"Perfect Companion" rebate claim denied/rectified
Note that the Apple Rebate Center appears to be denying some of their rebate claims for bogus reasons. I submitted a rebate claim for their "Perfect Companion" promo, which offers a $100 rebate when purchasing a Mac w/ a qualifying printer. My claim was denied, but I followed up and fortunately it was quickly rectified.
Anyway, I append below the email exchange I had with the Apple Rebate Center and a customer service representative. Judge for yourself:
* * *
On Sun, Mar 30, 2008 at 11:11 PM, <rebates@applerebatecenter.com> wrote:
Apple Inc.
PO Box 1600
South Bend, IN 46634-1600
Claim ID: 198000590
03/31/2008
Dear J VOIGHT,
Thank you for your recent Apple purchase. Apple Inc. received your rebate claim form and documentation for the Want More? Get .Mac 11 rebate offer. A review of your claim indicates that your purchase does not qualify for the rebate offer for the following reason(s):
-- Purchases made from the reseller noted on your invoice do not qualify.
-- Your purchase was made at an Apple Retail Store or at an Apple Online Store and therefore already qualified for an Instant Rebate.
If you have questions regarding eligibility requirements, please visit
http://www.apple.com/promo or call the Apple Rebate Center at 1-877-4-APL-PROMO (1-877-427-5776) between 8:00 a.m. 8:00 p.m. EDT, Monday through Friday. Please have your claim ID available..
To provide feedback to Apple about our rebate offers and process, we welcome you to send an email to
debbiesiek@apple.com.
Sincerely,
The Apple Rebate Center Team
* * *
Dear Apple Rebate Center,
This is outrageous.
The rebate center claims (see email below) my rebate was denied for the following reasons:
"Purchases made from the reseller noted on your invoice do not qualify."
My order was placed directly through the Apple Online Store. Nowhere in the Terms and Conditions document does it indicate that the Apple Online Store does not qualify.
"Your purchase was made at an Apple Retail Store or at an Apple Online Store and therefore already qualified for an Instant Rebate."
This is a remarkable claim. No "instant rebate" was ever made or indicated as available when I made my purchase. (If I could have received an instant rebate I obviously would not have gone through the inconvenience of cutting up my product boxes, filling out the rebate forms, printing out my various order forms, and mailing everything in.) Nowhere in the Terms and Conditions does it indicate that purchases made via the Apple Online Store are eligible for an instant rebate.
I just called 1-800-MY-APPLE to inquire about this and the customer service rep was unaware of any instant rebate offering for this promotion. (Feel free to verify this. I was told my call would be logged and a note regarding this incident would be added to my account.)
Before taking up this incident with Customer Relations (and Executive Relations if necessary), I would like to request a more thorough explanation of just why my claim is being denied. I've carefully read all the Terms and Conditions and believe I followed the rebate instructions to the letter.
As a lifelong customer of Apple, I expect better of Apple, much better.
Sincerely,
Jason J. Voigt
PS, the following would indicate that I'm not alone in feeling scammed: link to article "The Great Apple Rebate Marketing Scam".
* * *
On Apr 1, 2008, at 9:47 AM,
debbiesiek@apple.com wrote:
Dear Jason,
Thank you for contacting Apple. We apologize for the inconvenience.
At your request, Apple will issue a $100.00 credit for the Perfect Companion rebate and send it to your VISA credit-card company within five business days. Please contact your credit card company if you have questions about when the credit will be posted to your account.
Sincerely,
Apple Online Store
