Purchased two cell phones via CellPhoneEdge.com's web site, with the promise of a $50 rebate on November 16
Phones were delivered on schedule, and all was well. I then waited the requisite time and then printed off copies of my AT&T bill, and submitted all required documents for rebate.
Two months passed and I finally got a notice that my submitted bills were not in the required window and to re-submit. The bills were, in fact, in the correct date range. But I did resubmit as directed.
Yet several more weeks passed, and after I called and emailed several times (getting generic canned responses back with promises that my rebate was forthcoming), I finally found that the rebate tracking page said that my rebate was approved and payment was processing. Rebate should be received in 3-4 weeks.
A month goes by - web site is not updated.
More weeks go by - still no update, so I contact them yet again - Still more promises. My rebate was supposedly "escalated" in priority and it would go out within two weeks.
Months have passed - so I submit the whole case to my state Attorney General's Office. They issued me a case number.
Just this week, I received a letter from InPhonic with the following information (also on the rebate tracking site):
On November 8, the sponsor of this rebate, InPhonic, Inc., filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The filings were made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. You will be receiving communication pursuant to the procedures of the US Bankruptcy Court regarding any approved rebate claims for products purchased prior to November 8. If you have not yet submitted your rebates, follow the instructions, terms, and conditions included on your rebate form for your rebate submission.
InPhonic is still operating, using the same business practice of promising rebates on phones purchased through various "front" businesses like CellPhoneEDGE.com, Wirefly.com, etc. How can the US Bankruptcy court support and approve of continuing the fraud-based business practices? If they are now honoring new rebates, where is the money coming from?
All these are questions that need to be answered.
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