About a year ago, I purchased a Compaq laptop computer from Best Buy. I had bought one less than two years earlier, but it had broken down. Since I was going off to college, I figured I might as well buy a new one.
So I found the Compaq Presario 1200 being sold for approximately $1100. However, on top of that, there was a $250 rebate for select computers, and the one I had chosen was one of those. This was the deciding factor in buying the computer.
I had to gone to the Best Buy nearest to my house, but they were sold out. They called around and found that one store, over 45 minutes from my house, had one left. They could not ship it, however, until later, so I went there myself.
The salesman at this location, Glenway Ave, told me that on top of the $250 rebate, there was another $100 rebate for the purchase of their service plan. Of course, I instantly took the offer, thinking that a laptop for about $800 was a great deal.
Therefore, I walked out of the store with $350 in rebates. I had a while to send them in, so I put them aside in my bag; this way, i could fill them out up at school and still have plenty of time to send it in.
When I got up to school, soon after settling in, my mother reminded me of the rebates, and I instantly looked for them. They were nowhere to be found. However, it was about a month since the purchase, so it was no big deal. I called the store to which I purchased it, and they told me they could not send me a copy. I had to go to the store in Cincinnati (mind you that I am at George Washington University in Washington, DC) to get a copy.
I told them that it wouldnt be until Thanksgiving that I got to the store, but they assured me it would be fine. I was told that they keep records of the rebates and sales that are going on, and the ones that applied to my purchase.
Thanksgiving rolls around, and I instantly go to the store to get a copy of the rebates. After being told that there was only record of one rebate at the time, I leave the store with a $100 rebate form. I did not even bother filling the form out. I was upset that I was shorted my $250. Therefore, a few days later, I got back to school and wrote an email to the corporate office.
They wrote me back with the statement that the rebate was expired, and that I could not get any money from it. At the time, I had other things going on. Sure, it was a lot of money to care about, but as busy as I was at school (which if I screwed up there, I'd be losing about $40,000/yr.) so I blew it off thinking that they were right. This was about January.
My computer broke down a few weeks later, in the middle of February, and I tried to get it fixed, but getting to a Best Buy was almost impossible for me. I stuck out the rest of the semester without a computer that was under their service plan that could fix it if i could get it there. I started to realize that instead of them paying for my hassle, I was paying for my own inconveniences. An $1100 computer, which only should have been about $800 that doesnt even work...
When I got home from school, at the end of May, I wrote the corporate offices some letters. The same letter went to BestBuy.com Customer Care, Best Buy consumer relations, and the Corporate Headquarters. I got one response from one of the offices, and it said nothing related to the matter at hand. This was about a month ago...
I am still waiting for letters to come in, and I wanted to give them a chance. I used to call the companies, but I realized that the operators are all trained to tell you nothing and make you feel better. If worse came to worse, they would put you on hold until you hung up, at least thats what I feel.
In conclusion, I am fed up with waiting. It has now been a year, and I have nothing to show for it. I am not trying to win a million dollar lawsuit against them. I just want my rebates. That is why I am writing to you guys. Hopefully, you will be able to do something about this because I have given up hope. Please let me hear from you with some good news.
Andrew
Cincinnati, Ohio
U.S.A.
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