebate checks – including two from TiVo way back when (2x Toshiba SD-H400). Though, rebates haven’t always been timely and I rarely let an offer under $20 sway my purchasing decision since the effort isn’t worth it. However, $200 off my Xbox 360 surely was.
(via Consumerist)