SUBMITTED: Monday, May 10, 2004
POSTED: Sunday, March 23, 2008
Now, this is a bit different. I was actually an employee of a rebate company that processed for big organizations such as Fry's, CompUsa, and so on. Now, let me give you people some insight as to what is done.
First of all, everything you may have done with submitting your rebate may in fact be correct.
However, at times, these manufacturers dont pay the rebate organizations. Therefore, they cannot distribute money to customers if they aren't gettting any.
Also, these companies sign contracts with the manufacturers not to disclose any information. Therefore, when customers call, no one can disclose any information as to the manufacturer's contact info, ph#, address, and account information even if they aren't paying.
The rebate company and its employees have to handle these customers the best way they can. Okay #2, even though these rebates say 6-8 wks or 10 wks. It takes almost 8 wks just to process depending on how much mail or how busy the centers are. Sometimes, you may get lucky and get an early rebate check. However, that is rare.
The time it takes for a consumer to get a rebate is the amount of time it takes for the manufacturers or company's offering the rebates to pay. They often claim a consumer is missing some information that is stopping them from getting the rebate.
Now, things get lost all the time. People try to make things more convenient by cutting and gluing things to the paper. However, they must understand that no one that processes these rebates takes the time to turn over a paper to see if the customer put some other information on the back. If they send all the bar codes because they are unsure of what is required, they will get denied because no one will take the time to look at all of them.
The manufacturers often require some foolishness to make people not even want to bother to submit for the rebate. They make sure that a customer must fully damage the box so that they cannot take the item back, even though they may not get a rebate. They don't care if they lose mail because it saves them money. Often, the places that offer these rebate such as the stores don't know anything about the rebates. They are just trying to sell products to make their commission.
Most rebates have a limit of one in the fine print. The terms and conditions are tricky. Often times, a customer may believe they have months to send in a rebate, when in fact they may only have 15 days from when they purchased.
They don't care about what went on in your life why you couldn't send the rebate in on time, you will still be denied. They just care about how to save themselves money. With all the information, I know, I probably wouldn't be too interested in rebate offers. They can also be denied if someone else buy's something and their name is anywhere on the rebate receipt or store receipt and someone else submits for the rebate. This is considered a transfer even though it makes no sense because you still bought the item. That's just another tricky way for them to deny a rebate. Most customers skip over that part because they don't even know what it means. Pls read these rebates carefully and ask the store question. Get names of people you speak to.
Have the store call the rebate center to verify the info before you submit it. These internet companies offering rebates you should be very scared of. They don't even know where these rebates are supposed to be mailed to. Some store are not even participating retailers for the rebate. Therefore, the customer will be denied because they didn't purchase at a participating store.
They also deny submissions incorrectly and dont care because the less the manufacturer has to spend on the rebates, the better off the organiztions are that are helping them to save money such as rebate centers. The best thing would be to make copies of everything and frequently follow up. Dont forget, manufacturers also go out of business, change names, and do other things just to get out of paying. Now, I cannot disclose the location where I worked or any of my info due to privacy acts. I may have spoken to many of you consumers that have posted on this site. However, I will check this website to address any future questions.
Former Rebate company employee