Maxtor - Office Depot $30 Rebate Ripoff said date received too late Silver Spring Maryland

On 1/12/2004 I purchased a 160GB Maxtor hard drive at Office Depot. The rebate offer was the motivating reason for my purchase decision.

On 1/15/2004 I submitted all required items and mailed rebate as prescribed in the rebate offer.

On 2/11/2004 I checked on the status of my rebate and was advised as follows:

"We apologize for the misunderstanding, but your rebate is invalid because your rebate submission was not postmarked before the promotion deadline. A postcard acknowledging your invalid reason will be mailed to you."

How could it have taken the US Mail 20 days to get from Columbia, MD to Arizona??

I think that they are using this as an excuse to refuse rebate payments!

Hoang
Columbia, Maryland
U.S.A.