AT&T Universal Card Rebate Ripoff Promised 5% promotional Christmas rebate, rebate never appeared Jacksonville Florida

In October, 2004, I received a letter from AT&T Universal Card detailing a promotional rebate that they were offering through the Christmas season -- 5% for all purchases, appearing as a statement credit 1-3 billing cycles after the end of the period.

The promotion required registration via phone, and I should have had my first hint of problems here -- the automated registration required a calling card number that AT&T Universal had removed from the most recently issued credit cards. Several calls to customer service later, my wife finally found someone who was aware of the promotion... the registration system was conveniently down that day, but the customer service representative placed a note on our account that we had attempted to register as of that day. Several days later, we succeeded in registering.

Long story short -- it's July and the rebate never materialized. It took several contacts with customer service simply to find someone willing to admit awareness of the promotion, and it's been under review for several months. Besides not receiving the promised rebate, there is another actual cost to me -- placing the charges on that card meant that I *didn't* place them on a card with a reliable 1% rebate.

I've already filed mail fraud charges, an FTC complaint, and a BBB complaint -- I'm letting those run their course before I consider whatever civil action the law and my cardholer's agreement allow.

Richard
Alpharetta, Georgia
U.S.A.