Problems with CyberRebate.com

It appears that Cyberrebate.com has gone out of business.

Wednesday, May 16, 2001; 11:00am EDT 

 CyberRebate.com, Inc., an on-line retailer headquartered in Long Island, NY, filed for bankruptcy protection under
 Chapter 11 in the Eastern District of New York at 10 a.m. today. 

 As of the filing time, CyberRebate.com suspended operations on its Web site. 

 Questions regarding customers, vendors and others affected by today's action will be resolved as the bankruptcy
 process proceeds. 

 Sadly, most employees were released this morning. A small staff will remain to take the company through bankruptcy. 

 More information will be available once the bankruptcy process gets underway. 

 Customers will be contacted regarding their rights and remedies.

I attempted to purchase a sizeable order from CyberRebate.com with my credit card (over $1,000) on October 20th. Their online order form said my card would not process properly and to try another card. I tried another card and it worked. The next day, I was contacted by BOTH of my credit card companies to verify the large charge which had been made.

CyberRebate.com had charged BOTH cards for the entire amount.

When I attempted to contact them, I realized they have no phone number listed on their site. I contacted them by e-mail. After 8 days, they sent me an e-mail saying they would investigate the matter.

They promise delivery in a week. As of November 5, 1999, nothing has arrived. I have no way of knowing if they have canceled the order or just not shipped it, because they do not respond to my e-mails.

For your own financial security, I advise you to be careful when you purchase anything from CyberRebate. I do not know if their actions are intentional, or if their operation is just inept. In either case, I will not do business with them.

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On November 8, 1999, I was contacted by a representative of CyberRebate. He explained to me that CyberRebate was understaffed due to its recent upsurge in popularity. The staff has not been able to keep up with the e-mail they have been receiving. He said CyberRebate has been hiring new people. This was offered as an explanation as to why it took them so long to get back to me.

He said they did not post their phone number for several reasons. At one time they had "outsourced" their phone system, but they were dissatisfied with the quality of this company. CyberRebate hoped to have their own personnel answering phone calls in the future. We discussed the fact that if they did not have enough personnel to answer e-mail, they would not have enough to answer phones.

He then said that CyberRebate's warehouse used UPS to ship my order to my P.O.Box. Unfortunately for them, only the U.S. Post Office can ship things to a post office. This was offered as an explanation as to why I never received the order.

He said that his records only showed charges being made to one credit card. He then said he had credited that card for the amount of my purchase. He did not know why their site would not accept my first card and the charge might have been a phantom charge. In any case, there should be no charges to either of my credit cards. (Both charges were canceled, phantom or otherwise)

He offered me his personal e-mail address in case I had any other difficulties. I told him about this website, and he said he had visited it. Was this why he contacted me? I do not know. Perhaps his interest in explaining CyberRebate's problems and his offers to solve my problems were sincere. He asked if I was going to keep this site up. I said I did not know, but I would definately wait until I had received both of my credit card bills with a $0.00 charges to CyberRebate.

I do not know if CyberRebate is sincere in their efforts, or not. Were they just swamped and understaffed? Was it just bad business judgement not to list a phone number? In my opinion, this does not lend their operation much credibility. I never looked for a phone number when I was placing my order, because I did not go to their "contact us" link at that time.

Their representative did sound sincere when he said they were trying to solve their growing pains. He asked me to contact him if I had any other matters which needed to be solved. Who knows if their operations will improve, regardless of how sincere the personnel might be.

He did not make any offers of discounted prices or to send my order for free to gain my goodwill. Then again, I did not ask for them to do this. The only thing they offered me were explanations.

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February 16, 2000: Update from the Better Business Bureau (BBB)
When I had my original problem with Cyber Rebate, I contacted the nearest BBB to CyberRebate in New York. I explained to them the problems I have described above. Today, I received a letter from them. The following is a quote from their letter to me:

"On two occasions, we have contacted CyberRebate.com on your behalf and have not received a response. Through mediation, the Bureau strives to find a fair and amicable solution to disputes that occur between the consumer and business. However, instances do exist where the Bureau is unable to bring about a satisfactory resolution of a complaint. Because mediation is a voluntary procedure, the BBB cannot compel the business to respond to a complaint. In those instances where our presentations are ignored, they become important since they form a part of the company's file and are referenced when providing prepurchase information to the consumer."

