Complaint Review: Hewlett Packard - Mesa Arizona

I had heard from several friends that HP had denied their rebates over the years and no matter how much paper they sent back and forth - it never materialized. I just bought a HP at Fryes in Burbank, CA. $700 before tax and an advertised $90.00 rebate which made it the most competitivity priced computer on the shelf in its class. This is how they work. There were others on sale - same class - with $20,$30 and $50.00 instant discounts that whould now have been cheaper. I chose the $90.00 rebate option - forgetting that I had heard HP is a very dishonest company. Do yourself a favor. I forgot the Golden Rebate Rule--If you buy the one with the highest rebate - don't count on it. So any rebate you get is a bonus. Anyway - two months later I get a very poorly written letter denying my rebate. They say that I didn't send in the proper serial for a notebook computer. The company doesn't even know their own model and serial numners. I bought a a1330n. Which is a desktop model. But why should they know this - they only made it right? I knew there was going to be a problem way before I submitted - their form asks for a serial number that is longer than the serial number of the product. They ask for a 7 digit - when the serial is only 6, etc. So I was already waiting for the first reject. I'll call Frye's about it and make them cough it up. $90 buys a lot of songs on Itunes.

To John at Anytown USA and an HP Employee: Based on the fee scheduled you described, the third party fullfillment house is financially incented to deny rebate submissions. This denial generates resubmissions, telephone disputes, and additional rebuttals for which the third party fullfillment house receives additional payments from HP. You can be darn sure the fullfillment house employees are instructed my their management to reject initial submission whenever possible. HP clearly disassociates itself from the rebate process and this is simply poor customer service. Suggestion to Ripped Off Customers: Make 10 additional copies of your resubmission, stuff 10 envelopes, and drop one in the mail once a week. Per John the HP employee, HP will incur a fee for each. Maybe that will take the profit out of the printer. Eventually, HP management will take notice. Your third party fullfillment house is doing HP a disservice. Dump them. Thanks.

John, thank you for taking the time to respond to my complaint. I do not believe it costs $100 to mail me rejection slips since HP employees are already paid to process rebates whether I send them in or not. I can't mail in the "missing items" because I already mailed them in initially and no longer have them in my possession. For this reason, I haven't tried to call and complain because I'm hearing from other people that it won't do anygood, and that I will never receive the rebates no matter what I do. I hope I am mistaken and that HP is rebating other people; however, I am the customer and the first rule of customer service is (no matter how a company may dislike it) that the customer is always right. In the age of email, message boards, blogs etc..., I think it is unwise for a company to find a reason not to rebate a customer. This is my opinion. Anyway, John, I appreciate your comments.

(Bought daughter HP printer and laptop for Texas A & M... sent all required bar codes, sales slips, and forms Fry's provided after purchase... HP refused to pay both $50 rebates... one for each item. Please spread the word to your college students.)

Hp rebates are anything but a fraud. I am currently an HP employee and know exactly how these rebates work. Our intentions are to pay every rebate that is submitted to our company. In fact, it cost our company more money to deny a rebate then to honor a rebate. How? You see, our rebates are handled by a fulfillment house we are charged for the initial keying of the mail. If a customer's submission is denied, we are then charged a fee when the fulfillment house send out a Non compliance letter to the customer stating the error. If the customer calls in to inquire about the rebate and dispute the matter, we are charged per call that the customer places to the fulfillment house. Finally, every time the customer resubmits missing information we are charged for the re-keying of the mail. So you see, there is absolutely no reason for us to intentionally want to deny a rebate if we recv all the correct information the first time. What Suzanne failed to mention was that she was sent a notice in which she is given the option to resubmit her serial number and copy of sales recpt to recv her rebate. (I KNOW SEARCHED OUR DATABASE) When we recv an incomplete submission here at our rebate center we try our best to contact the customer (usually) via mail requesting the missing information. YOU MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN TO INCLUDE SOMETHING. NO one is perfect and we understand that that is why we offer you an option to resubmit the missing information.

Some people have criticised the fact that we have a formal resubmit department. This criticism has nothing to it we want to pay your rebate that is why we have a resubmit dept you know we could just say, if you don't get it right the first time then your out of luck but we are not that type of company.

All in all my company will bend over backwards to pay a rebate submission. Heck, we know what on the line, OUR REPUTATION.