PNY Rebate Fraud

M

Matrices

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Feb 5, 2003
Messages
5,254
Why am I not surprised? :rolleyes:


Rebate: Variable Reward Check
Rebate Information For: 486850920
Promotion: Up to $90 Mail in Rebate with Purchase Up to THREE PNY GeForce GTX 580 1536MB PCIe Graphics Card at Newegg.com or Newegg.ca
Submission Type: MAIL-IN
Date Received: 08-08-2011
Status Detail: Invalid.
Invalid Reason: Invalid Postmark Date


Bullshit. I went to the post office the morning that one of the rebates needed to be postmarked by and they said it would be postmarked that day so long as it was placed in the post office drop box. [Edit: Turns out this one of two rebates/invoices was past due, but the other invoice/rebate was definitely not].That's common knowledge. Also, the other rebate I submitted in that envelope had five days left on it before the rebate expired (I had two separate invoices). So it's at best a partial lie even if the post office did mess up.

Of course there is no method of contacting PNY to argue, let alone anything from their end showing a late postmarking date, since they conveniently offer no recourse. [Edit: There's a phone number with no human being on the other end no matter what hoops you go through.]

Just a heads up to anyone else: don't trust PNY for shit.

UPDATE:

I should follow up by noting that I received a reply from PNY (submitted my complaint under technical assistance, but got a response from [email protected], an email address which didn't even appear on their rebate site and shows up as invalid if you try to reply to it). They changed my rebate status to valid and so in theory I should get my rebate (or rebates).

Will definitely not hesitate to buy from them again given the swift helpful response from their team.
 
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First, never trust rebates. Second, don't wait until the last minute.
 
caniba said:
First, never trust rebates. Second, don't wait until the last minute.
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The second invoice in my envelope with the second rebate was for a purchase made on July 7th - so how can the rebate department confirm receipt on August 8th while claiming I didn't submit within 30 days? Obviously I had to have sent in the rebate by August 7th at latest for them to have received the rebate on the 8th, which is 30 days. And I know I went to the post office on the 3rd.

It's a plain lie.
 
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Never a good idea to wait until the last day to get something postmarked. You sure you didn't get caught by some fancy language?
MUST BE POSTMARKED WITHIN 30 DAYS OF PURCHASE DATE, WHICH INCLUDES THE DAY OF PURCHASE.
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So, 29 days :(

If you have any questions of if you would like to check your rebate status, please call (888)808-5931 or visit www.pnyrebates.com.
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Is the phone # disconnected?
 
Kueller said:
Never a good idea to wait until the last day to get something postmarked. You sure you didn't get caught by some fancy language?

So, 29 days :(


Is the phone # disconnected?
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Sigh, what fucking insidious wording. Nonetheless, that second rebate and second invoice (in the same envelope) was still good, and they rejected that as well.

The phone number works, but it's nothing but a runaround. You can't actually get a human being on there. I submitted a "technical assistance" request.

Still, that wording is just dishonest. I do communications for a living and it's verbal trickery. The wording "within 30 days of the purchase date" is what it is - you can't add bullshit like "includes day of purchase" without nullifying the meaning of the first half of that sentence. It's like saying "batteries included, which excludes batteries."
 
Matrices said:
The second invoice in my envelope with the second rebate was for a purchase made on July 7th - so how can the rebate department confirm receipt on August 8th while claiming I didn't submit within 30 days? Obviously I had to have sent in the rebate by August 7th at latest for them to have received the rebate on the 8th, which is 30 days.

It's a plain lie.
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there are 31 days in july.

you bought it on the 7th and post marked it august 8th, that is 31 days when it was postmarked, so infact you were late.
 
Wildace said:
there are 31 days in july.

you bought it on the 7th and post marked it august 8th, that is 31 days when it was postmarked, so infact you were late.
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I postmarked it August 3rd. At least, that's the day I dropped it off at the post office. So it would have to have been just sitting there unpostmarked for, what, three days, for them to not be lying?

