Does anyone have trouble with rebateshq.com's mail in rebate?

[Whatgives]

I found an interesting article at http://www.infoworld.com/article/02/...opgripe_1.html

regarding our Topic of discussion RebatesHQ.com or its other related company -- Parago in Coppel, Texas.

Let's turn up the heat - If you've had any "auto denial" post cards - post here so that I can start contacting my Represenative and several news orginzations....Hopefully someone will pick up the story and run with it......

[Whatgives]

Hi - If you feel that you've done everything correctly when it comes to Forms, Attachments, and Time frames when dealing with this rebate company and your claim has still be denied.

E-mail your Representative
Here's a copy of the email I sent....



Honorable [Removed - Add you Rep. www.wa.gov/ago/clearinghouse/rep_help.html]

United States House of Representative
2455 Rayburn House Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Sir:

Thank you in advance for taking a moment and reading my e-mail. It pains me that I have to contact you on what is, even by my standards, a trivial matter.

Rebateshq.com is a rebate website powered by Parago, Inc. located in Coppell Texas.
This is my first dealing with RebatesHQ and I must say that their Customer Response has been poor -- To explain:

I submitted a correctly filled out Rebate Form, with all the requested documentation. A little over 3 weeks later, I received a post card stating that my claim had been denied (see copy of attached postcard and Rebate Form). I've emailed the company twice and fax once in an attempt to discover why my rebate was denied. I've yet to hear from Rebateshq or Parago.

I began doing research on the Internet about Rebateshq.com and it appears that there is a common complaint: Customers submitting a correct and accurate Rebate and being refused for any number of reasons. To be honest, that didn't alarm me - Parago is a big company and will have their fair share of complaints. (see copy of website threads).

Then I ran across an article "The rebate runaround" by Ed Foster. In his article, Mr. Foster states "....As I studied my rebates file, it soon became clear that almost half of the complaints I received involved RebatesHQ.com...." That did shock me because there are a number of Rebate companies - Why is over 50% of the complaints being generated about RebatesHQ.com? (See copy of Mr. Foster's article).

Mr Foster's article can be found: http://www.infoworld.com/article/02/...opgripe_1.html

I know there isn't much you can do to assist me in a $50.00 rebate, but there is a principle doctrine that we all follow - A contract is a contract. When I purchased the product, a written contract was created between me (Consumer) and RebateHQ. The contract is simple, fill out a form within a certain time line, using our guidelines, and we will rebate you the agreed amount.

Again, thank you for your time. I hope you have a moment to read through the attachments. I'm certain that you'll note that I'm not the only one complaining.

Sincerely,

[670bird]

KByte rebate..............heh heh heh I sent mine in Sept. of 2002 and got it at the end of May! As a few of the other members have stated Sam, they (lose) them on purpose and yes they do try and rip you off. Consider this..........If they can rip off 2 out of every three customers by fighting the rebate, they could make enough money to pay a lot of bills and keep money in the bank for interest purposes. The accounting dept. of employers will do this with paychecks of employees at work on purpose. Example: They have 2,000 employees and every pay period or so they short 3/4 of them anywhere between .75 to 1.00. Think about how much money a year that is if every week..... .75x1500 every week is $1,125 X52 weeks is $58,500 a year on the low end $78,000 on the high. They do it on purpose. They are crooks.

[Whatgives]

We'll after a week of non-answered e-mails and faxes - I got a reply from RebatesHq.com.

It seems that the post card was sent in error. They had entered my rebate twice (poor data processing). The 2nd rebate was the one missing the UPC Code and was - correctly - refused.

I hold no grudges - my only complaint is: "If I could speak with a human instead of ending up in the "Voice Mail Jail" - this issue could have been resolved in a minute - not the week it took."

Some may say - why go through all the hassle; e-mail after e-mail, fax after fax, even writing a letter to your Representative - all that for a mere $50.00...

My answer - simple - I felt as though I was being robbed. I equate a non-honored "contracted" rebate - to someone mugging me and robbing me of $50.00.... But you can't call the police --- I find that frustrating.

Adivce - stay on top of them, no matter what - you have nothing to lose and may gain a "rebate"...