Complaint Review: Wirefly - Inphonic - Cellphonerebates - AOL Mobile - IPI Wireless

DETAILS:

August 29, 2005 (the activation date on my sales receipt): I ordered, purchased and activated two Motorola Razr V3 Camera Phones from Wirefly.com along with service through Cingular using my Mike's credit card with the understanding that I was to get $340 back in rebates.

The phones came to $215 each but offered a rebate of $170 each if you comply with their exact specifications such as rebate forms must be postmarked no earlier than 180 days after the activation date shown on your sales receipt and no later than 210 days after this activation date. Early submissions will not be accepted.

They also stated "you will receive your rebate check within 10 - 12 weeks of receipt of the rebate request", and that checks not cashed within 90 days will be void". I have all the documents as discussed in this list as well as additional emails not mentioned.

February 27, 2006 (26 weeks or 182 days after the activation date on my sales receipt) I sent out two applications, copies attached, (since we had two phones) along with delivery confirmation requests to make sure they were received within the time limits to:

Department 63241
Customer Loyalty Rebate
PO Box 52900
Phoenix, AZ 85072

March 13, 2006 (3 weeks later): I sent an email to customer.service@cs.rebatestatus.com to follow up on the applications and was told that they could not locate the applications in their system although I had proof I sent them, however, I never did receive the delivery confirmation receipts. I was then asked to resubmit the entire applications to Customer Service Department-PO Box 52901-Phoenix, AZ 85072 along with another list of requirements, which I did by fax and mail.

March 15, 2006: I received an email from Wirefly aka Inphonic aka CellPhoneRebates@cs.rebatestatus.com stating that they had received the rebate application and that it was being processed. It gave me the website to check status on the rebate as http://www.cellphonerebates.com and to allow
8 10 weeks for processing.

May 7, 2006 (8 weeks after submission): I sent an email to the address above after checking on the status and it showed that the applications were being processed (still).

May 8th, 2006: I received a response that stated A valid rebate is currently being processed. A check will be issued and mailed to you upon completion of processing. They also request to check status on their website which always shows the same thing that they are being processed.

May 21, 2006 (10 weeks after submission): Again, after checking their website for the status of the rebate and it showing no change, I sent another detailed email to them to follow up and complain about their services.

May 21 - 23, 2006: I received a response stating we are unable to determine a mailing date as your rebates are still being reviewed to ensure all documentation was sent correctly. The 10 12 week processing time begins once your rebate is out from being reviewed and declared valid and Please allow 2 weeks to view the updated status of your rebate on our website. Of course I responded by forwarding the email of May 21st to them which stated A valid rebate is currently being processed. A check will be issued and mailed to you upon completion of processing, but this did no good. They responded by saying your rebates are currently being reviewed for accuracy.

May 23rd, 2006: I sent another response asking that someone contact me at home by telephone to clear up this mess.

May 24th, 2006: I received a response including their telephone number for me to contact Customer Service @ 1-888-800-4303. I proceeded to call only to find out the number is disconnected.

June 3rd, 2006 (Now 12 weeks later): I sent in another status check through their website. Since there was still no change, I sent another email. They responded with your rebate was successfully entered on 3/10/2006. Please allow 10 12 weeks for processing from this date.

Obviously they did receive my first application and lied about it since it said it was entered on 3/10. However, they are still saying allow 10 12 weeks although it has already been 12 weeks! Their email showed date submitted as March 5, 2006.

I received another email from them stating our records indicate a valid rebate is currently in the final stages of processing.

June 7th, 2006: I thanked them for their response and stated that it has been 13 weeks since the applications were submitted and yet I am still getting the run around as to the status. They responded with Your rebate was in review and came out of review on 5/23/06. Please allow 10 12 weeks for processing.

June 8th, 2006 (13 weeks after submission-now well over the 8 10 weeks processing time): I sent another email complaining that is has been 13 weeks and they keep sending me the same responses. They responded with Our records indicate 2 valid rebates are currently being processed and The exact date they will be mailed out is not available at this time.