Damn do I miss Bing.
 
Sorry for the problem. I've not done a PNY rebate but have sent plenty of rebates at the last date, heck even a couple PAST the date and I've always gotten my money back.
 
Matrices said:
I postmarked it August 3rd. At least, that's the day I dropped it off at the post office. So it would have to have been just sitting there unpostmarked for, what, three days, for them to not be lying?

Damn do I miss Bing.
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Lies by your own admission... you said you waited until what you incorrectly thought was the last day, were rejected, and now cry fraud. Lol?
 
GoldenTiger said:
Lies by your own admission... you said you waited until what you incorrectly thought was the last day, were rejected, and now cry fraud. Lol?
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Can you read English? If so, what grade level? Yes, one of the rebates was past due, but the other one I put in the same envelope, with a separate (later) invoice, was clearly not past due. Yet they just tossed it out with the invalid one.
 
Matrices said:
Can you read English? If so, what grade level? Yes, one of the rebates was past due, but the other one I put in the same envelope, with a separate (later) invoice, was clearly not past due.
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Ignoring your remarks, what exactly do you feel pny did that was deserving of being called fraud? Ps nice ninja edit on the op, sir.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Ignoring your remarks, what exactly do you feel pny did that was deserving of being called fraud?
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So ignoring the fact that you misread my admission that one of the two rebates was indeed late, the fraud here is in purposely throwing out the valid rebate with the invalid rebate. It's rebate fraud: you advertise a price and a rebate, and don't honor said rebate, that's clearly deception.
 
Matrices said:
The second invoice in my envelope with the second rebate was for a purchase made on July 7th - so how can the rebate department confirm receipt on August 8th while claiming I didn't submit within 30 days? Obviously I had to have sent in the rebate by August 7th at latest for them to have received the rebate on the 8th, which is 30 days. And I know I went to the post office on the 3rd.

It's a plain lie.
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Actually, it's 30 calendar days from and including the date of purchase. This means that you would have had to send in the rebate by August 4th (which meant that the rebate fulfillment center must have received the request by the 5th) Too bad, you sent that rebate three days too late. August 7th is actually 32 days from July 7th (if July 7th is counted as Day 1). Your math is wrong since there are actually 31 days in the month of July.
 
Matrices said:
So ignoring the fact that you misread my admission that one of the two rebates was indeed late, the fraud here is in purposely throwing out the valid rebate with the invalid rebate. It's rebate fraud: you advertise a price and a rebate, and don't honor said rebate, that's clearly deception.
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No, you edited it, nice try. It is not fraud, but rather customer error and at most a mistake.

P.s. Crying fraud over one issue is absurd.
 
I feel bad for you that you got screwed but you did wait until the very last day. It's just not worth the hassle to do such a thing. I've used rebates for years and have never not received it exactly as promised. I only use rebates from known reputable vendors and manufacturers though.
 
GoldenTiger said:
No, you edited it, nice try. It is not fraud, but rather customer error and at most a mistake.

P.s. Crying fraud over one issue is absurd.
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I edited it because I was admitting that one of the rebates was late, which is what I just said...now you are just splitting hairs pointlessly.

All you are really saying is that fraud isn't fraud when it's committed once.
 
E4g1e said:
Actually, it's 30 calendar days from and including the date of purchase. This means that you would have had to send in the rebate by August 4th (which meant that the rebate fulfillment center must have received the request by the 5th) Too bad, you sent that rebate three days too late. August 7th is actually 32 days from July 7th (if July 7th is counted as Day 1). Your math is wrong since there are actually 31 days in the month of July.
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Let's get this straightened out so that it's clear what I'd actually done.

1. One of the two rebates was indeed late so let's just forget that one (July 3rd purchase).

2. The other rebate was a July 7th purchase. I went to the post office and dropped off the envelope on August 3rd. That is clearly "within 30 days including the date of purchase." The last day it had to have been postmarked is August 5th, correct? Again, it was dropped off at the PO on August 3rd.