The BBB then suggested that I should contact the New York State Attorney General's Office, if I wished to pursue the matter.Why would CyberRebate not respond to two inquiries from the Better Business Bureau? I do not know, but if I ran a company, I would have responded.

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March 6, 2000: Update from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) The Better Business Bureau has given CyberRebate their lowest rating. Here is a link to their website which contains more information. Better Business Bureau Link on CyberRebate

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Here is a link to a Fortune Magazine article on CyberRebate: Fortune Link - Click Here. It seems to say they have great marketing skills and not so good deals.

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I will keep this site updated as to what happens next. You are welcome to send along your comments (pro or con). I will add them below.

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Comments from others....

The Most recent entries are at the bottom...

Complaint:
On November 1, 1999, I received an e-mail from P.R. He stated,
"I ordered a couple items from them 10/8/99. One was okay, but got the wrong thing and can't get any contact to return it. If you have any luck making contact, I'd appreciate any info."

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Complaint:
During the week of November 8th, I have receive a couple of e-mails from people who also had difficulties getting an e-mail response from CyberRebate. They did not want their messages posted, though.

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Complaint:
On November 14, 1999 I received an e-mail from R.L. He said,
"On Jun 29, 1999 I purchased $779.63 worth of product from Rebateco (Now CyberRebate). Unlike you, I received all my order except for 3 items. It took approximately 2 weeks to receive the main part of my order and after contacting them about my missing 3 items, they sent them within 2 weeks. I thought to myself how great this is, they sent items out fairly quickly and resolved a problem just as fast, but oh boy was I wrong.

As soon as I received my first shipment of items, I immediately sent out my rebates, sending each individual rebate certified mail, so they couldn't say they didn't receive it. My first batch went out July 14. Once I received my missing 3 items, I immediately sent those rebates out, which was July 27. I waited my 10 weeks and no rebates. I started emailing CyberRebates every couple of days with no reponse. Finally, one night I sent out approx. 20 of the same email at the same time. This must have caught some attention because at least I received a reply within several days. The email said they were terribly backed up but I was personally guaranteed that they had all my information and my rebates should go out within 2 weeks. Well 6 weeks later, no rebates, so again I sent a MASS mailing and again received a reply, but it took almost another week. Again I was told, the checks are in the mail. After that, I emailed them numerous times and received nothing but excuses. But finally, last week, I did receive all my checks, 16 weeks later. It was like pulling teeth though, and I don't recommend it. The check numbers were only at 5000, so for being in business for as long as they have and offering free items like they do, I can only assume there are a ton of people who haven't received their rebate checks. I consider myself extremely lucky to have received mine, and feel mine were only received by constantly nagging them.

Sorry for being so long winded, but thought I would add my 2 cents worth. In my opinion, if you are looking at purchasing from them, consider it a lot like going to Vegas, sometimes you can win, but most of the time, because the odds are in favor of the house, YOU LOSE and you lose big.

PS Isn't it convenient that you have to wait 10 weeks to receive your rebates as stated on the rebate forms. Do you realize this is approx. the maximum time you have to dispute a claim on a credit card bill. Any correlation?"

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Complaint:
On November 24, 1999 I received an e-mail from A. They said, "In early November, 1999, we also ordered from Cyberrebate, luckily less than $100 for 2 items. We received our order in about 2 weeks...GREAT! BUT, since then we have been unable to even get the rebate form blanks to process for the rebates! We sent the co e-mail, got response back that the forms BECOME available in our ACCOUT section of their page. We KNEW that, but there is no such availability.... NO LINK there allows us access to ANY forms... just the information about our order.

