AJ@PR
09-06-2007, 03:10 PM
Want to know what happens, sometimes, to your rebates?
Here's a link.
1,300 Unopened Rebate Applications Found In Dumpster (http://consumerist.com/consumer/fry.s/1300-unopened-rebate-applications-found-in-dumpster-297016.php)
And here's part of the text.
This is a picture of the 1,300 unopened rebate forms a Mercury News reporter found in a dumpster near Vastech, a rebate processor for Fry's Electronics.
When confronted, the company's owner blamed it on a lazy employee who no longer works for Vastech and offered to process and sign checks for all of the envelopes in front of the reporter.
Stories like this make Matt's "as organized as a Swiss train system" rebate tracking methodology seem less and less insane.
Mercury News article reprinted inside so you don't have to register to see it...
Tech Talk: Unopened rebate requests found in San Jose dumpster
By Dean Takahashi
Mercury News
I know that Shu Wong of San Jose hasn't received the $3.50 mail-in rebate for a Vastech computer networking USB hub purchased at a Fry's Electronics in May. Richard Louie of Austin, Olivia Sattaypiwat of Saratoga and Buu Duong of San Jose haven't received their rebates, either.
I know this because they told me so, and because I am staring at more than 1,300 rebate requests sent to Vastech on Bonaventura Drive in San Jose. The envelopes were tossed - unopened - into a garbage dumpster near Vastech. I have two boxes of envelopes that were thrown out without being processed. In all of my years of reporting, I have never encountered such outrageous behavior against consumers.
An employee of nearby Dominion Enterprises found the letters, along with hundreds of others addressed to Vastech, at his company's dumpster. He turned them over to his boss, Joel Schwartz, who gave them to me. All of the letters were addressed to UR-04 Rebate or some variation of the product name at the Vastech address.
Vastech is a small computer accessories company owned by Weizhen Tan, who goes by William. I didn't get a response when I sent e-mails as directed by Vastech's Web site. And the company's voice mail was always full. But he was there at the small office at 63 Bonaventura Drive in San Jose when I came calling, letters in hand.
`Bad employee'
In his cramped office, Tan acknowledged that his 4-year-old company was
Advertisement
behind on processing rebates that it had offered to consumers from February to May. He said he wanted to apologize to his customers.
When I asked why rebate letters were tossed out, he initially said it was due to a "bad employee." Later, he said that it was probably done by a friend of the family who was not a formal employee but was supposed to be helping out. That person, he said, probably threw the letters out because of "laziness." He said the person no longer does any work for the company.
Here's a link.
1,300 Unopened Rebate Applications Found In Dumpster (http://consumerist.com/consumer/fry.s/1300-unopened-rebate-applications-found-in-dumpster-297016.php)
And here's part of the text.
This is a picture of the 1,300 unopened rebate forms a Mercury News reporter found in a dumpster near Vastech, a rebate processor for Fry's Electronics.
When confronted, the company's owner blamed it on a lazy employee who no longer works for Vastech and offered to process and sign checks for all of the envelopes in front of the reporter.
Stories like this make Matt's "as organized as a Swiss train system" rebate tracking methodology seem less and less insane.
Mercury News article reprinted inside so you don't have to register to see it...
Tech Talk: Unopened rebate requests found in San Jose dumpster
By Dean Takahashi
Mercury News
I know that Shu Wong of San Jose hasn't received the $3.50 mail-in rebate for a Vastech computer networking USB hub purchased at a Fry's Electronics in May. Richard Louie of Austin, Olivia Sattaypiwat of Saratoga and Buu Duong of San Jose haven't received their rebates, either.
I know this because they told me so, and because I am staring at more than 1,300 rebate requests sent to Vastech on Bonaventura Drive in San Jose. The envelopes were tossed - unopened - into a garbage dumpster near Vastech. I have two boxes of envelopes that were thrown out without being processed. In all of my years of reporting, I have never encountered such outrageous behavior against consumers.
An employee of nearby Dominion Enterprises found the letters, along with hundreds of others addressed to Vastech, at his company's dumpster. He turned them over to his boss, Joel Schwartz, who gave them to me. All of the letters were addressed to UR-04 Rebate or some variation of the product name at the Vastech address.
Vastech is a small computer accessories company owned by Weizhen Tan, who goes by William. I didn't get a response when I sent e-mails as directed by Vastech's Web site. And the company's voice mail was always full. But he was there at the small office at 63 Bonaventura Drive in San Jose when I came calling, letters in hand.
`Bad employee'
In his cramped office, Tan acknowledged that his 4-year-old company was
Advertisement
behind on processing rebates that it had offered to consumers from February to May. He said he wanted to apologize to his customers.
When I asked why rebate letters were tossed out, he initially said it was due to a "bad employee." Later, he said that it was probably done by a friend of the family who was not a formal employee but was supposed to be helping out. That person, he said, probably threw the letters out because of "laziness." He said the person no longer does any work for the company.