I was saying "if I had dropped it off on August 7th" as an example that, as you point out, was incorrect since there's 31 days in July, but that was a hypothetical. I put the thing in the box on the 3rd.
 
Matrices said:
I edited it because I was admitting that one of the rebates was late, which is what I just said...now you are just splitting hairs pointlessly.

All you are really saying is that fraud isn't fraud when it's committed once.
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Many rebates specifically say that they do not allow multiple rebate entries to be in the same envelope. This may of been the case. And here is the contact number for PNY Rebates. (888) 808-5931

If you treat the people on the phone better than you do people in this forum, maybe they will help you out.
 
bigdogchris said:
Many rebates specifically say that they do not allow multiple rebate entries to be in the same envelope. This may of been the case. And here is the contact number for PNY Rebates. (888) 808-5931

If you treat the people on the phone better than you do people in this forum, maybe they will help you out.
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I've been here more than eight years and have 100+ positive heatware mostly from selling and buying on here, so please spare me the indignant pouting about how I "treat people on this forum" just because I'm pissed about a vendor and because some people are being smug about the fact that one of the two rebates I submitted was indeed late.

I specifically checked the rebate form and it said nothing about not allowing multiple rebate entries. In fact, it had a piece of paper with three squares on it encouraging you to stick up to three rebate UPCs on the paper.

And I have the rebate phone number. As I already said, the number is meaningless: there is no human being available on the other end.
 
Matrices said:
I've been here more than eight years and have 100+ positive heatware mostly from selling and buying on here, so please spare me the indignant pouting about how I "treat people on this forum" just because I'm pissed about a vendor and because some people are being smug about the fact that one of the two rebates I submitted was indeed late.

I specifically checked the rebate form and it said nothing about not allowing multiple rebate entries. In fact, it had a piece of paper with three squares on it encouraging you to stick up to three rebate UPCs on the paper.

And I have the rebate phone number. As I already said, the number is meaningless: there is no human being available on the other end.
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I am not being smug, I have no stake in it. I just see calling an error or mistake fraud off the bat on a forum as crying wolf, akin to steam vs. origin boasting, is all. I also just don't see the reason of posting here in that regard. I am sorry you didn't get an expected rebate, don't get me wrong.
 
No offense but this was in fact your fault.

You never, ever, ever ,ever, ever, ever put multiple rebates in the same envelope unless you are looking to get denied. Those people dont have time to sit there and sift through multiple papers trying to match everything up together. I am not sure what inclined you to do this but, that was a huge mistake.

Also, reading through the other replies, it looks like you may have in fact been late in the submission as well.

Lastly, as others stated, you should never wait until the last day to mail a rebate out...

The only thing I can say is, that sucks but, you should learn how to do rebates. They operate with very strict guidelines. I lost a $50 rebate one time cause I mailed it off 1 day late myself. Was I annoyed? Yes, but it was in fact my fault.

Lesson learned?
 
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I suppose so. Between one of the two rebates being late and me stuffing two rebates in there, I apparently screwed myself. The thing that got me was the part where it said "Put up to three rebate UPCs in here!!!" I guess that assumed you bought all three cards at once (on one invoice).

I still think that's bullshit, but oh well. Shouldn't have given them any excuses to deny it I guess.
 
Why would you buy from PNY in the first place?
 
