Thomas of St. Helena, CA on May 10, 2003
Staples runs rebate programs that are designed to promote misleading prices, while simultaneously denying customers their rebates. I have experienced this multiple times, but most recently with a promotion to sell PNY flash memory cards. The 32 Megabyte cards were advertised on the shelf as costing $6.00. In smaller print, the sign said "After Rebate." To read the "after rebate" message, you had to be within two feet of the display, but the display was positioned behind the clerk's counter, behind glass, making it impossible for a customer to see the smaller print. The full price of the card was $38.00 including taxes. Nonetheless, the clerk gave me the card and I took it to the check-out counter.
When my credit card was charged, I said "Why so much?" The clerk said that the advertised price was after the rebate. I then asked for my rebate receipt, so that I could apply for the rebate. She said "It didn't print out!" So she went to the store manager. The store manager -- the same clerk who gave me the card from the display initially -- said "There must be a problem with the computer system." He then went to the back room and -- after several minutes -- came back with a different flash memory card. "The shelf was mislabeled," he said. So the clerk credited me for the initial card, and rang up the second card -- which actually cost more than the first!
I said again "Where is the rebate slip?" Once again, the clerk called the manager. This time he was gone for ten minutes. When he returned he handed me a printed form with instructions, telling me to fill it out and send it to Staples, including the UPC code and the original receipt. I sent in all the required paperwork (making photo copies) and sent in the entire packaging for the card, to make certain that they received the appropriate bar code (there was only one UPC code on the package, but I'd been denied rebates before when they claimed I did not send in the appropriate barcode.)
I mailed this off in February, along with the original receipts and the appropriate form filled out. Several weeks later I received an email from the rebate center saying that the product that I had purchased was not eligible for a rebate. I emailed back the rebate center and told them the exact circumstances, and that I expected to receive my 30 dollars. They responded to my email, saying they would look into the complaint. I did not hear from them.
I then took the original copies of receipts, forms, emails, and upc packaging back to the Staples store from which I purchased the card. I talked to a different store manager (They evidently rotate managers between different stores.) I told him my story and asked for my 30-dollar rebate. He took copies of my copies and said he would attend to the problem. I asked him if there was some mistake in the original transaction, and -- after looking through the copies of documents that I had -- said "No. They should honor the rebate." He said I would receive the rebate in a couple of weeks.
A month went by. Finally, I received a postcard from PNY rebate center telling me that they would not honor the rebate because I didn't include the UPC code. I have since written back to the PNY rebate center, providing them with yet more copies of all the paperwork, and a description of the circumstances, and copies of email correspondence.
This is not the first time Staples and/or its suppliers have advertised and posted one price, and used the foil of a rebate to explain the differential in what they charge. They have done this to me on three other occassions with other products: a Wireless network router, a wireless mouse, and a wireless communications router. They are not the only ones who use this ploy. Best Buy has repeatedly denied rebates on products and has used the same technique of highlighting a false price (after rebate) on their displays, and then created obstacles to obtaining those rebates.
