Office Depot - RebatesHQ - Pargo - Wintergreen Systems Hanns-G 19" LCD $100 rebate scam ripoff Nationwide

This issue was with Wintergreen, a company OD contracted to handle their MIRs, without notice Wintergreen stopped honoring the $100 HannsG rebate.

If you would have contacted the store within 3 months of your issue the Store Manager should have honored the price, by refunding $100. The store I worked at, at the time...refunded back well over $1500 due to this mishap.

But know that OD no longer works with Wintergreen for their mail in rebates, all rebates now go through a company called Young America, who we haven't had any issues with yet.


Sorry for the inconvience.

RJ,

Your reasoning about this is valid, at the store's level, they have only the policies made by the corporate offices to follow. Bob, it's a shame that you have been made to go thru this to get the monies you are rightfully intitled to. But, as I read thru the posts from the remainder of you, it seems to me, that you are attacking RJ for enlightening you on the corporate process.

My suggestion to all of you is send these types of emails to Office Depot's corporate office instead of attacking a person's right to his/her's opinion on the subject. In the years of browsing this forum, I have always thought of it as a way to vent against the corporate machine, not attack the people on this site.

as for the poster above, if you think a corporation as large as Office Depot would respond to this site, you have alot to learn about how big business works. Executives do not visit this site and, employees are afraid to rebuttal just incase they do. It's a vicious cycle.

Scapegoat? That would imply they are 'wrongly' blamed. While Office Depot could have been classified this way if it was an isolated event (1, 2 rebate offers/manufactuers at the most), it clearly is not. Not only is Office Depot riddled with complaints on this site for Parago/Wintergreen, they have others including one for an expired rebate they advertised AFTER it was already over.

Two things: offering something after it has expired means you need to stand behind the offer or make ammends in some form including refund of the item. People based their decision on the offer. Office Depot CHOSE to advertise it.

Second, they have the business relationship with that company and in the face of complaints, have chosen to continue such relationship. I suspect they are fully aware of the practice.

Bottom line is it comes down to business practices and ethics. I don't see any rebuttal from Office Depot.

Scapegoat? Not anymore.

All of this has changed my mind about shopping there at all. I won't do business with a company that I see clear evidence of bad business / ethics.

To all,

I'd like to clairfy a few things that you have implied about me. First, I am not an employee of Office Depot or any other office supply retailer. I have reread my original post and do not see how you could assume I did. Second, I was not defending Office Depot, just educating on the processes that retailers use for rebates and suggesting an alternative way to purchase and avoid the headache.

I personally do not let rebates dictate what or when I purchase the products I want. I simply wait for the product to go on sale WITHOUT rebates. Finally, I know of just as many people that have not had problems with rebates as that have. My personal opinion is that retailers DO wind up being the scapegoat on many rebates since they are the only contact the consumer has.

From the FTC:

"The FTC cautions consumers against being "baited" by rebates that never arrive or arrive far later than promised. By law, companies are required to send the rebates within the time frame promised, or if no time is specified, within a "reasonable" time. "Reasonable" in this case often is interpreted as within 30 days." (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/rebatealert.htm)

When the customer is induced to drive to the store and purchase something is when the agreement is made. The customer has to expend time, money and effort to get to the store. This is part of the cost of an item. The store knows this. They know that once a customer is at the store, the customer calculates the cost of going somewhere else and often buys there to avoid the extra costs of going somewhere else.

So, it is unfair and deceptive to not include any terms in an advertisement that would materially affect the buying decision of the potential customer.

Office Depot, in my opinion, deliberately and fraudulently advertises prices that depend on terms that the potential customer would find objectionable and that they do not find out about until they have expended considerable costs in time, effort and money.

I think that RJ implied that he either worked for Office Depot or for some other company who had the same policies. My comment was directed to any company with the same policies. Where RJ works is not particularly relevant. He should not be defending these unfair and deceptive practices.

RJ can clarify if he wants to. And, why would the information that I have asked for be unavailable for publication? Because it shows how little you actually pay out. If it made you look good, you would publish it.

These practices, in my opinion, are a deliberate violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC act. [15 U.S.C 45]. And I think that the FTC needs to take some sort of enforcement action against all companies who have the same policies.

And, like I said, Office Depot outsources the rebate work to companies who do whatever they can to not pay legitimate claims. This is also unfair and deceptive. They say that they never received your submission or that it is invalid for some bogus reason.

The majority of large retail stores do purchase their merchandise from the same vendors, but their overall profits can be different. This is due to a number of factors such as how much their employees are paid, general overhead costs, and the quantities of the item purchased from the manufacturer (larger quantities=less cost). Walmart buys in such large quantities, and pays their store emplyees so little, that they are then able to charge youm the customer, less for a product. Often times stores such as Office depot can purchase a particular item for less, charge the customer the usual price, and then offer a rebate.

I have read R.J.s Comments and feel that they are right on target. He does not owe you any sort of an apology, as there is no mention of him being a retail manager of Office Depot. He said he was A corp. retail manager, not a retail manager of Office Depot. Just as I am also A retail manager,(not for Office Depot), and have been for many years.

