CompUSA forced to pay overdue rebates
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I found this article funny speaking as a person who has never received his Best Buy rebates, ever. It’s not like I didn’t follow the instructions; they are just not that concerned about it I guess. It would seem that CompUSA is concerned about it now. Ars Technica is reporting that they are being forced to pay all of the rebates that they ended up screwing around with themselves.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, rebates are a fact of life, especially when it comes to buying tech products. One of the reasons they are so popular with manufacturers and retailers is that people often don’t bother sending in the forms. So that $149 hard drive you bought because it’s just $89.99 after rebate ends up not being such a good deal after all.
The other problem with rebates is that sometimes you follow instructions and… no check. Ever. Customers of CompUSA have experienced lengthy delays in getting rebates back from the retail chain, with some folks never receiving a check at all. As a result of a litany of consumer complaints, the Federal Trade Commission has found that both CompUSA and peripheral manufacturer Q.P.S., Inc. (whose products were marketed and sold by the retailer) engaged in deceptive trade practices and has ordered CompUSA to pay up.
One Comment
Rick
March 17th, 2007
at 3:10pm
Wow, you must be doing something wrong (I guess that’s no surprise). In my experience, Best Buy is the ONLY store where you can count on ALWAYS getting your rebate. And I’ve sent in for dozens and dozens of rebates over the years.
When it comes to rebates from Best Buy, only once did I not receive my rebate check after a reasonable amount of time (12 weeks or so). I tried to call the manufacturer, who was supposed to provide the rebate, but only got a busy signal. I finally called the Best Buy Rebate Center to complain, and Best Buy themselves issued a check for the amount of the rebate! To my surprise, a few months later, the original rebate check finally came through from the manufacturer.
Rick