I am one of those lucky enough to never have a problem with my rebates (id say 50+ total) not showing up. I did have one sapphire rebate take nearly 4 months (was like 3 weeks past how long they said it'd take) but it showed on the 4myrebate site as accepted so I never called and it did show up, just late. I have even done PNY rebates and had nothing but success. Just follow the instructions to the T. Also I am a letter carrier and sometimes letters for some reason get missed by the machines for postmarking so it is best to always send them early. As I open my packages the first thing I do is cut the UPC code, and finish all rebate stuff before actually installing the items etc to make sure I don't forget, accidentally recycle the box etc. If you're diligent about that you will never have problems (at least I haven't) with your rebates. Rebate's are a hustle and they look for ANY mistake to not have to approve the rebate. There was a mistake I did on a Kingston rebate but I always put my email address etc for status updates and Kingston emailed me saying the packing slip I sent didn't have the item price (oops) on it and I needed to mail in my actual invoice. I commend them for that because it gave me a heads up so I could send the invoice asap so I didn't have to wait until I emailed them saying "where's my rebate?" and in the end being a 6 month ordeal. Just always be anal about rebates and leave no room for error and make sure you always mail each rebate individually unless the rebate specifically says you can include multiple rebates like when some video cards have a limit (2) or something like that.
 
so anyways how are those 580's holding up? IDK why peopel talk smack about PNY i sort of like them. Only experience i have with them is a gtx 470 aand gtx 465 flashed to a 470 which never crapped out on me. I got them for free right when they came out so i would of never bought them but man it showed me they have potential!
 
I mailed my pny 570 rebate asap, and got it fine. Card has worked just dandy. *shrug*

I've only been denied on one rebate ($5) and newegg gave me $5 credit when I complained -- don't remember the brand or item. The claim was the rebate and item didn't match up, but I had photocopies of everything.

Waiting until the last day is definitely asking for trouble with a rebate, you know they'll try to weasel.

The only rebate I've ever really worried about getting was the $300 on a laptop once ...
 
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correct me if I am wrong but if there is a problem with the rebate then its the rebate house not PNY that is directly at fault. I am just saying that because all of you keep talking about "PNY rebates" as if they are all the same thing. I had a PNY rebate through Staples and got my money in 2 weeks. that's because Staples does not drag ass like the big rebate houses. really its hit or miss even with those rebate houses too.

three years ago I had a Gigabyte and MSI rebate both(mailed separately but at same time) go to the same rebate house. the one from Gigabyte came after about 7-8 weeks but when I checked the status of the MSI rebate it was still not sent. not only that they had mistakenly entered the wrong amount for the MSI rebate. the lady told me I had to resubmit and start the whole damn process over even though it was their mistake. in the end though I got both the smaller MSI rebate and the MSI rebate for the right amount so I actually got an extra 15 bucks back.

even when it works out, dealing with rebates can be a hassle. honestly I wish EVERY retailer would stop using mail in rebates at least with large rebate houses. there is just too much potential for something to go wrong and jacking customers around for months is ridiculous.
 
Bbq said:
I am surprised this took 25 posts.
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I've bought several PNY products over the years and haven't had any problems with them though nothing big recently. But I do have a GeForce 6800 that's 6 years old and it is still running fine in my sister-in-law's machine today.
 
heatlesssun said:
I've bought several PNY products over the years and haven't had any problems with them though nothing big recently. But I do have a GeForce 6800 that's 6 years old and it is still running fine in my sister-in-law's machine today.
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I too have had great experiences dealing with PNY. they will answer the phone almost immediately and are a pleasure to deal with. I had to RMA a 6600 that the reference fan started getting noisy on and it was a VERY fast and simple RMA.
 
heatlesssun said:
I've bought several PNY products over the years and haven't had any problems with them though nothing big recently. But I do have a GeForce 6800 that's 6 years old and it is still running fine in my sister-in-law's machine today.
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My experience is that PNY does not cater nor care about the enthusiast market for the most part. We do have a review coming up though.......
 
I've been into the Computer scene since about 2001 and i never did a rebate. XP
 
I should follow up by noting that I received a reply from PNY (submitted my complaint under technical assistance, but got a response from [email protected], an email address which didn't even appear on their rebate site and shows up as invalid if you try to reply to it). They changed my rebate status to valid and so in theory I should get my rebate (or rebates).

Will definitely not hesitate to buy from them again given the swift helpful response from their team.
 
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