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1300 Unopened Fry's Rebate Forms Found In Dumpster
blackmonday writes "The Consumerist is reporting a find of 1,300 unopened rebate submissions in a dumpster belonging to Vastech, a rebate processor hired by Fry's Electronics. Vastech's management blames it on a bad employee."
INTEL CORE 2 DUO REBATE OFFER LONG NAMED CLEARINGHOUSE PLACE
c/o Vastech
888 Bestgate Road
Suite # The Dumpster Behind Denny's
Annapolis, MD 21401 Yeah, be sure to check the address on those things. Also, I believe the Vatican uses Vastech to handle all their "Children's Letters to God" mail.
My work here is dung.
Obviously a good employee wouldn't have gotten caught!
How does someone not notice when you walk out to the dumpster with 1300 envelopes?
Executives are employees, too.
So that's why it takes so long to get rebates back! And here I was blaming the post office.
Oh good! A member of the Fry's customer service team has joined the discussion!
--- Pork is not a verb.
Bad employee! Bad employee! No biscuit!
You can't talk about Wikipedia's flaws on Wikipedia
..that I don't send in rebates any more unless they are $50 or higher. Seems like 9 times out of 10 I never hear from the company again if the rebate is a smallish amount - now I know why.
It truly is brilliant though, how hard would you try to get a small $3.50 rebate back, but it was the reason you picked that product over a competitor. So they win twice, once on getting your business and again when they don't send you the check and you don't really care.
Looking for hardware (Currently need: Large Etch-a-Sketch) Have one? See my journal!
Bottom of the barrel wage earners working an admittedly unglamorous job tosses a few out. Where's the crime? Who's going to prosecute? Which State regs apply?
Rebates are a racket, always have been. I know from experience because I admin'd them years ago for a peripherals manufacturer.
Back to work!
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
I've gotten into the habit of completely ignoring mail-in rebates because I've never once received one. Over the years, I've sent in maybe as many as 10 rebates, and never gotten any kind of a response.
Of course, in the fine print of every rebate is something along the lines of, "We have no legal obligation to actually send you a rebate, even if you send this in. If we believe any piece of information is wrong for any reason, we reserve the right to trash your rebate application."
It's a scam. If they really intended to give you the discount, they'd have an "instant rebate", meaning a price-cut in the store. The whole point of a mail-in rebate is to trick people into thinking things are cheaper than they are. They advertise "$199 w/ mail-in rebate (normally $299)". So you start thinking the product is $199 even though you'll give the store $299 when you buy it. Then, either you forget to send the mail in rebate, or they find some excuse not to honor it. You've just bought the item for $299.
Rebates are a scam that allows a company to pad their ledger with artificial profits that get refunded some time later. It's an accounting scam. They make money by having more money in the bank, earning interest, while you don't. They also count on a good fraction of people simply not filling out the rebate form. So it's a form of false advertising that allows them to advertise one price when in fact you have to give them a different amount of money.
Don't do business with companies that offer rebates. Pay for what things are worth and screw this stupid shell game. I've not gotten my rebate many times, without explanation.
This crap should be illegal.
1^2=1; (-1)^2=1; 1^2=(-1)^2; 1=-1; 1=0.
Rebates are a scam that thankfully has not become common in Finland.
This is so clearly fraud that the MD attorney general should have completed the arrest warrant for key members of Vastech's management by tomorrow morning. With arraignment hopefully postponed until Monday morning, the managers will be well motivated to correct the situation after they post bail.
In all seriousness, rebate letters that contain irreplaceable original receipts should be handled with the same care as bank deposits, and the same penalty should apply as would apply if a Bank manager discarded all of the night deposits for a bank branch.
I call this fraud and criminal negligence, and if nobody is prosecuted, it will be a travesty of justice.
To my knowledge most rebate handling companies are given x amount of dollars to in turn give out y dollars to the customers. Whatever is leftover is theirs to keep.
x - y = profit
So they're not really inclined to process every single rebate form that comes through there.
Buy this RAM and you have a chance to win 50 dollars by mail!
Price comparison should always be done while ignoring rebates.
...so called it: http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/040606/computer -rebate.gif
I was flipping bits on an abacus, newb.
Seems like half the equipment sitting on my desk right now I bought with the aid of a rebate. I got two rebates on my desktop CPU, I got a rebate on my laptop, a rebate on my wireless router, one on my Wacom tablet, another on my monitor ... all of them have been honored.
In fact, if you want to go into details, the manufacturer of my laptop actually offered a rebate on it about two months after I bought mine. That pissed me off, so I doctored up a copy of the store receipt with a later date. It was honored, and I'm not sorry.
Breakfast served all day!
That's getting into grand theft range if not already there.
BC
Fry's gets a Vas[tech]ectomy.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
Ok, i'm waiting for the class action lawsuit for fraud.
He was far too polite for that.
"Tan requested the unprocessed rebate forms, which I plan to return to him."
So he can properly shred them?
These forms should be turned over to police or other authorities,
not given back to the fraudulent company.
