Complaint Review: ViewSonic Corporation

On November 6, 2004, I purchased a ViewSonic A71f+ Monitor from J&R Computer World in New York. That very day, I sent off all the required paperwork, proof of purchase, etc. I was supposed to be able to follow the progress of my rebate on "wheresmyrebate.com" that showed that it had been processed and would be mailed out sometime in December. I waited until mid-January to contact the company and was fobbed off to some independent contractor who did their rebates. I was told that the $30.00 rebate check had been mailed out on January 8, 2005 and that since I hadn't received it, I had to wait sixty days before I could request that a new check be issued. Exactly on March 8, I called the company and faxed them all the relevant rebate information. More time passed; I contacted ViewSonic again, and, on April 14, I received an e-mail stating that my rebated had been reprocessed and a check would be issued. When no check showed up by late April, I contacted the company again. I was told that the earliest date my check could possibly be mailed was June 15!!!

Now, I complained vigorously to their customer service department (not the one handling the rebates) and got a whinging little witch who said that I wasn't the only one having problems and that they had outsourced their rebate operation to a new company. I told her that June 15 was DEFINITELY NOT AN ACCEPTABLE TIME FOR ME TO WAIT, but she reiterated that this was the earliest time it could be mailed.

She asked me what would I do in a similar circumstance, and I told that I had been confronted with such issues in my job and that I would have immediately gone down to accounts payable and requested that a $30.00 check be issued ASAP and that the one from the new processing center be cancelled She said that she could not do this. I told her that this was unacceptable. She asked me what she could due to make me happy (send my my frickin thirty bucks), and I said that the warranty on my monitor should be extended for two more years. She extended it for one.

I have now waited over seven and one half months for a lousy $30.00 buck rebate. I've spent valuable time complaining to the Better Business Bureau, etc. The BBB did get back to me and asked if anything had been resolved. I told them (just as I told the customer service rep would) that the extended warranty was still an unsatisfactory outcome. It looks like it will be over eight and one half months before I receive my check. People have babies in less time than this.

Eric
Brooklyn, New York
U.S.A.