Frys has made its living by advertising low prices on electronics, but it's usually based on a rebate. But the companies responsible for issuing the rebates have elevated the avoidance of sending checks to an art form.
Sure, they count on some not sending the forms in, some forgetting to follow up, some doing it wrong etc. But I am talking about systematic and planned non-fulfillment of legitimately sent packages.
I am no rookie at this; I follow every item EXACTLY and I make copies of everything on my scanner. And yet when I follow up after 8 weeks or so, lo and behold, 3 out of 4 companies will claim they have no record of it. The postal service must have a 20% success rate delivering to rebate companies.
The companies Frys does business with are undoubtedly the worst. They like to hand out slips with rebates saying that the matter is between the cusatomer and the manufacturer, but that is Bullsh_. Frys benefits plenty from all the additional sales made because of these bogus offers.
The latest in a long line of Frys weasels is Tritton technologies located in Vista California. I bought a 3.5 inch warp drive hard disk enclosure with USB hub for $59.99 with a $30.00 rebate. Sixty dollars is certainly at the upper end of price for an enclosure, but the 30 dollar rebate made it more attractive so I bought it. The point is, I would NOT have bought this item had it not been for the PROMISE of half the price back.
The Tritton site will check rebate status and they claim that if your rebate does not show up that someone from their rebate dept will contact you within 24-48 hours. I have tried checking mine 7 times and no reply. I have sent them 2 e-mails, and one more US mail ALL 3 WITH complete copies of everything and a letter and no reply. And that is the insult on top of the insult. This is inexcusable under any circumstances and I am now making it my business to make as much trouble for everyone involved at both Tritton and Frys. The product itself is also a joke, with the compact flash card slot already malfunctioning. If the reader of this post is even considering ANY item from Tritton (rebate or not), you do so foolishly. I intend to use my real name and address here because i WANT them to know who I am.
This rebate game has reached the point that some legislative action is way overdue. I urge anyone seeing this to become part of a solution - contact your attorney generals office, and the FTC. They will only get involved if they see some numbers.
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