About a month ago the fatwallet community produced a crazy rebate scheme where you profit off bundled software. The scheme originated in this thread. The scheme has since been used for many more deals. I am just wondering if it is related? The rebate T&C say the rebate can not be for more than the cost of the product. The scheme worked by claiming rebates from the retailer (by buying a hardware and software bundle) and the software distributor at the same time and assuming they don't realize your the same person (i.e. lack of communication from the retailer and distributor). To sweeten the scheme you could buy competing software packages and use them for the upgrade rebate. If this is related then Frys must of caught onto the scheme.
Over the years I've mailed in probably two dozen rebates for various products at brick-and-mortar places like Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, Staples, AT&T/Cingular, etc. I'm referring to $25-$200+ back on things like laptops, TV's, Tivos, software, cell phones, etc. I had a Cingular rebate once that was 4 weeks overdue. One 10 minute phone call and the rebate was re-issued and arrived 3 days later. I've even done a couple of the 'come test drive the new Mazda Whatever and get a $25 gift card' rebates, and those have always arrived as well.
OTOH, I've never bothered with the '$3.50 rebate on a $5 pack of CD-R' type things, as it's just not worth my time.
FWIW, I've always carefully followed the directions and have received the rebates within roughly the correct time period as stated. I keep a copy of everything I sent and make a note in my calendar for 6,8,12,whatever weeks away that I should have received it and then just forget about it until then. My point is, rebates suck, but they aren't *always* a scam....
Rebate central - hence the reason I don't choose to do business with them anymore..
Next time you file for a rebate, remember to read the clause in fine print.
Not responsible for late, lost, damaged, or misdirected mail.
So they throw it in the trash. Sounds legal to me. My advice would be to avoid them unless you're feeling lucky.
Life is not for the lazy.
Does this matter to a place like Fry's. Admittedly, no it doesn't, but I feel better about it.
Like I know I've done two rebates in the past year that I never received. I decided I would do a search on Google, rebate status was the search. I started entering in my info on each site and guess what, I did find my info on one site and it was one of the items in question. I just wrote them an inquisitive email pointing out that this story spurred me to check. Apparently they never received my info. This would literally be the first time that the USPS ever lost mail that I sent. Somehow I'm guessing that just really wasn't the case.
When shopping for tech toys I always treat the rebate as secondary, the price has to be the lowest before the rebate, if the rebate is instant even better but you just can rely on the companies servicing these things
to come through; read the fine print on most of the rebates and you will find that you are responsible for making sure the company has received and processed your rebate, once its sent you've more than likely sent the only copy you have along with the original qualifying UPC/product label, once that's lost your chances at getting the rebate fulfilled are next to nil.
This kind of news just amuses me, it is obvious though that the company didn't do this intentionally, that kind of move would have involved shredding.
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
I'll bet they don't ever have this problem with payments.
I can see it now... "1300 Unopened Liberty Mutual Insurance Payments Found In Dumpster." Yeah, if they can keep track of the letters they actually want, they should be able to keep track of the ones they don't want.
I don't think I've ever had a rebate form honored by Fry's. I've given up submitting them, and treat the money as lost if/when I buy the item in the first place. I think it's a bit unfair to blame a single "bad employee", when by all indications the problem seems systemic and widespread. Does anyone really think that suddenly this problem will just go away now that they've found and fired the single bad apple employee responsible for disposing of the rebate forms?
and other than a company that went out of business I have not had problems.
Still I will pay $10 bucks more to avoid a $50 rebate.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
Are you listening, you bait-and-switch retailers?
(shakes tiny fist)
Yes, Fry's is the worst retailer on the planet, and rebates are an evil scam. But...
I read the original Mercury-News story earlier today. It's version is that Vastech is a computer accessories company that distributes through Fry's (among other retailers) and that processes its own rebates (hey, throwing them out is "processing" isn't it?). The dumped envelopes were discovered by an employee at a neighboring company, who gave them to his boss, who gave them to Dean Takahashi, who wrote the Mercury-News story.
The story was quoted in an article on Consumerist, which in turn is quoted in this article. By the time Slashdot had posted it, the envelope's had been retrieved by the reporter, and Vastech had morphed from a flaky hardware reseller to a Fry's rebate processing contractor!
Ok, it's natural that a story should change a little as it passes from ear to ear. But to get so many facts wrong after just two iterations? Come on, people!
Another thing that bothers me is Takahashi's outrage over those 1300 envelopes. Not that I don't share his hatred of rebates. But the big offenders are not little companies like Vastech (which would probably have gone out of business soon anyway, even if Fry's hadn't just cancelled all their orders). It's big companies that go through the motions of honoring rebates, but almost always have an excuse for not paying or an indefinite "processing delay". If we're going to be pissed off, let's be pissed off at the right people!
When someone makes a mistake that puts money in their pocket, do not be suprised when that mistake is made over and over and over again.
We have this store called Future Shop, which is about equivalent to your Best Buy in the US. I've noticed that over the last year or so they've started processing all rebates at the checkout counter and submitting electronically. I suppose that is a more secure way to ensure your money does arrive - after all, the clerk did it himself, and if they "lose" it, it's their own fault.
Maybe retailers should start fronting the rebate and recovering it from the processors at a later time...
I bought $3300 dollars worth of appliances (fridge, washer & dryer) that came with a 15% mail in rebate from Sears in January. Of course, the day I made the purchase I sent the paperwork in with my receipts. It's now September and I still have no rebate. I've been told numerous times by "Mark" or "Craig" or "Andy" (really, how many Indian guys have names like that?) that they never received the rebate paperwork. They also kindly mentioned that since it's passed the required postmark date I am no longer entitled to the rebate. I have been fighting this battle on and off now for months.
