AT&T ,Cingular Rebate Ripoff!!!! Houston TEXAS

This exact same thing happened to me today. I had a 50$ Visa/At&T rebate debit card the expired last month. I went into the AT&T store to spend it on misc. items and was told that the card expired. The rep told me to go home and call the # on the back and they will gladly reissue another one. I called and they told me that there was no possible way to reissue me another card because "those funds are no longer available to AT&T". I replied with, "let me speak to your supervisor please". In the state of California it is illegal to withhold monies from a consumer because their rebate or gift card has expired. The point is, dont take no for an answer from the first person you talk to. Dont be an a*****e either. Once I got a manager on the phone, I explained to him that I mistakenly had not spent the money before the date of expiration. I also reminded him of the law, and asked him to do the right thing and reissue me a new card. I noted that I never activated the card (which they know whether you have or not), and it was a simple mistake that I would not let happen again. In the end, we're all just people and most people want to do the fair thing. Luckily I came across a nice guy who valued customer service, which saved me a headache. Remember, they cannot legally keep your money. AT&T "law" does not trump state law. Dont take no for an answer.

Almost all rebates these days have certain amount of days you have to use the money you receive. Whether its a check rebate or a gift card. You have to spend it within a certain amount of days.

All rebates have expiration dates on them. 30 days is the minimum. Though I've seen smaller.

You can't blame AT&T for your fault of not checking the fine print.

I get rebates from many different companies and they all send out the cards these days. Furthermore the cards always have an expiration notice - most list somewhere between 60 and 90 days. Some sooner some longer.

Each company is different therefore the old saying: "You've got to read the fine print" truly means something.

Yes - I think that you ripped yourself off. Most everyone knows to read the fine print and we all also know that even should a company choose to re-issue a card they will make a deduction from the amount of your original rebate.

Besides that knowledge you should also know that it is the company's right to decide whether they will or will not re-issue the rebate.

You actually got the rebate- you should consider yourself lucky.

Quick question: do the rebate cards have the expiration date plainly printed on them? Even if they sent you a check, the check would have a statement on it saying how long it would be valid.

Next time, you might want to consider using the cards to pay your cell bill immediately upon receipt of them.