Latest Office Depot rebate scam: Nonexistent rebate cities

Beware the ire of the blogging public! The Office Depot Rebate Scam post from last March continues to be one of the most commented on posts in this blog and is the third hit on Google for office depot rebate.

Walter had a post today about a particularly egregious example of a rebate form directed to a nonexistent address in “Tempe, CO”. As it eventually turned out, the rebate didn’t exist either.

Having been screwed sufficiently by Office Depot’s rebate scam, yesterday I decided to buy a $36.99 item that had a $12 MIR advertised and planned to micromanage and microdocument each step of the process, just to see if OD actually honors it’s rebate programs. Interesting thing happened. The register generated MIR form said to mail in the rebate application to a PO Box in Tempe, CO. Knowing Tempe was in AZ, I asked the store manager what’s up. She checked on line and said the rebate address should be AZ, not CO, but if I don’t mail it to Colorado, I will be rejected for a rebate. There is no Tempe on Colorado I told her, so she said call the Customer Service 800-800-937-3600. Did that. Surprise. They said the ad and the slip were both wrong. There was no rebate on that product. So much for Office Depot’s integrity. Called the Store Manager back, she said her on-line system shows the rebate so she apologized for the misunderstanding…meaning no rebate.

Steven H writes:

Some of you are talking about a substantial amount of money here, yet, you act like “oh well, I sent it off, now it’s their problem”. When you don’t get your [rebate] within 3 weeks, you need to call and see what’s going on. Not sitting on your rump complaining because you haven’t gotten it. If you don’t take action to insure that things are going correctly, you can’t really complain. That’s just like not voting, but then bitching to people about the people running the government. It’s very hypocritical.

With all due respect, I don’t think having to aggressively follow up to receive your rebates is akin to not voting. When I vote, I’d like to think my vote is going to be counted no matter what, same with rebates that I file. Having been burned, I now avoid most rebates like the plague, but I still derive some satisfaction that this corporate behavior continues to be exposed.

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I purchased two Logitech QuickCam Chats on Black Friday at Office Depot for $49.91 and obtained the rebate form which clearly stated that there was a $30.00 rebate.

The rebate check was for $29.95 (which is what Logitech’s internet site lists as the rebate for this purchase). They were willing to reissue me a check for the correct amount, but ignored my suggestion that they should offer everyone a new rebate check.

Honestly, it would be much cheaper for them to simply send everyone a nice new nickel than to go through the hassle of stopping payment on the current check and reissuing a new check.

Now I just assumed that this was a Logitech error. Then I found Bogle’s Blog, and I see that Office Depot hasn’t been quite honest with all their rebates. Maybe this one too?

Anyway, this rebate went to Niagara Falls, which I *know* is in NY, and it really existed. Now I’m waiting for my new check.

Why doesn’t someone start a class action suit against the responsible party (?Office Depot)?

I bought an item on black Friday Nov 2006 with a $40 rebate. For the longest time nothing showed up on their rebate site that they even received my forms. I called and sent emails. Finally it showed up as being received. Now it is in phase 3 of the 5 phase process. Phase 3 is the “REQUIRED VALIDATION PERIOD”,
whatever the hell that is. Maybe I’ll get a check by next Christmas. Why can’t they just pay-up? Why put their customers through all this hassle? I no longer will shop at Office Depot and I told them so. No response from any of my emails. Guess I’m just another grumpy customer that doesn’t need to be listened, or responded to.
GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE, (NOT!!!!!!)

Office depot is one of those companies who doesn’t give rebate money easily. That way they raise money and make more money using this money. I asked the customer service as to why you people take so much of time and even though I had sent reciept, they told me I haven’t sent it. The customer service person told me that “Rebate can only be honored in this way”. Please note this statement. This statement says it all. I waish we should sue them for this kind of behaviour. other companies that do like this are Comp USA, samsung and kingston. Circuit city is very good.

Thanks,
Lingaraj

YOU ARE A BUNCH OF IDIOTS, U WANT TO SIT IN YOUR BUTT AND WAIT FOR THE MONEY TO COME TO YOU. ONCE YOU SENT THE PAPERS IN YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE EVERYTHING GOES WELL SO YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW UP WITHIN 6 WEEKS MAX, IF YOU SIT IN YOUR FRICKING BUTTS WAITING FOR THE MONEY TO KNOCK YOUR DOOR THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN, AND IF IT’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH IT U WILL FIGURE THIS WHEN U CALL NOT WHEN THE TIME HAS EXPIRED, IF YOU DON’T KEEP TRACK OF YOUR MONEY, NOBODY WILL CARE ABOUT IT. DON’T COMPLAIN BECAUSE IF IT’S A COMPANY ERROR THEY WILL FIGURE THIS UP AND FIX IT WHEN YOU CALL OTHERWISE FORGET IT, WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY KEEP TRACK OF EVERY ERROR ON SYSTEM WHEN PEOPLE DON’T CARE ABOUT THEIR OWN MONEY, COMMON PEOPLE WAKE UP! DO YOU THINK YOU ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO PUT REBATES ON THE MAIL.IF IT’S AN ERROR IT’S BECAUSE U DID SOMETHING WRONG, OTHERWISE WILL BE FIX BY COMPANY BUT ONLY WHEN U CALL IN. GET IT?, IF U DIDN’T TOO BAD. BYE STOP COMPLAININ AND DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR LIFE, AND USE YOU PRECIOUS TIME SOMEWHERE ELSE AND NOT GETTING ALL THOSE BAD THING FEELING INSIDE YOU, AGAINST SOMEONE THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR MISTAKES. TALK TO YOU LATER

Unfortunately, Queen. You’re an idiot. I am one of the responsible black friday shoppers that made sure I documented everything and made copies. I followed the rules to a T and dotted all my I’s. I also began “checking” on my rebate when 60 days went by with nothing.(They say give them 90 days). Having to “track” down your rebates is rediculous in the first place. If a company makes a promise, they should stand behind it. I have NEVER had any problems with getting rebates from other stores in the past and I have NEVER tracked them. Here’s my story. I had $250.00 of rebates due to me, but Office Depot is refunding only $40.00. My biggest purchases were 2 Digital cameras that came with a $75.00 rebate each and a “free” printer with each. The “free” printer meant you got the cost, $29.99 in form of a rebate. The cash register printed the rebate forms for me and the Manager actually handed me the cameras and printers. I wanted to make sure I got the right one that matched the advertised offer. Oddly enough, Office Depot’s claim for not sending the rebates……..wrong item purchased! Scam!! My biggest mistake was not listening to all of the people that told me I would never see my rebates. I am still trying to get my remaining $210.00 through the local store manager. This year on Black Friday, I will return to Office Depot, but not to make a purchase. I will return to let everyone waiting out in front of the store for 2 hours in advance in sub zero temperatures know that they most likely will NOT recieve their rebates and to share my personal story, complete with the documentation.

