Fellowes Rebate from Staples ripoff consumer rip-off fraud Coppell Texas
I purchased a set of blank CDs with a rebate offer of up to $15.00. I complied with the directions, but the company sent me a notice saying they could not read the bar code and for be to sent the "original Receipt." (I had sent in the receit copy issued by Staples.)
I replied statiing my doubts about their sincerity in honoring the rebate request. One day later, I submitted the original receipt. Yesterday, I received another card from Fellowes stating they cannot honora my request because I had already submitted a rebate request, which is a lie.
al
decatur, Georgia
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Bill
Itasca,Illinois,
U.S.A.
In response to "Fellowes Rebate from Staples ripoff consumer rip-off fraud Coppell Texas"
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, April 13, 2005
In response to the rebate offer problem this customer had:
Fellowes does not make or sell CD's although there are possibilities of a bundle having been the issue here. Fellowes sells CD cases and CD racks but not CD's themselves. It is possible the customer bought a "store deal" or OEM deal where the store or distributor bundled some CD's with one of our products on their own accord. This matter should have been taken up with the place of purchase right away. The only exception would be Neato products. Please clarify.
Also, rarely do companies handle their own rebates. Rebates are almost always taken care of through clearing houses for legal purposes. This is to keep the matter on the level. These rebate clearing houses are compelled to use the strictest adherence to the rebate rules. It is a matter of law that all rebate forms clearly state all necessary steps and requirements in order to have the rebate fulfilled. If a step is not followed, a document not sent in, a document not legible, the clearing house cannot honor the rebate. All documents must be legible for auditing purposes. Companies deduct the cost of these rebates from the sales price of that product. This is so they do not pay tax on income not earned, I.e. the rebate. So if a document is not legible and therefore not useable in an audit the company cannot and usually will not honor the document.
Although this customer is probably not talking about a Fellowes rebate because of it being a product we don't make, I still want to defend rebate programs on the whole.
Word of advice: Follow rebate rules to the letter, especially deadlines. Make copies of all documents for your own records and make sure every document is 100% legible. If a rebate offer is rejected due to the cash register receipt being a rebate copy but was actually made by the store for purposes of the rebate the store is liable for the rebate unless it was rejected for other legitimate reasons or the rebate offer clearly states that store copies rebate receipts are acceptable.
Thank you,
Bill Valiunas