Wednesday, March 7, 2007

About this blog

This blog should, I hope, serve as a cautionary tale for anyone who buys a phone from T-Mobile and expects that mailing in a rebate form will automatically result in them receiving a check.

If you are so inclined, you can scroll down and read all the gory details of all the fun I had with Young America Corporation—the rebate fulfillment company used by T-Mobile. In summary, they lied about what I had sent to them, tried to wear me down with slow or bizarrely irrelevant responses, and, finally, subjected me to profanity-laden abuse.

In retrospect, I now realize that I could have ended this in December. That was when I received the letter from them that told me I was not going to get a check. Since I had fastidiously kept a record of what I had sent, I should have submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau as soon as the letter arrived. I did that in February and got the rebate check within a few days.

I strongly recommend contacting the Better Business Bureau if a rebate fulfillment company ever tells you it didn't receive materials or asks for more time. (Young America Corporation did both.)

A word about rebates. It doesn't take a genius to work out why companies offer them: They want to lure you with their "only $20 with mail-in rebate" prices, and then hope you either forget to mail in the rebate form or make a mistake that you can't be bothered to rectify. This might not be a way of making money with which we'd all be comfortable, but there's nothing fundamentally dishonest about it.

But what are we to make of companies like TCA Fulfillment Services? This is a passage from a Business Week article:

TCA Fulfillment Services published a "Rebate Redemption Guide" for its corporate customers several years ago. It cited the low redemption rates that companies could expect after hiring TCA: just 10% for a $10 rebate on a $100 product, and just 35% for a $50 rebate on a $200 product. "If you are using another fulfillment company, add 20% to these redemption rates," says the chart.

Now, they obviously weren't suggesting that those other fulfillment companies were in the habit of sending rebate checks to people not entitled to them. The meaning is clear enough: TCA will save money for its clients by refusing to send checks to people who are entitled to them. TCA Fulfillment Services is no longer in business, but I wonder if Young America Corporation is picking up where they left off. I have no doubt whatsoever that they received everything they needed in order to process my rebate check. I also firmly believe that the long delays before responding to my questions were quite deliberate; I was supposed to lose patience and go away. At one point, they even asked for more time, which I gather is a classic tactic used by the seedier fulfillment companies.

The good news is that you can avoid all the hassle I have endured. If you buy a phone from T-Mobile, simply submit a complaint to the Better Business Bureau as soon as you get a communication from Young America that isn't "here is your rebate check." You'll save yourself a lot of trouble.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

The check arrives

Bingo. As a result of submitting a complaint to the Better Business Bureau, I finally received the rebate check today.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

John leaves a comment on this blog!

Well, would you believe it? My old friend—and Young America's star employee—John has graced this humble blog with his presence and left a comment. You may want to shield your eyes, though, kids. John's got quite the potty-mouth:

rob [my last name] said...

Dear Rob:

You're a whiny fucking bitch. It's a 30 dollar rebate for a phone that you can probably barely afford. Suck it up for real. Why don't you go ahead and make something of your life rather than making a website about how some company whose sole purpose in life is probably to deny rebates did their job properly.

In conclusion: You're a fucking whiner and should return to your life of perpetual virginity and wife beating.

February 24, 2007 1:24 AM

Poor John maybe had a wee bit too much to drink last night. (Note: John lives in Minnesota, so he actually left the comment at 12:24 AM his time.)

Anyway, you're probably wondering how I know John left the comment, and not some other random person who just decided to go to the trouble of doing so. Let's review the facts:

  1. The comment is left on the same day that I tell John about this blog.

  2. John "signs" his comment using my full name (I've edited out my last name as I wish to remain anonymous). Now, here's the thing: Nobody, and I mean NOBODY on this planet, except John and I, knows the identity of this blog's author. (John knows because I e-mailed him about it. Do try and keep up!)

  3. It must be pretty difficult to be simultaneously a wife-beater and a virgin, no? OK, that's not relevant, but I thought it worthy of a mention.

John puts me in mind of one of those Hollywood villains whose ill-advised attempts to seem smart always precipitate their rapid downfall. He probably thought, perhaps in an alcohol-soaked torpor, that letting me know that he knows my last name would spook me in some way. Instead, all he did was reveal his own identity.

By the way, I have deleted the comment now. As I said, I wish to remain anonymous, and the comment included my last name.

Friday, February 23, 2007

John tries to make a comeback

John finally replied today. Incredibly, his e-mail is exactly the same as the weird one about bar codes he sent on the 14th (see here).

With a tear in my eye, I give him the bad news:

Sorry John, but I have a new friend now.

See http://tmobilerebate.blogspot.com

However, much to my relief, he seems to take it quite well:

Dear Rob,

Thank you for your response.

Sincerely,
John
Rebate Centre Representative

Oddly enough, this response arrived within six minutes.

I am tired of dealing with these people. I submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau today.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Good bye John, hello Domenic!

I swear they make these names up. Anyway, the message I sent to the general e-mail address was answered by someone who claims to be called Domenic:

Dear, Rob

Thank you for choosing T-Mobile

I have researched your rebate status, unfortunately we have yet to receive the receipt you have resubmitted. I do apologize for this delay.

