On the Friday after Thanksgiving, I purchased a cable modem at CircuitCity.com. There was an advertised $40 mail-in-rebate with purchase of the cable modem. Of course, I wanted to avoid the large shopping crowds on Black Friday, so I looked into buying the cable modem on the web. Prior to my purchase, I looked through the Circuit City circular in my local newspaper, the rebate forms from CircuitCity.com, and the product description on the Circuitcity.com website. Nowhere did it state that, in order to qualify for the $40 mail-in-rebate, the cable modem had to be purchased at a retail (brick-and-mortar) location, or that the item could not be purchased at circuitcity.com. Furthermore, next to the description of the cable modem on the circuitcity.com website, there was a link to the rebate form. Therefore, I purchased the cable modem and filed the rebate online at circuitcity.com on November 25, 2005.
Nearly two months later (Jan 24, 2006), I received a letter rejecting my rebate due to an "Invalid Purchase Location". I called Circuit City Rebates after receiving the Jan 24th letter and was told that the offer was for in-store purchases only. However, when I asked for proof of that fact, they could not provide it. They informed me that my rebate claim would be sent to the "escalation center", and that I should receive a reply within 5 business days. However, I received no such reply.
On Feb 21st, I contacted Circuit City Rebates (subcontractor Parago, Inc.). Two supervisors (Andrew and Walter) initially told me that I had not purchased the item at the correct location (i.e., retail store). The supervisor, Walter, said that there was no way he could help, since the rebate had already been rejected. He then conference called the Circuit City help line, to see if they could provide any help. The Circuit City customer service representative told me that they no longer have access to the rebate forms to verify my claim. I offered to email or fax them to him, since I have my original photocopies. He however, said that he needed to get the copies from the rebate center to look them over. By this point, the supervisor Walter had hung up. The Circuit City rep called the rebate center phone number and, while I listened, he entered all of the numeric prompts. After entering my phone number and my claim number, a message said that my claim had been denied because of an invalid purchase location. Immediately after that message, the Circuit City rep hung up on me!!!
I called the Circuit City number again, and after explaining the situation, another Circuit City customer service rep. (Kallis) told me that he was able to read the forms. He said that he agreed that they did not state where the item needed to be purchased to qualify for the rebate. He connected me directly to a rep at the rebate center (without going through the numeric prompts). But when I spoke with the rep, he still said that he couldn't do anything for me, even though the Circuit City rep was now on my side. I asked for his supervisor.
Eventually, the supervisor, Andrew, elaborated that the rebate was rejected because I had not included a "sales receipt". Instead, I had submitted an "order confirmation". According to his description, a “sales receipt” comes from a retail store, but an "order confirmation" comes from circuitcity.com. He stated that, even though the forms did not specify correct or incorrect locations to purchase the item, I had purchased it at the wrong location because I did not have a "sales receipt". Further, he stated that, after I contacted Circuit City Rebates regarding the Jan 24th letter, officials at Circuit City Stores were consulted in the decision to reject my rebate.
The major problem with Circuit City’s position is that the copy of the "order confirmation" form that I included in my rebate submission specifically states "This copy can be used as verification of a purchase for rebates, or as a receipt for your transaction." It is preposterous that Circuit City can argue that I had not included a sales receipt, when the form that I included specifically states that it is a receipt and can be used for rebates.
According to the supervisor, Andrew, it is common practice to reject rebates due to this distinction between “sales receipts” and “order confirmations”. He specifically said that, if I go on the circuitcity.com website, I can look at the rebate forms that are linked to different items. I'll be able to tell which items can get rebates when purchased on the web by reading the rebate form to make sure that it requests an "order confirmation". Therefore, it appears that this practice of rejecting otherwise valid rebate submissions continues to date, and that Circuit City is fulling aware and complacent in the practice. I claim that this problem is systemic, and that Circuit City is intentionally practicing deceptive marketing.
I believe that Circuit City should honor rebates filed by individuals who purchased items online at circuitcity.com, unless they can prove that the rebate forms explicitly state that "purchase at a retail location" was required, or that "purchase at CircuitCity.com is not valid" for the rebate. They should stop practicing these deceptive techniques to reject valid rebate submissions, namely differentiating between a "receipt" and an "order confirmation", when the "order confirmation" explicitly states that it is a receipt and is valid for rebate submissions.
After all of this, I've written to the FTC, the BBB, and the Colorado and Virginia State Attornies General. I had also forwarded my story to a consumer columnist, Christine Young, who had published a recent story on rebate hassles. She forwarded the message to Stephanie Nightlinger, a Public Relations Representative at Circuit City. Here is the email response from Ms. Nightlinger (I have yet to hear from them):
Hello Ms. Young,
Thank you for your inquiry. We are sorry that Mr. Burgess had a bad experience. I have passed along the details of the situation and the customer's contact information to our Customer Care Team, who will contact Mr. Burgess directly to work toward a resolution.
Again, we appreciate your inquiry.
Best,
Stephanie
Stephanie Nightlinger
Public Relations Representative
Circuit City Stores
(804) 527-4000 ext. 4817