Nobrainer’s Think Tank

I know I’ve beaten the OnRebate.com bullshit into the ground, but hopefully this will be my last post. For the most part, everything got straightened out on April 3rd. My check was sent. It arrived by mail yesterday. However, some things continue to play out…

On April 1st I sent an email to CustomerService@help.onrebate.com. Why I expected Customer Service to help me I do not know. But now, April 11th, 10 days after I sent my email and 8 days after I actually got the issue resolved, Customer Service came through!

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The OnRebate CEO, Bill Gollan, did respond to an email. He promised to straighten things out, and it appears he has done so.

He apologized and promised to have my refund-check in the mail this evening.

Bill was also nice enough to give me his direct-line phone number. I spoke to him for a little bit and he seemed completely interested in helping me and listening to my concerns.

Hopefully this straightens everything out and I will get my nice little check for $5.50.

UPDATE (4/11/2007): Yesterday’s mail brought my refund from OnRebate. Nice guys that they are, they even rounded up and gave me an extra fifty cents!

13 days have elapsed since my last update. I’ve made another phone call and sent 6 emails to about 7 different people. (more…)

Here’s your quick update:
12/19/2006 - Lied to
1/7/2007 - Lied to
1/24/2007 - Lied to
2/15/2007 - Lied to
3/5/2007 - Lied to
3/20/2007 - To be determined.

I’m continuing to follow up on the progress of my long-overdue No-Wait Rebate refund fee. I should probably go to the BBB, but in all honesty I have developed a sick fascination with dealing with OnRebate directly. On March 5th I called and was told my payment would be processed on March 8th. Well guess what didn’t happen on March 8th.

Moving on today, I called back, and after waiting patiently for about 20 minutes I finally got to talk to the manager, Nikki Thomas. Nikki was supposed to call me back on February 15th, but getting my new OnRebate tracking number was good enough for me at the time. So what did I learn today? Apparently OnRebate owes a lot of people refunds for their No-Wait Rebate fees. Apparently it is so many that they can’t keep up with them. But Nikki assures me that they’ll be sent out soon (gee, sounds familiar). Now I have what is supposed to be a direct line to her so that I can get some other excuse when my refund doesn’t show up in the next 2 weeks.

Having heard more of the details, it sounds like OnRebate implemented the No-Wait rebates without any idea about how to actually do it. They also guaranteed with the No-Wait rebates while offering no details about the guarantee. And they had absolutely no plan for dealing with the repercussions of making offers they couldn’t back up.

Oh, and I haven’t heard shit back from Lonny Paul, either.

[UPDATED: Lonny did indeed get back to me. He was told basically what I was, that things would be sent out by the end of this week. He adds that “Tiger[direct] is no longer using OnRebate for Tiger[direct]-funded rebates.”]

It has been 22 days (16 business days) since I last checked in with my pals at OnRebate. At that time I was assured my $5.50 would be processed and sent within 10 business days. So yesterday, sans check, I called in again. After holding, asking to speak to a manager, re-telling my story to Mike, and then being told that manager was unavailable, I was left to wait for the manager to call me back.

As yet, there has been no return phone call. I did however receive an “OnRebate Status Change” email.

OnRebate.com pleased to inform you that your rebate has been processed on [DATE].

Below is the summary of your rebate registration information:

Rebate Offer: ORREF-1009
Rebate Description: $5.50 No-Wait Fee Refund
Rebate Award: $
Final Award: [FinalReward]
Tracking Number: [TrackingNum]

Thank you for using OnRebate.com!

Mike also told me that Shawn had indeed put my case into the system to be processed, but didn’t have a good reason why it would have been unprocessed after 16 business days when typical turnaround is 7-10.

Time to hurry up and wait on my check.

Oh, and here’s the link to the Florida BBB page on OnRebate. “Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to a failure to respond to complaints.”

“Guarantees or Warranty Issues: 439
Outcome of all complaints -
Resolved: 222;
Unresolved: 12;
Administratively Closed: 2;
No Response: 203;”

Seventeen days have elapsed since my last phone call was made to OnRebate. If I count correctly, this was the third phone call I’ve made in about the last month.

This time I talked to “Shawn” who assured me again that my check for $5.50 would be processed and sent within the next 7 to 10 business days. (Although I didn’t get any explanation — nor did I ask — why it wasn’t sent within the last 10 business days.)

If I have to call again, they swear I’ll get to talk to a manager, my issue will be “escalated” and then I’ll… probably have to wait another 7 to 10 business days for a check.

Then it’s off to the BBB and state AG, or whoever else.