I bought a HP printer/camera combo from office depot that offered a 30.00 rebate. I filled out everything perfectly, sent it in on 9-18-06.

Today is 2-12-07 and I checked their “mail-in Savings Center” web site and it said I was at stage 3 in the 5 step process: “Required Validation period.” What the hell is this!? It’s been almost 5 months since I sent in the form and yet still no check. I think this is called FRAUD.

Three months and five days to get a $150 refund on a Gateway notebook. I received three mail in rebates from other home electronics stores from last Christmas’s shopping season and I received them before Christmas!

After reading the experiences from others about these rebates, I decided to skip the calls and just wait it out to see what would happen. Three months?? I will never ever ever ever ever ever buy from Office Depot again. Ever. Nor will any future descendants that I may have and their descendants as well.

thnks for providing me a forum to complain about office depot too. I’m still trying to get my rebate and probably never will. Yes I followed all their stupid rules but to no avail. hEY WAIT THERE IS MORE I’m STILL TRYING TO GET A REBATE FROM FRIGIDAIRE FOR A WASHER I BOUGHT FOR OVER 4 MONTHS AGO HEY PEOPLE THEY ARE ALL DOING IT NEVER NEVER FALL FOR ANOTHER REBATE UNLESS YOU GET IT RIGHT OFF THE BAT FROM THE STORE WHERE YOU BOUGHT THE ITEM. CHARLIE

Been there done that. The real responsibility for you to receive a rebate, assuming you have done everything required, is with the company offering the rebate.
My experience has been by failure of the “fulfillment centers”, not the store. I spent over $50 getting a $40 rebate once.
If the rebate amount warrants sending it registered mail, do so. Western Digital attempted a refusal and letters to the Attorney General of three States fixed it right up. I had the proof, WD received my application. I’m at stage 3 of an Office Depot rebate now, myself

Bought a HP laser printer from Office Depot on 16 Nov 2006 and have yet to see $175 in rebates. I have filed written complaints with the firm’s district manager and with the Postal Inspectors. I have also threatened to carry my beef to Small Claims Court.

I am in the Dane Elec scam as well. I contacted the people at Tempe, AZ and they are not honoring the rebates. Back to OD.

Well, firstly id like to say that most of you people seem to missing whats going on here. First off, the people that are going to the store are wasting there time. If you go to the store ask to speak with the store manager. The clerks and sales reps have almost no idea what your talking about(what do the hell do they care?, there not making comission with helping you find a rebate) and are there fore giving you the wrong infomation. Nancy you actually are the idiot, though you said queen was. You know why your not getting your rebates? Had you read the fine print(which i assume you did cause your such a smart person) you would have realized in big letters “limit one rebate per household”. Yup totally office depots fault that you cant read or take the time to do so. Secondly everybody is complaining about how long it takes, well its a 5 minute phone call away from finding out. Hey if something online says something you dont understand why dont you call in and ask……but it seems like you all figured out the sitting down and do nothing but bitch about online approach works really well.Now the 60-90 period is pretty simple really, offie depot has a 60 day return policy. Now follow me here this may be complicated, if we honour you rebates in 40 days what could you do? Well you could cash the check and enjoy the product or……..you could cash the check and return the product. And that is the reason why the period is set up, because people where receiving rebate checks and then returning the product for the full cost which is stealing. So before you go blaming office depot for “stealing” from you people maybe you should blame the selfish fucks who ruined it for you guys. I do understand that errors are made and it does happen. But if there made on behalf of office depot a quick phone call will fix everything up(or even if you guys messed up). In conclusion office depot sends it mail in rebates to an outsourced company that deals with 94% of the usa’s rebates. Thats right….your precious circut city or best buy rebates all have to go go through this company too. Hell they even deal with grocerys, liquor and smokes so all your anger is directed at the wrong company. Also its not office depots fault if you too lazy or ignorant to read some fine or to follow up on your money. So there it is, yes this is a person from behind the scenes and i hear from you people all the time. I honestly try my best to help people out when weve made a mistake but if you call in saying lawsuit this and class action that im not going to help you. Dont any of you people realize it will cost more money to meet with a lawyer for an hour that almost any of your rebates are worth? And if you go to a lawyer what will you say? So i didnt read the fine print i want to sue. see how that works out for yah.So simpy allow me to put it this way. Im right…..your wrong. Got any problems…meh im not to worried its not like i have access to all you personal information……oh wait.

It took me more than 4 month to get a $200 rebate for a Toshiba laptop from office depot

Purchased a Western Digital hard drive with a $50.00 rebate and it showed up in their system in 2 weeks. Sent in a rebate for an HP dv6205us $150.00 rebate and it showed up as a rebate for a Toshiba notebook computer and my purchase did not qualify. In 2 days I sent them 6 emails explaining that someone had entered 699 for the last 3 numbers of the promotion into their computer instead of 669. The Toshiba promotion is currently running and I sent my rebate in on 12 Feb 07. You’d think that one of the village idiots they hire would have figured out the problem and fixed it. Nope. They kept telling me my purchase did not qualify. I finally called a customer service rep and the guy fixed it that day. It now has a different tracking number.

The rebates go to Young-America MN. 8 years ago, I worked there as a consultant for 3 weeks working on their computers. These people process not only rebates, but class action law suits and other activities that require mass issuing of checks. Mistakes happen but one would think that it would not take 6 emails and a phone call to find someone smart enough to fix the problem, particularly when you’ve provided a detailed explanation. I’ve decided to forego future rebates as the hassle involved can be excessive.

Still waiting for a $30 rebate

Purchased an Archos 604 in October, it had a $30 rebate. I contacted them in Jan, they said give them three more weeks. This email had my tracking ID in it too. I contacted them in March,using the JAN email, way past three weeks. They asked for the UPC code. I told them I don’t keep packages for 7 months. THEY then sent an email asking what product I purchased, total purchase price, current address, offer number and tracking ID. All of which were in the email I have been sending.
The I called, I am sure I speaking to someone in INDIA. She told me someone forgot to put in the UPC number. I needed t send the receipt again.
Earlier I had email the site telling them all those questions were in the email they had replied to. They apologized and said: “please wait, we are overwhelmed with the resonse to the rebate.”

I will bet you the emails are answered by people in India too. I have the same problem with Vonage , they only understand very simple questions and likely paste responses based on a few key words. Often the Vonage reply has nothing to do with the question you asked.

Steve O’Brian

You are not a very nice person. You know, I also though that is why it took so long to get my rebate, due to the return/exchange policy,but researching a bit further I found that the return policy for my laptop was only 14 days. So,please tell me again why it takes so long?
Have a nice day!