I felt the items were overpriced, but the 100% rebate made the difference... Instead... even though it was only less than $100 WE WILL FIGHT... PROTEST... COMPLAIN... DISPUTE PAYMENT THRU THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY.. CONTACT OTHER AGENCIES AND ANY OTHER REMEDY WE CAN FIND.

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Complaint:
On November 28, 1999, I received an e-mail from a person who does not want their name mentioned. They stated,
" My wallet was stolen so while I was waiting for a replacement credit card I mailed what was then Rebateco a check for almost $400. I thought it could be a scam at first, but Rebateco had a Mining Company and Yahoo type 'seal of approval'. This was in the middle of August. In the middle of September the check was cleared through my bank. Almost a whole month later!!!

I still did not receive any merchandise. I emailed them several times. Sent them a letter asking where my merchandise was. I finally received a response from 'Elliott" who apologized and said my merchandise was on the way.

I finally got my merchandise in the middle of October !!! They had not enclosed a receipt/packing slip or anything. I emailed Elliott back and he apologized and said to use his email as a receipt. He apologized again and told me he would give me for free any item under $20 on the site. I emailed him back thanking him profusely for his help (up to this point I had kissed my $400 goodbye) and asked him to send me the men's wallet.

Well it has been 6 weeks since I mailed back my rebate forms and so far I have no wallet and no rebates. Looking at the testimonials on their page -- yeah, they can ship products quickly (sometimes) - but has anyone ever gotten a rebate on time - or at all ????

My brother is into them for them for $700 or so. He has got the wrong products shipped and no products at all. His email and registered letter have gone unanswered."

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Complaint:
On November 28, 1999 I received an e-mail from someone in Virgina. They said, " Yes, I fell to the Cyberrebate scam. I placed three orders which were received without problem. The forth shipment I did not receive at all, though they quickly charged $ 148.00 to my AMEX card. My wife also ordered a few items, at about the same time, and one product shipped was the wrong item. The receipt had listed the correct item, unfortunately the surfeit item was shipped.

I started to contact CR about these two problems in late September, 1999.

I read that Cyberrebate's return policy is to contact them via e mail or regular mail for the procedure. we did. Countless e mails, several faxes, and registered letters went unanswered until Elliott Plotnick responded with an apology for the long wait. He said, via e mail, he "forwarded the e mail to the distribution center," and If he could be of any further assistance, to contact him. Nice try, buddy. Talk about passing the buck!!!!!

After several months of waiting for CR to assuage my deep concerns and frustrations, I contacted AMEX who quickly credited my account for the order I never received. I am still waiting on CR to contact my wife for return information on the wrong item shipped.

Question: Why does CYBERREBATE have "USPS does not provide tracking" on their cyber receipts, however, CR uses UPS to ship items?

FYI, USPS, (sotto vochi), has been providing tracking since February, 1999.

CYBERREBATE's only response was they were forwarding my e mail to the distribution center. This statement is just plain bad business practice. I paid CR, not the distribution center. I promise to all those patiently reading my gripes, if I receive all rebates back within 14 weeks of mailing them, I will forward the information to this site. I will also forward any response I get from CR concerning my disputed AMEX charge, and the return information for the wrong product.

BizRate, Why don't you contact customers a few weeks after placing the order, and not moments after the order is placed? Maybe for CYBERREBATE you should do a second and third contact, one month, and 14 weeks after the product is ordered."

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Positive Experience So Far:
On December 3, 1999 I received an e-mail from DB. He said, "Saw your website today from a post on usenet and thought I'd share my experience. I ordered around $300 worth of stuff at the beginning of July. Promptly received the items and sent in the rebate forms. Around the middle of November I finally sent an email asking about the status of my rebates. Received a response in two days stating the rebates had been processed on 11/9/99. Sure enough, within a week I recieved them and the dates on the checks were 11/9/99. A friend of mine ordered several hundred dollars worth of stuff a week or two after I did and he received his rebate checks a couple weeks BEFORE me (he was being a little more of a squeeky wheel than me). I placed another in October so don't expect my rebates until around Febuary.

