Rebate Hassle

Back at the end of march as you may recall, we had to buy a new range. It was at the insistence of the friendly folks at Pleasant Grove City who wouldn't issue an occupancy permit for my basement until the range and dishwasher were installed.

I bought the new range from Sears, mostly because this particular model was so highly rated by Consumer Reports. As an added bonus, I bought it online (not having to go to a retail store at all) AND I happened to hit a "free shipping" special. Of course, it's never really free. I had to submit my purchase to the Sears Rebate Center and they would reimburse the $60 shipping charge.

This week, we received a rejection notice from Sears. They said that the "purchase was made outside of the qualifying date range." WHAT??

I looked at everything. I purchased the range on 31 March. The particular rebate was good for items purchased between the 25th and the 31st of March. So I called the Sears rebate center to ask what the problem was.

They pointed out something that I hadn't seen. The "Order Placed" date on my receipt (I bought it online, so the receipt was via email) was 3/31/07. The "Purchase Date" was 3/31/07. But the "Sale Date" was 4/1/07. WHAT??

I tried to reason with the woman at the rebate center. She was immovable. I stayed calm and rational. She got more and more upset at me. She all but swore at me when I asked to speak with her supervisor.

Dave, the supervisor, listened to my story, but then reassured me that they could re-submit the rebate again and again, but it would be rejected again and again. Again, I remained calm and rational. He got flustered with me. I asked how else I could escalate this. He gave me the toll-free number of Sears National Customer Relations.

I called and talked with a very nice and (finally) patient woman, Andrea (pronounced Ahn-DRAY-uh) who went into the sales order and changed the purchase date. FINALLY someone who could help me! The process took almost 40 minutes, but my rebate request has been re-submitted and if they want to reject it, they have to speak with Andrea first. This is good.

Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but sixty bucks is sixty bucks!

I could have gotten angry. I could have ranted a bit. I might have yelled. But the truth is that the person on the other end of the phone (especially in the rebate center) is probably someone that is getting paid $10/hour or less to answer phone calls. They honestly don't care about my problem. They care about getting me off the phone and off their back. But by staying calm and rational, I ended up finding the person who could actually take care of my problem. The fact that Sears actually employs such a person is the reason I will keep doing business with them in the future...

...provided that I get the rebate.