Wolf Camera - Ritz Camera Lied about rebate for Epson R340 printer. Only paid half of rebate. They blamed it on employees. This happened to many. ripoff Douglasville Georgia
On November 24, 2006 my wife and I were walking by Wolf/Ritz camera. We stopped to look in and one of the employees excitedly expressed a rebate deal they had going on with the Epson R340 printers.
I was not interested until they GUARANTEED me that this is a legitimate rebate and stated that they would print the rebate forms for me. I finally agreed to purchase 3 of these printers, one for myself and the other two for Christmas gifts.
The rebate when printed comes out on one page yet there are two separate rebates on this page. Each rebate is for $50 which means I would end up with a total of $100 for each printer.
I followed the rebate rules perfectly. Each printer went to a separate address which qualifies each printer for the rebates. However, we only received a $50 rebater per printer. After many conversations with the store manager, the customer service manager at one of the Wolf Camera offices and hours of my time I got no where.
They continue to tell me this was a mistake and that only $50 per printer is allowed. I have the original and copies of the rebate forms and receipts. I asked them how can this be a mistake when they printed out the rebates for me, they verified that the two rebates on each page equate to $100 total per printer.
They then changed their story and said that was only if a camera was purchased. Then after I showed them that was for a separate rebate because the rebate that required a camera purchase does not come anywhere near to matching the rebate document that I have, they then changed their story again and said that now the rebate should not have printed two rebates on one page.
I talked to many different Wolf Camera managers and supervisors only to receive many different stories and excuses. I have given them ample time to do the right thing. I an now filing a report with the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission and State Attorney.
Gene
Douglasville, Georgia
U.S.A.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Ben
Brooklyn Center,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
Confused employees? Maybe..
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, June 23, 2008
Ex-employee here.
While I don't completely understand the second to last paragraph, I can offer this advice for anyone else who comes across this problem:
I worked at Ritz for two years. Every printer rebate required the following:
1) A camera purchase, you can even get a printer with a Disney camera for 20 bucks.
1a) With most rebates, you can buy one of every separate printer model with a single printer.
2) One type of printer per model per household. You can't have two Epson R280's per house.
3) At some times of the year, a dSLR sale come with a no rebates attached free out the door printer.
If they can in fact told you that the printer was free but did not mention the camera purchase, you have a problem and should contact the authorities mentioned.
Good luck
Ben
Brooklyn Center,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
Confused employees? Maybe..
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, June 23, 2008
Ex-employee here.
While I don't completely understand the second to last paragraph, I can offer this advice for anyone else who comes across this problem:
I worked at Ritz for two years. Every printer rebate required the following:
1) A camera purchase, you can even get a printer with a Disney camera for 20 bucks.
1a) With most rebates, you can buy one of every separate printer model with a single printer.
2) One type of printer per model per household. You can't have two Epson R280's per house.
3) At some times of the year, a dSLR sale come with a no rebates attached free out the door printer.
If they can in fact told you that the printer was free but did not mention the camera purchase, you have a problem and should contact the authorities mentioned.
Good luck
Ben
Brooklyn Center,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
Confused employees? Maybe..
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, June 23, 2008
Ex-employee here.
While I don't completely understand the second to last paragraph, I can offer this advice for anyone else who comes across this problem:
I worked at Ritz for two years. Every printer rebate required the following:
1) A camera purchase, you can even get a printer with a Disney camera for 20 bucks.
1a) With most rebates, you can buy one of every separate printer model with a single printer.
2) One type of printer per model per household. You can't have two Epson R280's per house.
3) At some times of the year, a dSLR sale come with a no rebates attached free out the door printer.
If they can in fact told you that the printer was free but did not mention the camera purchase, you have a problem and should contact the authorities mentioned.
Good luck
Jon
Somewhere,California,
U.S.A.
Misunderstanding or misinformed employees
#7UPDATE Employee
Thu, December 06, 2007
As a current employee of Wolf Camera I know that everything R stated about the rebate information is still accurate. Almost all printers are sold full price with two rebates that will then refund the value back to the customer. One rebate is simply for purchasing the printer and is often given by the printer manufacturer, the second rebate is conditional on purchasing a camera.
