Cellularchoices.net/Inphonic, INPC, Jumping through hoops to get a rebate Ripoff Washington, DC Washington District of Columbia

The promise from www.cellularchoices.net was for a $25 gift card after I purchased a phone online. In the box with the phone was the message that I had to wait six weeks to receive the application form and that it would be emailed to me.

After nursing the message through my SPAM software six weeks later, the directions were to go to a website to download the form. On the website, the direction was to include a money order (nothing as convenient as checks or credit cards allowed) for S&H, and a photo copy of a picture ID, in addition to the standard stuff - form, receipt, first born daughter, etc. There is no way I will submit a photo ID in exchange for what is now less than $23.

Customer service was offshore, probably Bangalore, so I did not expect anyone could help me there, and they lived down to my expectations. Then John Sweeney in the USA got on the phone and told me the terms were clear on the website, though he could not say how many click throughs I would have had to use to get to the details, and denied that I was not told it would take six weeks just to get the application.

My take is that this is false advertising, or fraud, but the interesting thing is that a former member of Congress and vice presidential candidate is on the board of Inphonic, Jack Kemp. http://www.kemppartners.com/contact.htm

I always thought he played fair on the football field, but maybe that's not his role on the Inphonic board. John Skully, formerly of Pepsi and Apple, and a board member of MetroPcs, is also on the board. Perhaps they have been millionaires too long to think someone would care about $25.

Is this fraud or just deceit?

celularchoices.net is offered for a bid at
http://domainsponsor.revenue.net/bidding/offer.html?a_id=1980&domainname=celularchoices.net
Would anyone like to help me buy it so we could talk to all those folks who don't spell the url correctly?

Tom

Tom
Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan
U.S.A.