June 8th, 2006: I received another response that states Your rebate was entered successfully on 5/23/06. Please allow 10 12 weeks for processing.

I responded with another email pointing out their lie and obvious scam and they then responded by stating Your rebate submissions were both approved for processing on 5/23/06. Please allow 10 12 weeks for processing.

Yet another response stated Your rebate was entered successfully on 5/23/06. Please allow 10 12 weeks for processing.

Obviously now I realize they are scamming me and I am never going to receive this rebate.

June 8th again: The entry date does not determine processing time. Processing begins when your rebate is approved after a verification process. Your rebate submissions were both approved for processing on 5/23/06.

June 9th: Finally an answer that I can live with. They stated We are writing to let you know that your rebate submission in the amount of $170 for Order 349793880 has been approved. However, they did not mention the other rebate for $170.00 so I sent another email to check on this.

On the bottom of their email of June 9th, it showed:

If you have any questions regarding the status of the rebate, please do not hesitate to contact us at:

Online: http://www.cellphonerebates.com/link.aspx?P71938963-45695480

This site is showing as:
The resource cannot be found.
Description: HTTP 404. The resource you are looking for (or one of its dependencies) could have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please review the following URL and make sure that it is spelled correctly.

Requested Url: /wireless/link.aspx

Telephone: 866-800-4303

The telephone number again says they are too busy and the wait time is 15 minutes or more ..and it disconnects.

I called again and it has an automated system which says something regarding recent submissions having too many errors therefore all submissions have to be reprocessed, blah blah blah..and that they apologize for the delay but all valid rebates will be issued.

June 10th: We are back to the same old bullshit. They emailed me stating Our records indicate 2 valid rebates are currently being processed. Two checks will be issued and mailed to you upon completion of processing.

At this time, I sent a letter to the Better Business Bureau detailing my entire situation. However, as of today, I have not received any response from them. I have also contacted Cingular on this with no help from them either.

July 5th, 2006: I emailed them again and received the following note from Brian M 9518 at customer.service@cs.rebatestatus.com:

Our records indicate your rebate has been approved and is currently being processed. A check will be issued and mailed to you upon completion of processing. Rebate amount 2 x 170.00. We can not predict when this will be mailed, however, an email will be dispatched once your check has been placed in the post.

Since July 5th, I have sent about 10 emails with no responses. I have tried calling however, I get an automated system which states that they are too busy to take calls and to try again later, then it disconnects.

I contacted Cingular by phone, fax, email with no response.

I then went on their website once again to check the status and now it is showing the following:

We were able to locate the rebate claim(s) shown above based upon the information you entered. Unfortunately, we are currently reprocessing all recent rebate submissions, including the ones referenced above. There is nothing that you need to do at this point; we will contact you directly if there is anything we need from you to complete your claim submission. If you have been asked to resubmit any information to an Arizona address, please send it to the following address:

Rebate Processing Center
PO Box 100550
White Bear Lake, MN 55110-0550

We are committed to paying all properly submitted rebates and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please check back in 3-4 weeks for an updated status.
If you have any question or concerns please call (866) 800-4303.
It is now a total of 21 weeks since I submitted a VALID application and more than 4 weeks after I received the above message, however, still no change.

After reviewing all my notes, emails, the application and the receipt, I did notice that Wirefly sent me a sales receipt that states Thank you for shopping with AOL Mobile and *the amount will appear on your credit card statement as IPI Wireless. They are also known as Inphonic from what I've learned. (Sales receipt attached as document #1 as part of the entire rebate application. I don't know if this means anything but they obviously have more than one name.

If you need any information or copies of any emails, please let me know. In the meantime, my plans are to continue with this situation until I get paid. Is there anything that I can do at this point to get the money owed to me??

(((ROR REDACTED ADDRESS, PHONE NUMBER AND E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR SECURITY PURPOSES)))

Attachments: Application

Dorine
Shirley, New York
U.S.A.

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