Like I mentioned, I’ve been pretty successful with rebates. I think, in general, companies are starting to be responsible and are paying them. In the old days, companies would set a % of the number of rebates that they would not pay and that was that. The rebates they did not pay was all profit for them. They used excuses (mostly trivial) not to pay them: person used all caps, wrong color pen, did not buy the adapter with purchase, etc. However, some companies started being sued by federal and state governments. This caused a lot of companies to wise up. Now you see headlines like, “X corporation agrees to pay a fine in rebate investigation…” Later on the story usually read, “X company admitted no wrongdoing…”
Things are getting better. There are still some holdovers, though. This is the case with TomTom.
I bought a TomTom One GPS unit for my car that came with a $100 rebate. I bought it from Staples Office Supplies. I paid $499 for it. I filled out the form and mailed it on 1/12/07. Around mid February I received a postcard from Continental Promotion Group (TomTom’s rebate processing company) saying that the UPC I sent was not valid. I called their 800# and I faxed a copy of the UPC (I had mailed the original). The person I spoke to said that she would resubmit. On 4/7/07, I received another postcard from Continental Promotion now saying that the receipt I submitted was from a non qualifying store. I kept a copy of the form and it does not state that Staples is not a valid retailer for this offer (see below). It mentions other retailers, but not Staples.
I filed a BBB complaint on 4/30/07. This got the company’s attention. They came up with another excuse on 5/2/07: customer received an instant off discount, thus, no rebate. One problem: I received no instant off price (see copy of my receipt below). This ticks me off. Companies and their rebate processing contractors doing everything they can to deny a rebate.
On 5/17/07, I filed a consumer complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s office outlining my case like I do here. Continental Promotion is based in Arizona (TomTom is an international company with headquarters in Europe; I believe France). I received a form letter from the Arizona Attorney General acknowledging the receipt of my complaint. No action was ever taken by the Arizona Attorney General on my complaint.
I filed a complaint on ripoffreport.com on 5/21/07 outlining my case like I do here. A Continental Promotion Group employee responded on 8/18/07 to my case at the ripoff.com website (anonymously) and said this:
Continental Promotion Group NEVER denies a rebate.We are contracted by our clients to fulfill rebates to THEIR customers. Consequently, we can only use the guidelines that our clients set up.Unfortunately, your denied rebate could have been caused by a number of factors:1. Store personnel, in an effort to 'help' their customers, often provide rebate forms for items that don't qualify for rebates.2. Many times the client doesn't provide CPG with all of the valid UPC codes. When this happens, a purchase that SHOULD qualify for a rebate is denied. Our CPG audit department works hard to identify these and to obtain all of the valid UPCs from our clients.3. Similar to #2, there are times when the client does not supply CPG with all of the valid stores. There are also times when the supplied list of valid stores doesn't match the rebate forms that consumers receive. Again, our audit department strives to identify and correct these discrepancies as quickly as possible.As a policy, CPG only does business with clients who WANT TO PAY REBATES. If you have truly met the qualifications for a rebate, please maintain contact with CPG's customer service department until you have been satisfied.Thank you,CPG Employee.
This is great, but I’m still out my $100. Want to know another detail: This same TomTom One unit can now be purchased for around $200. It may have been as low as $100 during a Christmas sale. What a greedy company.
Things are getting better. There are still some holdovers, though. This is the case with TomTom.
I bought a TomTom One GPS unit for my car that came with a $100 rebate. I bought it from Staples Office Supplies. I paid $499 for it. I filled out the form and mailed it on 1/12/07. Around mid February I received a postcard from Continental Promotion Group (TomTom’s rebate processing company) saying that the UPC I sent was not valid. I called their 800# and I faxed a copy of the UPC (I had mailed the original). The person I spoke to said that she would resubmit. On 4/7/07, I received another postcard from Continental Promotion now saying that the receipt I submitted was from a non qualifying store. I kept a copy of the form and it does not state that Staples is not a valid retailer for this offer (see below). It mentions other retailers, but not Staples.
I filed a BBB complaint on 4/30/07. This got the company’s attention. They came up with another excuse on 5/2/07: customer received an instant off discount, thus, no rebate. One problem: I received no instant off price (see copy of my receipt below). This ticks me off. Companies and their rebate processing contractors doing everything they can to deny a rebate.
On 5/17/07, I filed a consumer complaint with the Arizona Attorney General’s office outlining my case like I do here. Continental Promotion is based in Arizona (TomTom is an international company with headquarters in Europe; I believe France). I received a form letter from the Arizona Attorney General acknowledging the receipt of my complaint. No action was ever taken by the Arizona Attorney General on my complaint.
I filed a complaint on ripoffreport.com on 5/21/07 outlining my case like I do here. A Continental Promotion Group employee responded on 8/18/07 to my case at the ripoff.com website (anonymously) and said this:
Continental Promotion Group NEVER denies a rebate.We are contracted by our clients to fulfill rebates to THEIR customers. Consequently, we can only use the guidelines that our clients set up.Unfortunately, your denied rebate could have been caused by a number of factors:1. Store personnel, in an effort to 'help' their customers, often provide rebate forms for items that don't qualify for rebates.2. Many times the client doesn't provide CPG with all of the valid UPC codes. When this happens, a purchase that SHOULD qualify for a rebate is denied. Our CPG audit department works hard to identify these and to obtain all of the valid UPCs from our clients.3. Similar to #2, there are times when the client does not supply CPG with all of the valid stores. There are also times when the supplied list of valid stores doesn't match the rebate forms that consumers receive. Again, our audit department strives to identify and correct these discrepancies as quickly as possible.As a policy, CPG only does business with clients who WANT TO PAY REBATES. If you have truly met the qualifications for a rebate, please maintain contact with CPG's customer service department until you have been satisfied.Thank you,CPG Employee.
This is great, but I’m still out my $100. Want to know another detail: This same TomTom One unit can now be purchased for around $200. It may have been as low as $100 during a Christmas sale. What a greedy company.
