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StrictI recently made quite a few purchases at Office Depot after seeing a sales ad of theirs offering some very good prices after completing mail-in rebates. Although most of these rebates allow up to a month (or more) to send in the rebates, one of them had a time period of only two weeks, which I overlooked.
The rest of them I sent in were rejected after they claimed that I made the purchases outside of the allowed timeframe. Luckily, I kept photocopies of the rebate forms, sales receipts, and UPC codes. I spoke with their phone reps who had me re-fax the receipts (only one was to a toll-free number; I had to pay for the other calls). I now am supposedly going to receive the rebates in another “4 to 6 weeks”. If I hadn’t been so diligent in keeping photocopies of everything, I’m sure I would have had no recourse when they falsely rejected my rebate.
When these companies offer great prices on stuff “after mail-in rebate”, it is in their interest to make the process as difficult as possible. They count on a certain percentage of purchasers failing to meet the rebate requirements, and when they do make a mistake, they make it difficult for you to dispute it. So, be sure to:
- Read all rebate terms and conditions and follow them to the letter. You will not be given any leeway if you miss the postmark deadline, send a photocopy when they ask for an original, etc. Remember, Office Depot and others want you to screw up and give them a reason to keep your money.
- Keep photocopies of all rebate forms you submit (mail-in form, receipt, UPC codes, etc.).
- Write down when you mailed them in.
- Record the time, date, and name of anyone you speak with in regards to the rebate (such as disputing their rejection).
- Keep all records regarding pending rebates in one place, and as you receive the checks in the mail, check them against your records.
- Always follow-up on rebates when you don’t receive them in the time specified.
All rebate forms have a phone number you can call with problems. You will usually be placed on hold for quite a while (again, to try to get you to give up) but eventually you will speak with someone about your problem. Remember, Office Depot and others want to make it so difficult to get your money back that you give up and say “forget it, it’s not worth the ten bucks to go through the hassle.” Don’t let them get away with stealing your money!
March 18th, 2005 at 4:09 pm
I too was a sucker for these great ads that showed desktop(E-MACHINES) at incredible low prices at the La Mesa , CA Office Depot Store. But only to succumb to their postcard scam. I received a postcard from the rebate service center, saying that I did not include one original UPC/ or Original receip. Which is bull, because I double checked evreything and all my UPCs were cut from my box and originals they put on a paper I also send it to them. Office Depot should be responsible for customer’s rebate, when they are aware of the consumer’s problems taking place with their rebate source, And for Office Depot not to inform the consumer at the time of the problems going on with their rebate source is negligent and leaving them responsible, because they are printing the rebate receipt from their stores. thank you Robert R. Martinez
March 19th, 2005 at 12:15 am
I bought a chair from Office Depot on 12/30/05. It offered a $40 rebate. Purchases from 12/25/04 thru 01/01/05. Postmarked by 01/15/05 and received by 01/22/15. I made photocopies of my rebate. (I used to work for Best Buy in customer service, so I knew the importance of keeping records!)My mom bought the same chair from Office Max. Her rebate was for $30. She received hers weeks ago. I still haven’t received mine. My aunt bought the same chair the same time as me from Office Depot. She hasn’t gotten hers yet, either. On the website, both of ours show status as: "qualified. being processed." This is what it has said every time I’ve checked. I feel I’ve been more than patient. I sent an email tonight. Curious to see if I’ll get a response. If not, guess I’ll have to call. At least it’s a toll free #. I am a little wary after seeing this posting, though. Sure hope I get the money. The rebate was the only reason I bought the chair. Otherwise I would have gotten a cheaper chair–it’s for my 8 year old son! He certainly doesn’t need an $80 chair!!!
March 21st, 2005 at 3:47 pm
Mine is even worse, I just called them because it has been about 6 months since my purchase and they tell me that they never received it. I could understand one of my envelopes that I’ve sent get lost in the mail but not three, and that’s how many I’ve sent. Two were to the same address but I put them in two different envelopes and the third was to a totally different address all together. What are the chances that the UPS lost off three of them and they just happened to be my rebate forms??????? I made copies of all the upcs, rebate form, and receipts and we’ll see what excuse they’ll give me.
March 28th, 2005 at 1:08 pm
I too have been cheated out of my rebate for computer pkg. I saw among all of the receipts, and confusing instructions, the final date 4/2…I missed the one to Office Depot that only gave me days to send. I too think this is designed to cause mistates, to avoid paying. I was late by a couple of days, but they also lied and said I didn’t include documentation and upc codes…..I did, and have the copies to prove. When I spoke to their rep (who would not budge}I said I’m not giving up, and am sending a letter to the state consumer services dept. (along with copies of this web page.} I spent a lot of money in their store (they left me on hold), and I will not shop there anymore.
April 12th, 2005 at 2:29 pm
I had a similar experience with a mail in rebate at Best Buy through Compaq a few years back. I filed a claim against Compaq in small claims court. The case was settled out of court, and Compaq made good on the offer by giving me not only the rebate amount, but also the costs I incurred by having to file the claim.
April 12th, 2005 at 2:51 pm
Update from Granny in Vero
I have received notice from Office Depot that they have reconsidered and approved my rebate. Their rebate website indicates it has now been approved. When I was disapproved, I contacted the FL Consumers Service, State attorney general, and the BBB. I also received a call from the store, stating that the manager could have arranged payment. When I called the store, I was put on indefinite hold, and when I called the rebate center, they disconnected.
April 14th, 2005 at 9:00 am
In early January I purchased the E-Machiene bundle offering a $300 total rebate. as of april 13, I have received
2 $49.95 checks. These folks still owe me $200. I have call the rebate center and they tell me that I failed to send them a copy of the origional sales slip.
I now have done that, so it’s a waiting game. I am sure that I sent the sales slip in the first time.
April 15th, 2005 at 8:24 am
I contacted Office Depot about offering FREE merchandise that didn’t ring out as free, even with the rebate. It only cost about a dime in the end, but it is still false advertising. I contacted them and received a credit that MORE than covered the difference, the store mgr and the district mgr both contacted me to see if I was satisfied. I still haven’t rec’d the rebates, but they are processed by an independent company so my gripe with Office Depot has been resolved. Will shop with them again, but agree that the rebate company is not very good.
April 15th, 2005 at 10:01 am
Thanks for the comments everyone, my original post was just kinda blowing off steam but it definitely looks like I’m not alone!
To Deb Harrington: I disagree that Office Depot is not responsible for the poor service of their rebate company. Office Depot is the one advertising the rebates, and they should either ensure that any company performing services for them takes care of their customers, or else look for a new processing company.
I know that I have stopped shopping at Office Depot as a result of all this. There’s one right downstairs from where I work but I’d rather drive out of my way than give them my business.
April 15th, 2005 at 10:53 am
Granny in Vero…this is how my state replied to my complaint"
The Florida Attorney General’s Office is in receipt of your email
regarding your concerns with Office Depot. Attorney General Crist asked
that we respond.
Complaints are used to develop information about patterns of business
activity which might indicate the need for formal investigation or legal
action by our office. We will keep your correspondence for future
reference. If a pattern is discovered, what originated as a private
dispute between buyer and seller may become a matter of broad public
interest and thus warrant the Attorney General?s intervention under the
state?s consumer protection laws.
The FTC has taken several actions against companies involving
rebate-related complaints. The FTC’s website provides information about
rebate processes and provides further contact information:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/rebatealrt.htm
Other irate rebaters may find this helpful.
April 24th, 2005 at 10:09 am
I too am a victim of the rebate scam. We’ve had problems in the past but found that Office Depot is absolutely the worst that we’ve had to deal with.
They will claim that the rebate center (in Office Depot’s case ExpressGroup is a separate company). Folks as we all know it this is BS. OfficeDepot can control this if they wanted to. They ARE responsible and should be held accountable.
Our story is quite similar to everyone else’s experience but will say this:
We took the time to do everything in the beginning absolutely ‘perfectly’ in our original mailing. We even sent the mailings by certified mail to ensure we had a record of when they’d (ExpressGroup) received them.
