Filing Fraud Claims Against Lexar

[akajohndoe]

I have had several communications with Lexar regarding these alleged

rebates, have not received mine, have provided copies of the UPC codes

that EXACTLY match those on the rebate form and have been repeatedly

denied.

 

I am filing fraud complaints against LEXAR.

[berg_na]

There may be a number of legitimate reasons why your rebate request was denied: (1) purchase from invalid store, (2) purchase or rebate submission outside of the rebate period, (3) lack of original UPC bar code from package (copies won't work). I don't like rebates myself, the processing time sometimes can take up to months, but I've never been ripped-off before.

[kelly_flanigan1]

We got a rebate check for an HDA just before Thanksgiving for an HDA we installed about last New Years.

[carl smith]

I've heard of a lot of trouble about those lexar rebates. I was shopping for a 2 gig card and was looking at 80X lexar cards, but after finding out about all the hassle with the rebate (which was only a bonus but not something I needed) I decided to buy an Ultra II Sandisk instead.

[kelly_flanigan1]

Rebates are a big test in following instructions. One goof voids the entire rebate. Many that I have filled out lately were abit tricky. They required the UPC label; plus a photocopy of the receipt; plus the receipt; plus your zipcode on the receipt; plus the price paid circled. A split rebate required the original UPC to be mailed to address X; with photocopy of the rebate. Then address Y gets the photocopy of the UPC code; plus the original rebate form. Any mistake in following the instructions voids the rebate. The rebate houses are experts in culling out goofs; non-circled items; duplicates to the same address. Unless your form was postmarked; filled out correctly; you have no case. Here we got a Lexar rebate OK last Spring.

[curt wiler]

I just had one rejected because "it was out of the time period for submission" - but even the postmark on the rejection notice is within the time period. It seems like this is a game to see who will give in first. My next letter may threaten legal action (Small Claims).

[kelly_flanigan1]

Last spring I bought an HDA from an Office box store on a Friday. The Maxtor rebate had to be postmarked the next day to be valid; a Saturday. I started to fill out the rebate about noon Saturday; and forgot the postoffice closed at 1pm. I had to drive about 10 miles to one that still postmarked later in the day.

[Brad_]

Write a letter to Lexar's CEO and include some of these Lexar rebate threads here on

photonet - there must be a half-dozen over the last few months.

 

Would be interesting to see if a) You then get your rebate, and b) They stop that practice.

 

I'm certain you will get a response of some sort.

[john lehman, college alask]

A quick look through any of the professional marketing/pricing literature will show that the whole purpose of rebates is to give the illusion of a price discount without actually having to honor it most of the time. In an ideal world (from the sellers' viewpoint), no customers would actually claim rebates; the procedures are designed to make that "ideal" situation as likely as possible.

[donald_choi]

I understand that rebates are there to boost sales, but more often then not, they end up pissing off the target consumer. Even though I have always received my rebates (eventually), they have never been pleasant experiences. With the case of Lexar, their rebate program seems to repeatedly upset consumers. Kelly mentioned that these rebates are a test of following instructions, but why make it so? Why go out of your way to upset your PAYING customers? At the end of they day, whether or not the customer followed instructions, the Lexar name gets tarnished.... That's a bigger cost to the company than these "rebates". I wonder if they ever put THAT into their projections.

[jon_austin]

The only way to end rebates as selling incentives would be if *everyone* refused to buy any product that is offered with one. But it's difficult to find *any* current electronic merchandise on sale anymore; if the sales incentive isn't a rebate, it's a "gift card" or other form of credit from the vendor, to be redeemed against future purchases.

 

My philosophy is to not let rebates influence any purchase decision I make. If I buy a rebated product and I bother to submit the rebate claim (about 50% of the time), I put it out of my mind immediately afterwards. (The surest way to put yourself in a bad mood is to follow/track the status of your rebate while it's being "processed.")

 

If/when I eventually receive the rebate check, it then becomes a pleasant surprise, and a "free" lunch or dinner.

 

No way would I make a special trip, let alone drive an extra 10 miles, on the postmark deadline date, just to get my submission in on time.

[frank_dzambic]

There were 2 other threads in the last month about these Lexar rebates. I would hope it's not possible that this many people could fill out the forms incorrectly and be denied a rebate. With this many complaints, I'd say something is wrong on Lexar's end.