/dev/null.
Today, I was finally given a new address to send my rebates. Supposedly, this place will not deny me because of the postmark. I sent it off at lunch. Something tells me that address goes to the postal system's equivalent of
Lessen learned - When dealing with a mail in rebate THAT'S EFFEN $400+, send the damn paperwork via certified mail. I probably wouldn't be dealing with this crap if I did.
So basically... Fry's partner doing this doesn't surprise me.
3cx.org - A truly bad website.
I almost never send in rebates, because I never receive the cash. Until, a few years back when I was broke. Even though I was totally broke, I still wanted a new laptop. So, I bought a new Dell Inspiron 5100 (new at the time) which had a $50 mail in rebate.
A month or so later I was $50 short on rent, just 50 freaking dollars.... I didn't know what to do, no friends had money to borrow.... Then on the day my rent was due, that $50 rebate check came! My bank puts small amounts like that instantly into my account when I use the ATM, so I barely made it. I've never had a late rent check before or since. So, I can't hate on Dell's rebates because they have actually saved my butt.
I have also noted that mail in rebates frequently require you to send in the original UPC from the box to qualify for the rebate. Also a good scam, because if you ever need to send the item back for RMA, they wont honor it because you don't have an unaltered box with the original UPC.
Fry's mail-in rebates are worthless!
I have approximately $1,200 in Fry's mail-in rebates outstanding that are still owed me.
The only rebate I actually received from Fry's was uncashable. The rebate came months late (2 days from expiration on check) from an out-of-country bank account that would cost more to process in bank fees than the rebate itself.
I don't know why anyone is surprised by this because How many people follow up on a rebate? Most people forget, and those that don't aren't usually bothered to waste the time to follow it up.
Offtopic:
Personally, I will never buy a Symantec product again because the last two I bought (norton antivirus, partitionmagic) had "upgrade rebates", upon which sending in the rebates and original UPCs, I got letters back from the rebate company saying 1) I didn't supply the original UPC and 2) I didn't provide the original sales invoice (one was an electronic purchase.) Of course how can I argue; as I no longer had my UPCs... Symantec says its not their problem, its the rebate company...
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
I view rebates as fraud plain and simple. If a company tells me "This item is $x but has a $y mail in rebate," I translate that to "We're advertising this at $x - $y in order to defraud you, the customer." Note that lately they don't advertise at the "rebate price" anymore. Too many bait and switch lawsuits, I guess. So they just advertise the rebate separately. Nonetheless the attitude at the store that you're actually likely to get anything back still rubs me the wrong way. I will go out of my way to not shop at stores that make a habit of it and I will not purchase an item that has a rebate offer associated with it even though I expect to get nothing back. At the very least it indicates that the company wants me to waste my time jumping through hoops for them, at worst it indicates that they were actually hoping to deceive me. In either case, I don't want to give them my money.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
No offense, but what really amazes me are people like yourself who actually believe that the CEO didn't do this himself. Honesstly, just because he calls himself the CEO doesn't mean a thing; and yet people get snowed over by titles.
We're talking about a small shop here. If you've ever worked in one, everybody knows what everyone else is doing. The so-called CEO could well have done it himself in order to spare himself from potential blackmail in court with a witness.
I see no conflict there: Perhaps his moral values don't include obeying laws he doesn't agree with. Mine don't, either. Or are you one of those people who think that what's legal and moral or the same thing?
Liberty in your lifetime
You mean "copying verbatim from the Mercury News?"
If you read the article-
Vastech is not really a "rebate processor for Fry's".
They made the equipment for which the rebates were being offered.
But of course I agree that rebates are a waste of everyone's time,
I've been screwed countless times by Fry's rebates...
Where I live, the US Post Office doesn't send a uniformed employee to my house with the mail. I have to drive down 2 miles of dirt road and dial into my box at the local Post Office.
Needless to say, this cuts out a LOT of rebates, which demand sending the check by US Mail to your street address. Which in my case will just get bounced.
Occasionally, the form will accept the 9 digit zip code, so I can sneak that in and hope for the best.
I've offered to write a small database to match the PO boxes with the actual street addresses, but they (the PO), couldn't care less.
Always wondered if it's legal to force US mail to a non-deliverable address, but I haven't found out anything which describes this situation.
Is just send them in via certified mail. That's where the post office tracks the letter and keeps a record of delivery. Also, keep a photocopy of all the filled out forms. Most of the time, you'll get your money no problem, it just takes a long ass time (8 weeks usually). If you don't, well you just call them and explain the situation. They'll no doubt say they didn't get it and aren't responsible. You then say "Well the post office says you did, and who do you think a judge will believe?" They'll then hem and haw and say they'll "push it through for you". In the event they don't, that's why there's small claims court. You don't need a lawyer, minimal fee to file ($20 here). You sue them for the amount of the rebate and the cost of filing the claim. Supposing they don't fold and actually do show up, you just give the judge the info from the post office and the copied forms. You'll have a judgement in your favour in minutes.
