Trendnet is a manufacturer and distributor of wireless networking products, etc. They commonly offer a rebate for any customer purchasing their product at participating stores. The marketing plan is when a customer is making a puchasing decision, the rebate offer may cause the customer to buy Trendnet instead of a competitors product because after the mail-in rebate, the price of the Trendnet product is lower than that of the cometitors product (s). The customer buys the Trendnet product and mails in the rebate and...
Unfortunately that's where it ends! First of all, Trendnet products are some of the worst-quality products on the market today. They suffer short lifespans and have many problems right out of the box.in many cases, one cannot even get their products to work, and have to return the product to the store for another.
Next, their customer support and technical support are outsourced to foreign lands. Though it is legal to do this, it is not preferred by the customer. Many times I have contacted reps from companies, and those reps happened to be in other countries. Most of the time, companies are careful to employ those whose language skills are perfected so customers can understand them clearly. Not so with Trendnet. I'm sure their customer support staff is doing the best they can, but they all need to practice their English, French, and Spanish so they can communicate with us more clearly. Their customer support staff has no answers and cannot resolve issues over the phone. They can take your information and that's all.
Trendnet's technical support is anything but technical. They read from a script of frequent problems and solutions, given to them by an actual tech. Trendnet's tech support has no real technical support knowlege or experience themselves, if they have any knowledge of computing or networking whatsoever.
And finally, there's Trendnet's rebate scam. Trendnet has a long track record for not paying rebates. Just go on the web and you'll find thousands of complaints for unpaid rebates. On December 8, a Mr. Zak Wood, Senior Marketing Manager of Trendnet posted a response to the issue of unpaid rebates on Rebatereportcard.com, saying they were using a third party to pay rebates and the third party went bankrupt.
That may be true, but their present third party rebate company, located in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, is also not honoring rebates and Trendnet is still not paying what was promised to thousands of customers. Legally, Trendnet is fully responsible for all rebate payments, since their name appears on all correspondence.By advertising rebates and not honoring them, not only are they committing a crime of fraud, but they are violating civil law through false advertising and breach of written contract.
Contacting them directly, one can find out they award third party rebate contracts to the lowest bidder, and that third party is "supposedly" responsible for processing rebates and mailing checks. The law states that when that third party fails to abide by their written contract with the parent corporation, in this case Trendnet, it is still the parent companies responsibility to honor posted advertising, and written contracts. The written contracts are the agreements made between the purchaser and Trendnet when the purchaser signs the rebate form after filling out all necessary information, which is then mailed to the address listed.
With Trendnet, we have an example of an overall total failing grade for a business. They should be listed in college business textbooks as an example of what NOT to do in business. They fail by breaking the law, providing poor customer support, avoiding legal questions, and ultimately offering a sub-par product to begin with.
I am a victim of their rebate scam. Unlike many other people, I don't see the matter as "It's only ten bucks." I see it as a matter of principle and I will litigate. No one should dismiss even a small amount of money owed them by unlawful businesses such as Trendnet.
Anyone reading this wondering if you should buy Trendnet, or wondering if you'll ever see your rebate should know that you probably won't ever see your rebate unless you take them to court. If you are thinking of buying a product from Trendnet, please don't. Save yourself the trouble and buy from a decent, reputable company.
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