Beware of rebates that don’t come

It’s happened yet again.

A rebate never came. They claim I didn’t send in the proper info.

But I’m sure I did.

It’s happened before. At least twice on various gadgets I have bought, I have been told that the paperwork I sent was not correct, even though I am sure I prepared it exactly as instructed.

This one was a $50 rebate I was supposed to get on a new LG ENVy phone I bought for my wife from Verizon. The sales clerk printed out a form for me, said all the info I needed was on it. She said sign it and include the bar code from the box and return it to the processing center,

I did so. I carefully cut out the bar code, put it and the signed form in an envelope and mailed it off.

Today I received this postcard from Verzon:

Dear Customer:
Thank you for participating in this promotion.
Unfortunately we could not honor your request due to the following reason(s):
-Missing Proof of Purchase (UPC) Bar Code
-Missing ESN/MEID

Arggg! This is why I am so distrustful of rebates. I know I put the bar code cutout in the envelope. And the sales clerk when I bought the phone was extremely helpful and showed me how all the info was entered on the receipt and rebate claim form.

So what happened? I’m sure I’ll never know. Maybe I missed something. Maybe the clerk improperly filled out the form. I doubt it, but those are, I concede possibilities. But I suspect, based on my own less than stellar experiences in getting rebates, that a lot of them never come through. And I can’t help but wonder if that’s not part of the plan, if manufacturers don’t hire processing companies that “lose” a lot of the documentation and are able to reject lots of claims.

You too?

Bottom line for me is that I’m never going to buy something again thinking that a rebate will be honored. Its just not going to be a factor in my purchasing anymore.