Yea, their merchandice is overpriced, is not of the highest quality and it takes a long time to get the rebates, BUT... what do expect for (almost) free."

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Here's another mostly positive experience:
On December 13, 1999 I received an e-mail from RL. He said, "I ordered over $300 worth of merchandise (7 items) from RebateCo (CyberRebates prior incarnation) on August 2nd.. I received all the merchandise and all of the rebate forms within just a couple of days. Unfortunately, they did charge me twice, but I emailed them and received a quick response and credit with a day or so.

It took me a couple of weeks to get all of the forms filled out and mailed to them. Today (Dec 13), I received all of the checks. Took just over 15 weeks. Just beyond their 10-14 week limit, but within my threshhold for tolerable considering the merchandise was "free".

I'm putting together another order right now."

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"Bad Business":
On December 14, 1999 I received an e-mail from E.C. He said, "I ordered about 150.00 worth of stuff from Cyberrebate and still can't get any rebate forms. They're supposed to be e-mailed, but nothing has ever showed up. They are also terrible about responding to questions. My last order from them!"

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"CyberRebate update..":
On December 14, 1999 I received an e-mail from E.M. He said, " Package of 6 or 7 items just arrived. 1 item was cancelled although Visa was charged for it. Another- a camp lantern- is broken at the gitgo [in fact let me send an email into purgatory requesting a RA]......... OK.......another autoresponder saying nothing [but the email to customerservice didn't return auto, just nothing]

The CB unit is not bad. At least I can pick up something [close to a major turnpike]. It has a cigarette lighter adopter but I need a wall adopter. And it takes 8 batteries.

The "brass" compass is not brass but coloured metal. It is not a bad item- I have a similar 1- but it is a $10-$15 item max, not the $34.99.

The Oregon Scientific voice recorder am reluctant to open right now. It is from a respected company. But doesn't appear as a $39 item, however, I stand to be corrected on this.

The steak/knives/forks set is also sealed. But another poster told me this was worth the ~$75. But it has no UPC code!!! *have you gotten any feedback on how to handle this?*

The Ying Yang balls are also a China import that I saw at the $1 store. These are a bit nicer but not $14.99 nicer [also no UPC code]

The Alice in Wonderland book seems ok and possibly even approaches the $13.99 charge.


On December 15th, E.M. added: "CB unit is just "bad". Returning to distributer [not CyberRebate] for hopefully new unit. Plastic bag that held the unit is crumpled and obviously handled for a long time."

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"well, i'm glad to see this site...":
On December 14, 1999 I received an e-mail from "F3268" He said, " my personal experience has been purely positive. i took advantage of the 100% off rebate offer and placed a large ($850) order. I bought items to make a larger than usual Christmas donation to Salvation Army's drive.

I got the neatly packed products: right away!!!

I immediately filled out the rebate forms and returned them. Their website is quoting a 14 week lead time from the time that they receive your rebate forms. So, so far, so good.

BUT I'll be back if there appears to be a scam. I recently had a credit card company take me for $150. The credit card company is on the Florida Attorney General's desk.

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"cyberrebate info":
On January 4, 2000 I received an e-mail from "RW" He said, "Thanks for posting your site! It helped not buy from a possible headache.

I did a internic lookup on them. Thought you might like to know their phone number is disconnected...
Registrant: The Rebate Company (CYBERREBATE2-DOM)
587 Willow Ave
Cedarhurst, NY 11516
US

Domain Name: CYBERREBATE.COM
Administrative Contact: Granik, Joel (JG17640)
rebateco@IDT.NET 718-471-4348
Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Hostmaster (HO2657-ORG)
hostmaster@NETWORKSCOM.COM
3038509300 Fax- 3038509383
Billing Contact: Granik, Joel (JG17640)
rebateco@IDT.NET 718-471-4348


Record last updated on 19-Aug-1999.
Record created on 07-May-1999.
Database last updated on 4-Jan-2000 12:48:40 EST.