About 2 months later after discovering a month and half later that one of our rebates ( in the amount of $150)had been posted ‘rejected’ on their website we began a series of phone calls and emails. After many phone calls to both ExpressGroup and OfficeDepot we finally got E-Group to admit they had supposedly made an error (ahem yeah right!)in posting our rebate request to another ‘expired rebate offer’. I won’t post all the details here since it would take too long but caught ExpressGroup in lying to me twice. In the end we were ‘required’ to mail in copies of everything once again (we fortunately made copies of everything).
Our orinal mail in claim for the $150 was back in late Nov’04 and to date (late April) we’ve not received our rebate but at least now see their site showing that rebate is now being processed. Yet I remain very angry to have gone through this ordeal.
Had we not demanded they process our rebate claim I can say we’d never have received it. I will not shoot myself in the foot but can’t imagine ever buying anything from Office Depot again after the way they treated us on this issue. It was really quite outragious.
Seems someone has got to be able to uncover this for what it is - - CONSUMER FRAUD; and hope that one day some consumer advocacy group or law firm will one day put a stop to it. If it is a law firm I frankly hope they make millions off retailers like Office Depot; maybe even better yet a federal DA office might find a way to put some of the management in jail for milking consumers these however many years they’ve been ripping people off.
April 24th, 2005 at 3:14 pm
Thanks for your post T-Bone. As to someone doing something about it, I’m not gonna hold my breath, but I AM going to vote with my wallet.
Best Buy has recently announced that they will phase out ALL mail-in rebates. They will offer their customers savings via other means, such as instant rebates at the cashier. I will certainly go to Best Buy whenever possible if they actually follow through on this plan.
April 25th, 2005 at 8:17 am
I bought an HP printer with $50 rebate about mid Sept 2004 from OfficeMAx while visiting in concord CA and mailed all "required" copies of receipts and whatever, well in time. After about eight weeks a card from OfficeMax was to my home address about Oct 30, 2004 that there were "new requirements" and I needed to fill out a "new" card and send it back to be received before NOV 1st, 2004. Basically, OfficeMax had changed the goal posts for the rebate, I could not meet the deadline and was thus ripped off. My new year resolution, don’t go for rebates or buy one get one free catches ! They are basically spam !! I look for what I want, buy it if am happy with price and forget the hassle.
April 26th, 2005 at 6:30 pm
I had the same experience on the purchase of a new HP computer system.
2 rebates, one due in 45 days, the other in 20! I missed it by 2 days.
HOWEVER, after a couple of calls, I returned to the local Office Depot store where I purchased the system and spoke with two managers who had listened to and understood my issue with such a short rebate turnaround.
Thank you to JEFF and JULIE for listening and making it right! They kept me as a customer!
May 2nd, 2005 at 11:54 am
Office Depot is the worse for paying rebates. I have called over and over, finally being given another address for a second submission. called and told I would recieve a return call. Called Office depot only to get hung up on after waiting through bsuy signals. Now I get through - and to much time as past and they can do nothing about the rebate?? do not depend on Office Depot!!!!
May 13th, 2005 at 2:15 pm
I sent in 4 rebates for a pc I bought at Office Depot. 2 of the rebates were mailed to the Express Group. Trust me I was VERY careful to submit correctly and on time. I looked on their website and saw that the 49.99 one went through but the 150.00 one didn’t show up. I emailed them to inquire about it before the 12 weeks were up and the rep said that it had qualified on 2-1-05. She said wait 12 weeks from that date and if you don’t see it contact us. It never showed up so I contacted them again and asked specifically about the 150 dollar rebate. The next rep said so sorry but it is not anywhere in our system and you are past the expiration date. What happened is the 1st rep had made a mistake (on purpose I imagine) and was looking at the 49.99 rebate that had qualified on 2-2-05 and made me believe the 150 one went through. Well of course I protested since they are the ones who caused me to miss the exp date. The same rep said they would accept a resubmission but must call 1-800 # for further instructions. I got "disconnected" and called back. Had to go over it again with another rep who told me they couldn’t do anything at that number as they had no authority once the expiration date passsed. She said the rep must have got approval from a supervisor. So I emailed the rep again and she said sorry… can’t help you even though she said she could.
My next step is to send my husband to Office Depot to see if the manager is going to help. It won’t be pretty. We will see if they own up. If not I will not only never do rebates again with ANYONE, but I will never shop at Office Depot again and will tell everyone I know not to shop there. Also the business I work at sometimes buys from them but not if I have any say. I like what the person above said about Best Buy giving you the rebate at the register. I will possibly shop from them instead.
I predict you will start to see them suffer from this in the long run.
May 26th, 2005 at 2:07 am
I’m a businesswoman and a consumer so I see both angles. I spent numerous dollars on technology items (often at Office Depot since I found them to be the best customer service wise) and dealt with my fair share of rebates.
I know the business purpose of rebates is to jack up one quarter’s financial earnings, with payout on the next quarter (hence the long delay) There is also "fiscal accounting" benefits too. The purpose is not, and never has been, to scam customer. It’s just plain common sense folks. In retail SERVICE industries, you want to RETAIN customers not rip them off for a couple hundred bucks. This isn’t naivity talking. It is basic business survival. Only an company composed of idiots would sacrifice millions over comparative pennies.
Now as a consumer, I’ve had my issues to. Early on I made the mistake of not paying enough attention and lost out by not sending in on time or sending a copy when I should have sent the original. Sure I was mad but it was my own fault in those cases.
LESSON 1: Read and take your time. If the money is important to you, then 10 extra minutes is not that much to ask.
I’ve sent in rebates and been told that they were lost and I had to resubmit. If I was Scully or Mulder I would say that is ‘fishy’ but then I know of X-mas cards I sent that get lost too.
LESSON 2: Make copies of everything and for high dollar ($100 or more) spend the extra 50 cents to get it certified so you have you signature. Again, if receiving the money is important to you then you’ll make the effor to receive it.
With those lessons in practices I can’t recall a single rebate issue I have had with Office Depot (or any other company for that matter) in the last 3 years=a span of at least 20 different rebates for easily $900 or more.
Sure, it’s not the easiest process in the world but when is anything that’s worthwhile simple and easy? I think too many people get caught up in the "I’m owed this mentality" like they have a god given right to get a dirt cheap price on what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. That’s not how life works. Good things come along but it is YOUR responsibility to keep an eye out for it and it’s YOUR responsibility to invest the little extra time and the little extra effort it takes to capitalize.
To me it just comes down to common sense.
June 3rd, 2005 at 1:18 pm
I puchased a flash drive from Office Depot based on their ad which stated $20 off after rebates– $10 from the manufacturer & $10 from Home Depot. When I mailed in the rebate slips, both called for the original UPS packaging. I sent the original to the manufactuer & an adhesive bar code from the package to Office Depot hoping that the would accept it. They rejected it because it was not the original. I then sent them the following response:
"The Office Depot ad in the circular, & at the store where I purchased it, stated that the Cruzer flash card is $20 off after rebates–$10 from manufacturer & $10 from Office Depot. Both rebate slips called for the original ups code–I sent the original to the manufacturer and included what I thought was the Office Depot sticker ups (adhesive sticker ups coded). I feel that advertising $20 off & requiring two "original ups codes" makes this impossible, & therefore is false advertising on your part. I will never shop at Office Depot again!!!"
Talk about scams!!!
June 5th, 2005 at 6:42 am
Same old stuff. I bought an HP Pavilion Desktop after Office Depot offered $150 rebate. After 4 months… nothing. I pulled up their WEB site only to learn that my rebate claim was rejected because documents were "missing". No documents were missing, they got the UPC, the sales receipt and the copy of the Rebagte receipt. Evidently this is an Office Deport scam that is impacting thousands of their customers.
June 8th, 2005 at 9:26 am
Status of Office Depot Rebate Complaint:
Email From Office Depot:
Thank you for contacting Office Depot regarding the rebates in question. I first wanted to apologize for the inconvenience you have described, for that is not the intention of Office Depot, or The Express Group. We at Office Depot truly value your business and never intend to inconvenience a valuable customer like yourself in any way.
I want to assist you, by researching the required information to process and forward this rebate to you. Could you please respond directly to me with your address, contact information, and day time phone number. I am checking with the rebate center documents department, and if you could please send me via fax or email (561)218-4972 a copy of your receipt, and any rebate information pertaining to this offer. When you send this information via fax please reference report (560090A) to expedite this process.