I mailed in a $150.00 rebate to Office Depot in Sept of 2006, in March of 2007 I checked the website to find it was in stage 3 of the 5 step process. I called customer service to find out what was going on, and was told is was ’stuck’ in stage 3 for 6 months and I would receive my check in 7 days. I will post back the results in 7 days.

I was relieved to hear that I wasn’t the only one that had a problem with rebates from Office Depot.(Misery loves company!!) After spending 30 minutes on the phone with someone from the rebate center, he tried to tell me that my rebate had been sent to someone else with “almost” the same name and proceeded to give me that persons name, address and “yes” even her phone number. Is there not a confidentality problem here? I don’t know what he thought I was going to do, I’m sure not going to call her. Then I finally ask to speak with a supervisor and after another 30 minutes or so he “accidently” disconneted me. Well, by this time I was ticked so I called back and of course I didn’t get either one of those guys but this time I got a lady. She informed me to resubmit my rebate and it would be taken care of in 6 weeks. (yea, right) Never mind that it’s been 4 months since I mailed in my original. All I can say about this matter is, Office Depot has lost a good customer.

I purchased a printer on 06/13/06 from Officer Depot in Alexandria, VA. and I had to fill out 2 rebate forms to get total of $100 check, one for $25 and the other one for $75. On 07/01/06, 08/07/06 and 08/16/ 06, I received e-mails stating that “you will receive another email when we have shipped your check”. So, I’ve been waiting for my rebate checks to come and I forgot about the whole thing. Today on 04/02/07, I was going through my old paper works and found out that I never received any rebate checks from Office Depot’s rebate center. I contacted the rebate center and spoke with a customer service lady but she replied to me that I was too late for the call and there is nothing she could do for me. Why is that too late for my rebate checks? I just want my rebates that were promised to me when I purchased my printer. Why does that matter how I made a late call to get my rebate checks. I did follow all of the instructions and used my money to send out those rebate forms in the mail. After all it is my money, isn’t it? I hope this is not a scam so they don’t have to pay people. I also spoke with Mr. Patrick (supervisor) his ID# 53812 and I could not understand what in the hell he was trying to say to me at all. Actually, He made me more upset, lol… I e-mail this matter to their customer service, so I guess I have to wait and see what they are going to do. Damn, I hate waiting for rebate checks because I will forget about it. I think that the Best Buy is going the right direction with getting away with rebate BS. By the way I filed a complain on Federal Trade Commission’s web site and also Ripoffreport.com.

I bought a monitor from Office Depot in 9/06, sent in all the paperwork for two rebates…got the $20 rebate after I called in January and complained, the $60 rebate supposedly handled through rebatesHQ.com I believe to be a TOTAL scam. Sent an e-mail to OD public relations (indicating I was a reporter trying to get info for a piece I was writing on rebate fraud), surprisingly they responded until they found out what my real issue was…. haven’t heard from their agent in weeks…. I’m ready for a class action suit against them for fraud…. I think their are enough of us out there that it will be worth an attorneys time….

Does anyone know a reporter/consumer advocate that could start investigating Office Depot? It is time that they are in the spotlight and Exposed! I too am waiting for $200 rebate from a laptop purchase. That is a lot of money to me and the only reason I could afford the laptop!

Does anyone have a number that I can call and get a live person from the Office Depot Savings Center? I also am waiting for a laptop rebate of $150.00 I’ve been waiting since December 2006.

Anyone?

If you idiots would read your rebate forms you would see:
a: a phone number to call to contact mailing savings center
B: postmark due date(meaning your submission has to be mailed by that dtae)
C: The rules, one of which is if you dont receive your rebate in 90 days to CONTACT THEM.
D: Office depot is not responsible for late, lost, damaged or misdirected mail, meaning you cannont sue them, they cover their asses good.

If you dont want to deal with mail in saving, shop somewhere else.
I work at the office depot mail in savings centre, it is NOT a scam, and I am sick of having to deal wioth people who are to stupid to actually READ the rebate forms!

And as for your montior rebate, hanns g went bankrupt, and office depot is gracious enough to cover the rebates from hanns-g. you should be damn lucky to be getting it!

In response to david:
It says on the rebate form that if you havn’t received your rebate in 90 days to contact the mail in savings centre. Its your own damn fault if you forgot about it.

I sent in for my rebate on 11/21/2006.
I get promises, but no $80.00 Rebate.
What’s going on? What is Wintergreen?

wintergreen is hanns -g. hanns-g went bankrupt so now office depot is paying out the rebates, so you should be damn lucky your getting anything at all, that office depot was kind enough to take all hanns clients and pay out their money. you need to contact the office depot mail in savings centre

In response to above: I don’t think it was David’s fault if he didn’t receive the rebate. The rebate company should send out the rebate without the calling them, because the terms do not state to call them to receive the rebate. The rebate center did not do their job if the rebate was not sent out.

I have done over a hundred rebates in the last couple years and have had only 1 or 2 not valid (I purchased it a day late or so — my fault). My experience has been pretty positive obviously. Right now I have over 20 rebates due to me and most are about 2 months since mailing. The companies I have had the worst problem with is Office Depot, not for fraudulent rebate practices, but for the time required to get the rebate (90 days) - the longest of any company. I have a rebate thats coming in the mail that is for $50 when the rebate is actually supposed to be for $60. That is plain out fraud. I know I will get my additional $10, but its just going to be another month. Onrebate is another company to watch out, I on the 6th week of waiting. I will complement other rebate companies — Circuit City - 100% of rebates received and most of them within 4 weeks. The best rebates are at Staples - received rebates within 2 weeks. RiteAid has the record with receiving the rebate the week after I purchased the item - thats called service. Also I have compliments to Computer Assoicates rebates that were quick (4 weeks) last year but I am on the 6th week of waiting this year.
But I have to say that there were several phone calls made to make sure rebates are arriving on time (which should not have to occur). This is the part where most people say rebate centers and the companies involved are fradulent. Most people would not make the calls, and they should not be required to do so. But people also have to remember, that without rebates, the savings would be less, even though it is not significant (from comparing prices at Best Buy — no rebates — to Circuit City.

as far as im concerned, if you cant afford to buy something without a mail in rebate, and you don’t like rebates, then don’t but the item.

Ok heres the deal my girfriend got a combo deal at office depot with over $300 in rebates and we submitted everything correctly and mailed it in the next day. But now it seems as if they are trying to screw us on the largest rebate $150. They misprinted her name and address even though it was clearly printed correctly.We used the tracking number and we are already in the 3rd step of the process. I was wondering if you guys have any ideas of how to correct this problem? Is there another number to call other than the 1 866 541 0284? Is there anyway to go throught the store or a good way to contact them online? Because we will get screwed out of all the office depot rebates. which is about atleast $200. Please help I am in dire need of your assistance.

