Precedent set in the rebate trench wars.

I ran acrossed this article in one of my PC magizines and found it

posted on the Web.

 

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2005/03/compusa.htm

 

The gist is the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against COMPUSA

and one of the companies of the products they sold, QPS, The FTC

won the case and has moved to settlement.

 

The focus of the case...

 

"In its complaint against the superstore, the FTC alleges that

CompUSA engaged in deceptive and unfair practices relating to rebate

offers made for both its own branded products, as well as QPS

products that it marketed and sold. Specifically, according to the

FTC, CompUSA was involved with the creation of the rebate program for

QPS-funded mail-in rebates for products sold at CompUSA. The

complaint also alleges that in marketing QPS?s rebates, it falsely

represented that QPS-funded rebate checks would be mailed to buyers

of QPS products within six to eight weeks, or within a reasonable

period of time."

 

I've just been through the Canon rebate scheme and I did receive my

rebate, at right about two months, but it didn't go smoothly. The

online help page, instead of advancing my claim, deleted it as soon

as they received my paperwork. It took two costly long-distance

calls from Europe to get things back on track.

 

I've been through these rebate deals so many times, with non-Canon

items as well, that now I'm jaded and worn out...which is probably

where they want you, "Oh, man. I don't want to fill out all this

paperwork, and mail it, just to wait two months for $20!" Which of

course means the won and kept the money.

 

I could put a lot here, but honestly I just want companies to follow

through with promises made on add campaigns. That's probably asking

too much in this current world, but maybe this FTC suit will pull

some of the companies back in line...for a little while.

 

Cheers,

 

Mike.

I still have not received my rebate from Canon. Apparently, they never received my paperwork. I did file the pre-claim on the web and they do acknowledge that. However, with out the box cut-outs they won't process the claim. I have copies of everything that I sent except for the box cut-outs. Guess I am out of luck.

Set Eliot Spitzer or Ralph Nader on them.

YES! CompUSA screwed me out of 2 rebates that were properly submitted. I hope the FTC hits them HARD!

Me too with the Canon rebates--they said I failed to send in the box-top! They never seem to lose something you only need a copy of.

 

So I sent in the actual box (without the top) and they then sent me the rebate! Just got it last week for a purchase from December.

 

It was pretty funny when they told me to re-submit with the box-top. I calmly explained that I had already sent it in and they came back with, "You're allowed to send it a second time."

 

Glad I got through this one and I got to see how the other half lives.

 

dG

"I've just been through the Canon rebate scheme and I did receive my rebate, at right

about two months, but it didn't go smoothly."

 

I've gotten over a dozen Canon rebates the past 10 years. All were received within 3-6

weeks. None were turned down and most took about a month to show up in my mail box.

My experience is they're doing a good job and delivered as advertised. On the other hand,

Umax took over a year to send me my rebate.

In most cases, rebates are denied because the paperwork is incomplete. I've lost many because of missing UPC codes which wasn't the case. It was they didn't receive it in the 10 days they said but most forms says "Postmarked". After several complaints to the FTC, I finally got my $5 and/or $10. I'm glad most manufactures/retailers are going to abolish the rebate system and just give you an instant rebate/discount. CompUSA is the worst.

I'm still waiting for my Canon rebate. Of the two lenses and Digital Rebel Kit, they said I submitted an invalid UPC. Guess which one was invalid... the most expensive one of course! They sent me $90 and still owe me $345. I kept copies of everything and resubmitted the UPC (yes, I did send the right one the first time). They received it 3 weeks ago (according to USPS), but they still say it hasn't been received yet. A few more weeks of this and then I'll be calling the FTC.

Similar experience here. I bought my EOS-3 and 28-70 f/2.8 both during a rebate campaign. I believe the rebate amounts were $75 and $50 respectively, and were bought separately. In both cases, mysteriously they never received anything from me. Fortunately, I kept a copy of the UPC too. I resubmitted and went on calling. May be four or five times for each occasion. Eventually I got both the rebates.

 

I guess, they are taking their chances. Like some telephone companies do with phony charges on the statement. If you call and dispute they will refund, otherwise they are betting that either you won't notice or will not bother.

 

A phone company in my region got slapped with a class action suite a few years ago for something similar. Some government intervention is exactly what is needed to get these crooks straight.

<i>I guess, they are taking their chances. Like some telephone companies do with phony charges on the statement. If you call and dispute they will refund, otherwise they are betting that either you won't notice or will not bother. </i>

<p>

Off topic, but yes. . .my phone plan gets mysteriously switched to something more expensive about once per year. Very annoying.

I HATE THIS FORUM SOFTWARE.

 

never can fix obvious errors.