I look forward to your response in the near future to correct the situation at hand. Thank you for choosing Office Depot.
Sincerely,
Brian M. Bartlett
Executive Customer Relations
Office Depot Inc.
bbartlett@officedepot.com
"Taking care of business"
My Response:
Thanks for responding to my concerns, regarding the Sandisk Cruzer rebate. At the time of purchase, the sales person in the Livonia, Michigan store presented me with two rebate slips (one from the manufacturer (Sandisk) & the other from Office Depot (The Express Group). He was puzzled that both required the original upc code, since the ad promised $20 off ($10 each from Sandisk & Office Depot). To resolve this discrepancy he recommended that I send the Original ups code to Sandisk, & a copy of the upc code to Office Depot.
When I opened the packaging, I noticed there was an adhesive bar code inside (in addition to the ups code), and I assumed that it was included in the package to satisfy the Express Group rebate requirements, and so I sent this in with the rebate.. Obviously it was not, because it was rejected by the Express Group because I did not send the original upc code.
My main issue is not so much the $10, but the ethics of advertising $20 off on an item that was impossible to redeem because of the impossibility of sending two original upc codes.
Since this was a very small rebate, I did not keep a copy of my sales receipt –both Sandisk & The Express Group have them. I have attached the correspondence from Sandisk & The Express group for your records
June 15th, 2005 at 11:28 pm
I am in same situation, it seems this happens more often than not. I am owed, yes Ashlyn, owed $300 from VOOM , rebate advertised by Brandsmart. I believe that when I purchase a product, in my case a $3000 50′ HDTV, advertised as $2700 with rebate, bransmart and voom are both responsible and should be help accountable for the deals they make with their customers. I signed a contract stating that if I signed up for horrible 6 months voom satellite service I would received the $300 within 6 to 8 weeks. Well they had no errors or difficulties sending me my monthly bills, which were paid right on time. However, they have not kept their end of the bargain. Its been 6 months, no mistakes in submission, no problems with receipts, just plainly processing on their web site. The last I got from voom after calling for the past months and getting the usual its being processed , is that my submission was never in the system and I must have been calling some other place else since they have no records of my phone calls, jajaja. Now that is something. So now my submission is being processed again shows as if it was received last week and the processing time takes 6 to 8 weeks. What do you think about that, call brandsmart they say to call voom, call voom they say call brandsmart. So now all I can do, and will do, is file complaints with any one that will take it and their mother in order to get the word out, I now these voom rebates where offered for several months, therefore I should not be the only one in this boat. Class action suit, small claims court, BBB, FTC, hey however will listen ABC, CBS, heck CNN, but I will get my rebate. It is the consumers legal right to receive what is promised, now that is common sense.
June 22nd, 2005 at 11:42 pm
Ashlyn, are you even reading people’s posts? We follow the instructions to the letter, and still Office Depot and The Express Group constantly find ways to deny legitimate claims or stall until it’s too late to seek recourse. There is obviously a pattern of stonewalling and foot-dragging here. And regardless of whether they use a third party processing firm, it is Office Depot’s responsibility and no one else’s to make sure their customers are taken care of.
July 2nd, 2005 at 2:00 pm
I was rejected for a mailin rebate of $100.00 for an HP Officejet all-in-one. I tryed to call the 800 number 5 times and received a message call volumn was too high, call back later abd disconnected.
I called the local sonoma county store where I purchased the item and they refunded the rebate for me. Kudos to them but I will probably not ever purchase a rebate item at office depot again.
July 2nd, 2005 at 2:02 pm
You do have recourse when mail-in rebates are fradulantly rejected!
File a complaint with the postal service. This is frad through the mail!
August 23rd, 2005 at 2:20 am
I also purchased the bndle from Office Depot and sent in both proofs of purchase, my rebate was rejected, they said I only sent in one. I know I sent in both, I made sure of it. There was also a rebate from the manufacturer I got both of those with no problem. I purchased on 7-1-05 and I faxed and faxed and faxed the other one in but they said that they did not get it. So I mailed it in and I have not heard anything from them yet.
August 23rd, 2005 at 5:20 pm
I was also take by the Office Depot/HP scam. I called the number because I was 2 days late and they said it was okay, they have a grace period. Called to follow up and they said that it was rejected because of post mark. It cost me $150 on a product that was not worth it. In addition the HP 2550L printer I purchased was an absolute bust. I’ve already paid for it two times over in the price of toner and drums. Do not purchase this item!!!
August 30th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
My friends and I have rebates from office depot not received. After several months when we called the rebate center, the reps said the rebate checks had been issured. When we asked if they could be re-issured since we had never received them. The reps said it were out of the 90 days re-issure time limit and couldn’t be re-issured. They are wasting your time and make a lot of trouble to you. It’s not worthy to buy rebate deals from Office Depot. Wait for deals from other sellers.
August 30th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
To S. Webber:
I got the similar problem too. This doesn’t make sense. It sounds like "I borrowed your money and haven’t given it back to you in 90 days, so I don’t need to return the money any more". I’m not sure if there’s any way to solve this problem.
September 6th, 2005 at 4:26 pm
Same old story. I bought a cell phone last year which came with 3 rebates. 2 came back but one didn’t, the $150 biggest one. A few months ago I called them and the rep said oh we couldn’t find your record because I ported my old number to this new cell phone. The rep said he would resubmit the rebate for me. A few month later the online status still said resubmit and I email them again. They said 60 days past and my rebate was void!
Yesterday I went to the local Office Depot where I bought the phone and confronted with the asst. manage with every single piece of evidence, original box and packing, receive, photo copy of all the rebate forms with clearly all the information there including both new and ported phone numbers.
The manage questioned me why it told me so long to complain. I said is that my fault of being nice? Giving you guys too much time to work it out? He was pretty much speechless after all. He said he will calll me back. Will see.
October 1st, 2005 at 12:16 pm
Thanks so much for all the comments everyone has posted—you helped me take IMMEDIATE and DECISIVE action when I did not receive my $40 rebate as promised. Four days after the time limit for receiving the rebate expired, I went online to the Office Depot rebate page, only to find that the SKU number and manufacturer number and model number for my product were not listed. The message said simply, "Sorry—no such rebate."
So I immediately called the Home Depot store where I purchased the item, asked to speak to the manager, and described my problem. She asked for my name and the manufacturer and the date of purchase, and somehow SHE was able to pull up plenty of information about my rebate—and what it said was that I needed to resubmit my claim. (Note: I submitted everything exactly as instructed, to the proper address—there was NO REASON why I should have needed to resubmit ANYTHING.)
The manager said, "Come on over and we’ll just take care of your rebate here at the store, okay?" So I’m on my way now to get my $40.
Thanks so much for warning me about the problems you have all encountered. Maybe the Office Depot manager heard in my voice that I MEAN BUSINESS (and I do—my next call would have been to the newspaper, and I would not have given up until a story appeared on this issue). Or maybe the store is really trying to address this issue. Who knows? I doubt that I will ever buy another product there based on the promised rebate, though.
October 3rd, 2005 at 6:47 pm
I have tried to search for "rebate agencies on epinions dot com. I could not find a category. Is there a place where we could tell each other about the companies that follow thorough with the MIRs and companies that dont? I wish I had read about the ordeals that people have had with "expressgroup" earlier. I am facing problems with this company and also "rebateshq.com". Is there no way to hold these people accountable?
October 12th, 2005 at 4:08 pm
To continue my story…
It turns out the asst. manager David never called me back. Two weeks later I went to the store again and they had another asst. manager Susan. Not to mention I had to talk through a couple persons, explaining the situation again and again before I got to Susan. I got to the point straight asked Susan what she could do. She said she couldn not do anything. I asked her why you wasting my time and kept on asking me questions if you could not do anything. She asked me leave her store because I had a bad attitude.
Well I just downloaded a small claim petition. Will meet them in court.