In response to Steve/Stephanie/Annym,
Why don’t you drop the charade. You are obviously the same person. Your mediocre grasp of the English language under all three pseudonyms is a dead giveaway. In the U.S. we spell it honor and center not honour and centre. When did the Express Group start outsourcing to Newfoundland? It is people like you whose poor attitude and deceit sully Office Depot’s reputation.

Most of the “deals” that Office depot offers involve multiple rebates. Usually one is from the manufacturer and one is from Office Depot and is processed by the Express Group (or whatever other flunky firm they chose to outsource to). The rebates being held up and denied are rarely from the manufacturer. My manufacturer’s rebate arrived nearly two weeks before I expected it to and I was kept apprised of the status via email.

10-13 weeks for the Office Depot rebate? Why is everyone else 6-8 weeks? Don’t give some lame excuse about having products returned for full purchase price and then “stealing” the rebate. A full refund should not be given if the original UPC is not intact. If the UPC is missing, withhold the value of the potential rebates that were valid when the item was purchased.

I suspect there are several reasons for OD’s dismal rebate honoring history and all you have to do is follow the money. The first reason is to hope that the customer forgets about the rebate thus allowing the Express Group to keep the money. I’ll bet 90% of the missing submissions are hung up in the rebate purgatory better known as “Step 3 - Required Validation Period”. If the Express Group has the rebate in their system, why should it require a phone call before they pay out? I noticed also that even though I was clearly in their system, I never received an email confirming the receipt of my submission (wouldn’t want to risk reminding me that they still had my money). Out of sight, out of mind seems to be their motto. Who knows, perhaps Steve/Stephanie gets a bonus for every rebate that goes unclaimed (with his/her help of course).

Keep following the money. The other reason is to collect the interest on money that was paid out by our credit card company or bank months ago. The longer they can hold it, the more they make. Where do you think all of that money we fronted is right now? At a minimum, it is in an interest bearing account somewhere fattening the wallets of the CEO and upper management. Think about it. Ten thousand $150 rebates is $150,000,000. Keep that in an account for a couple of months and see what kind of payback you get.

I’d hate to think in what other unstable investments it could be holed up in. One sour turn of the market and your rebate will be Enronned as the Express Group tries to keep from becoming insolvent.

My advice is to avoid OD like the plague until they dump the Express Group and prove that they can honor a deal in a fair and timely manner.

Check that…$1,500,000 not $150,000,000. It’s still a lot of jack.

In December I bought a Canon camera at Office
Depot that was supposed to have a $100 rebate.
I mailed the rebate forms and proof of purchase
on 12-28-06.

When I checked the rebate center online almost
3 months later, they state that they did not
receive my forms until 1-25 (which is not true)
and they have me down to receive only a $40
rebate.

I have called and followed up with letter
(certified) threatening legal action and
re-submitting all of my proofs of purchase.
The receipt clearly states that the offer
is for a $100 rebate.

Their web site still states that I am in step
3 of 5 and that I will only receive $40 back.

They are messing with the wrong person. I do
plan to go to channel 2 and to get publicity
about their fraudulent behavior, especially
after reading all of your blogs.

How about a class action suit? Attorney
General complaints? We all need to take
action.

To 42k: I do not live in newfoundland, I live in Toronto, Canada and am proud of it, Im just glad I don’t live on america, I cannot tell you how often we sit and laugh at you jackasses after you call in. Your all a bunch of fucking idiots! If you don’t like the rebate system from office depot, then don’t shop there, or participate in their rebate offers, it’s as simple as that.

stephanie,
First of all, even for a newf like you, your is a possessive pronoun unlike you’re which is a contraction of you are. No wonder your life is relegated to phone support - there’s no writing involved. You just have to flap your gums while doling out some canned response. And here I was thinking that U.S. “government” schools were ineffective. I’m just glad I don’t live “on” canada.

Even more telling is your failure to refute any of my allegations. You offer no apologies or suggestions, only excuses.

Anyone having problems may want to Google “rebate center contact information” (in quotes) then click on the fatwallet.com site. There seems to be some good contact information there although I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the information. See stephanie…anyone can do your job…and be more helpful. What a waste of carbon you are.

You are just one nasty person. I feel sorry for anyone who knows you or to be near you on a daily basis. Please forward my condolences to them. You are probably some middle aged person who has nothing better to do than argue a 15 year old. your funny.

Regardless of what Stephanie says (and if she is a 15 year old or not, she sure sounds like one…stay in Canada, PLEASE!), Office Depot Customer care is a joke. I have called 5 times in three days and they do nothing but read a “canned” response from their screen, try to connect me with their rebate center and go on their way. I have finally been connected to their “Executive Customer Relations Center” at their corporate office in Del Ray Beach, FL. I have yet to talk to a person…so the jury is still out.

Stephanie…FYI, I called the number on the bottom of my $70 rebate form and it went to a company that has NOTHING to do with American Telecom or Office Depot. The Office Depot Rebate Center also showed nothing in their system for this rebate. Funny, the rebate form is still on the Office Depot website and they can’t find any record that the rebate ever existed.

I love outsourcing!

I bought a Toshiba Notebook in December 2006, I have waited my “required” validation period with no check for $150 from Office Depot. I contacted my local BBB and ask them what to do on May 2, 2007, they told me to contact them and ask when to expect my check. I thought this would be another waste of time, as I had contacted them 3 times before. I did email them on May 3rd, 2007, and told them the BBB had told me to contact them to see when I should be receiving my rebate for $150. I got an email back the same day saying to expect my check within 5-7 days. It is May May 8, 2007 and to my surprise I DID receive my check today for $150……goes to show when they are confronted with the Better Business Bureau they move up the validation period!!!! I ask anyone who is expecting a rebate to contact the BBB and let them know what a problem they are having with Office Depot, as I do not think they would have mailed my check if I had not have mentioned that the BBB ask me to contact them to ask them when to expect my check, they sure dont want to have a complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau!!!!

I have been calling about and waiting for a rebate for months. Now I get a fax tone where there was a voice line. Time to take a closer look at Staples as a supplier.

