I first noted three years ago that a suspiciously large percentage of the rebate gripes I was getting involve rebate fulfillment house Parago and its RebatesHQ.com subsidiary. Just in case you're wondering, things haven't gotten any better in that respect.
One reader experienced what he thought was a particularly fishy coincidence recently. "My father and I each bought Seagate hard drives at Fry's back in early December," wrote the reader. "Since the mailing address for the rebate offer was to a facility belonging to Parago, we even photocopied our postmarked envelopes after using the Pitney-Bowes meter. I had a previous bad rebate experience with Parago when they repeatedly denied my BellSouth rebates for ever-changing phony reasons, so I knew we had to be sure to have everything copied and perfectly in order."
When the rebates checks for the Seagate offer had not arrived or shown up on the RebatesHQ tracking pages by March, the reader's father called first. "He was told that his submission was invalid. He asked why, mentioning he had photocopied proof that all was perfect, and the woman would not say. She simply said, 'I've validated it; you should be receiving your rebate within four to six months.' So I then called and inquired about mine. It too had been invalidated. I asked why and told her I had photocopies of everything and could prove it was valid. She said she could not say why it was invalidated, but that she was validating it, and that I would receive my rebate in four to six months."
The reader found it odd that he and his father should have such identical treatment of their rebates. "I asked how it could be invalid and suddenly be validated because I questioned it and mentioned I had photocopies of everything?" the reader wrote. "She refused to say. I asked if she worked for Parago, and she said, 'I represent Seagate.' I told her that wasn't what I asked, and then she did acknowledge working for Parago. Based on my previous experiences with Parago, and what I've read on the FatWallet and Anandtech forums, I think they're simply invalidating every submission that isn't followed up on. If it's going thru Parago, odds are very good it will fraudulently be invalidated unless and until you complain."
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