After some trials and errors, including a number of previous complaints and warnings about how OnRebate tries to cheat TigerDirect customers from getting their rebates, I thought I finally knew the ins and outs of getting my rebate through the mill. Remember, rebates are yours by right as a condition of sale, and you have a just greviance if the rebator does not give you back the money that was a condition of that sale.
But they finally have come up with a gem of a way to do it that even got me. This one got me so mad that I filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office in the State of Florida (if you look for it, you can find where you can file your own onling complaint as well - maybe that will have some effect on them).in fact, I filed it twice, since they give two different places where they do business in the state of Florida.
What they did before, was to ask you to cut out the barcode from the hard drive proof of purchase and put it on the rebate form. But for this particular hard drive offer from Seagate, Seagate instead asked for, in small type, that you send back the whole proof of purchase. OnRebate also indicated that the barcode is on the proof of purchase, which is the Seagate document, and showed you a thumbnail-sized picture of the document, but said nothing about sending in the whole eocument - instead, indicated where the barcode should go.
Now by past practice, I've done what they have asked about cutting out and gluing the barcode onto the rebate form, but this time they gigged me for it, denying my rebate because I did not send back the whole document. What I did instead. To try and satisfy two conflicting demands, was to include a full size copy of the Seagate document as well. But that did not satisfy them.
So now they have me, because they have the barcode portion glued to the rebate form, but tell me I have to send in the whole original, which obviously I cannot do, since I only have what is left after the barcode was cut away. And they also claim that I failed to send in a copy of the invoice, when I took great care to include all that stuff in putting together the letter, even having to use two stamps to cover postage.
I'm not giving up on this, and I am asking you not to give up either. I forced the issue and complained before, and once it gets up to a supervisor's level, you can usually force them to settle, because, don't forget,
the rebate is something you are entitled to, and their company cannot stand for close scrutiny of its business practices, or it could lose its business license.
But if they give you any hassle or grief, make it a point to file a complaint on them with someone like the Attorney General or the Chamber of Commerce, wherever they advertise that they are doing business. Because if they make it hard on you, they are also making it hard on everyone else, and we have to band together to fight back.
We can force them to play by our rules, which is the law, and not by their arbitrary rules which are intended to prevent people from getting their own money back.
Beware of their shoddy tricks to separate you from some of that money as you go through the rebate process itself. If they offer to send you a check, be aware that they can claim later that they sent it, and you can have a devil of a time getting another one out of them.
Don't be taken in by their efforts to "rush"
your payment to you by paying them some amount of money either. That's just a gimick to get you to reduce your rebate by some amount of money which they will just pocket. It isn't worth it, and you can wait another two months to get the full amount (which honestly they don't need so have, but it is a way to keep your money for four or five months while they earn interest on it).
I wish there were a way to force them to pay interest to you for the time that they keep your money in their accounts, but unless some lawyer can find a law that forces them to do that, you probably can't.
Don't be taken in by their suggestions to put your rebate into a charity, such as for Katrina Relief, or anything like that. These people are not motivated by generosity or eagerness to do good, and I would not trust them for any so-called charity donations.in all likelihood, most of that money sticks to their fingers, and very little of it goes to the cause they promote. It's just another way to hold onto the money and make it work for them, earning interest, as long as possible.
I suggest telling them to pay the money back to your PayPal account. That way you have an independent validation that they money was actually paid out for your rebate. It may not be on hand to help pay your bill, but you can reuse it with PayPal later, and at least you know where it is.
Donald
Pensacola, Florida
U.S.A.
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