I’ve been reading these comments and complaints for a while, and I decided to share my own story too. My dad and I bought a N100 levono laptop on 1/1/07. We mailed in everything and filled out everything correctly for a $150 and a $100 rebate from office depot. 60 days into the waiting process, we have checked online and it says “processing”, and so we decided to wait 30 more days since they say “give us 90 days”. When the time came, I checked the website again, not surprisingly, I saw it, “processing” again. This time, my dad and I can’t take this kind of customer service, we went to office depot and looked for the manager. We complained and the manager promised to guarantee us the rebate. A few weeks later, I checked the website again, and the status says that my rebate is “invalid”. My father, and I were both angry, we rushed to office depot, and my dad exploded and was yelling at one of the managers there. The manager immediately called the office depot head department and made sure 100% that we would get our money back. This happened 2 days ago, and we are stilling currently waiting for our rebate. I hope this time they aren’t actually lying, and we would get the money that we deserve in the first place.

Email them like I did and tell them you have contacted the Better Business Bureau and they ask you to contact them and ask when to expect your rebate, I got mine. I also worked for the BBB, beleive me, Office Depot doesnt want a bad report on their records from the BBB.

I have stopped the Office Depot Rebate Nightmare. I not longer use that store/chain. Advise you go to Staples. The rebate process is smooth and easy (via on-line).

At Office Depot - I purchase a laptop and color printer Nov 2006.
I copied everything and did the follow up. My experience no different from those write ups above. A Nightmare.
However, I have gotten my $220. Took 6 mo for $200 and 5 months for $20.

Have stopped shopping at Office Depot and moved personal and business account to Staples.

PS: I had a terrible problem with rebate on purchase from TigerDirect (Internet Seller). However, I eventually received the rebate from manufacturer and a matching credit from TigerDirect. Thanks TigerDirect!

I purchased a Canon Digital camera on 12/30/06 that came with a mail in rebate for $40. They received it on 1/12/07 and I have as yet (5/28/07) received my rebate. I have called them numerous times, only to be told that I will receive it in 4 weeks. It at least shows online now, but it’s still “pending” like everyone else. I am going to also contact the BBB. This is ridiculous! Never again!

I wish I had read these comments before I bought a laptop a few weeks ago. A friend sent in her rebate 3 weeks before me and she and I are in the “infamous” step three. We need to spread the word about Office Depot. I have submitted and received rebates in the past–no problem. I had no idea a chain store such at OD would do something like this. My friend nor I would have purchased a laptop without the discount. Sure wish I had seen this website before we purchased.

I sent in my rebate form for a Toshiba lap-top that I purchased on Mar.22. Since that time I have been told that 1.it was never recieved 2.that I would have to resubmit it 3. that it was sent to the wrong address and would be mailed that day 4.one month later “Paul” says he is expediting the check today! having no record of any previous contacts made by me. Oh, and when I called “customer service rep.”to make my complaint he sounded like a giggling teenager while taking my information.Really installs a feeling of confidence in Office Depot—not.

THIS IS THEIR STORE ID: 2548
1520 Wesel Blvd
Hagerstown, MD 21740
(301) 790-3405
STORE MANAGER: REGIS BUSCH
I MY SELF WAS ONE OF THEIR BUSINESS CARD HOLDER

I bought two Dane-elec 1gb memory USB drives for about 49 dollars each, in their red tag special sales: it saids it will be $7 when rebated $42. Now the problem is I have spend about 100 for these two USB drive hoping I can get $42 back for each of the drives I bought.

I can’t read their small prints on the receipt do to my vision so I told the store manager/casher to help me on how to get these rebates, after this guy (his name is Regis Busch) read the paper he told me that all I need to do is fill out my home address and my phone number and send it with my receipt to get this rebate. Needless to said I was happy.

3 month later, I call the rebate center about why I haven’t get my rebate, they told me I don’t have THE item bar code and they can’t do anything unless I go to office depot to solve this problem. WTF???? I SEND THE RECEIPTS (the receipt has items code in it) and the rebate form AND THEY TOLD ME I DON’T HAVE SOME BAR CODE?? WHEN I go to the officeDepot place, they told me it’s not their fault for “rebate center” and Me not getting this right and when I complain I won’t leave until this is clear because he told me it wasn’t his fault for not able to send the code with the receipt, that Regis guy actually told me to “get the FUCK out or I’ll call the police” What kind of service is this? This is A TOTAL RIP OFF, THEY SCAM MY MONEY, PEOPLE DON’T BUY FROM OFFICE DEPOT!! They are total liars and they’re service is just crap, I’ll never buy from them again and you bet my next business purchase won’t be in that place!

THIS IS THEIR STORE ID: 2548
1520 Wesel Blvd
Hagerstown, MD 21740
(301) 790-3405
STORE MANAGER: REGIS BUSCH
I MY SELF WAS ONE OF THEIR BUSINESS CARD HOLDER

I’ve given up on rebates. I will use coupon codes and i8mmediate (at time of payment) rebates.

I ordered routers from Link Sys, submitted the paperwork. Also had a rebate for the same item from The seller. Both rebates had the same mailing date required. Both were mailed at the same time. Seller rebate paid. LinkSys rebate sent form “not submitted during valid period.” It did give a CS number, but I couldn’t get through.

Now rebate “suggestions” from sellers say; keep copies, send with proof of receipt (i.e certified, return recipe request.)

Great, it now would cost over $5 TO APPLY FOR THE REBATE!

And, of course, if it isn’t honored I have the time & trouble required to try and collect.

I have to have a pretty large rebate to make it worth my time to apply, keep records and then pursue the claim.

I get $65+/hr for my time. Majority of rebates are well under $50–$45 after submission. If follow up takes even 1 phone call, I’m losing time (money!) on most of them, even without the stress.

To those of you who say this is “all your own fault for not following up,” I have to say that if there were a very tiny percentage of problems, it would probably be true. But judging from the complaints on line and the reactions to problems by online merchants, this is indeed a major problem with many, many companies who offer rebates. Either they are crooks, or they simply can’t be bothered to run a proper rebate processing center. I suspect that a lot of the problems are not the manufacturer’s direct fault, but the rebate processing center’s fault (most rebates are processed by 3rd party companies.)

But the issuing company is RESPONSIBLE for the problems, regardless of who is a fault (unless you are!)

Just as the US President is RESPONSIBLE for EVERYTHING that the executive branch does–and ignorance is not a defense in either case.

A class action would be a good idea–any lawyers out there who want to take it on?

Until then, I avoid mail-in rebates.

Newegg has been the best to me about rebate problems–to the point of applying coupon codes retroactively that I forgot to place with the order, quickly and from only an email question asking if it was “possible.”

I’ve had lots of trouble with rebates for items from TigerDirect–a company which advertises mostly “after rebate” prices. And they have had enough problems that they set up a department to deal with the problem.

The US postal service has it’s troubles, but they usually manage to get the vast majority of shipments to the correct place in a reasonable time. They’re not lost in the mail. They’re not arriving weeks or months late. They are not getting processed in an accurate and timely manner.

cmb

I bought a memory card from BUY.COM .Its 4 months now and no rebate. I emailed them several times with no reply . so be careful when you buy there.