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"cyberrebate complaint":
On January 9, 2000 I received an e-mail from "G" They said, "I have been waiting since October for $267 in rebates. Now I find from the site that my rebates are processed except for 2 which are "invalid". So since according to them I did not enclose UPC with my rebate, I am out $50 for a travel alarm clock and a kids calculator. I estimate the true value of these items at $5. I would not do business with them again.

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"On a more positive note":
On January 27, 2000 I received an e-mail from "L" She said, "My experience with "cyberrebate" has actually been a good one thus far. I placed an order on December 9 and received the delivery on December 14. I placed a second order on January 20 and received the delivery on January 24. Everything was accounted for in the second delivery, but there were two items missing from my first order. I e-mailed cyberrebate on January 13 and received an e-mail from them today. Here is a portion of what was e-mailed back to me:

I would like to apologize for the negative experience that you recently had with your order. I am sure you must be quite frustrated. Unfortunately, a computer inventory error was recently made at our warehouse. When a customer places an order with us, they should not be able to order any item that is not currently in stock, however, due to this error, you were able to order a number of items that we did not have in our inventory at the time you placed your order. I am sure you can imagine the inconveniences that this has caused many of our customers, as well as our entire staff. I can assure you that this error has been rectified. I have credited your account for the items you did not receive. It may take approximately 7-10 days processing time to actually appear on your credit card.- Josh

The items that I received were satisfactory, but I do feel that the prices were very high. Now as to the rebates, I don't know yet. Obtaining and filling them out were very easy. But them coming back, have no experience with that yet. They should be here between 2/20 and 3/13. I'll let you know. I'm hoping that this will continue to be a pleasant experience for me because I'm planning to donate them to hospitals."


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"My cyberrebate experience":
On February 9, 2000 I received an e-mail from "DC." She said, "I ordered a couple of things from this site which totaled about $145 in October, 1999. I didn't want to get too carried away with too much buying until I could be sure about the company. I received my items in a timely manner and they were OK. (although the headphones I ordered have crapped out before I got the rebate). I have since received a rebate for one of the (cheaper) items when it was expected, but have yet to see the other rebate for $99, which at this point is almost a month late. I came across this site while trying to find a way to contact Cyberrebate. This has been too risky of an experience, I won't be doing business with them again. Especially after what all I've read here. I wish I had seen this sooner. Not to mention, Bizrate has good intentions but wasn't very helpful at the time."

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"positive experience with cyberrebate":
On February 2, 2000 I received an e-mail from "Y" They said, "I wanted to thank you for your site. People like you are helping keep internet businesses accountable, which is making the internet a safer place to shop. I also wanted to share my experience with Cyberrebate, which has been entirely positive thus far. In December 1999, I ordered about $500 worth of stuff. Yes, it was definitely overpriced, but after rebates it would only cost me the $4.99 shipping. Within 4 days of ordering, I got all except 3 items, which they said were out of stock, and credited my account for the amount I had paid for them. The rebates were available online as they said, and I printed them off, followed the instructions carefully, made copies of everything, and sent in the rebates in separate envelopes. I just looked up my account on the site, and as of today, 7 of my rebates are "complete" and scheduled to be mailed on 3/25/00, and 6 of them are still "pending." I expect to get all of my rebates by the end of March (a good 14 weeks since I sent them in). If any of them are declared "invalid," I have the copies (including copies of the upc's) as proof. I don't think this site is for everyone. I think Cyberrebate probably makes their money on the people who forget to send in rebates, or don't include the upc's, or otherwise don't follow the instructions. I would encourage people who enjoy getting free stuff and don't mind doing a little paperwork to use the site, but would just caution you to be very careful, read all the fine print, make copies, etc. And don't expect to get the rebates until about 3 months from when you send them in. If to you getting some cool free stuff is worth the time and trouble (it is to me!), then shop away and have fun!"

