Columbia Telecommunications rebate ripoff dishonest company bad business Farmingdale New York
In April of 2003 I bought two sets of Columbia Telecommunications FRS-14SPR2 model FRS radio/walkie-talkies. I sent the rebates out the same day with the UPC, Fry's receipt, and rebate form.
The form said to wait 12-14 weeks, which I did. No rebate was ever mailed back to me. I attempted to call...no answer. I emailed them at rebates@columbiatel.com...no response. I asked Fry's what they could do...nothing.
I just found their phone number today at the website: www.columbiatel.com, so I will be calling to complain tomorrow.
The kicker is, after reading about so many others that have not received their rebates from this company, I see that Fry's and Outpost.com are still offering their products and advertising their rebates. What a SCAM!
I have sent out over 50 rebates this last year and I've found it is VERY COMMON to not receive a rebate check in the mail as expected. Mysteriously, many rebate submissions simply vanish, or checks are never issued until I do a follow-up. Luckily, I ALWAYS keep detailed records and photocopies of every rebate I send out.
Most of the time manufacturers are good about re-submissions, and I often receive the check eventually, after some very hard work. Rarely though, I come across disreputable companies the likes of Columbia Telecommunications. Not only have they not sent my rebates, they have never answered the telephone number or the email address on the rebate form. They offer no way to check the status of the rebate, and no way to contact them. Most companies will at least try to hide the fact they are working hard to lose your rebate. Not Columbia, they make it pretty d**n obvious they have no intention of honoring their rebate obligations.
David
Huntington Beach, California
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
David
Huntington Beach,California,
U.S.A.
Finally got my rebate nearly ONE YEAR After submission.
#2Author of original report
Sun, April 18, 2004
I did some investigative work and found the phone number for this companies headquarters. I called them in September 2003 and they directed me to a woman who took my info and said she was very sorry and a check would be in the mail. Big surprise, it never came. So in January 2004 I went in to the Frys and talked to the Customer Relations Supervisor Samantha about this whole ripoff. She was very nice, and explained that Fry's had a big problem with Columbia not honoring the rebates. She handed my case off to Paulina who apparently was in charge of collecting from Columbia on behalf of Fry's customers. To my surprise, I finally received my rebates in the form of four $25 checks in late February. Oh, and yes, the checks didn't bounce. This nightmare ripoff report is finally closed, but I still lost a great deal of time and effort. Never again! A big thank you to Fry's for finally owning up and collecting from these crooks.