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Tiger Direct Rebates

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Tiger Direct • Defective • Damaged • Extended warranty • Incomplete shipments • Rebates • Customer service --- • Rebate advice from Tiger Direct

James, J.D., Ph.D. of North Miami FL (11/26/05):
I put my doctorate in just to show I am nor completely stupid. Two years ago I purchased a computer from Tiger Direct with a large rebate due me. I very carefully filled out the form and enclosed all they required. Eventually they notified me that my submission was wrong and therefore no rebate.

After two years I took another chance assuming after all the hassle I had given them and my letters to the officer in charge they would not again rob me. I recently purchased an HP dvd 640 that came with a $20. rebate. As a result of my previous experience I carefully photostated everything prior to sending. I gave them all they asked for and more. I cut out all the barcodes there were, etc.

Robbed again, they eventually told me I gave them the wrong barcode. I went to the photostat and checked and then wrote them a letter on my official stationery that they had received the exact bar code sent me and that I had another set of photostats in the event someone wished to check. I also told them I was angry enough to take the matter to small claims court. They completely ignored me.

I decided that the amount was too small to waste my time on, which is exactly what they expect when they cheat the customer, but thought I would set up a blog telling the world not to do any deal with Tiger that had a rebate. In the course I ran into your site and therefore I am making an official complaint.

Ron of Columbus, OH (10/27/05)
I placed an order with Tiger Direct but upon closer inspection I realized the rebate had expired on the item I bought. I contacted them and cancelled the order within 15 minutes of the original order. They had already processed the item to ship in a warehouse, but did catch it in time to stop shipment. I called Customer Service to verify that the order was cancelled and they confirmed it was. I then placed my new order.

Three working days later I noticed that one of my checks bounced. It turns out that TD never released the hold on my debit card for the first purchase. All my calls to TD ended with someone saying it would be taken care of. A day and a half later I am still trying to get them to remove the hold on my bank account and they do not seem to care at all. Even the managers, who refuse to respond to my voice mails and emails, seem to care less. All I get are the customer service people, who cannot release the hold, making empty promises.

Paul of Pittsburgh PA (8/4/04):
Once again I was ripped off by Tiger Direct's phantom rebates. About a year ago I purchased a thumbdrive that had a $20 rebate. I sent in the rebate with all the associated info and the manufacturer contacted me after several weeks stating that the barcode I sent them was incorrect for the rebate. When I was cutting out the barcode from the thumbdrive package I did notice the it was a sticker and not part of the original package. I called Tiger Direct and got the runaround and eventually gave up. Oh well. Mistakes can and do happen so I gave Tiger Direct the benefit of the doubt....so I lost $20.

Then about 3 months ago I purchased a SOYO package deal that promised $90 in rebates from SOYO. I have $0 to show for it! I never even heard from the rebate center which was www.onrebate.com and happens (coincidence?) to be owned by Tiger Direct. I am VERY careful when filling out the rebate forms and I know for a fact that I supplied all of the associated proof-of-purchase material.

To be fair I will tell you that I have purchased other items from Tiger Direct over the years and have received the rebates about 50% of the time. So if you're buying ANYTHING from Tiger Direct you better be prepared to pay the full price and NOT get the rebate!

David of Dalton MA (7/28/04):
I purchased an item (ultra memory) which had an onging rebate offer, with the stipulation that it be mailed 30 days from date of purchase. I mailed the rebate 23 days from date of purchase, yet I received a letter back that stated "postmark date does not fall within program dates". There was no way it was mailed after the 30 days because I was out of state just after the mailing. I have no way of proving the actual post mark date, and the rebate company has no record of this so it is my word against theirs and I am out $20.

It seems like a "lure" to get someone to buy with no real intention to fulfill the rebate. On top of this... several of the parts were defective and were sent back at my cost so I lost even more money on this whole deal!

Amy of Irving TX (6/24/04):
Tiger Direct listed a 3.3 mega pixel camera and Lexmark photo printer package for $99....when you open it, the catch is AFTER REBATE. I contact Lexmark because the rebate stated it was valid from 01/04/04 through 06/26/04 and I had two days to purchase.

I wanted to know if the rebate had to be postmarked by the 26th because I definately wouldn't have the printer (with UPC code) by that date. Lexmark told me the printer had to be purchased by 05/29/04! However, almost one month later Tiger Direct was still advertising it at $99 with rebate. I immediately called Tiger Direct's customer service to find out what the deal was. First I got silence, then I explained the situation again, so the guy adds that they would honor the rebate if Lexmark did not. My intuition got the best of me and I checked their Rebate Center tab, where it states "Tiger Direct will not honor rebates from the manufacturer."

So I called Lexmark one more time to confirm whether or not the rebate was valid, and a second customer service rep explained the same thing - the printer has to be purchased by 5/29/04. I called Tiger Direct AGAIN, and their customer service AGAIN was silent for a few moments. As soon as she got her footing, she stated that they get those rebates directly from the manufacturer. So I explained that I spoke with two different people two different times and they told me the rebate is invalid. Therefore your price is false advertising.

Silence again, and then she told me "well ma'am I don't know what to tell you", but that is the rebate we have. I said "Yeah well, its fake and without it your price is fake" Silence again for 1 min 58 seconds and she finally called me a bitch and hung up on me....I'm glad I didn't order it, it probably wouldn't work when I got it and they would probably only refund $99.

Walter of Allentown PA (5/2/04):
I purchase a Sony VAIO laptop, which had two separate $100 rebates. 1 from Sony and 1 from Tiger Direct. I got the rebate from Sony but I'm still waiting for the rebate from Tiger Direct. I originally made this purchase on August 13, 2003, it's now May 2, 2004 and I'm still fighting with them.

Paul of New Haven WV (2/11/03):
I used to buy a lot of computer supplies from Tiger Direct and many of the items I purchased, in fact most, had rebate offers attached to them. It has been almost a year since my last purchase and it will be my last. I have not to this day received any of my rebate money which amounts to around $125.00 total. I have talked with their sales people about the situation and they said they would check into it.

What the whole deal is, that they say they cannot send rebates to Post Office Boxes. Yet they had me mail my rebate slips to Post Office Boxes. I live in a town of about 3000 people and we do not have door to door delivery. We get our letters and billings from a local Post Office and if you don't have a PO Box # on the rebate slips then the postmaster has no way of knowing whom they should go to and if the letter or anything has a house address the Post Office returs them unknown.

I am out $125.00. The rebates was the reason I bought from them." NO MORE"

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