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"Where Are the Rebates?":
On February 21, 2000 I received an e-mail from "JG" She said, "I ordered about $200 worth of stuff from Cyberrebate.com in December 1999. I sent my rebate forms in as instructed around the end of December. I was a little worried because some of the items I received did not have the required UPC codes anywhere in the packaging, so I sent a message to cyberrebate and they encouraged me to send the forms in anyway, that those items would be covered. I kept checking the website to see the status of my rebates, and it always said "pending" until today, when it said the rebates had expired on 1/31/00!! Well, I sent my forms in way before 1/31/00, so I should get my rebate, whether they got around to "processing" them before that date or not. I am starting to think this whole thing is one big scam. But I am very well going get my rebates if I have to bug them every single day!!"

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"cyberrebate complaints":
On February 24, 2000 I received an e-mail from "AM" She said, "I just looked up the status of my rebates and see all but one is expired. i mailed them in 4-6 weeks before the expiration date. i also have been waiting 6 weeks for a credit on two items i never recieved(those also showed expired rebates). i have heard from illana and brett separately both assuring me the credits were coming and now i see all of my items have the expired rebates.i amm out $650.00. i will give them until monday to respond, i will then contact american express, the new york attorney genl. , the colorado attorney genl., and a friend who has successfully tried class action lawsuits. maybe cyberrebate grew too fast but if they know anything about building a customer base they have missed the boat.if you don't provide good customer service you don't stay in business long .at the very least i would be satisfied with a part in putting them out of business."

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"Alas, Another Tale of Woe!":
On March 2, 2000 I received an e-mail from "RM" She said, "Many thanks for making this "Buyer Beware" site available. Sadly, I found it one week too late.

I received a shipment of 16 products from Cyberrebate in early January, 2000. After receiving words of caution from colleagues, I had my rebate submissions verified by an independent auditor before mailing them in on Jan.15.

Unfortunately, Cyberrebate has already incorrectly indicated that they did not receive a valid UPC for one of the purchased products. (13 have yet to be confirmed). I have emailed Cyberrebate to inform them that should they fail to fulfill their contractual obligation to me, I shall send full documentation of my case to both the Better Business Bureau, and the Attorneys General of N.Y and of my home state.

The Attorney General's Office has been very helpful to me in similar circumstances in the past. A fraudulant business person was fined thousands of dollars, after the Attoney General requested investigations by the I.R.S., + the state Licensing Dept. related to the business in question. The business has since folded.

My advocate at the A.G's office mentioned that if 20 or more customers are willing to document complaints, their office is able to boost the priority of the case.

Thus, if I do not receive satisfaction on my own, I shall return to your site, + offer to compile statements from others who wish to register their concerns.

In the mean time, I hope that Cyberrebate will review my case, and expedite all of the rebate checks which are due to me. I will keep your site informed, in either case.

I have written to Cyberrebate several times, requesting a phone #, + have been told that they are working toward improved communications."

April 19, 2000: Hello Again from R.M., Well, today's mail brought all of my rebate checks. (I mailed off the rebate forms on January 15, 2000). Please pass this update along to your readers, as it may provide hope.

Many Thanks for all of your support.

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Lost $80.00
On March 11, 2000, I received an e-mail from G. They said, "i placed orders totaling about 700.00 for christmas presants staring in november. i recieved all checks in mail today except for three for a total af about 90.00. they said they were missing upc codes. i was very accurate in sending info. i have no recourse as i do not have extra upc codes....there word against mine. i did email them, but i would much rather call them on this matter. do you know the phone number?"

I told G that CyberRebate does not have a listed number.

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Scammed by CyberRebate
On March 16, 2000, I received an e-mail from ME. They said, "I too have had a bad experience Cyberrebate. I wish I had thought to check out complaints before I placed my order. I placed an order for $96.96 for 3 items on March 10. I went back to the site on March 13 to check the status of my order. I could not log on to my account. It would not recognize my e-mail address even though this was what I used to set up an account. I found they charged my credit card for the full amount. Customer service gave me their telephone number, but all I got was a recording that said you had to contact them by e-mail. I did so, giving my order number but have heard nothing from them.I had to create another account, using the same address. I still got a message saying I had no previous purchase even though I used all the same information as before. Now that I've read all these complaints, I feel I will never hear from them. I am going to dispute the charge with my credit card company. At this point I don't want the merchandise and will never do business with them again. If there's going to be a law suit against them, I want to join in."

