Complaint Review: EBATES.COM

I joined Ebates.com in 2007 and received my Ebate.com rebate checks in the mail. BUT, my last Ebates.com rebate check for $134.85 was not in the mail so I logged onto my ebates rebate account and was informed I was "PAID BY FAST CASH".

What was this? I clicked on it and it said I was ENROLLED (AGAINST MY WILL) to have my rebates put on a Citi Debit Card.

So I looked further into what Fast Cash was and how to get out of it.

Imagine my unpleasant surprise when I could NOT find ANY OPT OUT OPTION of the Fast Cash program anywhere on the Ebates.com page. It was a done deal and as of 15 Feb 09 (today is the 13th) my $134.85 Ebates.com rebate was INVOLUNTARILY sent to a Citi debit card and held hostage until I agreed to Citi's terms to get the debit card and and could access to my money.

Imagine my most unpleasant surprise when I read that AFTER Ebates and Citi had involuntarily enrolled me in this UNWANTED program, that Ebates and Citi Debit had the AUDACITY to inform me I have only 30 days to claim my money. Nice touch to panic the customer to coerce acceptance. I wonder if they split the money when when someone protests to being shanghaied?

Imagine my further unpleasant surprise to find NO www. ebates.com customer service phone number.

Imagine my unpleasant surprise to find that my OPT OUT request emails sent to Ebates from their website are IGNORED. Acknowledgment emails are sent but NO ONE gets back with you. Of course , their emails are only an acknowledgment that they got an email from you NOT the specific content of your email. In other words, my 30 days until my rebate disappears is ticking away because I refused to accept Citi Debit Card terms and I have NO PROOF I tried to inform Ebates.com by their email that I wanted OUT of this Fast Cash Program Citi Debit Card Program. Ebates.com has no regular email you can use to Yahoo email them. You are screwed.

Imagine my unpleasant surprise when I googled Ebates.com company phone number and tried to call their HQ Ebates Shopping.Com, Inc. CEO Mr. Kevin H. Johnson 333 Bryant St Ste 250 San Francisco, CA 94107-1443 Telephone: (415) 908-2200 Fax: (415) (415) 908-2299 www.ebates.com. Good luck with this. Hitting 0 for operator just takes you back to the main menu and you loop again. To access the company directory, you have to know a person's name and typing in CEO Johnson's name did not work.

Imagine my unpleasant surprise when I called Citi Group headquarters at 212-559-1000 Citi Group, 399 Park Ave New York NY 10043 Citigroup Chairman Sir (LOL) Winfried Bischoff and actually got a executive resolution person who promptly REFUSED to RELEASE my $134.85 from their Citi debit card program and REFUSED to even let me speak with anyone who had knowledge of the program. Citi HAS MY REFUND MONEY and REFUSED to refund it telling me I have to go through Ebates.com. Nice customer service.

Imagine my even MORE UNPLEASANT surprise when after trying to I read the Citi terms and conditions and WITHOUT agreeing (clicking on the on-line button) because I didn't understand all the legalese but KNEW there had to be a screw the consumer catch somewhere or I would NOT have been INVOLUNTARILY enrolled, I contacted the number listed on this legalize on-line agreement 800-764-5376 help@myecount.ca and spoke with a Citi debit card customer service to get more information. He said this debit card did not reflect on a credit report. He said there was no fee to transfer the funds to my bank checking account. So far so good but I KNEW there had to be a consumer "got ya" somewhere or why involuntarily enroll them. So I clicked (I ACCEPT CITI TERMS AND CONDITIONS - NOTE there was NOT a I do NOT ACCEPT button since my rebate was ALREADY WITH CITI DEBIT) and this Citi customer representative showed me how to transfer my Citi Debit rebate to my checking account. This revealed the screw the consumer catch because a customer CANNOT transfer 100% of the balance but only 90% of less of it thereby leaving Citi Debit collecting 10% interest on millions of consumers accounts worldwide. I promptly told the Citi Debit representative I wanted to CANCEL my Citi debit card and I wanted my entire $134.85 Ebates rebate transferred to my bank checking account with no fee. The rep said THIS CANNOT BE DONE. WRONG! Do NOT take no for an answer. They ended up calling their HQ who gave permission. All $134.85 with no fee is being transfered to my checking account. I then ditched/ENDED/CLOSED my forced upon me Citi Debit card and their Fast Cash Program.

I want 100% of my Ebates rebate to use to pay off my personal bank credit card or buy groceries or whatever the hell I WANT TO DO WITH IT. Also, don't put your Ebates rebate on a PayPal account because PayPal charges $1.50 to have a check sent to you. Not sure if Paypal will allow you to transfer any money to your personal bank or if they do do they charge a fee but I would quess they don't allow this.

There is NO REASON Ebates.com cannot allow consumers to access their accounts to transfer their rebate money WHERE EVER THEY WANT without a 3rd party CitiGroup acting as a go-between. Do this or Ebates should send a check to the consumer.

Note: A few minutes ago some moron at Ebates customer service emailed me telling me I could get a physical Citi debit card or transfer my Ebates rebate from the card to my bank. This MORON did NOT read my complaint which was I WANT TO TRANSFER 100% of my Ebates Rebate amount to my bank which I cannot do or I want OUT of this forced Cash Back Citi Debit Card Program. What an incompetent moron!

John
Altus, Oklahoma
U.S.A.