Office Depot will get my business again when hell freezes over! The latest and biggest problem was their scam with the Hanns 19in LCD monitors with $90 rebates. Well, Hanns (ie Wintergreeen systems) went bankrupt and Office Depot dweebs promised to pay up. Long story short, Office Depot completely re-negged. I finally had to call my credit card company and file a claim. I kept the riginal advertisment from Office Depot as well as every piece of documentation. I’ve done dozens of rebates, this is my second problem with the liars at Office Depot. Never again! Stay away from these cheating bastards.

I mailed in my $150 mail-in rebate over two months ago. I was never notified that the rebate was even received. I called a couple times and sent an email. Judging from these posts I will chalk it up to a loss and never shop at Office Depot again, as well as advise everyone I know to do the same.

Never received rebate for HP Deskjet 9800 and HP Scanjet G4000. Retail located 4045 Veterans Memorial Drive, St. Peters, MO. 63376 reported check mailed June 1, 2007. Never received! Asked store manager to get it for me as his 1-866-541-0284 number produced nothing. He said he did not have the time. What to do?

I wouldn’t buy so much as a paper clip from Office Depot after getting stiffed on a $200 mail in rebate. They are nothing but crooks!

PLEASE BE AWARE OF OFFICE DEPOT REBATES. THEY ARE A SCAM. PURCHASED LENOVO COMPUTER. PROMISED $4OO REBATE. I RECEIVED THE 200 FROM LENOVO WITHIN 3 WEEKS. OFFICE DEPOT STATES THAT THEY NEVER RECEIVED THEIR REBATE FORM. RESUBMITTED IT. STILL THEY NEVER RECEIVED. IT IS AMAZING THEY GOT TWO OTHER 20 DOLLAR REBATES THAT WERE MAILED TO THEM ON THE SAME DAY. BUT THEY NEVER GOT THE $200 REBATE. CALLED REBATE CENTER. THEY STATED THEY WOULD CONTACT ME BY EMAIL WITHIN 24 HOURS. 2 WEEKS LATER NO EMAIL. NOW WHEN I CALL THEY STATE THEY CANT FIND THAT REBATE OFFER IN THEIR SYSTEM. THEY SAY IT NEVER EXISTED. I AM NOT HOPEFUL THAT I WILL EVER SEE THE MONEY. THEY ARE RUNNING A SCAM. I WILL NOT BUT FROM THEM AGAIN.

Rebates make seemingly sweet deals, but having dealt with numerous mail-in rebate problems over the years (from everywhere), I will not be giving my money to stores that insist on using rebates to promote “great deals”. They just aren’t great deals when you have to go through such lengths to get your rebates (if you are lucky enough to actually receive them).

Believe me, I’m a bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to closely following these rebate’s precise requirements. I’ve dotted every “I” and crossed every “T”, and met every qualification on every rebate I’ve sent off over the last many years. Yet I’ve had problems with at least 2/3rds of them (although the problems became much worse over the last 5 years than it ever used to be) - and some out-right refuse to pay even though I’ve sent proof (and in some cases, even with the store manager’s assistance) of following the proper procedures and have proven that I met all qualifications for those rebates.

And I think these companies count on the fact that you’ll give up, as it gets to a point where you’ve spent so much time on it that you finally realize that you’re time’s worth more than the stinking rebate.

I no longer purchase anything that requires a mail-in rebate in order to get a reasonable deal. At this point, there’s enough deals available from reputable online retailers that I don’t see any need for using rebates.

It’s my opinion that a store that really wants your business will give up the mail-in rebate promotions and pressure their vendors for good up-front pricing - so as to pass great prices on to their customers. It can be done. As I understand it, Best Buy is one store that seems to be on this track right now. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Can you say class action law suit? I’m in. They took me for $300. Every single person I spoke to at Office Depot lied to me. It is no longer the money, it’s become an obsession for justice. I will be satisfied. Liars beware.

Well, all of you current and former office depot employees have convinced me to never shop there again. If office depot advertises the after rebate price of a product and cannot do everything in their power to make sure that their customers receive that rebate, then it really smacks of dishonesty. Also, if all of their employees have this company first and customer second attitude, then i would rather shop elsewhere. Thank you for enlightening me. PS: Take a grammer class and get an education.

Here’s the deal Toshiba laptop $800 and $200 Office Depot rebate. Bought one and reviewed the rebate. DOES NOT state limitations on 1 per person or 1 per househouse on the rebate form. Bought another one the next day.

So far one is pending and one is rejected to 1 limit per person, per household. What a scam! The rebate does not state any limitations. I reviewed the rebate form again. There is a clause stating {Office Depot reserve the right to modify the rebate promotion.} What does that mean? I guess they can change the rebate terms to their liking and advantage? WHAT A CROCK!

I guess, I’ll be modifying my buying and spending terms…
NO MORE BUYING FROM OFFICE DEPOT AGAIN!!!!
PERIOD!!!! CASE CLOSED!!!!

Here’s the scamming OD deal! Toshiba laptop for $800 ($799.99) and $200 Office Depot rebate. Bought one and reviewed the rebate. DOES NOT state limitations on 1 per person or 1 per household on the rebate form. So, I bought another one the next day.

So far one rebate is pending (phase 3) and the other rebate has been rejected, reason limit 1 per person, per household. What a fricking scam! The rebate form does not state any limitations. However, I reviewed the rebate form again. There is a clause stating {Office Depot reserves the right to modify the rebate promotion.} What does that mean? I guess they (OD) can change the rebate terms to their liking and advantage? WHAT A CROCK!

I guess, I’ll be modifying my buying and spending terms…
NO MORE BUYING FROM OFFICE DEPOT AGAIN!!!!
PERIOD!!!! CASE CLOSED!!!!

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND! THE CROOKS at Office Depot will meet Bubba some day in the shower at Sing Sing prison! Don’t drop the soap!!!! LOL!

I bought a portable hard drive from Office Depot and it had a $50.00 rebate. I filled out all the paperwork and sent it in. when I checked on it I was told that they had no info about my submission. I too was advised to speak with the manager, I tried but couldnt get in contact with them. should have sent it registered mail. Live and learn, I just dont shop at Office Depot anymore. Buyer beware! Office Depot is not a reputable retailer.

Bought a Dual Lens Kodak camera while in Florida on 12/28/2006 at Office Depot. It was displayed in the camera section for something like $280.00. When checking out the cashier rang the price up as $350.00. I ask why the price was different than advertised; she stated that there would be a $70.00 mail in rebate. There was nothing stated to that affect at the camera department. Being trustworthy, I went ahead and purchased the camera, and submitted the rebate on the same date.