November 17th, 2005 at 9:46 pm
Office Depot Rebate Scam
On June 26, 2005 I purchased a Toshiba laptop from OD Torrance CA store in response to a newspaper ad of that morning, which promised a $250.00 mail-in rebate. I paid particular attention to complying with ALL conditions of the rebate terma as communicated by OD to me in the newspaper ad as well as the rebate slip which was handed to me with the cashier receipt. The rebate instructions included the statement: "If you have not received your rebate after 12 weeks of mailing, please visit http://www.officedepot.com/...".
After the elapse of 12 weeks, I followed up with the rebate center. They then advised me, by email, that I am not qualified to receive the rebate (their terminology) because I have not responded within the 14 days they have now for the first time advised as their requirement, to a purported email message they now claimed they have sent to me back in July of 2005, "to verify your address". They referenced "their internal guidelines" which would indicate this is a systematic scam and not a low level clerical error. They never claimed that my application was incomplete or late, after they found out from me that I had certified mail receipts and copies of the documents submitted.
I have made several more attempts, all inwriting, to the "Express Group" to point out that this retroactively introduced condition amounts to a deceptive practice. They never made any claim in this correspondence, that I did not follow their advertised procedures with my rebate claim, merely that I did not answer their purported communication within 14 days, back in July, when they discouraged me from following up the rebate application until late September, when the 12 weeks have expired.
Incidentally my email works fine, my email address has not changed in 5 years, my residence address shown on the rebate application has been the same for almost 40 years, the printed address sticker I used has my correct Zip and Zip+4 on it. This "verifying the address" is a scam they thought up for those rebate applicants who had all bases covered and documents to prove it.
I have written a certified, return receipt letter to Mr. Steve Odland, CEO of Office Depot Inc. at 2200 Old Germantown Road, Delray Beach, FL 33445, the main office of OD as advertised on their web site. It was returned to me signed for receipt on November 2, 2005. I attached copies of relevant documents. Mr. Odland must be busy thinking up new scams, because neither he nor any of his numerous assistants have bothered to answer or come up with any other excuses.
I have contacted the Federal Trade Commission through their web site and have provided the full details of this scam. They have accepted my complaint and advised me, that "if a company decides to offer a rebate or coupon plan, it must fully disclose the material terms and conditions of the offer and must provide the promised rebate. If a company systematically fails to do so, it may be engaging in deceptive or unfair practices in violation of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act".
Obviously the FTC will not pursue individual small scams. But they will pursue systematic fraudsters if they receive sufficient number of complaints to indicate that a racket is going on.
Let everyone who has been ripped off by the rebate scam artists, submit well documented complaints to the FTC as well as to your State Attorney General and we will yet see these crooks sent to where they belong.
November 19th, 2005 at 8:30 pm
I’ve also been scammed. I bought stuff from buy.com and ExpressGroup was their rebate company. After 6 months of nothing, I finally called up EG. Hilarious how EG actually gave me this excuse: that buy.com was not on their list of valid sellers! And shut me off.
And I also want to say I completely disagree with Ashlyn in St Pete. Fiscal quarter my ass. If the purpose of these companies was NOT to scam customers, then why is getting a rebate so tough? So rigid? Why is the rebate procedure still set in stone age? With today’s internet access, we are still forced to do things like mail-in (lost mail excuse lol), CUT upc codes (when filling in a serial# online will do), and getting rejected with no repeal when the fact that we bought the product legit is STARING IN THEIR FACES.
I’ve no idea what kind of businesswoman you are, Ashlyn, but I’m glad I wasn’t trained at your school.
November 29th, 2005 at 7:23 am
Well if people actually followed the process than rebates would be paid in full.
December 2nd, 2005 at 2:16 pm
>Well if people actually followed the process than rebates would be paid in full.
I have done some rebates with office depot in the last two years. The above comments are 90% true. The actual problem may be with the company that processes the rebate, not office depot, although it is related.
One example for the 10%: A rebate for a chair. I was given a rebate receipt, and I used it for the rebate. The rebate was rejected saying "missing copy og original receipt". After I provided a copy of the original receipt, I was told UPC was missing. That was not right because I did submit the UPC. That caused a long fight. I got the rebate finally.
My suggestion:
1. Ignore rebates under $10. It does not worth the time if anything goes wrong.
2. Keep copies of all submissions and review them once a while.
3. Keep pursuing if anything goes wrong.
4. If that bothers, do not do rebates ;-)
December 27th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
THIS IS THE BIGGEST CROCK OF SHIT..OFFICE DEPOT IS A THIEF.People go to jail where Im from for stealing
January 3rd, 2006 at 3:41 pm
I cannot imagine why Office Depot and others have not been slapped with a class action suit by now. The rebates are a scam. My latest is for a Toshiba laptop rebate for $ 250 broken into 2 separate rebates of $ 150 and $ 100. I mailed both of them to Las Vegas on September 8, 2005. I received a check for $ 150 on December 15, 2005. I then sent an email on December 18, 2005 requesting an update on the missing $ 100. NO REPLY. Nada! So today, after a long telephone wait I spoke to Ms. Cassandra who told me that they never received the rebate request and that it was probably lost by the United States Post Office! Gee, poor USPS. Of course, she also informed me not to bother re-submitting the rebate request because it had expired on October 8, 2005. She really had problems understanding that the 12 week process time and waiting period that is stated in the rebate offer makes re-submitting any request impossible! Now should I write to head thief Mr. Steve Odland at Office Depot or what? I really don’t have the patience to start with the FTC and State consumer guys, so doesn’t anyone know an agressive and hungry attorney?
January 4th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
have submitted two rebate to office depot each of $60 for same purchase because it had two rebate promotion for purchase of LCD monitor.
I mailed each separately with all document like UPC bar code, receipt etc. with double checking it’s in place.
When I haven’t got any reply from them, I called them. What they mentioned that I they got the rebate forms with but no UPC bar code and receipt.
When I insisted that , I double checked before mailing, they asked me to resubmit everything and cut the phone saying thank you sir, have a nice day.
January 6th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
I agree with Raymond. OD is the most dishonest company there is when it comes to honoring rebates and customer service. I wish I could sue their theiving asses off…
February 6th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
office depot has changed rebate clearing houses now. their rebates are now finally being processed by a reputable rebate company that actually knows what theyre doing.
its too bad they made this decision after many years of bad publicity. i predict office depots rebate problems are a thing of the past.
February 9th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
I bought an HP computer from Office Depot the day after Thanksgiving 2005. It was advertised "$50 HP rebate and $150 Office Depot rebate". Both companies wanted the original UPC symbol. I sent the original to HP, and the cash register receipt, description of the product from the box side, serial number and model number, and UPC NUMBER to Office Depot. Rebate denied! I called and emailed OD and their response was not that I hadn’t proven I had purchased the computer from them, but that I hadn’t complied with the "terms of the rebate policy" by not sending them the UPC. In later correspondence, they said I could send a copy. If that was in their original request, I would have made a copy. Bottom line: don’t trust rebate offers ESPECIALLY if made by Office Depot!
February 10th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Several people have gotten caught out with dual-rebates both requiring the original UPC.
Read the rebates BEFORE buying. If they both want the original, assume that you will only get the larger one and send them the UPC.
Check out my guide to Rebates. It’s a bit old but has some good info in it.
Prang
February 11th, 2006 at 12:04 am
Purchased COMPAQ laptpot on Dec 3/05 with 2 rebates, one fron HP and the other one from office depot. I received the $30 from HP but I am STILL WAITING for the $150 from od. Where can I contact them????? Please advise!!!!! Thank you.
Dissapointed in Seattle
February 11th, 2006 at 12:06 am
Purchased COMPAQ laptpot on Dec 3/05 with 2 rebates, one fron HP and the other one from office depot. I received the $30 from HP but I am STILL WAITING for the $150 from od. Where can I contact them????? Please advise!!!!! Thank you.
Dissapointed in Seattle
February 11th, 2006 at 12:07 am
Purchased COMPAQ laptpot on Dec 3/05 with 2 rebates, one fron HP and the other one from office depot. I received the $30 from HP but I am STILL WAITING for the $150 from od. Where can I contact them????? Please advise!!!!! Thank you.
Dissapointed in Seattle
February 13th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
http://www.expressgroup.com...
Go to this site! or call:
1-800-741-1365
All my rebates have been processed OK.