I've never had to go to small claims, and I've gotten all the rebates I've sent via certified mail paid. Only once did a company try the "Uhh we never got it," trick and when I explained that, indeed they did get it and the post office had a record, they sent the money.
The reason they do rebates is precisely because of people like you. You don't take the time to do it, so they make more money on you.
A company I used to work for, would have rebates and do them internally. The lady that handle rebates was bonus based on redemption rate. So she would constantly hold rebates or not fund them depending on what time of the month/quarter it was.
You'll find items on Newegg or Zipzoomfly often have rebates. However you'll notice it's never a rebate from them, it's from the manufacturer. Manufacturers like to run promos sometimes to try and get people to buy their brand. Well, you can't fault the providers for helping you know about this and how to take advantage of it. You'll also notice, at least in the case of Newegg, they list the primary price as the actual price you pay.
Just don't go getting mad at the wrong party.
Then when you call, they spin the wheel of excuses (BOFH, where are you?) to tell you any of:
-- You didn't submit the UPC code
-- You didn't mail it soon enough
-- You didn't include the original receipt
-- You didn't sign your name
-- You didn't provide your e-mail address
In reality, they know, they don't care, and they will quickly agree to send you the rebate just to shut you up. If you think the percentage of customers who correctly complete and successfully submit the rebate forms is low, you need a microscope or jeweler's loupe to see the number of people who call in asking, then threatening. It's a numbers game, and they're drawing the numbers.
Which reminds me, I checked the $200 in two rebates before purchasing a new HP laptop from OfficeDepot last week. One went to Young America, MN, a reasonably reputable and well-known rebate processor. The other went to HP directly. I told the sales drone if either one of those had ridiculous terms or conditions, I wasn't going to purchase it. He courteously brought up both forms from their website, allowed me to review them, and printed them for me on the spot. He got the sale. Extra copies of everything are kept, original documents are taped and/or stapled to 8.5x11 letter-size paper, and every last detail on the form is highlighted, checked, and circled as specified. Now I just gotta wait two months.
I like Fry's. Best return policy ever. Plus I'm cheap enough to read and submit more rebates (at least for personal purchases so the system works for me)...
:)
Carry on.
Quack, quack.
My previous bad rebates include the one (and only) time I signed up for DSL (back in 2000). At the time I was supposed to receive a $250 rebate I had paid to purchase the DSL modem as part of signing up. The modem arrived and service was great, but the rebate never arrived after about 3 months. I started calling and was assured that it was being processed, and about a week later when I called again it was supposedly sent out. About 2 weeks later my DSL serive abruptly was cut off, and in calling the company I ended up reaching full voicemail boxes, and a couple days later a general message stating that the company was no longer in business. Needless to say I never received that rebate, and really had no recourse.
One other rebate gone bad (actually two rebates) were for two separate PNY products I had purchased from TigerDirect. I had bought some PNY memory and a PNY video card. Both of them had completely separate rebates: one for the video card that in no way mentioned the memory rebate, and another for the memory that in no way mentioned the video card rebate. I sent them both in with the required documentation and instead of rebate checks, eventually I received two letters that explained that since I had submitted more than one rebate for a product that it would not be honored. I tried calling the number listed on the rebate, but it was only where you could check your rebate status or get instructions on how to submit a rebate, no way to talk to anyone, and the email address also did not ever result in a response.
Since this happened I had begun to scan every piece of each rebate, including the envelope with the address I write on it.
Finally, I have purchased two Syntax Olevia TVs in the last couple years, both from Microcenter. For the first one I was to receive a $200 rebate. This is one I scanned in, but for this one I had cut out the incorrect barcode. The rebate wanted the UPC, but it was hidden in a less obvious place on the box and instead I had sent in the product/serial number set of barcodes (which should have been more than adequate if not even better). Luckily, since I had scanned everything in and through multiple emails, phone calls, and faxes I was able to eventually receive my rebate (though it did take quite a bit of work).
When I purchased my second Syntax TV as a Christmas gift, it also came with a $250 rebate that I sent in (I figured I messed up the first time, maybe it will go smoother the second time). About the time the rebate was to arrive I was getting ready to graduate, move, start a new job, etc. so I actually forgot about this one. This rebate I sent in November eventually showed up at my new address around October of the next year.
Well that's been my rebate experience. Glad I could get that all off my chest! I wish there was more protection for the consumer and an easier process to get help or support when things aren't going quite so smoothly. I do suggest making a copy of EVERYTHING though so at least you have some physical proof of submission that you could use when fighting poor rebate fullfillment.
I must have spent days photocoping that receipt and UPC. Now they think they can just throw out my rebate forms and not send me my $130,000!!! I for one will never shop at Fry's again!
I've posted this story before so I won't go into a lot of detail, but my brother (the anal retentive one in the family) against my advice bought one of those too good to be true CD-R spindle deals where the rebate is just about as much as the purchase price of the spindle pack.
Months later and after much friendly teasing from me without even the hint of a rebate, my brother got angry and filed a small claims suit against them that was ultimately successful. After maybe an hour or two of research and an afternoon at the courthouse he received his rebate along with all of the expenses incurred in pursuing his claim. I was actually surprised at how simple the process was and effective the outcome.
My point is, there are ways you can get that rebate without incurring any cost to you.
