Attention! Ms Office 2008 Scam!

E

ekon32

macrumors newbie
If you purchased MS Office 2004 before Nov. 1 (as I did) expecting a free upgrade to Office 2008 when it came out, you may be in for a surprise. Apple.com's new redemption form now says you are no longer eligible. You must have purchased from Nov.1 onward in order to receive the new version. I was scammed, along with countless other buyers! Check out the difference in these two forms:

Old One:
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/Office2008Coupon.pdf

New One:
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/coupon_Office_SuperSuiteDeal.pdf
 
First off, this is Microsoft's doing, not Apple's.

Secondly, there's a lot of difference then just the eligibility date (the biggest example I see is the price drop from $10 to $7) so they are likely two separate offers.

You have likely been "scammed" out of $3 at most.
 
DeaconGraves said:
First off, this is Microsoft's doing, not Apple's.

Secondly, there's a lot of difference then just the eligibility date (the biggest example I see is the price drop from $10 to $7) so they are likely two separate offers.

You have likely been "scammed" out of $3 at most.
Click to expand...

Remember when I wrote this?
"Apple.com's new redemption form now says you are no longer eligible."
I'm saying that it may mean that those customers who purchased the software before November 1 may no longer be allowed to obtain a free upgrade. I'm saying that maybe it's not a SEPARATE OFFER but a new one to replace the previous one? Why, because the old offer is not readily accessible, you have to dig through their site to find it. Why else? Because after speaking to Apple Support for half an hour, they refute any claims that the old offer exists.
And that's not exactly $3, more like $500.
 
I've got a rebate coupon that says after Sept 25, 2007. Just get it off the Microsoft site and go straight through them for the $10 upgrade.
 
ekon32 said:
... Apple.com's new redemption form now says you are no longer eligible. You must have purchased from Nov.1 onward in order to receive the new version. I was scammed, along with countless other buyers! ...
Click to expand...
As DeaconGraves said, this is a Microsoft promotion, not an Apple promotion. The more important point is that nobody scammed you. The earlier form is good and must be honored by Microsoft. The fact that Microsoft issued a newer coupon does not invalidate the old one. Complete the form with the requested information and mail it in. Or would you rather bitch and moan about nothing?
 
One is the original offer, and the second one the sweetened deal/offer the announce Nov. 1 ... two different upgrade programs running at the same time.
 
Regardless of any rebates/coupons/deals etc, has anyone heard about a traditional upgrade price from 2004 to 2008?
 
MS Office 2008 redemption difficult to get, if at all!

:mad:I completed my purchase of MS Office 2004 within the required time period. I filled out the form, complied with all of the requirements, carefully copied my entire package of submitted items and mailed it within the required time period. The ONLY thing I did not do -- and I regret my oversight -- is send it by certified mail!!!

Guess what? It is now 7 weeks since I mailed everything and Microsoft has no record of receiving anything. Here is their emailed statement: "I regret to inform you that we cannot approve redemptions for this offer without the original box top, and as stated on the redemption form and downloadable coupon, we are not responsible for lost or incomplete submissions."

Well, I know for certain that it was most definitely NOT incomplete and so they have declared it "lost." Makes me wonder how many more are similarly "lost" somewhere, probably to be found buried in an anonymous inbox well after the time limit for redemption has passed.

Typical microsoft behavior? Who knows. They will be ice-skating in hades before I even spend even one penny on a microsoft product ever again.
 
Chakar99 said:
Guess what? It is now 7 weeks since I mailed everything and Microsoft has no record of receiving anything. Here is their emailed statement: "I regret to inform you that we cannot approve redemptions for this offer without the original box top, and as stated on the redemption form and downloadable coupon, we are not responsible for lost or incomplete submissions."
Click to expand...

Sounds like they did receive your stuff minus the original box top and thus it is an incomplete submission not a lost one.

@OP
They were two different offers going on at the same time. I don't see where the "scam" is.
 
Were they asking for the box also? I've heard that "deal" was BS by several others. I went and bought Mac Office 08 from Amazon for $129. No tax and free shipping, got it today.
 
Chakar99 said:
:mad:I completed my purchase of MS Office 2004 within the required time period. I filled out the form, complied with all of the requirements, carefully copied my entire package of submitted items and mailed it within the required time period. The ONLY thing I did not do -- and I regret my oversight -- is send it by certified mail!!!