March 14th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Got a sandisk thumb drive because it had a rebate at Compusa. Rebate was for $40 but when I checked the rebate status online guess what - it said rebate was only for $20 and it said there was an error "reciept does not show valid purchase of sandisk product". I called and my rebate was approved but for only $20 not the $40. Compusa.com still has that rebate form online and its says $40 off.
March 31st, 2006 at 3:51 pm
I just got off the phone with the Office Depot rebate system. We bought a Toshiba laptop computer with a $200 rebate and a Canon printer with a $50 rebate. I mailed both rebates well within the time frame and have received the $50 rebate from Canon but the Office Depot rebate was rejected saying the postmark was too late. They tell me the postmark was 12/31/05. I mailed the rebate from my office and hadn’t even been in my office since 12/22/05 so it was mailed long before that!! I am fuming. I asked for documentation of the post mark but they can’t provide that. I am planning on filing a complaint with the BBB and sending a letter to the main office. I have been doing rebates for years and have NEVER had this problem before. Looks like it’s a common problem with Office Depot rebates.
April 14th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
Rebaters, go to this new site that I just found out about: http://rebatereportcard.com/
It’s a site to collect and rate rebate experiences. It has only recently started so there’s not a lot of info, but if everyone contributes it could become a valuable resource.
April 16th, 2006 at 10:58 pm
I am waiting a rebate from Sandisk which I sent out 17 WEEKs ago. Their web site said it was proceessing.
I will sure call them everyday.
April 21st, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Hello after reading all of your comments I decided to call the corporate office and spoke to Brian he is on my case and said he will handle my rebate problems 150 and 100 dollars for Hp DV5029us Laptop wish me luck
Corporate # is 561-438-4800
April 21st, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Corporate Office Depot 561-438-4800
April 24th, 2006 at 10:23 am
I purchased a KDS 17″ LCD monitor with a $70 Office Depot rebate on 11/28/05. I submitted all necessary rebates on time including the original UPC code from the box. I called the rebate center for the status, I was told that my rebate was lost, and I was further asked to resubmit if I had a copy of the rebate. On 02/24/06, I sent my the copy of the rebate to the following give address:
Officedepot Customer Service
Attn: Resubmit Dept
POBox 42930
MESA, AZ 85274-2930
On 04/24/06, I called again for the status of the rebates, I was told that “The offer has been closed, we are sorry, and we apologize …”
How can they do the business in this way? Any suggestion to get the rebate I deserve?
April 25th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
My husband bought a computer package from Office Depot in November. He paid over $1,000 in-store, and was supposed to get almost $500 in mail-in rebates. He sent in copies of the receipt, proof of purchases, barcodes, everything they needed. About 2 months later, both of the big rebates ($150 & $100) came back denied saying he hadn’t sent in the barcodes. The barcodes were cut off the boxes and sent to them. They finally told him (after several phone calls) to go back to the store and get them to make him a copy of the barcodes and send them back in. How much sense does that make? He does that, and after 2 more months, they’re denied again, this time saying because his purchase was not made in the store. What?! He went into the store and paid for the computer and got the receipt and all the rebate forms to mail in. How did he not buy it in the store? It’s been over 5 months and we’re still getting the runaround.
April 30th, 2006 at 11:35 pm
My experience with Office Depot was very similar to those described above. I met all the deadlines and requirements, but was told that a copy of the UPC had been omitted, and it was too late to send in another copy (the time they say one should check to see the status of the rebate is after the expiration time of the offer; hence it is impossible to correct any deficiencies, either real or contrived). I wrote to Office Depot corporate headquarters in Florida, and they promptly mailed me a check for the amount of the rebate. It was charged to "Customer Relations".
May 1st, 2006 at 6:01 pm
I ran across this blog while searching to see if a number I had just called was toll free. If anyone knows anything about 877 numbers email me at Becki0629@yahoo.com. I called this number regarding 2 mail in rebates that were declined on two cell phones i purchased MONTHS ago. When i called the number they said i failed to show proof of purchase although i sent in the upc (bar) codes off the box. This is all the rebate requested, now I am required to send in copys of my reciepts….thank god i save everything! and i of course will recieve my rebate in 4-6 weeks, although i have already waited well over 10 weeks! I am a little peeved but I am going to give it a shot anyway…once again if anyone knows about (877) 370 2599 being toll free or not please email me.
May 1st, 2006 at 8:35 pm
I received MY Office Depot rebate rejection postcard today: "…unfortunately your submission for the Office Depot rebate offer was invalid for the following reason(s): - Limit one rebate per Household/Business". My story sounds the same as everyone else’s here. As did almost everyone else on this site, I submitted ALL required forms - double checked all submission criteria - for the January ‘06 Toshiba laptop rebate: receipts, UPC’s, serial numbers on time (the day after the purchase) and did make photocopies of all (I’d had trouble with previous Office Depot rebates.) I called the number on the card, was on hold for half an hour, was told that they do not handle rebates from before Oct. 05 and to call another number. I was connected to the service for Circuit City rebates; the representative there tried to be helpful by giving me Toshiba’s online rebate site, but the Jan. rebate was no longer listed there. I checked the officedepot.com site, only to find that my rebate was invalid (though they DID note that the last postmark was 2/14/06 - a MONTH after I mailed it out); there was no way to respond to the finding online. When I again tried to call the original phone number printed on the postcard, I was cut off twice, and finally could not get through at all as "all circuits [were] busy". If they have a new service that handles their rebates, it does not appear to be doing any better job than the former service. This time, after having lost hundreds of rebate dollars this past fall on two other eMachine bundles, I WILL contact the Better Business Bureau AND forward this site on to them. The FTC, too. I teach and have all summer to deal with this (our central office will not allow us to use purchase orders there, either.) Probably a company NOT to invest in…. I have emailed Office Depot directly. Wish me luck; looks as if I (and everyone else) will need it.
May 2nd, 2006 at 9:21 pm
I bought the emachine bundle from Office Depot 03/26/06 and mailed the rebate on 03/27/06 certified, return receipt. On May 1,2006, I received their cheesy postcard denial. Reason: "Limit one rebate per Household/Business". I have never received a rebate from Office Depot. On the day of purchase, I prepared my rebate forms while in the store and made copies. I made sure that all my i’s were dotted and t’s crossed. I never dreamed that they would pull this stunt. A lesson learned: Always check for blogs first. Office Depot has wasted too much of my precious time and money. It will be a cold day in hell before, I make another purchase from Office Depot.
Since I see that there are so many complaints on this blog, perhaps a Class Action Lawsuit is in order. I would rather an attorney make money than Office Depot. Are there any attorney’s out there interested? I have everything fully documented as do others. Please leave your name and number on this blog. Many of us will surely contact you.
Oh, by the way, I also purchased the
H & R Block Taxcut program along with the emachine bundle. I mailed the $10.00 rebate exactly as instructed. They sent me a denial letter that the upc that I removed off the box was not correct. They returned everything to me except the upc that I sent. There are no other upc’s to send them…not that I would bother. They have no intention of paying either. I won’t ever waste my time on rebates again…it’s just another way to cheat and deceive consumers. I wonder if their stock holder are aware of the way they increase their profits?
May 4th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
I got suckered on their KDS 19" LCD, $70.00 Rebate. I got a check for $30.00!!! I called the store and spoke to a rep. and he claimed that he got several calls about this issue. I asked to speak to the Manager and told them that if they don’t redeem the rebate that they advertised, that they will be contacted by my attorney. I was then informed to call the 800 #. I told the manager that this is fraud and I will report it to the B.B.B. as well. I was told that if there is no resolve, that they would issue me a store credit. After the phone call, I thought about it and I am going to ask that CASH or a CHECK be issued for the difference. If this happened to you, you need to contact the store that you purchased it from and press them. I will not stand by and let them take my money, other wise, I wouldn’t have even purchased this particular LCD! I would have gotten the ViewSonic model.
May 10th, 2006 at 10:52 am
I too have had bad experiences with Office Depot rebates. I recently sent in a rebate ($180) for a laptop computer. The postcard I received said that the receipt I sent in was not for the computer. The only 2 items on the receipt was a computer and printer. The date I was to reply was the day I received the postcard. After asking to speak to a manager, he looked at my records and told me that I would receive the rebate in 3 weeks. It’s been a month and I still have not received the rebate. I was looking for a number to call when I found this website. Now I’m not sure if I’ll ever get the rebate but I’m sure not going to give up yet.
