Amazon.com Jaguar Rebate - You're Not Gonna Believe This

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Last July I ordered a copy of Jaguar from Amazon.com because of a $50 rebate offer. As many may know, they were overwhelmed with orders and discontinued the offer after a couple of weeks. However, my order was in prior to the cut off date. To make sure I email them and they confirmed I was eligible. In early September Jaguar finally arrived. I cut off the UPC code from the box, filled out the order form provided from there site and sent everything along to rebates.com - the company that handles the offer for Amazon.com. About 5 weeks later an envelop came with what I thought was the check. Inside however it said, "invalid sku". No rebate. After a week of emails to Amazon.com they told it was a mistake and they authorized a rebate check. They said it would take 2 to 4 weeks. 5 weeks later, no check. I contacted them again, and they said they would look into it. It's now November and another email from Amazon.com says it's being processed and to check at rebatestatus.com to see how things are going. Of course, the site showed no activity on my rebate. Another month and another email to Amazon. Another, "we'll check into it". On January 24 I received a long apologetic email telling me that because of the length of time this has been going on, Amazon.com would credit by debit card (which I used to purchase Jaguar) in the amount of $50 and to check my account in a few days. On January 26 I received an email from another person telling me that they have asked rebates.com to issue another check! Say what? The site shows no activity on my account and Amazon.com still has not given me a credit to my credit card. Sorry for the long post, but can anybody believe this? Sending copies of my emails to CEO Jeff Bezons hasn't done any good either. I'm going on a business trip for two weeks, but when I return if no rebate is in my mailbox or credited to my credit card I'm really going to be pissed. I will then file a complaint with the Attorney General of my State and have a lawyer friend look into filing a class action suit. I'm sure other people have had the same experience.



[ 01-31-2003: Message edited by: MacsRGood4U ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    I know what you mean. These rebates are terrible. Go to fatwallet.com and look at their forums. It's full of people complaining of rebate companies giving them the shaft. It turns out that the one Amazon deals with is one of the worst. Seriously, you should check that site out, if only for the amazing zealotry of the bargain hunters/rebaters. I'd say they're more passionate than we are about our Macs!
  • Reply 2 of 12
    There have been some discussions about the need for rules and regulations on rebates which would mean legislation from Congress. The whole rebate business is unregulated. "Baiting" customers to buy because of promised rebates and not delivering them is fraud. It's patently dishonest. It's only 50 bucks but it's the principal of the thing.

    Incidentally, Amazon.com finally did say to me that the rebate order form they provided had the wrong SKU. It took them 6 months to admit it. They probably knew a long time ago but never fessed up until now.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    I'm sure there's suffient laws on the books to deal with this issue.



    lawyer? yuck. He'll charge you $200 just to talk about your lost $50. That's a bigger scam than Amazons BS rebait.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    murbotmurbot Posts: 5,262member
    Jeff Bezons works in the staff kitchen at Amazon - you want to talk to Jeff Bezos.



  • Reply 5 of 12
    murbot, typo. I did send to Jeff Bezos (or is it Bozos?)
  • Reply 6 of 12
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    [quote]Originally posted by MacsRGood4U:

    <strong>murbot, typo. I did send to Jeff Bezos (or is it Bozos?)</strong><hr></blockquote>

    I'm pretty sure murbot was kidding...
  • Reply 7 of 12
    I know Murbots kidding.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    Another thing that makes this all the more annoying is that I like Amazon.com. I've ordered many items from them through the years, from books, dvds and cds, to a digital camera (Canon G2) and got excellent prices and terrific service. It's just that they have a lot of desk jockeys answering eMails who don't talk to one another. When things are done automatically, like orders, everything's fine. As soon as those pesky humans get involved - all heck breaks loose.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    I think the best you can do is tell Amazon not to deal with this company again and maybe turn it over the AG in your state. How much of your own time are you going to waste for $50?
  • Reply 10 of 12
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    Amazon is my favorite internet store. They have great customer service too. It's that they outsource their warrranty stuff and this company is notoriously bad about it. :/
  • Reply 11 of 12
    objra10objra10 Posts: 679member
    MacsR4u,



    what state are you in?



    For what it's worth, you're completely wasting your time filing a lawsuit. For $50, it's probably going to cost you a minimum of $2500, and unless you have a boat full of cash out back, you're going to lose.



    I'm not saying that you don't have a legit gripe, I'm just playing realistic here. I spend 40-70 hours a week dealing with just this. Even with the weight of our office, do you really care that much about a $50 rebate that you want to torment the next year of your life?



    Go ahead and file your complaint, that is a good thing to do. Eventually you will probably get a letter from the AG, and a letter from Amazon, and you will likely get your rebate. But a lawsuit, come on, the only person that benefits there is your lawyer. You'll pay the court more than you'll recover.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    Of course I'm probably not going the lawsuit route. I live in Florida, not a particularly good state when it comes to consumer rights. At this point the $50 doesn't mean much, it's just the principle of the thing. Amazon.com has compounded things by lying to me about processing a refund. They are always apolgetic but simply are too inept to get things righted. Shortly after other people had problems in September, there were reports that Amazon.com was refunding money to their credit cards. Why they didn't do that for me is a mystery. They finally told me that was what they were going to do a week ago, and as I said they have not.



    [ 01-31-2003: Message edited by: MacsRGood4U ]</p>
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