Swearing off Mail in Rebates Forever

wtherrell · 03-12-03, 06:02 PM

Mailed in Jan 5. Still don't have my $50 Dell rebate. They Say they mailed it 02-07. Never came. I send inquiries, get automated reply someone will contact me in 2-3 business days. Twice now. Never happens. From now on if I can't get the rebate up front, I will not buy and get the best price on similar item elsewhere. I am so sick of this! Never again!!!!!!!!!! I will shop price w/o regard to MRB or get it up front.

silentknight · 03-12-03, 06:29 PM

I was the same way as you, but
I bought my Dell with a $50 rebate
and my Wireless CF card with a $40 rebate
I was very skeptical, but I have both of them
now... the $40 one came with no hitches, and
the Dell one took one phone call... took
10 weeks, but I got it in the end.. just call them...
and ask to talk to a supervisor...

wtherrell · 03-12-03, 07:24 PM

They gave me check number of original check. Said to tear it up and if it comes. They are issuing another check. Will take another four weeks. Good Grief!

Hopester · 03-12-03, 07:42 PM

:rolling: I know sometimes it can drive you crazy but in the end the money will come and it will be worth the wait. (just too bad they don't pay interest

03-12-03, 07:48 PM

wtherrell - not sure if you saw my problems getting my rebate. if you want i'll private message you the email of the dell person that helped me get my $. let me know - mm

silentknight · 03-12-03, 07:59 PM

I am surprised they are issuing another check

I have read countless posts about people
getting credit back to their method of payment.

Damager · 03-12-03, 08:07 PM

These rebates are such a pain in the ass. I heard on a news report the other day that only 10% of purchasers ever complete the rebate process and received their payments. No wonder every company in the world uses rebate programs.

WRC · 03-15-03, 05:40 AM

This $50 rebate thing is ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as the state of Dell's so-called customer service. I got into a yelling match with a rep the other day.

I called re: my rebate. She says I cannot find your rebate on your order. I say yes, I know. That's why I am calling.

Hold on please. No problem.

She comes back. Sir, I can find no rebate with your order. Did you get a rebate form? (Deep breath) No I did not. That's why I am calling.

Hold on again please. Yeah.

She comes back. Sir, I cannot send rebates if there is no rebate on the order. Maybe there was no rebate?

Now I'm po'd. I pre-order my Axim back in December. There was a rebate and I did NOT get a form. That is why I am calling!

Hold on please. Whatever.

She comes back. Sir, I cannot issue a rebate with a rebate form. Hello! That is why I am calling!!! I did not get a form!!! I did not get my $50 rebate!!! You guys owe me fifty-freaking-dollars!!!

Hold on please. ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

Sir. I have credited your account $50 dollars. You should see that in 4-6 weeks. 4-6 weeks why?!?!?! That's how long it takes sir. Yeah okay whatever then, I'll have to remember to look for that then. Geeze you guys are so hard to work with now! Sir, we try to do the right thing for the customer.

Here is your verification number -- which she had to repeat about 5 times because I could NOT understand what the heck she was saying. In which that happened several times through the conversation. I had to apologize that I could not understand what this lady was saying. I kinda felt sorry for her and the same time mad at Dell for sending the customer support to India.

I sent Dell a long email regarding these problems I have had with the customer service and this is what I got:

=================================
There are 6 basic things that can make a floppy drive not work:
_________________________________

1g. The Operating system (Windows).
2g. A Virus.
3g. The settings in CMOS.
4g. The IDE ribbon cable.
5g. The floppy drive.
6g. The controller on the motherboard.
7g. Information Specifically For Notebooks.
______________________________

I won't post the whole thing because it's several screens long. My reply to that was:

This type of response is exactly what I am talking about. Your customer service yet reaches a new low.

Sad. Very sad.

And then I get a short note -- customer response #226 --

Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Care.

Please accept my apologies for the difficulties you have encountered.

I assure you that your situation is not indicative of the quality
service Dell is capable of providing. I sincerely appreciate
your taking the time to share your experience with us. Your comments are very important to us and will assist in making improvements.

I have forwarded your message to management and they are listening to your concerns and will seriously be looking into this issue and work on making improvements.

Once again, I thank you for sharing your experience with us.
Whether the feedback we receive is positive or negative, it remains a crucial tool for determining how we can best improve our products and services. I truly regret any inconvenience or frustration this matter may have caused. We value you as our customer and your satisfaction is very important to us. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

I sincerely hope that our service and support opportunities result
in nothing less than your complete satisfaction.

Thank you for contacting Dell Customer Care.

Have a nice day.