[carl smith]

There is apparently a fair amount of chatter about it on the dpreview forums.

[kelly_flanigan1]

In Maxtor; I got 3 out of 4 rebates last year. A friend got 0 out of 2; but he is not one to follow instructions much at all.<BR><BR> If the percent of payout is low on rebates; the damage with the fire sale event to profits is lowered. Having goofy PITA instuctions was once obscure; but is now more common. <BR><BR>One has to figure what ones time is worth; and if one is the type to catch the fine print; and extra stuff DESIGNED to make the rebate FAIL. The sole purpose of the PITA weird tricky rules is to "trip up" the person attempting the rebate. If followed to the letter; most all go thru. Since the attention span of most folks is poorer than in the past; rebates are a good lead for sales; that cost a fractional amount; paid out a few business quarters later. They make the books look better; the golden boys may make their stock options this quarter :)<BR><BR>There are alot of folks who are ticked because their rebate didnt work; in all types of products. This goes back decades; and is nothing really new at all. <BR><BR>The actual rebate clearing is done by a 3rd party; like some goofs that do bill collecting and telemarketing. They live for your rebate goofs; mistakes; non-readable postal dates; wrong UPC; missing circles; missed circled prices. They get no brownie points letting incorrect rebates slide thru; in fact; they may get fired. A friend once did this several years ago; the culling of duds was more than half; even on simple rebates.

[carl smith]

I've never had a problem with a rebate, although Best Buy lost my most recent one. Never have problems with the 2 I did there before. I don't shop for rebates though because of the fact that even if you get it all right there's little you can do if they deny you and it's not worth the trouble to fight. Since I follow the instructions though I've never had much trouble.

 

Still, there's some unscrupulous rebate houses out there, and it sounds like Lexar is using one of them.

[kelly_flanigan1]

What is interesting is that last fall there were a mess of folks selling maxtor 80Gig HDA's on ebay; at about the "office box store price" minus the rebate. I bought a couple of them off of ebay; they had the UPC's removed; the rebaters were grabbing the rebates; and selling the drives on Ebay; new in the box. Several of the 80gig Maxtors were cheaper off of ebay; than doing the store plus rebate route; or about a wash considering the rebate hassle.<BR><BR>My biggest goof is getting caught with a rebate that has a short fuse; and must be mailed in a day or so. I would radically prefer an instant rebate; and avoid the rebate maze!<BR><BR>

[erik_nelson]

Just for what it's worth,

I got my rebate from Lexar with no problems.

 

Now of course, I find out that my WA card isn't really as fast as it should be, and I have to call them to try to get it exchanged... we'll see how well they respond to that request.

[ShunCheung]

Within 2004, I have bought three different Lexar cards with rebates. Back in March, I received the $40 rebate for a 1G CF card in about two months. In October I bought anohter 1G CF card, and the $30 rebate check arrived in a month and half. I just received e-mail notification about the $30 rebate for an SD card I bought in early November; of course there is no check yet.

 

That is three out of three. So far, so good.

[Mike D]

I had a rebate refused on a joint Frys Electronics / Kingston SD card rebate for $10. Not a big deal so I didn't complain. However, the next time a I buy something at Frys, I am going to show them the rejection notification and demand that they reduce the amount of the rebate from my purchase. I don't know how successful I will be. However, I just bought a laptop computer for my daughter and decided I didn't want to hassle with Frys so I bought the laptop at a competitors store. Way to go Frys!

[e_m3]

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I believe the Lexar rebates (if memory serves me well) are limited to one per household. I think this means one per household for your entire life! So if two or three years ago you got a 10 buck rebate on a 256MB card you're done for good and can't take advantage of any other future rebates. So it's really only for new customers.

[ShunCheung]

E.M., please see my comment above: Lexar just notified me my 3rd rebate from them, all in 2004. The three rebates are from three different periods in the year, though.

 

There are usually some fine prints. For example, you must use a street address (in the US). I also have a Post Office box and I think I lost some rebates in the past from companies other than Lexar because I used my PO box address.

[david arnold eugene, oreg]

This site is for amateur and professional photographers. I believe there are other sites for amateur and professional lawyers. Check Google.