Home Depot Appliance Rebate Screwup
Man, I am such an idiot. We recently bought a new refrigerator at Home Depot and we were supposed to get a $100 gift card by mail-in-rebate as part of the deal. Since the clerk didn’t have any original rebate forms, he had to give me a photocopy. The only trouble was that he hadn’t copied the back, which listed the restrictions. When I finally sat down to figure it out last night, guess what I learned? It had to be postmarked by yesterday (which was Sunday, so it really had to be in the mail by Saturday).
While it’s my fault for not figuring this out in the first place, I’m more than a little peeved that he gave me an incomplete copy of the form in the first place… Had he given me both sides of the form, I would’ve noticed the deadline and dealt with it sooner. What a pisser. Oh well, I’m sending it in anyway and hoping against hope that it’ll slip through. If not, I’m going to have to call and raise hell. Or maybe play dumb… If I can get high enough in the chain of command, I might be able to deny that there was a ‘postmark by’ date on the form, and when they tell me to look at the back I can reply that there’s nothing on the back since the clerk provided me with a photocopy. Maybe, just maybe that’ll be enough to get them to pocess it after the due date. Crap, crap, crap. Wish me luck.
Published on August 14th, 2006 - 11 Comments
Filed under: Miscellany
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The back probably also said “not photocopies” allowed.
Comment by FMF — Aug 14th 2006 @ 11:59 amI had the reverse happen to me: I bought 3 appliances at Sears, and because I bought all 3, would get a $300 rebate. A week later, my friends offered me their used washer/dryer cheap, so I called and cancelled the new ones I bought at Sears. I filled out the rebate form for the $50 rebate only (since I bought only one appliance in reality), attached my original receipt, and mailed it in. Lo and behold, I got a $300 check in the mail. Someone at Sears can’t read and didn’t check the POS to see if I actually bought items! So I say, go ahead and try it!
Comment by lauraloops — Aug 14th 2006 @ 1:35 pmYou’re a dope
Comment by jim — Aug 14th 2006 @ 3:27 pmI would argue that you should not send it in, wait the 6-8 weeks, then call to inquire as to status. They will tell you it is not in their system, at which point to say that you still have copies of everything you submitted (which you should keep even when submitting the rebate on time) and they will give you a resubmission address or fax number to send your documentation to. If need be ask to speak to a supervisor and threaten to submit complaints to BBB, FTC, state AG, whoever, to get the resubmission info, and make sure to write down the CSR’s name and badge number.
The rebate processing houses regularly “lose” rebate submissions (whether accidentally or purposely to avoid making payouts I let you decide), so they have to keep these backup channels open to keep the FatWallet crowd from causing trouble with complaints to retailers, BBB, and anyone else who will listen. In the four years I have been playing the rebate game, I have had to resubmit at least a dozen rebates that were legitimately sent in that never showed up in their system. Of course it also allows a little bit of room for error on the occasion when I miss a submission deadline. =)
Comment by Billy Ocean — Aug 14th 2006 @ 5:14 pmI was hit with a similar annoyance by Fry’s Electronics. I had bought a hard drive that had a $30 mail in rebate. I filled out all the forms, mailed it in on time, and got the reply that the rebate was invalid because I didn’t purchase it in the valid timeframe. Sure enough, I look at my copies and see that the mail in rebate had expired over 2 months ago - either they were still printing out the old forms at the register, or they were advertising an expired rebate. Either way it was something I know to look for now.
Comment by Scott — Aug 16th 2006 @ 11:13 amI couldn’t figure out how to raise hell to get my money - by the time they let me know, it had been a couple months since I had submitted, and it’s pretty hard to prove that it was the checker that screwed up.
Oh well, another lesson learned, this time for $30.
I purchased three appliances with Home Depot and so far they sent me a pidley $50 rebate card. They are claiming a screw up by hiring our to a private agency was the reason mine were messed up. I am going to the Home Depot and have it out with them in a few min and taking comments from this site with me. Thanks! And good luck to all of us!
Comment by Pogueslanding — Aug 23rd 2006 @ 1:44 pmi submitted my forms late.. guess what i got my rebate
it’s worth a try
Comment by elizabeth — Aug 24th 2006 @ 10:01 pmHmm..interesting. I had the exact same thing happen to me. However, I didn’t see the back of the rebate coupon and received a notice from Home Depot that my purchase was not made during the specified time period (which is wrong). So I will pay the store manager a visit tomorrow and fight this thing! Almost sounds like a scam!
Comment by Gin — Oct 3rd 2006 @ 2:11 amDoes anyone have the address or the phone # of the fullfillment center for the $100 Home Depot Insulation Rebate that expired in June? I just realized that I didn’t receive my rebate. I have a copy of the receipt and the front of the rebate form but it doesn’t have the address or the phone#…
Comment by Dan — Nov 8th 2007 @ 11:16 amWe purchased some decking material from Home Depot back in May of 2007. The only reason we chose Home Depot is because of a $200. rebate they were offering at the time, when you purchase decking material (even though when we got a quote from Dollar Saver Lumber is was cheaper ). We were told my lumber manager that we qualified for the rebate of $200. at the time of our purchase. It is now November, 6 months after our purchase, and I am still jumping through hoops to try and at least get $100. from this rebate offered. They now tell me again that we do not qualify! I am livid and consider this fraud with advertising! I will not be buying anything further from Home Depot and will discourage others from buying there as well! The last converstaion I had with the Home Depot Rebate rep, she told us everything looked good and we should receive a rebate in the near future! I am also going to report this scam to Better Business Bureau for their review–I can welcome Rona when they arrive in PG and goodbbye to Home Depot!
Comment by Mark & Geri Musson — Dec 7th 2007 @ 11:59 amGeri Musson
I purchased approx $2,000 of appliances in Oct 2007 from Home Depot and was suppose to get rebates and a return of our delivery charges ($55). We finally received the rebates but have received our second rejection on the delivery charges. The first rejection was a claim that we had not sent in all docs– which was not true. They admitted fault for losing the docs but would not expedite– sorry “it will be sent within no later than 6 weeks!!” I received our second rejection on the claim that the receipt has a store which is not a qualifying store– again not true. They admitted fault again and again said they would not expedite the refund and that it would be within 6 weeks!! BOTTOMLINE: Home Depot either defrauds people; intentionally stalls in an effort to avoid having to pay or to cause most to give up; or at best hires extremely incompetent people in their rebate processing dept– again evidence of their intention not to make good on their rebate offers.. SUGGESTION: DO NOT BUY ANY LARGE ITEMS FROM HOME DEPOT BASED ON REBATES!!!!!
Comment by steve — Dec 27th 2007 @ 4:56 pm