After three months had passed and not receiving the rebate, I contacted the home rebate center. They stated that they referred it to another department. When contacting the referred department, the stated that they had received no such referral. Another ten days went buy, and I again contacted the home rebate center. I was then informed they never received it or had and record of it.
Getting a little pissed-off by now, I informed them that I would be contacting the U.S. Attorney Generals office unless I received satisfactory results. The next day I received and e-mail to the affect that I would be receiving a rebate in approximately three weeks.
Well three, then four, then five weeks went by and still no rebate. I made another contact with them and they stated it could possibly be another week to ten days.

FINALLY, after seven months I received the rebate for $30.00, less than half the stated amount. As results of this act of stupidly on their behalf, I no longer shop at Office Depot and encourage others not to do so either with satisfactory results.

I just received the reponse below from eagletech regarding the status of my 100.00 rebate for the Viper case I purchased from the newegg website.

I was warned from friends that Eagle-Tech has a reputation for not honoring their rebates, and will flat out lie about someone not providing enough information when sending in the rebate form so they would not have to honor it.

On 7/14/2007 I sent in all of the required information (within the specified 14 day period), *exactly* as the rebate form indicated, with my newegg receipt, mail-in rebate form, and original UPC. I also made triplicate copies of everything I sent, *and* sent the letter certified.

True to form, as you can see below, they stated that I’m missing my sales invoice, in hopes that I will simply give up, and wait another 12 weeks for them to not honor the rebate.

> From: rebate@eagle-techusa.com
> To:
> Subject: RE: Status of rebate
> Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 18:51:57 -0800
>
> Dear Customer:
>
> We have received your rebate mail on 07/16/07.
>
> Rebate: Received
>
> Status: Declined
>
> Reason: Missing Sales Invoice
>
> (The mail-in letter is only the “processing page”)
>
> If you would, I could do you a one time favor by re-submit your rebate to
> our rebate process center again.
>
> In order to do that, I need your INVOICE PAGE first. And please understand
> by re-submit your rebate; the process time takes 12 weeks.
>
> Here are the instructions of how to get the invoice # from Newegg:
>
> 7. You have to login to your account, by entering your email address
> and password.
> 8. After login, click “Go To My Account.”
> 9. Then you click the second option, “Order History/Print History.”
> 10. Then you select the invoice number.
> 11. Then click on Printer.
> 12. After following the steps that will take you into the invoice.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Rebate Dept.

Do not do business with this shady company.

I am glad to have stumbled across this blog.
I’ve never been to big a fan of Office Despot in the past and after reading all of these comments I will never darken their doorway again,

I,ve been burnt by rebate scams in the past too(SONY). But I am happy to tell you all that your efforts, making these comments, are not in vain.
Alot of us will nebver shop at ODs again thanks to your comments on this forum.
I SAY AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR WARNING US ABOUT OFFICE DEPOT.

Some time ago I made myself a promise to never by anything based on the manufacturer’s promise of a rebate.
As a matter of fact I pass on most items that involve a rebate. I call it “voting with my dollar” I doon need no steeenkeeeng rebate….

i work at office depot and wanted to say this

1. office depot sales people dont make commission so we dont care before or after the sale.

2. we do make commission on warranties. only 5% though.

3. i have never had a rebate problem. probably cause they know im an employee.

4. we sell warranties for the little commission we get not to help you.

5. the warranties are for profit not to help you so you will most likely get cheap service if you get service at all.

anything else? message me on yahoo messinger or email be back and ill tell you whatever you want to know.

by the way my email is officedepotkid@yahoo.com

You will get most all of your rebates paid ONLY if you manage your rebates. That means you call their 800 number while preparing the forms to go over what you are sending them in detail, contact them within a few weeks on the given 800 number to confirm they have your information correct (whether it is posted on their website or not, since they could have the details wrong). Be friendly and helpful at all times whether they are or not. If you get a really bad agent, beg off of the call politely and call back in (the goal is to not upset them so they sabotage your file, but to quickly disengage for some unrelated reason). Then call back in later and confirm they have each and every detail of your claim correct, and that there are no issues needing to be resolved. Then call in about once per week to cheerfully check on the progress of your rebate. They are told to look for any imperfection to justify rejecting the rebate, so establishing a log where you are repeatedly told that it is in good order will work entirely to your benefit if you need to (again, politely) nudge customer service, file a BBB complaint, or contact your local newspaper consumer affairs desk (always VERY effective, especially if you mention it to them).

Here are the results: Before I “managed” my rebates thusly, I only got about half of them, and in an average of 2 months. Since managing my rebates closely, I have gotten 100% of them and in an average of 4 weeks, never later than 6. This also now qualifies me to work in “consumer affairs” which is how I cheerfully identify myself to any rebate customer service agents.

I honestly think that people should NOT believe evderything that is advertised. That´s the only problem. Whenever you buy something, and you have to pay a certain total amount, you have to understand that money won´t easily come back to you. If you don´t like the total price, well, then you don´t buy from that store. But we all believe that company promises will be always met. And that is the real purpose of rebates. Don´t you understand it is an advertising technique, to make you believe you are paying less when you actually aren´t. Is that SO difficult to understand? Is it so difficult to understand that things get lost in the mail? Is it so difficult to be patient with these things, to understand that we paid a certain amount that the company will hold because it´s their increased profit? Again, if you don´t like the price, buy from another store. If you pretend things to be always cheaper, then enslave yourselves in this rebate hassle. I can´t understand how much energy people is spending in a couple dollars. Or even if it is two hundred dollars that you have already paid. But WE americans, we prefer to spend more time in money issues than in other important things in our lives or in somebody else´s life. Maybe that´s why it´s so easy to trick us and to make such a scam with these mail-in discounts. I see a little paranoia here, very little common sense… as if people were blinded by too much confidence on Capitalism. … Be logic, be open-minded, oh god!

I took Norton antivirus from office depot on 09/03/07 with 20$ mail in rebate. I send all the forms, nothing in the status, when I call , they are asking resubmitagain, Why I have to waste postal stamp & my efforts for nothing. I never miss anything in the USPS, till now I got all my mail in rebates except this from office depot. Office depot is selling all the laptop in the mail rebate. It looks big scam. If they don’t pay at least they will make big profit for short term, not life long. I never buy anything from
office depot.

