I have been frustrated with Office Depot since the first of the year. A promised rebate long over due has yet?

Question

I have been in contact with their customer relations people to no avail.

Answer 1

Talk to the store manager or his boss, the district manager. While local management has no control over the rebate process and it is handled by an outside company, they DO have a customer appeasement hotline which they can use to override any denials on your rebate. I used to have to call it all the time when our rebate processing company denied properly submitted rebates. In rare cases, the manager can give you the cash at the store if you raise enough of a fuss.

When I was a retail manager, I got a lot of complaints from my customers about rebates. To test the process, I purchased 4 items from my store and mailed in the rebates. Every form was filled in properly, the requested bar codes were included, and they were postmarked well before the due date. The processing company rejected 2 of the 4, claiming they were incomplete.
The rebate companies deny valid rebates all the time. They hope you will take their word for it that you did it wrong and they will never have to pay you. Keep copies of everything you send in for a rebate. Avoid mail in rebates whenever possible, most of them are SCAMS. The companies make profits because only 40% of customers remember to mail them in. They deny a portion of those, and keep all of the money.
Sorry to sound bitter but I can't tell you how many times I got screamed at by customers over a $2 rebate.

Answer 2

When we had trouble with the rebate on our shredder, we went right to the manager of the store we bought it, and he made good on it. Your store manager is more interested in customer service than some invisible corporate customer relations group.

Answer 3

It takes a long time. You just have to keep on them. And always make copies just in case. They have a site where you can go to to check the status of your rebate. But you just need to stay on top of them. Good luck.