Inphonic - Wirefly Rip-off by Inphonic Wirefly on cell phone rebate, for $200. Yup, me too! Washington District Of Columbia 20007 District of Columbia

Same story that everyone else is telling.

I submitted two rebate forms to Inphonics, based on the Verizon cell phone plan purchased from wirefly.com. One rebate was for $125 and one rebate was for $75. The rules around each submission were ridiculous and it was clear, at the outset, that the company was doing their best to discourage people from submitting the rebate requests. However,... I followed the rules on both forms, to a "t," assuming that if I jumped through the hoops that I would in fact get the rebates.

I received two e-mails from the company, back in April, accepting one of the rebate requests (saying it was "being processed") and rejecting the other rebate request as "invalid."

However,... my rejected submission was valid. Purchase date was 9/27/05. Form said that the bill submitted with the rebate request must be dated in time period of 150-210 days after purchase date. 150 days from 9/27/05 is 2/25/06. So I used a bill dated March 1, 2006 -- clearly between the "150-210 day time period. And then I waited another month before mailing -- because the rules also stipulated that the postmark (vs. bill) must show a date within "180-210" days.

I followed all of the rules (and was current on my payments to Verizon for the phone plan). So I submitted a complaint to the website -- listing each requirement from the form and how I followed them. I received an auto-reply stating that "The wireless bill we received is invalid," and info on how I could re-submit info by fax. No explanation as to what was invalid. And, of course, the bill itself was a valid bill that I had in fact paid Verizon in full.

No contact phone number was given. So I replied to the e-mail --and got the identical response again. I sent another e-mail asking what was invalid and asking for a contact person/number. The response was that the processing department could not tell what was invalid and I should try re-submitting. When I sent another e-mail, I was told that the claim was being reprocessed and that I would receive more info in two weeks. Of course -- no new info in two weeks and no responses to any inquiries. I located the company's phone number and called.

A person told me that even though my submission was "invalid," that they were going to "honor" it, that it was "approved," and that it was being reprocessed. Yeah right. That was in May. I have yet to see either of the my two rebates (equaling a total of $200). 'Sent another e-mail. No response. The last time I called was July 17th, at which point I was told (by "Rachael") that both rebates were going to be "manually" processed for me and that both checks would go out in the mail that week. Yeah right.

I tried calling today -- but they are not picking up. At which point I finally decided it's time to file a complaint. (I guess I'm a slow learner. I guess I figured if I was persistent enough, they'd send me my rebate.) Just not sure who regulates this -- the FTC, the FCC,... Came across this rip-off site and see some organizations where I can file complaints. Thanks -- I hate being a sucker! And what a waste of time! I figure they owe me way more than $200 in terms of how much time of wasted.

Tammy
Portland, Oregon
U.S.A.