Wireless Advocates rebate is a SCAM!

invalidpos

Do not purchase your new phone online from Costco.  I have been working on this rebate paperwork for 4+ hours now.  I was not given a pos (point of sale) store number in my shipment.  How can I mail in a "signed customer agreement" when I ordered it online????  I have participated in 3 phone calls to Verizon and Wireless Advocates, and 2 chats - how lovely!  Everyone is so friendly and non-helpful at Wireless Advocates.  Verizon, on the other hand has given me the store number, which I sent to Wireless Advocates.  Of course, that is still invalid, which is why my screen name is now invalidpos :-)  I truly hope that no one decides to believe anything they tell you when you purchase your phone at Costco.  You will never get your rebate back.  You will only work for hours, cutting, taping, copying, and sending your first born, only to receive letters and emails, saying it is still f'ing INVALID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, forgot to mention, that the Stuart Lee $35 refund application letter ALSO CAME BACK TO ME, saying that was not valid either - PERFECT!!! 

Oh, the best part of the story - my original phone was stolen from me while on vacation, so I am still cleaning up that mess in addition to the broken rental car.  Of course, Verizon could not help me with that either, which is why I went to Costco in the first place, to replace my phone myself.  BEAUTIFUL!!!  So glad I pay them on time each month!!!! 

Do any Wireless Advocate employees care to PM me and tell when I can expect my money?  I can provide you my tracking number, which I happy to provide a 6th time, I am due $200 for my phone and $35 for the activation.  But, of course you would see that with the 33 pages of information that I have faxed and emailed you, unless of course it is all in the trash.

I am so pissed off right now, and am home sick from work and feeling like I need to send all this communication to the Federal Trade Commission, Attorney General, Ripoff report and Consumer Affairs.  I am thinking that is the plan for this afternoon, unless of course this gets settled.

morebob

I also bought from Costco and they put everything together for me for the $100 rebate. I took everything home, gave the phone to my son, mailed in the rebate and threw away the trash. REJECTED!

I, also, have now spent hours on this talking to Costco, Verizon and making copies of copies to have all of my documentation backed up.

The Verizon Rebate center eventually sent me a postcard saying that the application was incomplete because some serial numbers from the outside of the package were missing. Who saves that stuff, especially when the rebate info has been prepared for you by qualified representatives and you have given the phone to your teenager.

So after a call to Verizon explaining that I had sent them every piece of information given to me by Costco, a visit with Costco and a couple of calls with them. my second call to Costco came to them while they had the Verizon rep onsite. He told us exactly what to do to send in the information that Verizon Rebates would accept. We did everything he said and guess what; another post card rejection.

I call V Rebates again and immediately asked for a supervisor. I let them know how frustrated I was (kindly) and the supervisor said he would make an exception. He said he had another rebate he could use that did not require the external serial numbers and that the processing would take 15 days.

I told him how unfair it is, for consumers, to have required rebate information attached only to external packaging. He replied with a few pat answers that were not impressive.

I think this is totally an unfair requirement and that Verizon and any authorized vendor should have the responsibility of making the rebate good. They are the ones enticing us to buy certain products by making them more appealing to purchase by offering these incentives. We should not be victims of a process that has loopholes allowing them to back out of a deal they made with us up front (prior to purchase).

I really, really shouldn't have to say this but KEEP ALL OF YOUR DOCUMENTATION AND EXTERNAL PACKAGING UNTIL YOU RECEIVE YOUR REBATE.

I hope Verizon will make this an honest process that can't be offered then rescinded. It would be better for their reputation and sales if a government authority did not have to make this decision for them. But, if they can't make good decisions on their own perhaps they could use a little pat on the behind :smileyhappy: