I ordered a Treo 650 phone with a 2 year Sprint PCS contract from younevercall.com. They promised a $130 rebate. After I got the phone, the instructions on the rebate said, wait 180 days, submit your phone bill, receipt, and barcode, we'll process your rebate. They also required that I sign a form saying they would automatically charge my credit card a couple hundred bucks if I cancelled the contract before the 2 years was up.
I mailed the rebate on the 181 day. On day 210, I get an email that my rebate was denied because by SprintPCS bill was invalid. What a crock. They said I could resubmit my claim before the 210th day, but this was the 210th day. There was no way to reach anyone by phone. Even though I bought the phone from younevercall.com, the rebate was processed by whereismyorder.com, and the rebate message came from rebatestatus.com. Whereismyorder and rebatestatus are both 'powered by' a company called inPhonic, which has offices in MD.
Somebody is playing a game of 3 card Monte, and it looks like inPhonic is where the buck stops, but this is all an elaborate ruse. I contacted SprintPCS and explained my problem with this 3rd party vendor, and Sprint was very sympathetic and apologetic. They said they did not want to lose me as a customer and gave me $150 credit on my account. That was the right thing to do—but these inPhonic, whereismyorder, younevercall, rebate status charlatans should be prosecuted for conspiracy and fraud. There was nothing wrong with any of the information I sent them. I had it vetted by an attorney friend to be sure. I complied with the requirements of the contract—they defrauded me, pure and simple. Beware.
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