COMPusa Rebate scandal

Yes this has happened to me many years ago..... I swore to never buy anything with a rebate from them again. Seems I was right to do so. I hope this is true and that Compuse suffers because of it. Any thoughts?

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=21807

Yeah I thought maybe those rebates I saw were BS. Not to long ago they had a battery backup unit that cost about 100$ with a 90$ rebate. I also hope they suffer from it.

I'm not saying the rebates are false..... but they will make you wait and wait and wait long after the 8-12 weeks it's supposed to take..... (that's what it usually says on their rebates). Going to the store will do you hardly any good. I got more excuses than I care to write about..... Needless to say I won't be doing any more rebates with them again.

Got a ipaq, and my brother from a different city did as well from them in 2001. $150 rebate, I got mine in about 8 weeks, my brother is still waiting for his. Although it will never come, and not a word on why it may have been rejected.

The ugly thing about rebates is that companies hope people never use them. I'd say it's a poor business practice for them to hope it gets lost in the mail, but I'm sure they save millions using rebates apposed to just putting the items on sale or giving instant rebates. Unclaimed rebates are saving them a fortune, which basically amounts to not being a sale at all. I only try to use retailers that have good reputations when it comes to rebates....... Compusa isn't one of them.

I've never had a problem with CompUSA with rebates. Yet I don't shop there often anymore but I use to back when I was in highschool 4+ years ago.

And its true that companies use the "rebate" scam to get people to come in and pay at full price. Then forget about using the rebate so they keep the money and got free advertizing to bring people in at nearly no cost to the company.

I was wondering why I have NEVER received a rebate from them....

I will not buy anything from them involving the word rebate unless it also says "instant". Screwed too many times..

I hate sales involving rebates, instant are good but mail in rebate no so. And what's up with the TAX, people are taxed for the mail rebate and there in no refund.

That reminds me I have to mail my rebate for hard drive

GOOD, SCREW THEM.... I HATE COMP-USA!!!!

They have ALWAYS marked up products, over charged for things and have always had terrible business practices. $14.00 for AS5 3.5grams?! WTF?!

Their sales team (on the floor) have no idea what a computer is either. Because of their large selection of parts, I unfortunately have to shop there once in a while. Everytime I go in, I end up saving someone hundreds of dollars because of a sales member giving them the wrong info.

Example:
Cust: How can I run multiple monitors off of my computer???
Sales: You need a KVM Switch.
Cust: Oh, I though I could do that off of a graphics card, I was wondering which one I needed to buy.
Sales: You can't run more than one monitor off of a graphics card. Let me go get some KVM's from the back room to show you. I'll be right back...
Me: : Excuse me sir, what graphics card do you have in your computer?
Cust: All I know is it is an nVidia...
Me: *Points at a box* Does it have 2 of these connectors on the back or just 1 ???
Cust: 2
Me: Then all you need is another monitor. Just plug it in and when you turn the computer on, the graphics card will set everything up for you. In the lower right corner of your screen, click on the nVidia icon to change how your screens appear. That's it.
Cust: Thank you young man.
Me: No, problem... Since I just saved you $$$, do me a favor and don't shop here again... The only reason I'm here is because they have this piece I need. Shop Circuit City or Best Buy. Those guys know their stuff.
Cust: No problem, and again, thank you very much... (very happily walks out of store)

I call them RIP-OFF-USA....

I call them CompUseless most of the time when I talk about the store Since half there stuff in the store is useless at those prices

Last time I bought something from them was 90 cds for $10.00...... and you know what? NO REBATE!!!!!!! I can't comment on the salespeople as I usually know more about the products than they do...... Kinda sad actually.......

Merry Christmas

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/biztech/03/11/compusa.rebates.ap/

devvingiorgio said:

Merry Christmas

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/biztech/03/11/compusa.rebates.ap/

Click to expand...

I noticed in the article that the sorry excuse for a representative from Compuse didn't even have the courage to say a word. Instead of them taking 12 weeks to send out rebates they'll do it now in 11 weeks and 29 days.

A year or two ago I bought a 160GB WD drive for $350 and then a $120 rebate....needless to say I never got it. After discovering online retaillers I don´t even bother with Best Buy or CC anymore

violineb said:

A year or two ago I bought a 160GB WD drive for $350 and then a $120 rebate....needless to say I never got it. After discovering online retaillers I don´t even bother with Best Buy or CC anymore

Click to expand...

wow, that's a hefty rebate.... I don't send out any rebates over $20.00 unless it's using registered mail (or something with tracking)..... I'd be pretty bitter if I lost out on that kind of money (not that I'm bitter or anything right now...... )

I don't think they said a word when they ripped a bunch of people off with silverless thermal silver paste. CompUSSR was already added to the list of companies that I will never do business with.

Wow, I guess I've been lucky. I've always gotten my rebates. But I have had to make some calls and ***** some people out. Things I do:
1. Only buy things w/ rebates that you really want or need
2. Make copies of everything
3. Keep a spreadsheet w/ dates submitted and expected due date of rebate

Last year I bought a laptop w/ $500 in rebates and had no problems in getting them. Once a software company went bankrupt, so I wrote a letter to Larry Mondry (CEO of CompUSA), got a call from his assistant and got a check in a couple of days.

Nowadays, all rebates from every place go to one of several rebate centers in Fl, Niagra Falls or AZ. They all have phone numbers and websites to keep track of them. If you're organized and willing to make some extra effort once in a while, you can make out alright. JMHO.

deathman20 said:

I call them CompUseless most of the time when I talk about the store Since half there stuff in the store is useless at those prices

Click to expand...

ROFL so true... comp usa does totally suck... i never buy anything from them

I bought my x800 pro from them. It was $399.99 for the Built By ATi ViVo version, about a week after the card was released. Can't beat that. I gotta admit though, most of their other prices are kinda high.