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Mixed Bag
On March 17, 2000, I received an e-mail from DH. They said, "I have had a mixed experience with Cyberrebate.com. I ordered three items at the end of November 1999 and mailed in my rebate forms the first week of December. I received two of the rebates on March 10, but not the third. I went to their website to check on the status, and it said that I didn't include the required UPC code. However, the original rebate form didn't ask for the UPC code. I have copies of what I sent, and have e-mailed them. I haven't received a response yet."

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More Stories
On April 7, 2000, I received an e-mail from JP. They said: "Since you are collecting all these stories thought this tale of woe might help:

On 1/6/00 I purchased 6 items for a total of $262 from Cyberrebate. About a week later I checked my account status at the CR web site and my order was listed as shipped but had no tracking information. After waiting another couple of days, I sent an e-mail to CR customer service to ask about the status as my VISA card had been billed on 1/7/00. I got a response two days later and the agent "Josh" explained it was sent via Airborne Express. I sent another e-mail stating that I needed a tracking # to confirm shipment of my order in the next 3 days or I was to cancel the charge with VISA. Customer service responded and stated no # was avaialble becuase upon shipment, Airborne takes the package to a hub airport and then delivers it to the USPS for final delivery. They call the service Airborne "at home" Well, it never made it to my home and I contested the changes with VISA and sent a copy of my letter to CR. Customer service sent me an e-mail on 1/27/00 that my account will be credited.

Then, out of the blue, a battered package arrived on 2/7/00 from CR containing my entire order. I kept it all packaged in order to facilitate sending it back but wanted to keep it till I acually got my credit. VISA contacted me on 2/18/00 to inform me the charge in question had been removed from my bill and CR had issued a credit.

In the end, I would say caveat emptor to anyone dealing with this company. All in all, I gave them an interest-free loan of $262 for about 6 weeks. I would interested to find out what the CR business model is all about. I venture a guess it has something to do with making money on the float of up to 15-20 weeks while they "process" a rebate."

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Problems with CyberRebate:
On April 10, 2000, I received an e-mail from KH. They said: " Thanks for posting your website about Cyberrebate.com. I too, am having a problem with them in receiving my rebate checks and getting them to respond to my emails. I have sent several emails inquiring about the status of my rebate checks--which I should have received mid-February of this year. In my account information on their website it says that the rebate checks were mailed mid-February and should take about 7 days to arrive. Well, it's now April 10 and their "7 days" is long past due. I have sent several emails to them asking them about the whereabouts of my checks and receive absolutely no response. Tomorrow I will contact the BBB and the Attorney General's office. At least now, through your website, I know I was not singled out! Thanks."

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Just visited your site
On April 26, 2000, I received an e-mail from JT. They said, "Hi, I found your site rather helpful in giving a non-biased view of cyberrebate. I only wish I had read it before I started buying anything there. I've just ordered some $600 worth of merchandise, and as each day goes by, I get more worried about its rebate process. They wisely claim that it's a no fear process, but I'm skeptical. Bizrate rated them as relatively high, but I find it not accurate enough. I find their rebate time of 10-15 weeks rather inconvenient due to the 90days (12 weeks) allowable merchant dispute given by major credit card companies. If rebates don't come in after 12 weeks, then customers are pretty much on our own? About delivery, right after I ordered my items, I saw it being shipped the following day, trackable with UPS. Such short turnaround time would have been nice if I had total faith in the company, but this time it only meant that it was too late to cancel my order. Now I wish the shipped items are all there and up to par, if the rebates don't come through, I'll just consider myself overpaying due to careless shopping...

I also read about complaints being filed to BBB, and tried to follow the link to see the report. It led me to a BBB login screen, and I wasn't able to find any information on the company from BBB's search. Were you able to find anything? (I tried keywords, www, cyberrebate, cyber, rebate)"

Phil: The BBB site does not work most of the time. It just says what I have posted above.


