T-Mobile/ Young America Excessive delays in fulfilling rebate for cell phone abused & mistreated slow processing ripoff Young America Minnesota

This is a horror story detailing my rebate problem with T-Mobile. On 12/31/02 I bought a Sony Ericsson T-300 Mobile Phone on a one-year, $39.99 per month plan. There were three rebates attached to this plan. 1) A James Bond 007 Spy Accessory Kit, via Sony Ericsson 2) A $50 rebate, via T-Mobile 3) A T-300 camera, via T-Mobile The James Bond rebate was on one form; the $50 rebate and camera rebate on a second form. On January 6 I mailed in the form and proper proof for the James Bond rebate. On January 9 I mailed in the form and proper proof for the $50 and camera. At the end of February I received a letter from Young America, which handles fulfillment for T-Mobile and Sony Ericsson. The letter said my rebate form for the $50 and camera was incomplete and I would have to furnish additional information, to wit, the 15-digit IMEI number. Contrary to their assertion, the number was complete. I called the telephone number listed on the letter and spoke with a customer service rep who was quite nasty when I indicated that they had made a mistake; she hung up on me. I called back and spoke with a supervisor -- Ben at station 20 -- who said that, if they made a mistake, he apologized, but that I would have to resubmit the form, and wait four to six weeks for processing. That was crazy, I said, since my information was already in their computer. Nope, I would have to resubmit, and there was no way he would expedite my form. So I remailed the form. In addition, there was no record of my form for the James Bond rebate -- and I was told that I would have to call Sony Ericsson. When I called Sony Ericsson I was told that it was a T-Mobile rebate and I would have to call them. I called T-Mobile's rep at Young America and complained about the snafu with all the rebates. And I was redirected to Sony Ericsson for James Bond. I tried calling Sony Ericsson in the hopes of getting another customer service rep (it seems that each rep has a different story) and I was told to call T-Mobile customer service, not the Young America people. Over at T-Mobile customer service, the rep said that I was allowed only one set of rebates -- either the James Bond or the $50/camera -- even though there was nothing on either of the forms stating that. I decided to give up on the James Bond and concentrate on the $50/camera. I kept calling Young America every week or so to see how my rebate was coming. In the meantime, I found a customer service e-mail address for Sony Ericsson and sent an e-mail complaining about the James Bond kit. On April 4 I got a response from Teresa Greiner at Sony Ericsson who said she would investigate that rebate for me. She e-mailed me that she was going to expedite the fulfillment of the kit -- she said she would even call her people every day until it was sent to me. On April 15 or so I received an overnight package from Sony Ericsson with the James Bond rebate. Teresa came through. On April 17 I called Young America for the umpteenth time and was told that the $50 rebate check had been sent. When I inquired about the camera, I was told that had been sent also. Two days letter I got the check. On April 24 I received a package from Young America containing -- the James Bond rebate. I was fuming. I called T-Mobile customer service to get Young America's phone number (since I was at my office and didn't have the number with me) and I took the opportunity to complain. I was told by a customer service rep that since, shortly after the first of the year, T-Mobile had been putting the cameras in with the T-300, T-Mobile was ignoring the camera rebates and I would have to talk to Young America and might have to resubmit. I called Young America and spoke with Yvonne, who said that it was another mistake on their part, but that it would take a couple of days to dig up my original form and then another four to six weeks for fulfillment. I demanded to talk to her supervisor. After a 12-minute wait I was connected with Cathy (ID#1861), a T-Mobile rep at Young America, who was sympathetic and said she would send an electronic message saying that I was entitled to the camera -- but she also said it would take four to six weeks to fulfill. And that's where it stands, except that I plan to call Cathy every three days or so to see how my camera is coming. With all these screw-ups you think that T-Mobile could just pull my form, throw a camera into the mail overnight (like Sony Ericsson did) and be done with it. But no, I have to wait another four to six weeks. Harley Beverly Hills, California
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