Respectfully,

Satabee

So has the entire company of Dell moved to New Delhi? I tried calling several numbers and they all go to India. Even the emails go there. Are their orders now being taken there too? When I ordered my Axim my rep was in Roseberg, Oregon. I called and her number there still works so I sent an email her way to see if she could get me some help.

My replacement that I ordered came with no paperwork to send it back. I called CS again on that and they said they'd send an email in 24 hrs. Over 48hrs later: Nothing

Man, I don't want to have to call their customer service anymore as it's such a hassle and so difficult to understand their broken english.

Hopefully I will get my $50 rebate in (4-6 weeks) so I don't have to go through THAT again.

Any future purchases with Dell will be highly scrutinized and I will shop more in the future, not to mention testing a company's customer service first. But, Dell's used to be so awesome. When I bought my PC they were awesome!!

Sad. Very sad...

[ventmode: off]

Granted · 03-15-03, 07:13 AM

It says they mailed the rebate as of 3/13. That only took two months to move into the the "mailed" category. Now to see how long it actually takes to get here.

peterbright · 03-15-03, 04:46 PM

They should give you the choice of an immediate $25 or a mail in & wait forever $50. Be persistent. I always end up getting mine. Keep copies of everything. I've often gotten extra goodies (from other vendors - Dell has not yet gone over the time with me) when they haven't gotten the rebate to me in the estimated time which10 weeks on the Axim rebate.

03-15-03, 06:52 PM

Dell, As does most of the larger companies (AMX, VISA, etc,) are quietly moving all of thier custoemr service call centeres to over seas locations. Many are in Pakistan and India. I had a very frustrating experience with one of these call centers recently and to be fair I also had a very good experience with one last week. Point is though that as the senior officals of larger corporations continue to push for profitability for themselves and their shareholders and look at every possible way to save money they really do not care how it affects the working person. These are the same "Gurus" that whine about the poor sales during the Christmas holidays. Unable to make the connection between laying people off and the inability of the laid off people to continue buying product. I was laid off from a company that was employing 2400 in the Charlotte NC area. Last count the work force was under 400 and all of the manufacturing jobs are being moved to Mexico and several pacfic rim companies. My new job is with a German company. Not bad to work with but it is obvious that American Manufactures are taking advantage of exporting jobs and selling holdings......bottom line is that not even a service related job is safe.

Keep your smile ready so you can be a greater at Walmart.

:crooked:

mslammers · 03-19-03, 09:26 PM

Got my $50 rebate. Not bad from the time I sent in the forms. Late Dec to early March.

Jim C · 03-24-03, 02:55 PM

I bought my Axim on 1/2/03 and received it on 1/9/03. I sent in my rebate form (which I printed off of Dell's web site) on 1/15/03. I received a post card from Dell last week stating that the envelope was postmarked beyond the eligibity period. I re-read the rebate form and it stated to send in the form within 30 days of the ship date. I called the rebate status automated system number (866-842-3616) and it stated that my rebate request as of 3/19/03 had been received and I would receive a check within 8 weeks and that my rebate request as of 2/12/03 was postmarked too late so it was denied. Huh? I called the Customer Service number (800-624-9897) and (fortunately) was connected to an American lady in Florida who spoke English very well. She verified that I was eligible for the rebate and credited the rebate to my credit card. She said that it may take 30 days for it to show up. I'll be waiting.

I was prepared for a nightmare experience even trying to get through to speak with someone, but this part was very pleasant. I'll follow up with another post when I actually receive the rebate.

03-26-03, 01:49 PM

Just thought I would put in another .37 cents worth of opion about rebates.
I built a new PC last month and bought several componets that had a rebate associated with them. One of whihc was a maxtor 80 gig hard drive. I have becoem very desciplined regarding reabtes and read all the fine print as well as the target dates that were quoated on the rebate form. Smuggly I put the dates on my Lotus notes calendar and the 800 phone numbers to call when the dates passed.
The rebate for the Maxtor was sent off on 2/22/03. I recieved an e-mail from the fullfilment center on 2/26/03 stating that they had received the form and everything was correct. On 3/24/03 I recieved an e-mail stating that my reabate had been mailed and that if I do not recieve it by 3/28/03 to call an 800 number. I got the rebate check today. Thats pretty good in my book. It would have been nice to do it online and I dont see why they can't but ......too many people would probably file the rebates and they would loose money.
So the trick is to be ready to raise a rukus and keep your documentation and your fingers crossed.

Bucky · 03-30-03, 01:13 AM

Rebates are the biggest scam I know of. They are actually illegal in some countries. I wish they would outlaw them here. Just knock the price down. Anybody with at least two brain cells knows the tricks behind the rebates. When I see a company that is offering a rebate, it automatically makes me think that they are a little bit cheesy. What a scam!!!!