Columbia Telecommunications lied to me that they sent our rebate check. Rip-off! Farmingdale, New York

I bought a battery charger from Fry's Electronics in CA in Nov. 2003 for $14.99+tax and sent a rebate form ($10) to Columbia Telecommunications right away. The form said that it'd need 14 wks for the processing.

After 18 wks, nothing happened and then I called this company (BTW, they intentionally left a wrong toll-free number on the form, the right is 1 800-889-7434. Another number is 631-501-5000). Every time I called, the ladies always said the rebate check would be mailed out in 2 wks. After about three such "2 wks", they finally gave me a check # and said the check was mailed out.

Then 2 wks later, I still didn't receive the check so I called again -- this time they said the check was not mailed out and they were negotiating with Fry's! Why they lied to me in the first place if they did not mail out the check! And what has their negotiation to do with sending out my rebate check? A 14-wk rebate is still in the air after 5 months!

President of the company is called David Giledi. Every time I called the number and wanted to talk to the president, the ladies always said that he was on travel and didn't know when he'd be back. When I asked to talk to the president's assistant, the receptionist always said she was at lunch sounds like she was at lunch the whole day!

I suggest that everyone in this situation should call the retailer (Fry's in my case) and either return the goods (although no UPC code!) or pressurize the retailer to get the rebate money back from the company. They are cheating ... or we should call their local BBB organization to report this.

L
-, California
U.S.A.

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