My experience is that you must keep two copies of every paper you send for the rebate. That includes rebate application, receipt, UPC bar codes, etc. My experience is that about two out of every three times they will claim to have not received some part of the required papers within the proper time. At this point you call them up and get a name to send your first copy to. Let them know that you have a second copy to send to your local consumer complaint agency. This is a lot of trouble but it works. I have never had any one deny the rebate after that. Once they learn that you are serious about this they will give the money and go find some one easier to cheat.
I can't understand why some enterprising state legislators don't introduce a bill to prohibit the use of mail-in rebates entirely, or to create a "rebate death penalty" whereby no retailer or manufacturer could advertise rebates after proof that valid rebate requests were rejected. Of course, one issue is that states collect sales tax on the rebate amount (since the consumer pays the full price, and gets a rebate for the purchase price but not for the extra sales tax).
I recently returned a laptop computer ("$549 minus $200 rebates = $349") to Circuit City (this was really a $400 laptop marked up to $549 so they could boast a price of $349 "after rebates"). It was a "sham" offer. First, the two rebates ($50 and $150) were BOTH to be sent to Circuit City (at two different addresses in two different states), but although both were advertised together, each form clearly stated that only ONE rebate would be paid "at most." Then I read on, and found a complete and total disclaimer of ANY duty by Circuit City or any other entity to process or pay any rebate; there was even a provision requiring that I wait 120 days for the rebate to be issued, along with another provision provided that any claims regarding unpaid rebates would not be considered unless they were be presented to Circuit City within 90 days after purchase. When I called for clarification, I was given many reassurances that contradicted the paperwork, but a flat refusal to put anything in writing; when I returned the computer to the store, they insisted that my concerns were unfounded, but again would not put any of their reassurances in writing. Of course, Circuit City took $80 out of my refund as a "restocking fee," despite the fact that their fraud and their refusal to honor their promise was the sole basis for my return.
Fry's is certainly a "bad actor" in the rebate space; over the past 20 years, I've caught them many times advertising rebates that have expired or combining mutually-exclusive rebates together. But in fairness, Fry's Electronics seems to offer FEWER "deals" that include rebates than the larger chains like Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA. I have lots of reasons to dislike Fry's, but I can only think of ONE product that I purchased at Fry's that had a rebate -- and I bought it because the price before rebate was still lower than the competing products. (I probably wouldn't have spent the postage to mail the rebate form if the purchase weren't on behalf of our 12-year-old child; getting the crumpled-postcard $5 check four months later was a nice, unexpected bonus.)
In terms of fairness and honesty, one of the new "scams" is the use of "debit cards" to fulfill rebate promises; these are a huge hassle and are intended to create additional profit, and I was outraged to receive one of these instead of a check (as promised) from Symantec a couple years ago; I won't buy another Symantec product.
I now mentally edit out rebates whenever I look at any offer. In the cell-phone store, I ignore the large bold price because I know it reflects the application of one or more rebates which might or might not be paid.
-- http://www.MarkWelch.com/ Pleasanton California
So ... do I need to refile my rebate form or what?
Let me know. I need that $20 for beer.
reminds me of my old paper route
Those envelopes were supposed to go in the incinerator ...
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
I bought an HP laptop from Fry's a bit over a year ago for $900, and was told there was a $100 rebate.
At the register, I was told that they didn't have the rebate form, and that I'd receive one in the mail.
3 copies in separate envelopes showed up in my mail several *weeks* later. Weeks after the rebate period had expired.
Yeah. Any half-decent employee should be able to 'process' way more submissions than that!
This is why I never pay attention to the "after mail-in rebate" price, and no longer even bother shopping at stores that advertize that price heavily (with the rebate details in teeny tiny print).
Instant rebate or nothing, baby. Of course there's no Fry's around here, so I don't even have to worry about all the other issues with shopping there (I generally shop Microcenter.)
-- Alastair
Actually, I bought a computer for my wife from Fry's in Fremont, but then she got one from her Dad for her bday. So we called and they said we could return the computer to the Fry's in Menlo Park. After waiting for a long time, we were given a refund for all but 6$. They said that this was due to the fact the tax in Fremont and Menlo Park is different. I questioned this, as it doesn't make sense. I can buy a shirt at Gap in CA and return it to Gap in UT and get the same refund. Anyway, the manager there, was very rude to my wife and I. My wife was shaken up, so I took her to the car, then came back and went to go talk to the Manager again. He blew up and threatened me the moment he saw me; he kept asking if I wanted to fight. It was like somebody in Jr. High, he did the whole head bob thing and kept saying: wanna fight? wanna fight? I said no,(and he said "sure you do!") and left discouraged while he egged me on. I was unable to beleive what I just endured. He then followed me out of the store and said his name and said not to forget it; which just added to my disbeleif. The manager followed me out of the store and called me out in the parking lot? Anyway, I discovered tigerdirect.com and microcenter and all sorts of other online shops and haven't shopped at a Fry's in 2 years. I suggest the same to everyone else. Oh, the manager's name was Joel Byers; he's the fighter from the Menlo Park Fry's. ("Joel Byers, don't forget the name" he said out front) I wrote a complaint (the first time I ever did to anyone) to Fry's corporate and never received a reply. That's just how they are.
