Hall of Shame

*** Starring: Officemax, Ubid ***

Beware of OfficeMax Fake Rebates
I have recommended that people sign up for the newsletters from Circuit City, Staples and Officemax because they sometimes contain deals that are just incredible. Almost every week, one of these places will offer blank CDRs at giveaway prices. I purchased 200 CDRs for $42 and then received a $35 rebate. I purchased 100 cdrs for $29 and then received a $25 rebate. I found that Staples sent their rebate checks quickly (I bought an item 1/29 and received the check 2/20), while Officemax tended to drag their feet. But lately Officemax seems to have decided to take it to the final level and not give the rebates at all.

In September, Officemax offered an Epson color printer for $20 after a $30 rebate. The rebate was from Officemax directly, not Epson. The same rebate form also offered $10 back on a package of CDRs. I bought both items and sent in the form with the sales receipt and both UPC codes taped to it. I received the $10 about two months later. I called Officemax to inquire about the $30 and they claimed that they had never received the form. Since both items were on the same form, I made the natural assumption that this was human error and someone had just missed the second one. Several calls and faxes later, someone from Officemax told me I would not get the rebate because it had expired. It took another round of calls, faxes and emails informing them that the rebate had expired due to THEIR incompetence before I finally received the rebate in January.

In October, Officemax offered a $40 rebate on two monitors. The rebate said that there was a limit of one rebate per model per person. I bought one of each monitor and immediately sent in the rebate. About a month later, I received two postcards. The first said that one rebate was denied because the purchase was made outside of the valid date. This was clearly wrong, as the sales receipt and rebate form proved otherwise. The second said that the other rebate was denied because the UPC code was missing. Fortunately, I had copies of the rebate forms with the UPC codes attached.

I emailed Officemax, was told to fax in the documentation and subsequently received a reply that this was an error. Both of my rebates were valid. Several weeks later, I received another set of identical postcards denying the rebates. When I called the rebate center (a firm hired by Officemax to handle the submissions), they told me that their records showed that I had only sent in one rebate. I informed them that they had sent me TWO postcards TWICE and their own email to me said both rebates were valid. They then said that there had been an error and there was no rebate being offered on these monitors at all! I called Officemax. They asked me to fax the forms again. I received several promises via email that a check was on its way. Months later they stop bothering to return my emails and phone calls. BUT THE SAME REBATES WERE STILL POSTED ON THEIR SITE. In addition, I have received several more postcards denying others rebates I had sent it for a variety of false reasons.

I finally placed a small order with them, which gave me the opportunity to rate them with Bizrate. I let Bizrate known (and indirectly Officemax) what I thought of their fraud. I named the people who I had called and emailed. Within a day, I finally received an email from Kim at the end of March stating that a check would be sent out shortly. In mid April, I complained to the Better Business Bureau. At the end of April, I received a long, handwritten letter from an Officemax manager who claimed that I had failed to send in the rebate and then failed to send it in again after I had complained to Officemax. He ignored the fact that I had faxed it in TWICE and had several emails from Officemax to prove it. At the end of April, I emailed Kim and told her Officemax was about to learn how much bad publicity $80 can buy. She replied that she would look into the missing check but was issuing another one. I then complained to the Attorney Generals of New York and New Jersey and also phoned the local Consumer Affairs Department which has received other complaints and is working on a case. They told me that the more complaints they get, the stronger the action which will be taken.

In May I received the $80 check and noticed that it was dated 4/10. I emailed Kim and she confirmed that this was the first check she had requested. There was now a stop payment on it so I should wait for the next one. On May 12, almost 8 months later, I finally received it. Though I did get the promised $80, it took a great deal of effort. In the meantime, several other rebates have already been denied for false reasons.

I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, but this pattern indicates to me that this is a deliberate attempt at fraud and that they have no intention of honoring their rebates unless forced. I wonder how many other victims there are, buying Officemax products at higher prices, enticed by false promises of rebates. If you are a victim, here is what you can do:

- Call the Union, New Jersey Consumer Affairs Department at 908-654-9840
- Contact the Better Business Bureau, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office and your state's Attorney General's Office. National Fraud Organization - fraud.org. Complaint forms can be filed online
- Email Tom Tinen, the General Manager of Officemax, at cmx0074@copymax.com
- Email their Rebate Department personnel directly. Kim Hutchinson: khutchison@officemax.com, Tatish Manos: cc.TatishaM@officemax.com, Candace of General Customer Service: onlinecsr30@officemax.com, Joan of General Customer Service: onlinecsr07@officemax.com.
- If you paid by credit card, try charging it back for misrepresented goods or an incomplete order. After all, the items you ordered were supposed to include rebates and what you received did not, so you have obviously received something different than what you ordered.

In the words of Lincoln, "you can't fool all the people all the time." If enough complaints and charge backs are made, Officemax may have to try something drastic, like honesty.

Ubid - Deceptive and No Customer Service
I used to be able to find great deals on Ubid but about a year ago, I found that I could no longer trust them. They ran several auctions for a 6 gigabyte storage device for digital cameras. Since this device normally sold for $299, I thought my $189 bid was a good deal. I envisioned selling it for somewhere in the area of $230-$240. The problem was that I received a 3 gigabyte version that was selling retail for about $199.

At first I thought this was just a simple mistake that would be quickly rectified. I contacted Ubid several times by phone and email and received no reply. A check of the Ubid site showed that they had sold dozens of these over several weeks. I mentioned this to a few friends and found someone else who had "won" two of the same items and also received 3 gigabyte drives instead of 6. This, coupled with the emails and phone calls that weren't answered. was a pretty good indication that Ubid knew they had misrepresented their items and were not planning to do anything about it.

My fellow victim decided to go through channels and exhaust every possibility with Ubid. She was very persistent and eventually someone from Ubid graciously allowed her to return the items at her expense for a refund of her purchase price. She was not very happy to be out of pocket because of Ubid's error. While I am always willing to let someone correct an error, I am not so forgiving when I have reason to believe that the "error" was done deliberately or at least with great incompetence. So I returned the drive to Ubid without waiting for a return authorization number. I took my copy of the UPS manifest and sent it to my credit card company as proof that I had returned the item. My card removed the charge from my account.

As I expected, Ubid refused delivery of the item and it was returned to me. I waited for Ubid to contact me for its return, but they didn't. I emailed them a few more times. Eventually I received a reply which looked like a form letter. It asked me to detail the whole episode again (in response to my email which already DID provide the details) and asked for the order number, card number, date, auction number etc. I replied with something like the following:

I have called and emailed repeatedly, only to be ignored. I returned the item and you refused it. I have discovered that there are a number of victims of this deception, so you can not claim that you are unaware of it. At this point, you have all the information you need to look up this transaction. Don't ask me to waste even more of my time doing your work for you. You can either issue a call tag for UPS to pick up the item, or you can leave me alone. I will ignore any further communications from you, as you have ignored mine.

I never heard from Ubid again. After several months, I sold the drive at a loss (well, it would have been a loss if I had paid for it).