Big Scam

ok…rebates are tricky…there are loopholes in federal and various state laws that executives of all these companies are well informed of - if they ‘process’ your rebate long enough, it can expire, and legally they can deny paying you!!postmarks, wording that nobody reads on the rebate requirements, etc.. legislation is to blame - the companies are just doing what any big name company does -they do their homework! they pay their lawyers LOADS of money (the money they keep from us!) to find the loopholes in ‘contests’, ‘rebates’, etc…
(for example..one of the guys above said he got back a check for $29.95 when he should have gotten $30 - ok, 5 cents, who cares right?? but, lets say nationwide OD sells 500,000 of this item - by jipping the consumer this 5 cents per person, they save what??? $25,000.00!…fishy…if it was me, i would call a lawyer…but guaranteed there’s just another loophole…jokes on us!

so yes, we, the consumers, need to be the ‘nag’, calling, re-calling, emails, any connection possible, because the squeaky wheel gets the grease. anytime i have not received rebates, i continue to call until i find out (nicely, i might add..) who can help me - and i have NEVER been denied one way or another, and somtimes…let me pump up circut city and sprint here….i get more than a rebate! by being persistent, accurate, and nice (even though this takes a lot of your time(mostly on ‘hold’)) you can and will succeed in your quest for returns…

I am also very worried about a $200.00 rebate I suppose to receive for a Toshiba lap top I bought several months ago. I have been waiting for a good deal on a lap top and this $200.00 rebate sounded like a good savings. I waited out the store the day of the sale to make sure I got my lap top. I had been currently laid of from work but I attend college and this lap time was something I had needed for a long time. I don’t like putting my trust in a big name store and getting scammed. I have not been able to locate my rebate and I followed all of the instructions. Unfortunately I only have my receipt used the two copies to send to two different places.

Ditto - and very glad to hear I’m not alone. First they said there was no qualifying product. Then via phone call they said they erred and would pay. The web site now says qualified, but still no money/rebate.

I bought an HP computer Jan o7 and got both rebates,, from OD and HP.
Bought another one this Jan, got rebate from HP and none from OD. They used all the above reasons to avoid the payment of $150.
I have been harrassing HP for supporting the unconscionable financial practices of OD. I told them I will not buy from Hp again.
I am from Ohio. I bought the computer in Austin on holiday. I will be back next year same time. My plan is to file a small claims suit against both HP and OD and attach a copy of this blog and another that covers the same topic. I may not get paid but some lawyers in Austin will make several thousand on the case.
Note, OD knows the psycology of consumers carefully and timely applying for rebates. They use this information to technically you out of the rebate. They further have figured out how to cash in on this fauble of the consuming public. They never expected to make and additional $150 on my deal. They should not expect to, but they do. There is no good business reason to technical anyone on the time. In my case the OD time period was 14 days!!! I could still cancel the deal within that period. HP was 45 days. Why does it work for HP but not OD? Just to take advantage of human failings for profit. I have now use for OD. It is a corrupt company with no sense of good business practices. Some companies count on the ONE deal sale, not caring for repeat business. If it loses all the business of all of us complaining on this blog, they would not miss a dime or a beat in GETTING the next sucker.

Office Depot has the WORST call centers in the world. Everytime I have to talk to those Phillipine outsource call center staff I cringe. What a waste of time. My business is slowly transferring to Staples and I’ll be done with Office Depot in a few weeks.

I’ve counted over $2000.00 lost on rebates over the years and found that if I send the rebate Certified Return Reciept through the US Postal Service I always get my rebate. This way on one can claim it got lost in the mail, etc.

FYI
Chuck

Don’t people know that retail stores don’t handle their own rebates? They use third party companies such as Young America. If you are not getting your rebate thats who you should have the issue with. Companies like Office Depot, Best Buy, ect shell out the money to these companies for the rebates. Those companies in turn hold it and earn interest on that money.

Like the others, I SHOULD have received a rebate of $150 for a laptop I purchased in March of 2007. Fortunately I keep good records AND I sent my rebate request in by certified mail. I also kept my receipt with the certified mail receipt that was stamped with the date that O.D. received it.
I also called O.D. Customer Service and was told it would take sometimes more than 6 weeks. I later talked to the manager of the store, and he said to wait a little longer. I then became extremely busy at work and couldn’t bite O.D.’s tails constantly. When my long days subsided I wrote again and was told that they NEVER received my rebate request. I wrote them back and said “Au contraire you unscrupulous theives!” They then gave me a form to fill out - a form with the most ludicrously inane details to fill out. Fortunately I expected that O.D. might pull this scam so I filled in all the info and MORE. I also charged them 5% interest because they have stalled for 1 1/2 years. I also intend to take them to small claims court if they don’t cough up the money AND the 5% plus pain and suffering. I am also sending this blog to a reporter friend and to the Attorneys General.
Buyer beware!!!! Office Depot beware!!!

Some of you may want to give the online Better Business Bureau complaint form a whirl. I ran into a similar experience with Office Depot trying to deny a $50 rebate, so I filed a complaint with the BBB. Within two weeks, both my local Office Depot, and Office Depot Corporate Headquarters had mailed me $50 gift cards. The one from the local store even came with a snarky handwritten apology. Very nicely worded of course, but saying basically “We’re sorry you’re an idiot, and we’re still in the right,but we’re giving you this to shut you up, now please retract the BBB complaint.”

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU,
July 9, 2008 My Husband and I purchased a Tosiba Lap Top computer from Office Depot. It was $750.00 with a $125.00 rebate from the store. He filled the form out and sent copies of the receipt in the very next day. He read in the local newspaper about how some stores including Office Depot was making it hard to get rebates back. One week later he received a card saying Something was not filled out right OR Something was missing OR Something was unreadable, OR….well this PISSED him off.
We were very happy with the computer, nothing was wrong with it. I googled Office Depot Refund Scams and thanks to many people I found this out. I printed 36 pages out and he read them and said, “I am not letting them run me around forever they do not deserve my money, erase anything on computer and box it up.” The next day it went back to Office Depot. Yes this is a true story. He told them he was unhappy and wanted a refund of his money to his debit visa card. The manager said no can do. Husband was mad he told him to his face to Refund The Damn Money right now. Manager said no. Husband sat computer down and the receipt and told manager he would be hearing from the bank. Husband went straight to bank talked lady in charge of debit card she called the Visa Company and they told her the money would be in account in 7 days. He had make copys of the receipt and had the 36 pages of blogs and told them at bank why he was not giving his money to Office Depot. The money was back in his account the next day!!!!!!!!! But he has no computer. But will buy one soon from a company that has no store refund scams. He been using an old lap top with windows 98 on it so he was very happy with his new lap top. Sometimes it pays to have people tell how much trouble they had in life to keep you from going in the same direction. Thank you. Visa will stand behind their customers, even if it’s a debit card backed by visa.

why can’t office depot have on line rebates. it easier to check your status rather than call them and wait a million years to for a stupid response like we didn’t recieved the rebate form you have to resummit it. I mean staples is so much better. this is the age of techonology and office depot is using pony mail which is slow as hell. I had to call them , email them and still nothing.

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