It obviously is a bad employee. Probably the CEO, who ordered his slaves to throw those peskey envelopes away.
There is a chain of responsibility and ultimately the buck ends somewhere - with the CEO.
Yes, the employee should be fired for doing this because they didn't do the work properly.
Now someone managed that employee. If an employee was able to do that and their manager didn't notice, isn't their manager also being negligent because they haven't been paying attention to what their employees are doing?
Recurse back up the tree and ultimately you get to the CEO. It all starts with the CEO through his choice of employees.
What's not clear in situations like this is whether or not the employee was indeed being lazy or following some "company policy". From the comments I've read here, it doesn't sound like laziness to me, so it becomes policy. Someone approved that policy and that approval ultimately rests with the CEO. He needs to appoint competent people to do their jobs. If he can't do that then he needs to be excused, along with the others in the chain that are also incapable of doing their job.
This type of rationale is why people will call for political leaders to resign when things go awry and is why 'W' should resign.
no one notices it because they saw you do the same thing last month, and the month before that, and every month since they were hired.
rebates are a BS way of advertising. If they want to lower the price of some thing, great! I'm all for that.
Just don't tell me that if I pay full price now you will give me some money back in 6 to 8 weeks.
I try to ignore the false price they like to post on the shelf, that includes the rebate, and look closely to see how much I'm realy paying.
-- Sig under construction...
I'm posting this anonymously, but I can tell you that I don't mind rebates, and I have many consulting clients who just love them.
It has to do with taxes and claimed expenses.
Suppose my client buys $200 worth of utility software, but it comes with a $100 rebate.
The client files the receipt away for his accountant showing a business expense of $200 for the software. That's a $200 business expense come April 15. Business expenses can really add up.
The $100 rebate check arrives 3 months later. It gets deposited. There's no associated W2 or Form 1099 from the rebate company declaring this income to the IRS. The recipient is supposed to declare this rebate check, but it almost never happens.
The result is a win-win for the client: a $200 business expense deduction for $100 worth of software. They'll just have the office manager stay on top of the rebate company and keep track of the paperwork.
It gets even better when things are "free" after multiple rebates: a $30 deduction for a $30 blank DVD spindle that actually cost them nothing. After taxes they actually *make* money from that purchase.
*I* declare all such rebates on my taxes, of course.
I'm not saying such activities are legal. Just that they happen.
I worked as an lead architect for software system used by one of the largest rebate processing companies. I can honestly said, the company tried to always pay out all the rebates that were received. I know from first hand that there were some clients (e.g. one of the popular networking companies), which hand picked rebates which were paid and shredded the rest. These clients were fired to my knowledge.
Of course there were cases where the system didn't work as expected due to software bugs, operational errors or because the clients setup the rules the rebate should follow incorrectly. In one such case we had to reprocess rebates for one of the largest office supplies retailer for 6 months. After we were done we were still left with several tens of thousands of customers that received incorrect amount. Management decision was of course to let it be.
On the other hand the customer service department was top-notch. If you had issues with your rebate and you followed the rules, it was always resolved.
That said, rebates are trick to make you purchase. You are making calculated risk of not receiving your money or going through the hassle of complaining.
You are either lucky or a rebate mole. Keeping track is not always enough. I followed the t-mobile sidekick II rebate to the letter, and even took precaution to photocopy everything. Waited requisite 8 weeks for official response that never came. The SOBs gave me the royal runaround. Rebaters claim they never received the forms. T-mobile said I would have to resubmit (with photocopy bar code), so the rebaters could deny, before t-mobile could acknowledge my complaint. Weeks later I'm officially denied due to missing the original bar code. Now t-mobile can officially act on my complaint, which was basically "f--- you". Moral: photocopy everything AND SEND BY REGISTERED MAIL!
Be heard || Be herd
So lets say I buy an item advertised for $80 ($100 item with a $20 mail in rebate) and the sales tax in my state is 8%. I pay $108 dollars to the merchant, i get $20 dollars back if the rebate goes through, and the total cost to me is $88. Now $88 is not the advertised price plus sales tax. It is a little bit higher. I dont know what the law says, but this sure feels like im getting screwed. And I won't even mention the interest I could have earned if that $20 was invested somewhere for the 4-12 weeks it takes for a rebate to go through. It nickel and diming on multiple levels, which isnt much on the individual level but huge when taken as an aggregate sum of all consumers.
Since Best Buy revamped their pricing strategy, most items no longer carry mail-in rebates (yes, there are exceptions, but they are few and clearly marked.) And combined with their Rewards program, it really is win-win. I've successfully received lots of rebates over the years, and I've been burned several times also. But now that Best Buy makes it easier, they have me as a customer, and I don't have to jump through any rebate hoops.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
Those bastards owe me about 300 bucks! I finally gave up on rebates. In fact, now if it's got a rebate offer on it, I buy a competing item.
If these 1300 rebates had turned up in a New Delhi dumpster, nobody would have ever heard about it.
Wow, I'm surprised at all the horror stories about the rebates. I'm sure some of them, maybe a lot of them are true to an extent.
However, I've sent in hundreds (Close to 300) of rebates over the past 3 or 4 years, and I've had exactly 6 come up with problems, which were resolved with a call to the company or to send in copies of my rebate submission.