I’m also getting the run around on the rebate for the printer. Just got off the phone with them. It would be interesting to see the percentage of people that actually receive these rebates!!!
May 15th, 2006 at 8:04 pm
I bnought a Toshiba Laptop with a $ 300.00 rebate, in September last year, up to this date have not get any mail with my rebate.
I possitive sure that this was a scam, and I am also a victim of Office Depot fraud announcing the mail a rebate, which I will never get. Until I take another actions. Which I will.
May 28th, 2006 at 12:23 pm
I am also having problems getting a rebate through the processing center. Their "lame" excuse: "The request was not postmarked within the time frame stated on the rebate form." That was a complete lie. I sent it within 15 days. Receipt stated rebate expires in 30 days. Over the phone they gave me one postmark date, and then I checked the rebate website, and found a different date postmark date. Here’s the direct place to complain in writing.
I got the mailing address to complain:
OFFICE DEPOT
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
18671 LAKE DRIVE EAST
CHANHASSEN, MN 55317
May 31st, 2006 at 3:09 am
I bought a computer set up I was told I would recieve 2 rebates $ 50.00 from canon printer and $ 150.00 from emachines a total of $ 200.00
June 6th, 2006 at 2:12 am
I just bought a Toshiba laptop from OD supposed to have a $200 rebate. After reading all the complaints I’m going to take it back tomorrow. Sorry for all your problems but I think it might have saved me one, thanks. If more people would Google "office depot rebate problems" they might feel a little pain. I just got burned on a Tiger Direct $30 rebate. Lesson?
June 11th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
I am also a victim of the Office Depot rebate scam. I purchased a Toshiba laptop computer from them in May. My reject notice came on June 10th. I’ve already gone to the store and screamed at the manager. I’ve also submitted a claim with my credit card company (MBNA) to help me fight for this rebate. I will never shop at Office Depot again.
June 12th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I have never gotten an Office Depot rrebate without a fight. Even though I am very careful to follow the instructions, I always have to send my photo copies of all paperwork to eventually get my money. Surely there are enough victims for a class action suit by some hungry lawyer.
June 12th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
I bought a notebook hpzv6130us from office depoit. There were 2 seperate rebates put out by the company. after submitting them they sent a notice saying only 1 rebate form per household. If they only allow one then they shouldn’t offer 2 rebates on the same product. When I called them back they said no problem we will send it in 1-3 weeks. If has been 6 weeks and I still haven’t receied my rebates. I am out a total of $150.00. I will nver shop at office depoit again; I will take my business else where. I spent a total of 1000.00+ this year never again.
-k-
June 20th, 2006 at 4:40 am
I too jumped through every hoop needed to process an Office Depot $200 offer. and I kept all copies. After some weeks passed I received a post card telling me that my request was rejected because of their rule of "only ONE rebate per household!" I had never requested 2 rebates!
So I brought with me a witness when I took all my photocopied hoopjumpings to the storemanager, with an accompanying letter, that if I don’t receive the rebate I will take the matter to my local Consumer Protection Agency, to the Better Business Buro and to my Attorney General’s Office. Leaving the copies and my letter with the office manager I had him sign the envelope and explained that I am addressing him as the AGENT of Office Depot, therefore he is legally responsible. He promised to take care of the matter.
By the time I got home, there was a message on my answering machine by the store-manager’s secretary, explaining that "they have cleared the problem with my refund, and that within 2 months (!!) I should receive my refund."
I immediately called back, and asked the secretary to put her message into a written note, addressed to me. She said she would.
She never did.
4 weeks later, I received the following message in my e-mail, (take note of the wording!):
"Thank you for participating in the Office Depot rebate!
You should be receiving your request in the mail within the next 2 - 3 weeks. To check the status of your rebate in the future, you can go to the Rebate Center at http://www.officedepot.com.
You will be unable to reply to this email because it has been automatically generated, please direct any inquiries to the Office Depot Customer Care Center at 1-866-541-0284.
For details on Office Depot’s privacy policy click here:
http://www.officedepot.com/...
xxxxxxxx — end of e-mail — xxxxxxxx
NOTE: Office Depot’s wording: "Thank you for participating in the Office Depot rebate!" — (I didn’t know that an OD REBATE was a participation sport or game!)
Cont: "You should be receiving your request" — (this implies that I was asking for a REQUEST instead of a REBATE) !
The links and phone number in their e-mail also are dead-end.
The Office Depot’s practice of blatant rebate-scam should be taken to a national media outlet, like FOX or a similar venue.
If I don’t do it myself within the next few weeks, I would follow anyone who would organize us angry, ripped-off consumers — to initiate action as a group!
I will continue to check in on this thread. Best, jasowas
June 28th, 2006 at 10:03 am
I was denied by Office Depot for the same reason: "Only one rebate per household/business". I called and they assured me that it was an error on their part, Did they ever make and "error" in favor of the customer? I still have not received my rebate check. These people simply put are CROOKS!!!
July 14th, 2006 at 6:45 am
OFFICE DEPOT SUCKS. AVOID REBATES. Do not shop at office depot, they are scammers. I was sold a computer with false information, their so called processing is so long that you would think that it was done by hand without the assistance of technology, they will hang up on you if the wrong button is pressed. I wish I had seen this blog before making my purchase. This piece of crap computer is not worth the frustration.
July 17th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
I GOT MY REBATE!
This might not work for you, but here is what I did: (You can read my letter to Office Depot, but eleven, that’s 11 days after my certified letter was received by Office Depot I received my $150 rebate check). 1. Our laptop was purchased on 3-20-06. On 6-22-06 I emailed Office Depot that I had not recieved my rebate. I first tried the Rebate Center, but it would not take my information. So I went to Customer Service and emailed, giving my purchase date and saying that I had not received my rebate check or heard anything about it. Eleven days later my email was answered with the reply that there they were not able to find record of receiving my order, and asked me to resubmit. This is a copy of the letter I sent by Certified Mail with a
Return Receipt.
June 29, 2006
OFFICE DEPOT
OFFER#OD6302130
P. O. Box 72955
Detroit MI 48272-6635
Dear Sirs:
It has been about three months since I applied for my $150 rebate. I tried to check on the status of the rebate through your rebate center, but was unable to get a response after following the directions.
I happened to notice some inter net blogs regarding problems with Office Depot rebates, and after reading countless complaints from individuals who did everything required of them and still did not receive any or all of their rebates, I lost hope that I would have any success.
So this is what I am going to do: I am going to send a copy of this letter by certified mail, and also send a copy to the store manager in the Oklahoma City Office Depot where we purchased our laptop.
If you do not contact me within ten days of receipt of this letter (I will have the certified mail receipt), and if I do not receive my rebate of $150 within six weeks of the date of receipt of this letter, I will definitely file a small clams suit in Oklahoma City. Promises that I “should” receive my rebate at a time later than six weeks after receipt of this letter will not keep me from filing suit.
At the same time, if I do not receive my rebate as indicated above, I will vigorously pursue the filing of a class action suit against Office Depot. From the number of people that responded to just a couple of blogs, there must be thousands of people who have had similar problems.
In the small claims suit, the manager of the Oklahoma City Office Depot will be also be named.
If I am not contacted within ten days of receipt of this letter, I will proceed with the suit, and after I file it, I will follow through on it regardless of any promises, which I will be surprised if I receive.
Sincerely,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
cc: Manager, Office Depot, 820 SW 74th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73139
As I mentioned at the first, eleven days after my Certified Letter was signed for, I received my $150 check in the mail. It might not work for you, but it did for me. I recommend a book written by a Small Clamims Court Judge: Winning in Small Claims Court, by Judge William E. Brewer. I fully intended to file and pursue a class action suit, but SUPRISE, I received my check! I hope this may be of some help, hope and encouragement to some of you who read this. Good luck!
