Home Depot rebate rip-off Green Bay Wisconsin

On april 29,2006 i purchased kitchen cabinets, granite countertops and appliances from the home depot store on taylor st in green bay. i was going to purchase elsewhere, but they had a $400.00 gift card offer with the purchase of kitchen cabinets, so i went ahead and ordered. i filled out all of the rebate information, and sent them a copy of the special work order, as instructed, with the specific amounts highlighted. then i started the waiting game. after about 9 weeks, i casually mentioned the tardiness of the rebate to Dennis, the designer at home depot that i was dealing with. oh, he said, that can take up to 16 weeks, due to the high volume of requests. ok-i'm by nature a really patient person, so i wait some more. june and july pass-still no word. finally in august i get an email-your request is being processed! YES! Uh, NO-after 9 more weeks ( its now Sept 29th, folks)i get a nice little note in the mail stating that my purchase was "not eligible" WHA? i specificly purchased those cabinets in that store because they WERE eligible. oh- theres and 800#, i'll call and see whats up- 12 minutes on hold later, i get Jennie on the line. she explains that in order to review my request, i need to fax the whole 14 pages of fun to a number she gave me- but she cautions me-it may take several attempts to send it because its always busy- i ask if its that busy they must have alot of issues with unpaid rebates. this gets no response. i ask if i can't just fax it to her directly or to her attention- no the fax machine is in another state and it will probably take some anonymous person 2 weeks to get it and then process my the review of my request. i'm given another number to call in 2-3 weeks to see if my information has been received. this is the LAST TIME i will ever shop at home depot, we spent nearly 30K at this store on our remodling and the experience over all, was lousy. this is just the icing on the cake. i'm a realtor by profession, and i talk to ALOT of people considering a remodel, usually prior to listing their home. i will tell them to not even CONSIDER working with Home Depot - whom i now call HOME DESPOTS! why doesn't our department of consumer protection do something about rip-off rebates? i can't be the only one!

Amanda
Green Bay, Wisconsin
U.S.A.