One company in particular, which I'm not sure what name they use, though, so they might actually be part of the retailer itself, as opposed to a rebate company proper, has been the lions share of problems. They claim part of my submission was not included... Well, I always keep copies, so I know what is included and what isn't, but on more than on occasion, they claim they got the receipt, but not the UPC or something... the funny thing is, the submission has the UPC and receipt on the SAME PHOTOCOPIED PAGE... so it's physically impossible not to receive one without the other... yet they claim it is so. Obviously they try to scam some people... Either way, once I send them in another copy of the SAME page, they send me my rebate.
But, I digress. My point is that out of the nearly 300 rebates I've sent in, a very small percentage has ever given me a problem, and a large part of that very small percentage has been from one company in particular. Otherwise, I've always received my rebates without hassle, even if it takes 4 or 5 months for them to arrive.
There's a program out there called "Rebate! Rebate!" that keeps track of your rebates. I don't have a link, but it works pretty well.
I like rebates... kind of a pain to send in, but they do offer some really good/incredible deals now and then and are worth the effort, so long as you follow the requirements exactly, which usually isn't that hard.
From http://shop3.outpost.com/template/help/index/FE30/ Service3/Assistance/Left_Topics/A12ContactUs
Sales and Customer Service -service@outpost.com
Toll-free (within U.S.):
1-877-688-7678 or 1-800-856-9800
International: +1-408-350-1484
Sales/Customer Service Fax: 1-408-487-4700
I sent in a $5 rebate for a joystick once. My name's "Danny." I got a check a few months later addressed to "David." (Same last name and all though.) Go figure.
Against stupidity the Gods themselves contend in vain.
As a Fry's employee (while no fanboy), I thought I would point something out.
Vastech is NOT a "rebate processor hired by Fry's Electronics", it is the manufacturer who offered the rebate. They make small PC mods and accessories such as case fans and USB harddrive enclosures.
You can see their webiste at http://www.vastechinc.com/
Fry's Electronics does not offer any rebates themselves. All the rebates are though the manufacturer of the item you are purchasing. We even have a rebate department in each store to try and help you force though rebates or resubmit them.
While everyone likes to poke fun at Fry's (the Walmart of electronics stores, I call them), they were not really in the wrong here, it really should be Vastech found at fault. I do hope Fry's sees this as an opportunity to put in some good will and issue their own refund checks to all affected customers.
Yeah I've been starving them, teasing them, singing off key. Me may mah mo, me mo ma me.
I'm sure a lot of people have missed out on receiving their rebates, but I've actually never had a problem. In fact, one time I bought a $1200 Maytag Washing Machine at Lowe's on clearance (a repair return) for $500. I filled out the rebate form to get $100 back from Maytag. A few weeks later, I received a check for $100...a few weeks after that, I received ANOTHER check for $100. WOOHOO!
I hope this is 1300 cases of FBI administered misery.
I used to do the same thing, and it worked with CompUSA, and BestBuy.
But, not TigerDirect. TigerDirect swore up and down that they would honor the gaureenty that they proudly display on their web-site, if I sent them all the receipts and photocopies of certificates via. certified mail.
So I spent another $3.50, stood in line at the post office, etc. When I called back, they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about. Unless I wanted to take them to court over $80, I had no recourse.
TigerDirect also require an insanely bothersome online process before you even mail in the receipts.
That was the one-and-only time I ever did business with TigerDirect.
Read rippoff-report about TigerDirect, I wish I had.
also being handled in the same manner.
Belkin pulled this same stunt on me and I've read here of others getting the same rebate behavior from them. This has earned them a spot on my "never, ever buy from again and encourage others to do the same" list. Its too bad because they have had several products I would have otherwise considered in purchases since that time.
I really hope the $5.00 was worth it to them.
Rebate claims YOU!
I think the real story is not that an unscrupulous company is defrauding customers of their rebates. What is interesting to me is that people seem to still shop at Fry's!!
That is one of two places I refuse to ever step foot in again. You should see the customer returns go right back to the shelf. And don't forget the frisk at the door. Yeah, they really value their customers.
-- Posted from my parent's basement
Your comment is imperious at best.
There aren't even consequences if a warm body gets fired. Reputation means practically nothing to the next employer.
Your comments suggest you've never been forced to scrape the bottom of the wage barrel before or have any awareness at all of how an HR office complies with laws or how a low-wage worker is hired.
Count yourself lucky.
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
So you received between 200 and, say 1000$ in 5 years ? Woah, that's almost 20$ a month ! Or three dollars, in the likely event that there were many more 10$ rebates than 100$ ones.
...I ask the sales person to take the amount of the rebate off the price. They are argue that they can't, and when I go to leave they just end up getting authorization from their manager. I get the rebate, instantly, and without the tax worries (I live in BC, so I know your pain).
And if they try to call my bluff, I grab a flyer and go to one of the other stores in town to get a 'price match', in which I get them to factor in the rebate. So far I've been lucky and haven't lost yet!
Of course it was a bad employee. Good employees don't get caught.
I worked for a software company that occasionally had rebates.
There were always problems.
Some details:
The software company didn't actually handle the rebates, a rebate company was hired to do that.
All the complaints about the rebates not being fulfilled came to the software company.
The customer service people at the software company couldn't do anything about it since the rebate company was supposed to be handling it.