And in any case, most corporate managers have some form of legel agreement with their employers that they will not release any sort of company information regarding the very questions that were asked of him.
I agree that rebates can be time consuming, and a very poor way of passing on "savings". I have also read the court documents at the Indiana attorney generals web site pertaining to Wintergreen systems, and the best thing to do, it would seem, is to contact that attorney general. Good Luck,

I am complaining because I see a deliberate pattern of unfair and deceptive practices. They do it to make a lot of extra profit. This is a violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC act.

Companies like Office Depot deliberately advertise phony prices that they know they do not have any intention of honoring. And, it's not just Office Depot, there are far too many companies playing these deceptive games.

Rebates are a scam, plain and simple. Your post, RJ, should have contained an apology for your actions. Your defense of the policys only shows that regulatory and class action lawsuit action is required to deal with the problem.

90 days to send a rebate is unconscionable, deceptive and unfair. The policy is not listed in the advertisement. Today we have Supercomputers and a thing called the Internet. You would think that a company called "OFFICE" Depot would have heard of these things. Perhaps, in 1907, 90 days would have been considered reasonable.

The rebate can be done in less than 90 nanoseconds, if they wanted to. But, no, it has to be hand delivered to the top of Mount Everest at precisely Midnight May 13 2007. And it must be signed, notarized and witnessed by a Priest, a Police Officer and a Senator. And, then you lie and say you never got it or that it was disqualified for some other reason.

Why don't you tell all of us how much you actually pay out in rebates. I would imagine that for every $100.00 of available rebates, you pay out less than $1.00. Not a bad scam, if you can get away with it. I'm sure that you will come up with some lame excuse as to why you can't get or give out the data.

And, yes, a while back, I did get cheated by Office Depot. The amount was not a lot, it was the principle. I am still disappointed and I will never shop there again. I am considering a class action lawsuit to make them pay back the Millions of dollars they have made illegally.

RJ - surely you have seen the volume of other complaints about this particular rebate. Your attempt to justify higher prices and fraudulent rebates at OD is a joke.

All vendors are buying products from the same Chinese companies and I dare say their margins are probably the same.

But using a vendor such as Pargo/Wintergreen systems whose MO is to first deny the claim, then drag out the process for those few brave souls to 6, 7, 8, 9 or more months makes OD part of the fraud the Pargo/Wintergreen is neck deep in right now.

With the low number of people that fight for these rebates when they are so much longer than the 10-14 week promised - OD's margins especially on these rebate items probably is higher than any other retailer.

Unfortunately for OD, Pargo and Wintergreen systems some folks will fight. With Wintergreen currently being under review for past abuses I think there's a very good chance that an attorney will pick this up for a class action lawsuit.

You are a fool to respond here because a good attorney will do their best to find out who you are (assuming you are acting in an official capacity for damage control on this dog).

Then you just opened the deep pockets of OD up. Thinking you can hide two layers behind the fraud of Pargo/Wintergreen systems is silly when you interject yourself and OD into the middle of this.

Melinda,

You must have been treated quite badly at Office Depot to keep bashing them the way you do. As a Corporate Retail Manager, I can tell you that ALL Speciality retailers use the same Rebate companies to fulfill thier rebates. True, this is an inconvience to the consumer but, wait for the product to go on sale WITHOUT a rebate to purchase it. Big Box general merchants, such as Wal-mart, buy in bulk from product auctions which is why they can offer deep discounts for thier products. Big Box speciality retailers do not use this practice to purchase inventory which is why the quality of thier merchandise is better.

Melinda,

You must have been treated quite badly at Office Depot to keep bashing them the way you do. As a Corporate Retail Manager, I can tell you that ALL Speciality retailers use the same Rebate companies to fulfill thier rebates. True, this is an inconvience to the consumer but, wait for the product to go on sale WITHOUT a rebate to purchase it. Big Box general merchants, such as Wal-mart, buy in bulk from product auctions which is why they can offer deep discounts for thier products. Big Box speciality retailers do not use this practice to purchase inventory which is why the quality of thier merchandise is better.

Melinda,

You must have been treated quite badly at Office Depot to keep bashing them the way you do. As a Corporate Retail Manager, I can tell you that ALL Speciality retailers use the same Rebate companies to fulfill thier rebates. True, this is an inconvience to the consumer but, wait for the product to go on sale WITHOUT a rebate to purchase it. Big Box general merchants, such as Wal-mart, buy in bulk from product auctions which is why they can offer deep discounts for thier products. Big Box speciality retailers do not use this practice to purchase inventory which is why the quality of thier merchandise is better.

I agree. Office Depot is either totally incompetent or they are deliberately trying to scam the general public.

They outsource their rebate programs to third parties who can not be trusted to perform.

You would think that a company in the business business would be better at business.

Business today is I.T based. So why are they making people MAIL IN rebates. Because they are trying to defeat their customers.

Office Depot, stop trying to trick your customers. Be more like Wal-Mart and just give a good deal. Wal-Mart does not play all of these games. Mail-in rebates, Loyalty card schemes and other such nonsense.