Guess what? It is now 7 weeks since I mailed everything and Microsoft has no record of receiving anything. Here is their emailed statement: "I regret to inform you that we cannot approve redemptions for this offer without the original box top, and as stated on the redemption form and downloadable coupon, we are not responsible for lost or incomplete submissions."

Well, I know for certain that it was most definitely NOT incomplete and so they have declared it "lost." Makes me wonder how many more are similarly "lost" somewhere, probably to be found buried in an anonymous inbox well after the time limit for redemption has passed.

Typical microsoft behavior? Who knows. They will be ice-skating in hades before I even spend even one penny on a microsoft product ever again.
Click to expand...


Microsoft is also saying they didn't receive my rebate and proofs of purchase...still fighting with them...I will post the outcome in the other thread on this topic.
 
My office got screwed by the promotion, too, but it wasn't Microsoft, it was MacMall. Or rather, a MacMall account manager who later got fired for lying to customers and other shady practices. Turns out the 6 licenses I bought for my company are not upgradeable with this promo. Still waiting to see if they'll honor it anyway, but I doubt it.
 
If you look at this thread you will see that many rebate qualifiers had issues which MS is resolving.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/421864/


I also got one of those " you forgot the box top " message. I made a phone call on the letter they sent me, and I received my rebate about 2 weeks later.

I still have not received the upgrade, but last I checked it was to be sent in early March.
 
Does killerrobot think my mother raised dumb children?

May I quote from the third email response I received from Microsoft?

"If you have already mailed in the original box top then there is no
further information from the original package you may submit since
the only required proof of purchase is the box top and a copy of the
dated sales receipt. Unfortunately we are unable to make any
exceptions or except any other items from the package in the event
of your proof of purchase being lost in the mail."

Of course I very carefully enclosed all of the required items INCLUDING the box top with the stickers. If, as you say, it was an "incomplete submission" then someone somewhere opened my envelope and removed the box top and other required items -- including the copy of the sales receipt. Could that be "where the scam is?"

Believe me, if I had known that I could purchase MS Office 2008 for $149, I would not have wasted my money on MS Office 2004; the implication was that a great deal of money could be saved by purchasing MS Office 2004. No, I am not "out" any money unless you consider the wasted $149 for a software which will not print under Leopard, OS 10.5.1!!!!!

As I stated, I will probably not get my promised software and they will be ice skating in Hades before I ever spend another cent on anything put out by Microsoft.
 
I believe you said:
Chakar99 said:
Microsoft has no record of receiving anything.
Click to expand...

But yet your emails state that they are missing the box top. Which means they did receive your stuff, minus the box top. So if you lied about that, why wouldn't you lie about including the box top?

Chakar99 said:
May I quote from the third email response I received from Microsoft?

"If you have already mailed in the original box top then there is no
further information from the original package you may submit since
the only required proof of purchase is the box top and a copy of the
dated sales receipt. Unfortunately we are unable to make any
exceptions or except any other items from the package in the event
of your proof of purchase being lost in the mail."
Click to expand...
 
BaronvdB said:
Microsoft is also saying they didn't receive my rebate and proofs of purchase...still fighting with them...I will post the outcome in the other thread on this topic.
Click to expand...

Chakar99 said:
:mad:I completed my purchase of MS Office 2004 within the required time period. I filled out the form, complied with all of the requirements, carefully copied my entire package of submitted items and mailed it within the required time period. The ONLY thing I did not do -- and I regret my oversight -- is send it by certified mail!!!
Click to expand...

They don't have mail-in rebates generally in the UK. But this is how they work, if you don't follow the steps you probably won't get your money. As MS have undoubtedly outsourced it to a rebate company it isn't anything directly to do with them.
 
I almost never buy anything that requires a mail-in rebate. It simply isn't worth it. Virtually every company outsources the rebate fulfillment to some other company who simply doesn't give a damn. And with so many thousands of lost or (allegedly) incomplete rebate submissions, I just don't buy anything requiring a rebate that I wouldn't have bought for the price marked anyway.
 
Reading EVERYTHING said is important in understanding WHAT was said

Killerbot,

I am so sorry that you are having difficulty and are now reduced to calling me a liar when nothing could possibly be further from the truth. To wit, in my original posting:

"Well, I know for certain that it was most definitely NOT incomplete and so they have declared it "lost." Makes me wonder how many more are similarly "lost" somewhere, probably to be found buried in an anonymous inbox well after the time limit for redemption has passed."