Now, if the manager and employees at that store screwed this up, I'm sorry. Rebates are constantly changing and I do not have all the information obviously with your situation. Maybe they were new, or stupid, or just misinformed. No idea. But that does not change the situation. I have been with the company for almost 3 years and my store would honestly have reacted differently to the situation. Our policy is that if you do not get the money for the rebates we would actually refund the money personally, but that is our store, manager, and district manager's policy. Each district has their own manager who can set their own rules and priorities.
I guess I just wanted to say that not all Ritz/Wolf stores are to be avoided. Certainly there are some with incompetent staff, all stores have some, but then there are some like mine with virtually no employee turnover and over 100 years of photo experience between the lot of us (6 full timers and 1 part timer). A full half of my staff are professional photographers on the side and do very well.
Gene
Douglasville,Georgia,
U.S.A.
Wolf Camera - Ritz Camera
#7Author of original report
Tue, November 20, 2007
I have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau, displayed all rebate documents given to me by the employees, filed date, time and documented phone calls with Ritz customer service and the manager of this particular store where I was intentionally deceived. All to no avail. Please read this report and be aware that Wolf Camera or Ritz Camera was in no way willing to honor their rebate that was literally guaranteed to me.
In reference to the rebuttal by a Mr. R ex employee where he stated, "Systematically screwing people out of rebates just doesn't fit that philosophy. You claim 'this happened to many'... yet... yours is the only complaint I see", here is the FACT: I was a customer and I was intentionally systematically screwed out of my rebate. You may not see any other reports because unfortunately the majority of people do not take the time to file these reports. This is a time consuming process.
In addition to the rebuttal where Mr. R ex employee stated, "Here is where your story goes awry and your confusion comes in... ", well Mr. R believe me when I say as a FACT there is no 'awryness' nor is there any 'confusion' in any portion of my filed report. I followed every detailed instruction and verified multiple times exactly what the rebate would encompass. In fact the employee there asked how many times was I going to ask the same question because he could see that I was verifying each specific word in the rebate.
Another FACT, I was lied to and $150 was literally stolen from me by Wolf Camera Ritz Camera. Even the store manager agreed that something should be done about this because he had other customers coming into the store to complain about not receiving their rebates. With that being said Mr. R ex employee the only awryness and confusion is coming from your attempt to mislead any and all consumers reading this report.
Final Fact, Wolf Camera Ritz camera is NOT a good store to do business with. I run my own retail business and have never and will never mislead a single customer in an attempt to gain a dollar as Wolf Camera Ritz Camera has done to their customers.
R
Spring Hill,Tennessee,
U.S.A.
This is all a misunderstanding
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Wed, November 14, 2007
Dear Gene:
I am a recent ex-employee of Wolf/Ritz Camera.
I can't speak for what you were told or what you understood, but I can tell you what the situation really is.
#1 As an employee of Wolf, I RARELY had to deal with rebate issues, and when they came up, it was usually because the customer didn't understand something, missed the deadline or didn't keep the necessary documentation. Wolf/Ritz main focus in life is building life long relationships with camera buyers. Systematically screwing people out of rebates just doesn't fit that philosophy. You claim "this happened to many"... yet... yours is the only complaint I see.
#2 Wolf/Ritz has offered rebates on many different model printers over the last two years... most of the time yielding a free or almost free printer. The deal is almost always the same... there is a $50 rebate for buying the printer and a $50 rebate for buying the printer with a camera. Since they are a camera store, it makes sense for them to tie this two their core business.
Here is where your story goes awry and your confusion comes in... those rebates are printed separately at the store, two to a page. In other words, when the employee prints a rebate page, it has two copies of the same rebate. You will get copies of the two rebates from two different pages... I know... I have cut a million of them. You will not get one page with both rebates on it. Since you bought three printers, it is possible the employee gave you uncut sheets for the rebates and you assumed it was one sheet per printer.
If you search Wolf Camera and/or Ritz Camera on this site, you will find very few rebate complaints... in fact, you find few complaints of any type. Now search Best Buy or Tiger Direct...
Wolf/Ritz is a good company to do busness with.