Nobrainer’s Think Tank

For those researching OnRebate, StockLemon has a very nice writeup of Systemax, the parent company of TigerDirect and apparently OnRebate, as well as other names you may recognize like Global Computer and Global Industrial Supply. Basically the writeup is about Systemax as a company for potential investment. It is so far the best analysis of what’s going on without everyone yelling “Scam! Scam! Scam!” the whole time. The prognosis, however, is still bad for Systemax. In short, their filing practices are extremely questionable.

But nowhere in any of the SYX filings do we read about OnRebate – its almost as if the company doesn’t exist! There’s no disclosure of Tiger’s dependence on rebates in its sales figures, and no disclosure of the impact of rebates on its accounting.

Rebates are a “black hole” in Systemax’s accounting and filings. We have no idea how rebate accounting is handled by company and no idea how it impacts Systemax on a larger scale. For that matter, the word “rebate” does not even appear in Systemax’s filings, even though it appears to be a cornerstone of Tiger Direct’s business model. Even when you look at the Systemax Corporate Website under subsidiaries and divisions, OnRebate is noticeably absent.

http://www.systemax.com/divisions.htm

We do not even know how the company was formed and how it got into the Systemax family. The transaction is undocumented.

This is all quite curious since TigerDirect and Global do a fair share of direct mail marketing. OnRebate sells itself, in part, as a distributor of mailing lists (accepting a rebate is basically like selling your information to them, which they use and resell). I would presume that they generate some revenue from this venture. Thus it is surprising that the venture is entirely unreported. That tells me one of two things. The people in charge are really trying to get away with something, or a lot of people mistakenly believe that Systemax owns OnRebate.

Either way, OnRebate still owes me $5.50. Bastards.

It’s bad enough that I’m having some issues getting my rebate. It’s worse that there are people (or more likely one person) who are trolling the internet looking for OnRebate complaints and spamming my blog with what are probably fake names and email addresses.

Either way, if you are “Aurora Benton” or “Ed Noble” (both of whom reside at 74.229.6.93), please quit dumping links on my blog. If you really want to help, don’t include a bunch of links that are easily found with a google search. Adding a bunch of links sends your comment straight to comment Hell, where it will never see the light of day.

I should also mention that “Aurora Benton” and “Ed Noble” paste almost identical “comments.”

“Aurora” & “Ed,” please kindly fuck off.

As you may recall, I had some issues with the infamous rebate issuance company known as OnRebate.com. These people are almost completely inept.

On December 19th, my “No-Wait Rebate” was late and violated the guaranteed delivery time.

I called and was told in no uncertain terms that I was not registered for the “No-Wait Rebate” and there was no way to change that, even though their website offers a “Change Pay Type” option.

This last week they sent me my rebate, about 4 weeks after approving it.

And they charged me the “No-Wait Rebate” fee.

I’ll be calling them, again, tomorrow to get their explanation.

UPDATE: I talked to a rep at OnRebate and was told that whoever I talked to previously must have given me some misinformation. Of course I was set up for the No-Wait rebate. It was set up that all along. (I didn’t ask why their website kept changing my status back to the regular rebate). But why was it so late? They screwed up, but they assure me they’ll send me another check within about 10 days to cover the difference.

But that’s a whole lot in this case.

Here’s why I suck. I bought an item with a mail-in rebate, diligently followed all the directions, and chose the “no-wait rebate by check”. The No-wait rebate guarantees that the check will be mailed in 3-5 days instead of 8-10 weeks, for the cost of 10% of the rebate. Actually I didn’t follow all the directions; I didn’t make a copy of all the forms for my records. See, I knew that OnRebate would take every opportunity available to screw me, yet I didn’t bother to hold onto my evidence. I SUCK.

Here’s why OnRebate.com sucks. They screw you any way they can. That is sort of their job, but I hate them anyway. I checked the status of my rebate, which I found was approved on 12/8. I could swear that the first time I checked my rebate, it said I was set up for the no-wait one. However it hadn’t totally been 3-5 business days, so I let it slide. After I checked back a few times, I wasn’t set up for the no-wait rebate anymore. That seemed strange, so I used their website as they let me, and chose “change pay type.” I did that, or so I thought, and went on my way.

Each time I checked back, however, my pay type changed back to the 8-10 week kind. So I called ‘em up, told the system I wanted “operator,” waited for 7 minutes (they didn’t even have music until right before the guy picked up) and asked what the deal was.

Here’s what I learned in a nutshell, their computer said one thing and one thing only and it absolutely cannot be changed whatsoever.

They:

• have a confusing, misleading website that doesn’t work like it should.
• keep no actual records of what you send in.
• won’t listen to you even if you do have copies of what you sent in.
• do whatever they want

You are entirely at their mercy. At least it looks like I will get my rebate eventually.

As best I can remember, when I was initially registering for my rebate, I chose the regular payment before deciding to change over to the no-wait rebate. Apparently, their systems absolutely cannot correct for this. So, in the future, if you must deal with these people, be ready and beware.