As you can guess, our bosses yelled and screamed at the rebate companies bosses for hours on end. Rebate fulfillment rate still sucked and we got badmouthed because of it.
I can guarantee that if our customer service people were allowed to handle the rebates, they'd be taken care of in short order. (If it was marketing, I don't know, those guys needed regular clue x 4 sessions.)
Guess what happened next time we offered a rebate... We used a different rebate company and the same thing happened.
I hate rebates. Not the idea, but rather the rip-off companies that dominate the scene, and usually aren't even known to the cheated consumer.
Oh yes, second thing, never count on getting the rebate. I've had several "denied for not following instructions" when everything they asked for had been done. Thats a slightly less obvious way to roundfile it rather than just dumping them in the trash and pretending you never got them.
I think rebates are a scam anyhow so it doesn't surprise me that this happened. But the CEO blaming a "bad employee"..yeah, sure...
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
If the manufacturer actually pays out the $30.00, then that's a bonus
Heck that's shady business practice. You accept this kind of corrupt behaviour in your country? Hmm, your place is more messed up than I thought it was. Personally I'd be hassling my political representative to get the law changed so said companies get hauled over hot coals metaphorically speaking if they don't honour their promises.
Actually, I don't really get the 'rebate' idea really - how does it work legally? Why don't they just get told by the law to sell the 70 dollar hard drive with a 30 dollar rebate for 40 dollars at point of sale? I understand how it works from their point of view - that not everybody will claim their rebate, so they win - but this seems very dodgy business practice. How is it structured? do you buy the drive for 70 dollars and inside the box is a slip you post off and they supposedly post back the rebate? Is this common practice?
cheers
obligatory:
let's spend it all on coffees.
Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
based on having to have the best person for the job and that the job is a risky one? Well, one risk is that if you aren't competent and making the company act correctly, you are responsible for the failure.
The last act of the CEO before being fired could be to fire the manager responsible for the peon.
If this happens, you'll find that a lot of "accidents" like this will not happen. They happen now because the only person who gets it in the shorts is the person who cannot stop it happening (the peon will be fired if they don't, and the bad will happen anyway).
In any case, with a CEO earning 1,000,000 per year, working for three years will be enough to retire on, so they won't be badly hurt. They may have to lose the holiday home in California.
Navin: "Pay to the order of Mrs. Wilbur Stark, one dollar and NINE CENTS!"
ds
Most stores in the US will not honor a 'rebate' price. Sales prices are fine, but they often sell rebate items below cost figuring that the majority of people will not cash in the rebate.
Does the practice of mail-in rebates work because of the time-value of money? i.e. the company gets more income from products initially, is able to use those funds, then has to shell out later (hoping that they are making even more than when the process began)...
www.purevolume.com/martyd
Now all they have to do is find the other 99 billion rebates that never got sent out... I know I only ever got about 1 rebate that I sent in, and it was some Microsoft legal one that if they didn't send it to me, I think got to sue them.
stuff |
That reminds me! Fuck you CompUSA. It's been like 3 months. Liars!
Marketing. And not just to lower the price to get you to buy the product. When you buy at Fry's (or anywhere else), the store may or may not get that much information about you. However, these "Rebate Centers" often make money off the INFORMATION YOU SEND IN that's on the rebate form. Then the manufacturer and others know you shop at Fry's, the kinds of items you purchase, etc so they can sell your name address to others.
...I think they are just a myth. I've never actually gotten a rebate. I fill out the forms, send them off, and never hear about them again. I'm fairly certain SOP is dump rebates in a dumpster or mine the addresses for spamming purposes. I fill out rebate cards and get spam but never money... what's up with that?
[signature]
"When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." - Richard M. Nixon
A corollary to your pet peeve: In the US, we can deduct the cost of tax-preparation software from our income. These always seems to come with deep rebates. So I figure I can deduct the original ~$50 cost from my income, despite the fact that I ended up eventually getting a $20 rebate (albeit after a long painstaking submission and wait process).
Especially when it's not your fault.
:-) Trying is worth the cost of a stamp anyhow.
As stated by some Fry's employee here, Fry's doesn't offer any rebates themselves, Fry's merely provides copies of manufacturer's rebates as a courtesy.
That being said, it is misleading to offer to mail you a rebate form when they didn't have one on hand (and then mail it late), but you could have called up the company and asked for one direct, checked the internet or checked a different Fry's store if you didn't get the mail promptly.
My guess is that if you had mailed in the rebate late, with the envelope from Fry's and a note explaining why it was delinquent, they would have honored it anyhow. I once found a stamped and sealed rebate envelope I'd forgotten. I mailed it in ~2 months late with "Oops, just found this in the car" written on the envelope. I still got my money
"Cheeze it!" - Bender
Awesome, another ignorant Christian who doesn't know what Allah means.
Hmm well your government has justified this as the reason for invading/toppling governments ^H^H^H providing support to democratic groups in other countries on more than one occasion over the last 50 years or so leaving trashed anarchies and evil dictators around the place...
So the manufacturer isn't being hurt by these forms.
Fry's already decided to dump them, so they aren't losing any sales they missed already.
The consumer, if they have UPCs from somewhere other than Fry's, can collect a rebate, but it won't hurt the manufacturer.