July 19th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
After sending in my rebate and getting no reply after several months, I inquired about the delay and was told to resubmit, which I did immediately. Another six weeks with no rebate and no correspondence. I finally went down to the store and explained my situation to the store manager, who also tried to pull up my file. He couldn’t even find reference or any info concerning the original rebate offer. He apparantly empathized with my situation, as he credited my card to the amount of the rebate. I am sure that most people might have more of a problem than me, but it’s worth a shot. The manager of the Office Depot in Orlando on St. Rd. 436 did the right thing and it is worth noting in the world of runarounds and red-tape.
July 25th, 2006 at 1:21 am
I advise anyone who wants to let other potential buyers know about the Office Depot scams to have some small pieces of paper printed up with something like OFFICE DEPOT REBATE SCAM go to http://www….. and you can put this website address or any of the other blogs addressing this issue on the piece of paper. Put them on brightly colored pieces of paper. Make about a 100 copies and visit your local Office Depot and leave them in as many places in the store as possible where they won’t be detected until the purchaser gets home (like slip it into the edge of a box of anything you see advertised with a rebate). This way the customer can still return it before sending in the scam bate.
August 1st, 2006 at 9:02 pm
SanDisk rebate Scam.
This is blatantly a scam. I purchased a mini sd card from Circuit City with a $20.00 rebate. I followed all the instructions and mailed the rebate in March of 2006. It is August now, and still no rebate. I phone ScamDisk and the first rep. Brittany states that the computers are undergoing their daily updates <This mind you is during business hours which I find extremely difficult to believe> please call back in two hours. I wait three hours and phone back and get Lauren. lauren states that there is no record of my rebate searching by my name and address. OK, how do I get the rebate I ask, I’ll enter your information in the system and we’ll get is processed for you. Great <progress>, now "In order to finish the processing I have to get a supervisor to approve the rebate, however currently there is a 30 minute wait and we are not allowed to keep customers on hold for that long, I suggest you call back tomorrow"
Growing frustrated I agree.
Call back tomorrow after incredible hold times I get Lauren again. I give her my information she states the wait time for the supervisor is 3 minutes <kewl> progress, ut not quite. the call is disconnected. Now I’m getting pissed <my wife is laughing> but it’s principall now and it is becoming very clear that all they are trying to do is see who gives in first <a battle of attrition> that I refuse to lose. I phone back and get lovely Brittany who remarkably tells me that the rebate is showing in their system as being sent on June 1, 2006 but it was returned by the Post Office <you see it very clearly now>. Now I’m fuming because now miraculously it is their system. I am assured that the rebate will be processed within 30 days and I am provided a rebate tracking number <this is insane>.
I will be taking this up with my local and state government and I will be suing SanDisk.
August 9th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
I bought a Memorex memory stick with a $12 rebate. They say they sent a check, another check, and now I’m waiting for a third check that I still haven’t received. Very annoying. Way too much hassle for $12, but I’m not letting them rip me off.
August 10th, 2006 at 1:22 am
I bought a toshiba m55-s1001 laptop from Office Depot on 5/28/06, it has $200 mail-in rebate, unfortunate, I did not scan the mail-in form which comes with the receipt, now they ask me to resubmit the info. does anyone happen to have that mail-in form scanned? would be really appreciate if you can email me that!! my email is yohoo63 at hotmail.com
August 10th, 2006 at 11:05 am
In the 7/26/06-7/29/06 circular Office Depot stated that Norton Antivirus 2006 purchased for $39.99 in store would be free after submission of two $20.00 rebate forms. While completing the forms I noticed that the instructions said not to include both forms in the same envelope, and that each form required an original upc code cut from the bottom of the box. The problem is there is only one upc code on the box. From 7/31/06 to 8/09/06 I attempted to find out how to collect on both rebates. Calls and email to Office Depot produced no results. Symentec, apparently the parent company for Norton answered my first email requesting additional information which I sent twice. They did not respond. Yesterday I went back to the store that I purchased it from. Intersetingly, they do not have a customer service desk and referred me to "any cashier."
The cashier had no idea what she was talking about. After countless hours devoted to trying to get a straight answer I requested my money back. The disc was still sealed in it original envelope so I did get a refund. By the way, before going back to to Office Depot I made a last ditch effort to contact Symantec by calling 866 206-8880 the number Office Depot printed on one of the rebate forms for Symantec Rebate Status Hotline. When I called, I was informed by an electronic voice that the number had been changed to 10 15 15 800 and the cost would be $4.99.
Office Depot has lost a 7 year customer over this rebate fiasco!
August 12th, 2006 at 6:06 am
I too have been denied a rebate for a Canon product purchased at Office Depot–the Canon Pixma150 printer. Office Depot advertised a free printer with the purchase of a laptop, but "free" meant that I would need to mail in one $50 rebate and 2 $20 rebate forms. I followed all the instructions diligently and kept copies of everything. The Office Depot mailer and rebate form said the rebate was good for purchases between June 25 and July 1, 2006. I made my purchase on June 26, yet my rebate was denied because the purchase was not within the eligible period.
After 3 phone calls, faxing all copies yet again, and 3 follow-up emails, Canon finally informed me that the rebate period in Alaska came one week later, so tough luck. Office Depot falsely represented the rebate dates, and so far they have behaved very rudely and are yet unwilling to accept responsibility.
All of my time is not worth the $50, but out of principle I would like to get what was promised. I am sorry to see that so many others have been duped by rebate offers as well. Consumers beware in future.
August 23rd, 2006 at 12:16 am
Well, I sent in my rebate materials (I have copies of it all) for a Compaq Laptop; rebate is $200; met all the deadlines. Sent it in 6/22/06; have been tracking it on the Office Depot Rebate center and it’s been stuck on step 2 for 6 weeks. Per their website my submission is without error (no mean trick)but there seems to be a problem getting to Step 3 (cutting the check). I can only imagine. What’s interesting was that HP also had a $30 rebate on the machine and I received that in less than two weeks. I’ll begin a campaign to the $200 soon - but in the meantime - Office Depot gets none of my custom and I bad mouth them every chance I get. This is truly a scam worthy of a class action suit.
August 24th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Office Depot Rebate - Rip Offs
This is about Office Depot Rebates.
I bought a laptop June 27 and mailed in the $200
rebate 2 days later.
August 21, I received a postcart refusing my rebate because
The request was not postmarked within the time frame. Why???
Think about this:
1 rebate refused = $200 for Office Depot
10 rebates refused = $2000 for Office Depot
100 rebates refused = $20,000 for Office Depot
1000 rebates refused = $200,000 for Office Depot
and to think this is world wide.
Please send this to all your email clients so they will not
be riped off like I was.
August 26th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
I bought two laptops and a desktop six months ago and have yet to receive the $320 rebates due me FROM OFFICE DEPOT.
Interestingly, the manufacturers’ rebates arrived without a problem.
I resubmitted the OD rebate forms to the Young America resubmit address–and I too was VERY VERY careful re: accuracy from the beginning–and am still waiting. I have just called the local store mgr and am planning to contact the NC & US Attoneys General, the BBB, and NC Consumer Protection Agency if the runaround continues. On second thought, regardless of whether I get the money or not, I’m still going to call. I suggest all of you do the same.
BTW, if any of you are thinking of setting up a website, do NOT search for the site name availability until ready to purchase. I made that mistake and found that those names were mysteriously "taken" shortly after I didn’t purchase in the beginning.(and they were weird names) Huh. But I’m sure the "new owners" would sell the site names at a hefty profit if I contacted them…no actual "sites" exist in cyberspace for them, btw.
August 26th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
On May 1, 2006, I purchased an emachine T3418 package from Office Depot. The reason I bought the package was because of the $300 rebates. The sales person told me to certify my information to emachine and cannon. When I received a post card saying I had not sent in the correct information, I sent them (emachines), a letter telling them of my intentions to contact the Better Business Bureau and my attorney if I did not have my $300 rebates within two weeks. When I did not receive my checks, I contacted the BBB and filed a complaint. I have received an email saying two $50 checks were mailed on 8/23/06. I’m still waiting for conformation on the $150 rebate and the $50 rebate from Canon for the printer. My advice for anyone is to contact the BBB by way of email as I did and file a complaint. You will get faster results.
August 30th, 2006 at 12:19 am
waiting…for almost 15 weeks now. First OD sent out my rebate check to the wrong address, then when it got returned back, they are not willing to send it to the correct address. Status on the site shows processing, CSRs dodge my questions. Sure, I too will call them everyday.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:08 am
I FOUND OUT HOW IT WORKS! Somebody may have shared this insight already but there are too many stories to read. I too was a victim of this scam and was able to get to the bottom of it.