And, from Microsoft in an earlier email to me which indicates "lost" not "incomplete" as you seem determined to believe:


"At this time, we are still not showing an order in our database
under your name or address. It is possible that your materials have
been received, and simply not processed at this time, as we receive
a large volume of requests for this offer. Beyond 4 weeks after
shipping, you may wish to check any tracking information that may be
available for your shipment to us."

And, from my last email from Microsoft indicating an understanding that the package was complete, just not there with the pertinant misunderstanding highlighted in color for you:

"I regret to inform you that we cannot approve redemptions for this offer without the original box top, and as stated on the redemption form and downloadable coupon, we are not responsible for lost or incomplete submissions." (Perhaps this is where you got the wrong idea because Microsoft was responding to my email in which I had asked if I could send them my carefully scanned copies of everything I submitted in the original package.)

I did not lie in any instance; you, killerrobot, seem determined to misunderstand. Never, anywhere, did I write that my emails indicate they did not receive the boxtop and I simply cannot understand why you should think that (you may wish to reread my first paragraph). There is ample evidence in this very thread to indicate that my experience is not unusual and may even be the norm.
 
Chakar99 said:
"I regret to inform you that we cannot approve redemptions for this offer without the original box top, and as stated on the redemption form and downloadable coupon, we are not responsible for lost or incomplete submissions."
Click to expand...

I'm not having any problems reading any of your posts - especially your first one.

It just seems like you've got some conflicting information going on there - not to mention that you seem to be leaving out a lot of dates of to when these emails were written.

Best of luck to everyone having problems, but mail in rebates were designed to cheat the consumer.:(
 
Oh Ye of Little Faith -- and a great deal of skepticism and distrust

:mad::mad::mad:

Read on (yes, the dates and copied verbage are utterly accurate; I can forward it all to you for verification if you wish):

MY ORIGINAL EMAIL TO MICROSOFT: 02/13/2008 07:51pm Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 5:00 )
To: officemacTG@one.microsoft.upgrade.com
Subject: My filled out form and other required submissions

Hi,

The first week of January I sent in the form for the upgrade disk to
Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. Surely you have received and
processed
it by now. I am concerned because of the pending deadline. I did
keep a scan copy of all submissions. Can you check for me....

MICROSOFT'S RESPONSE: Feb 14, 2008, at 3:22 PM, Microsoft Care Team wrote:

...At this time, we are still not showing an order in our database
under your name or address. It is possible that your materials have
been received, and simply not processed at this time, as we receive
a large volume of requests for this offer. Beyond 4 weeks after
shipping, you may wish to check any tracking information that may be
available for your shipment to us....

MY RETURN EMAIL: 02/14/2008 07:03pm Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 5:00 )
To: Microsoft Care Team <officemacTG@one.microsoft.upgrade.com>
Subject: Re: My filled out form and other required submissions

...What provisions are there for resubmitting my paperwork? This is very
frustrating for me because the Word 2004 will not print under OS 10.5,
Leopard although it does under Tiger. I have every hope that the Word
2008 will solve this problem....

MICROSOFT'S RESPONSE: Feb 15, 2008, at 11:08 AM, Microsoft Care Team wrote:

...If you have already mailed in the original box top then there is no
further information from the original package you may submit since
the only required proof of purchase is the box top and a copy of the
dated sales receipt. Unfortunately we are unable to make any
exceptions or except any other items from the package in the event
of your proof of purchase being lost in the mail....

MY RETURN RESPONSE: 02/15/2008 02:00pm Eastern Standard Time (GMT - 5:00 )
To: Microsoft Care Team <officemacTG@one.microsoft.upgrade.com>
Subject: Re: My filled out form and other required submissions

...Of course I mailed the original box top. However, your instructions
said to keep copies of everything I sent; may I assume that this was
in the event of a loss in the mails? Surely, there is some provision
for such an event, especially when, in good faith, I followed the
directions and mailed everything as required....

That is the end of the commuication between Microsoft and I (the only deletions -- as indicated -- are the greetings and closings). Now, would you please explain to me why you question in the first place that I sent the fully completed package, complying with all of the requirements? Why did you accuse me of fraud and/or a scam? What made you question my veracity? All I wanted was a possible solution to my problem; I certainly did not expect to be accused of "misconduct" in a forum where I hoped to find help!! And, I truly do not believe that rebates are a way to scam the consumer although it is apparent that one must be persistant to sometimes get that rebate!

:confused::confused::confused:
 
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