Haven't received rebate, need advice.

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sk545

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Well, i purchased a Buslink cd-rw drive from staples.com and sent in the rebate for $30. On rebateshq.com it shows up and says that everything is fine. But guess what? That was on 07/04/03:eek:

I called RebatesHQ three times already, and all they say is that i have to keep waiting longer. They say 'wait two more weeks', then two weeks go buy, i call, they say 'wait two more weeks.' What should i do? I emailed staples customer service (not rebateshq) and they never emailed me back. I really do respect staples, since all of their rebates come within two weeks or so. This is the first time this has happened. I don't want to be rude to them, but since i have done my part and waited upwards of 12 weeks, they should do theirs.

Here is what comes up at RebatesHQ:
Rebate:
$30.00 Rebate Check
Rebate Information For: me
Promotion: BUSlink Internal 52X CD-RW Drive $30.00 Mail in Rebate at Staples or Staples.com
Submission Type: MAIL
Date Received: 07-04-2003
Status: Processing Rebate
Status Detail: Your rebate is valid and is in the final stages of processing and should be sent to you within the next 30 day


Please let me know what my next step should be.

Thanks.
 
Have you tried contacting the drive's manufacturer? I had problems with a WD rebate through rebateshq and contacted WD and the check was sent out quite quick.
 
don't worry...i have the same thing. it will come...eventually...just takes longer...:-P
 
thanks, i suppose i will wait. I dispatched a email to buslink, wonder if they will reply. Who is ultimately responsible for the rebate? If it never comes, should i get a hold of staples manager or buslink's?

Thanks.
 
Was it a manufacturer's rebate or a Staples one? No matter what Staples is in some way responsible. Buslink on the other hand is only responsible if it was a manufacturers rebate.
 
well, the address i sent the rebate to is as following:

Staples Rebate Center
Universal Promotion #03-59002
P.O.Box 028509
Miami, FL 33102-8509 USA

Looks like a Staples rebate, i think. Or am i wrong?

Thanks.
 
Yes, I would assume it is a Staples rebate, not a Buslink one.
 
thanks. How long do you all think is a legitimate time to wait before doing any serious complaining (i have called and stuff, but didn't really complain)? Been waiting since 07/04/03. If i do end up complaining, should i go to the nearest staples store, or call the customer service no?
 
Many mfr rebates on items at staples are still mailed to "staples rebate center", so that doesn't mean much. Cendyne comes to mind.

When your rebate was received, you likely received an email from rebateshq that contained a tracking number and a link.

Did this email come from:

[email protected] (or @parago.com)

Or did it come from:

[email protected] (or @parago.com)
 
Not sure, since its been a long time and i had done reformatting of the hard drive, so i lost all the email messages too.

But i can tell you this much: The rebate status does not show up at www.staplesrebate.com. It only shows up on rebateshq.com website. I think this means that it was the buslink email address that you mention that sent me the tracking number. Could i be right?
 
Well, here's the 3 ways to tell a "staples" rebate, in which staples is 100% sponsoring and paying for the rebate, from a manufacturers rebate that is specific to a purchase at staples.

The "staples rebate center" on the address doesn't help much, like I said since that seems to be generic. You could have addressed it to "Rebate Processing" as well, the processors go more by the offer number than anything else.

#1 - When submitting online first, the email that is generated with the tracking number comes from

[email protected]

That's a staples rebate. If it comes from Maxtor.Rebate.Center or Belkin.Rebate.Center, etc, it's a mfr rebate.


#2 - When "MAIL" ing your submission using the standard rebate form, upon processing it and assuming they send you an email saying they got it, the email will be from

[email protected]

That's a staples rebate. If it comes from Maxtor.Rebate.Center or Belkin.Rebate.Center, etc, it's a mfr rebate again.

#3 - After receiving the check, it will have the staples logo on the upper left hand corner instead of the manufacturer's logo. This requires one to have received the check<G>


I somehow doubt this is a staples rebate simply because staples is extremely quick in providing funds to cover their rebates, usually it only takes 1-3 weeks after a submission is received before it is paid out.

I could believe it is a buslink mfr rebate since they are notoriously slow, especially when handling their own rebates. Be thankful rebateshq is handling this, were buslink handling it themselves (mailed to antiem, maryland) you'd have no status information, tracking, no response to emails or phone calls, it either just shows up one day 3 or 4 months later or it never shows up. With rebateshq at least you KNOW it's received and valid.

It'll come, probably within the next 30 days, 3-4 months seems to be about buslink's typical rate of payout.
 
thanks for the info. Is there a way to tell ahead of time if the rebate is a staples rebate or a mfr rebate? I mean i want to avoid mfr rebates in the future and stick with staples ones. Normally i get the rebate form printed out at the register which doesn't say if its a staples or mfr rebate or who will send me a email.
 
Just check the address, see if it's a Staples rebate address or something else. Search around, you'll find a hint.
 
I did post the address in one of the above posts, but seems like it doesn't tell me much. Here it is again:

Staples Rebate Center
Universal Promotion #03-59002
P.O.Box 028509
Miami, FL 33102-8509 USA
 
sk545 said:
thanks for the info. Is there a way to tell ahead of time if the rebate is a staples rebate or a mfr rebate? I mean i want to avoid mfr rebates in the future and stick with staples ones. Normally i get the rebate form printed out at the register which doesn't say if its a staples or mfr rebate or who will send me a email.
Click to expand...

Submit for the rebate online first at www.rebateshq.com and check the email address it comes from. Like I said, if the email address is from [email protected] it's a mfr rebate, and if it's from [email protected] it's a staples one. I do this all the time with a junk email address and mailing address just to see the email address the autoreply comes from, which is generated when you submit online.

I've done this for enough years Erik that I can tell you, with certainty, that many times what is a manufacturer's rebate will still say on the address on the rebate form, printed at the register, to mail it to "staples rebate center" (followed by the offer number, po box, etc) even though it's not a staples sponsored/paid for rebate but actually a mfr one. It's not always this way, but sometimes, which generates confusion for folks.
 
ah, ok. Thanks. In other words just do a fake submit. Cool.
 
Well, i still haven't received the rebate, even after calling rebateshq like 4 times. So i went ahead and dialed 1-800-3Staple. The rep there said that it was way past the waiting time for a rebate and gave me a escalated rebate phone no: 1-866-737-4933. I called that number and was put on hold for like 5 mins then someone answered (phew, it was human, and not a answering machine). She asked me nicely about all the rebate information (name, address, blah, blah) and then put me on hold for 2mins. She came back on and said that they were experiencing slowness with this particular rebate. But that she will send out the rebate to me in form of a postcard in 15 days anyway. So, i said thanks and there it is. Dunno if it will come or what, but knowing staples, it prolly will. I will update here once i get the check.

Thanks all.
 
Got the check today. :) It says Buslink at the upper left hand corner and not staples. I suppose staples kicked buslink in the ass, and so they sent it to me right away.
 
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