After checking online to find out that my rebate was being denied due to lack of UPC, I called. I had copies on everyting and knew that they had the UPC because I sent them a 5X8 piece of cardboard that required a special enevelope & postage.
When I called, "Varlan" told me the same thing. No UPC… I needed to resubmit. I threw a fit. I exclaimed that if they missed a huge piece of cardboard, they’d definitely miss a photocopy. I wanted a fax number. He explained that he’d give me an address that would be opened by "actual people". Huh? Who opened it before? "A machine" he responded. If the machine can’t read it right off, it says it isn’t there. At this point I’m irate and ask for a supervisor so that I can get that fax number (typically they won’t give you the fax number unless you’ve made two previous submissions).
"Kyle" jumps on the phone and I demand the fax number. He explains that since the offer had already expired that it would have been denied again by the "actual people". He offers to submit it for me via his interface and explains that I’ll get the check in 4 weeks.
I was appauled. No doubt this system is set up for failure. Had I followed "Varlan’s" direction I would have been denied 2 more times… and probably given up.
These people are CROOKS. Never buying from Orfice Depot again.
September 7th, 2006 at 11:50 am
I also had some trouble with an Office Depot rebate on an HP computer. First they told me my claim was rejected because I didn’t met the terms of the rebate. It turned out that they claimed I bought another brand of computer instead. Luckily, it didn’t take a lot of effort to get them to correct the error and then process my rebate. I eventually received my check, but I had to be diligent to contact them after my initial claim was denied and be forceful with them to make sure they realized it was THEIR error and that they needed to correct it. Who knows if the "error" was done on PURPOSE or not?
September 12th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
It would be interesting to know how many have read these comments, and not added their own horror stories. I’m fairly early in my efforts to get the $150 in rebates owed me. I received my "denial" for not sending my rebate forms and "proofs" on time to Office Depot, which is absolutely untrue. I, too, have copies of everything, so I will continue my quest, helped by all the comments on this web site
September 20th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Office Depot has a new scam to avoid rebates. Last week they advertised Windows XP upgrade with a $70 rebate if purchased by 9/16/06. Not surprisingly, the stores did not have the product in stock but on-line they claimed to have the product in stock.
I ordered the software along with one other item at 2:00 a m on 9/16/06. I received an email reply dated 9/16/06 at 2:14 a m acknowledging the order and indicating that the software was to be shipped, it was not on backorder. The receipt even shows that the order total $ included the software.
When the package arrived, the software was not included. The packing slip said it could not be shipped. When I called on 9/20/06, I was told that the product was in stock and it could be sent out that day, but my receipt would be dated 9/20/06. Thus, no rebate.
The customer service person also denied that I had received an acknowledgement confirming the order.
Clearly, Office Depot did not want to pay the rebate so it simply did not ship the product by the deadline date. It certainly had the product in-stock according to its website on 9/16/06 and the fact that just a few days later it was available.
Obviously, they have lost a customer and in the long run will lose more than the rebate amount from my company.
September 20th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
Hey folks? Does the following canned response from "Customer Care" look familiar? I too was duped by these scam artists and no matter what questions I ask or what facts I point out, I keep getting the same response, verbatim. Something is very wrong with Office Depot. It definitely looks like a scam. The response mentions "our client." It appears that Office Depot has contracted out their rebate program. The million dollar question is: Does the corruption exist only at the Office Depot Rebate Center, or is it merely a front for the top Office Depot Executives? I cannot shop at Office Depot anymore. This is sad because the local owners/operators probably are not involved in any corruption.
"Thank you for visiting the Office Depot Rebate Center.
We apologize our answer could not be more satisfactory to your
situation. Our client supplies us with very specific instructions as to
the submission requirements consumers must meet to receive their item.
Regrettably, we cannot do anything more from here.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and hope you
will continue to enjoy our client’s fine products.
If you have further questions, please call 1-866-541-0284.
Thank you again for visiting Office Depots Rebate Center and have a
great day!
Sincerely,
<first name deleted>
Customer Care"
September 23rd, 2006 at 3:51 pm
success: I finally collected my rebate from Office Depot. How? I emailed the Better Business Bureau in Topeka, Ks and they sent a letter to the office manager of Office Depot and they got results. In about 5 days I had my rebate.
September 25th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
"Sept 25" Had to call again for my rebate. Said it would be mailed in 3 days."April 4,1st email" Thank you for contacting the Office Depot Rebate Center. We certainly thank you for the additional information that you have provided us. At this time, we have processed your $50.00 rebate and ask that you would allow 2-3 weeks to receive it. "2nd email"Your submission for the Office Depot rebate is currently being processed. You will receive another email when we have shipped your check. To check the status of your rebate in the future, go to the Rebate Center at http://www.officedepot.com p.s. No "additional info" was sent. Must have thought it was a resubmission or sent wrong "standard" email.
October 11th, 2006 at 8:46 am
I bought an eMachines bundle with an HP printer in May from Office Depot. It had a gob of rebates, from OD, eMachines, and HP. I also bought an additional HP printer at that time, and OD’s cash register said it was eligible for the eMachines bundle rebate too. So I put together all the info and sent off all five or six of the rebates. OD and eMachines paid up, but HP is claiming that there never was any rebate offer related to eMachines computers, and is thus denying my rebates, $120 total. Office Depot customer support has been singularly unhelpful. E-mail support has been worthless - I e-mailed them twice, and except for an autoresponse I got nothing back. I called them, but they didn’t know what to do with my problem. The hapless rep finally said she’d just connect me to billing. I got pretty upset — how in the heck is billing going to help me with this? My next step will be to visit the store, copies of documentation in hand, but I’m thinking that I’ve basically lost out on this.
I would not have bought this system other than at the price after rebates. I’ve learned: don’t buy that way again.
jim
October 18th, 2006 at 8:05 am
I bought a laptop computer at Office Depot that had a $150 rebate because of the rebate. Two months later I got a notice saying the purchase was not qualified. Now, at office depot the rebate form prints out as a receipt if your purchase is a qualifying purchase…duh! Anyway I kept copies of everything bet they were hoping I wouldn’t. I am going in the store today to make them take care of this. What a scam! BUYER BEWARE!
October 22nd, 2006 at 9:49 pm
Well, like so many others, I may be a victim of the OD scam. I purchased a laptop on July 3, 2006, sent in the $200 rebate offer within a couple of days and am waiting…and waiting…and waiting. The website shows "processing". I have called the rebate center 4 times and each time am told it may be another 2 to 6 weeks. I asked just what does "processing" mean? All they have to do is look at the form, see the receipt and pass it on. There was no UPC involved. I even called their customer relations in Mesa, AZ and was told by the rep that he would forward my call to the ‘real’ rebate people who could help me. As it turned out, the call went to the same rebate center I had been calling all along. I also tried to submit a form from their web site describing my problem but after I clicked the ’submit’ button, I got some screwy "Not authorized to use this site" crap. Anyone willing to share an email address to OD that will be read by someone who cares?
I appreciate many of the comments I have read here and will first take my case to the store where it was purchased, then a letter to the corporate level, then to the BBB, AG’s office and FTC. I agree that a class action suit might get some attention.
On the positive side, I was treated very well by a CSR from Circuit City on another rebate who personally took my information by phone and resubmitted for me. I almost fainted. I had checks within 2 weeks. This issue with OD is the first time I have had to wait this long for a rebate but I can see the writing on the wall and am convinced that if I am not aggressive, I will get nothing.
October 24th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
I WORK at Office Depot and I get as frustrated as you all do. Because, I help people out with thier rebate forms to make sure everything is as it should be. I mean I help to the point of addressing the envelope. And I make sure they have plenty of copies for thier files. And still they get rejection notices saying that they did not put the requested paper work in such as reciept or UPC code. IF you do not get your go to the store and tell them you will never shop there again. The management have the authority to give it to you in store. They were supposed to stop ALL mail in rebates in March and have the savings in store, but I guess they figured that they would not get to rip people off as easily. Fight for what you have coming….