If we could please ask you to allow more time for us to receive the rebate submission material. We do appreciate your patience.

Well, this response is less robotic than most of John's, but I think, dear reader, you'll agree that this business is getting stranger and stranger. Why do they, in one e-mail, say that I should allow six weeks for my "rebate submission material" to arrive and then, after that period has expired, ask me to "allow more time". Could they be stalling?

But, of course, the most bizarre thing of all is that I am using e-mail to discuss with these people the possible whereabouts of a printout of an… e-mail! I am sure, however, that simply forwarding the e-mail to them is not an acceptable procedure. (It's too easy and would result in having to pay out rebates, which, it would seem, is not the business they are in.)

I respond to Domenic:

I have been told to allow six weeks from resubmission before contacting you. It has now been more than seven weeks since I resubmitted my purchase confirmation e-mail.

Please specify how much time I now need to allow.

No response today.

Will SOMEBODY talk to me?

I feel terrible about it, but I just had to give up on John.

I forwarded our e-mail thread to the general tmobilerebates@young-america.com address.

I explained the situation thus:

Will someone please respond to this? I resubmitted a copy of my purchase confirmation e-mail in December but have heard nothing from you.

The person below gave me a completely irrelevant answer and then would not respond further.

Not only did I give up on him, I stabbed him in the back. I am a wicked man.

Monday, February 19, 2007

I think John might be ignoring me

Or perhaps I've confused him. I e-mail him again, keeping things simple:

Please respond.

He does not.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Bar code? Who mentioned a bar code?

John replied to my e-mail today.

Things are getting strange now:

Dear Rob,

Thank you for contacting the Rebate Centre. I have searched our database using the information provided to us in your e-mail. At the present time, I do not show any record of your rebate submission in our files. Unfortunately, the Rebate Centre is not able to validate a rebate request without it arriving at our facility. If you have already mailed off your original barcode panel from the side of the phone box, then we apologize but we would not be able to do anything further without that original panel.

As stated on the rebate form, we are not responsible for lost, late, mutilated, misdirected or postage due mail.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Sincerely,
John
Rebate Centre Representative

What the hell is this idiot talking about? Bar code? WTF?!

I wonder if this is part of a carefully thought-out strategy: Bombard the customer with bizarre responses until he gives up in bewilderment.

I try to bring us back on topic:

The letter said you didn't receive the store receipt. Why are you now talking about the bar code? As far as I know you have received that. Please tell me what I need to do next.

No response today.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Time's up, John

It's now been more than six weeks since I resubmitted my order confirmation e-mail. Time to wake up John again. It's clear they have not received it, so I ask John about what to do next.

There was no reply today.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Hello John. Hello!

Still no response from John.

I decide it's time to wake him up:

Please respond to this.

I called you in December and you told me to send a copy of my purchase confirmation e-mail. I did that immediately but have heard nothing from you.

That did the trick. Here's his reponse:

Dear Rob,

Thank you for contacting the Rebate Centre. I have searched our database using the information provided to us in your e-mail. At the present time, I do not show any record of your rebate resubmission in our files. Please be advised that a rebate resubmission can take up to 28 days to appear in our database from the date it is received at our facility.

Please allow a full 6 weeks to elapse from the day you mailed your resubmission to us.

Sincerely,
John
Rebate Centre Representative

I know what you're thinking. That's what he said in his last e-mail, right?

Wrong!

Look again and you'll notice the cunning substitution of "resubmission" for "submission".

This is like dealing with a robot.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Testing, testing...

OK, it's been a while now since I resubmitted my order confirmation e-mail. And, by now, I'm sensing that having a record of communications with these people might be a good idea. So I use their website to submit a question instead of calling them. The website has a form for all my identifying information, plus a comments section. I use the comments section to explain what has happened thus far.

Here is the response I got:

Dear Rob,

Thank you for contacting the Rebate Centre. I have searched our database using the information provided to us in your e-mail. At the present time, I do not show any record of your rebate submission in our files. Please be advised that a rebate submission can take up to 28 days to appear in our database from the date it is received at our facility.

Please allow a full 6 weeks to elapse from the day you mailed your submission to us.

Sincerely,
John
Rebate Centre Representative

Two thoughts occur to me:

  • What kind of crap are they using for software? Why on earth does he have to search for anything? After I have entered my details in my web browser, does he really have to enter them into a separate system? Why on earth isn't he just presented automatically with my case as soon as he is assigned to it?

  • My second thought leads from the first. With imbeciles like "John" working in customer service, you really need as much automation as possible.

    John is quite a star. He gets an e-mail, which contains everything I entered on the form. He then searches for my details, but makes a mistake and finds nothing. At this point, most intelligent life forms would think "I've found nothing, but the customer indicates that he has already been in contact with us, so he must be in the system. Let me double-check that." Not our John. His job was done when he tried the search and couldn't find anything. On with the script and bring on the next case.

This is starting to get annoying. I respond thus:

That's strange because I have already had a letter from you telling me that I won't be getting a rebate.

The significance of this seems lost on John. He doesn't bother to respond.