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No Title
On April 26, 2000, I received this e-mail from SS. They said, "Is it really neccesary to keep this cyberrebate page online? You have not updated it and it does bash a company that is GIVING AWAY FREE STUFF! Any hassles you experienced can not negate the fact that you got FREE STUFF. As for my order of $1000K I ordered with a full understanding that the old saying "if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is". Wasn't I surprised to get my FREE STUFF as I ordered it, and SO timely. My refund checks are to be mailed out May 4th, just on time. I am very pleased with cyberrebate. I whole heartedly reccommend anyone who isn't going to stress about floating the money on their credit card for 3 months, to give them a call. They are the only web site I know of that gives you something for virtually nothing. Everyone has negative consumer experiences from time to time, but posting negative feedback about cyberrebate just ensures that more companies are going to refrain from offering such great deals!!! "

Phil: I have had some major problems with my e-mail for several weeks, and I have also been out of town recently. When new e-mails arrive, I post them. I did NOT get anything FREE. MY order was shipped to an address I did not provide, nor do I use. I canceled my order before they could try to re-ship it to the address which I did provide. Please let me know if your rebates all arrive on time, and I will also post that.

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A phone number!!!!!
On April 29, 2000, I received an e-mail from RW. They said. "I too am disgusted with cyberrebate. As you know, they no longer provide any access via telephone. I thought others reading your helpful site would like to know that you can reach Joseph Lichter, the COO of cyberrebate at 718-471-9385. "

RW wrote back on April 30, 2000: "Last evening, I sent you the phone number at which the COO or cyberrebate could be contacted. Here is their FAX number: 516-295-1393. They seem to be trying very hard to make themselves inaccessible. I think customers should know that there is a way in. Your site is a blessing. Thank you!!!"

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Re: Cyberrebate.com
On May 9, 2000, I received an e-mail from S.J. They said, "Well-it has been worth the wait. I received all 26 of my checks totalling $943.62-every penny from cyberrebate today. Cyberrebate may have a low rating from bbb, but that is subjective and I am one HAPPY customer. Having never purchased anything from them, I just don't think you can consider yourself an expert and put up a "DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH..." banner on the internet. I am very pleased with cyberrebate.com, they followed up with quick, accurate and perfect customer service and I have and will continue to refer as many people to Cyberrebate.com as I can!"

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Cyberrebate.com is a bunch of lying, thieving jerks!
Here is a link to a page by someone who has had problems with CyberRebate. Click Here

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Follow Up
On June 18, 2000, I received an e-mail from L. They said, "As a follow up to my previous email (March) I wanted to let you know that I have received every one of my $2127 worth of rebate checks (51 all together). It took exactly 14 weeks. Yes, their customer service is laughable, their products are for the most part overpriced, and a lot of what they sell is junk. But a lot of what I bought I am very happy to have (for free). You really have to take inventory when the items arrive-three of the items I had ordered did not arrive in the shipment . I had to request credit for them even though they knew they weren't in the box when it was shipped. They did provide the credit quickly. Luckily, I have had a positve experience

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cyberrebate
On June 17, 2000, I received an e-mail from J.M. They said, "I think your website is a good one-giving real-life experiences. I had a $400 order that went somewhat smoothly. I had to wait like 16 weeks for the rebates, and I had to wait a long time for the credit for the one item they didn't send. All in all, not bad for free stuff.

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CyberRebate
On June 25, 2000, I received the following e-mail: "I wrote you back in January concerning CyberRebate not returning e-mails for shipping the wrong product, and non receipt of shipments. Today is June 25, 200, and since writing you, I have sent CyberRebate the same six page fax every month, trying to get them to respond. No responses to e mails, registered letters and faxes since September of 1999. Should I give up, or should I allow CR the opportunity to prove to the world that they are the bottom of the e merchant barrel in regards to customer service?"

Phil: "I would suggest contacting the New York State Attorney Generals Office."

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cyberrebate
On June 21, 2000, I received the following e-mail from C.B.: "Having had a lot of experience (over 60 years) dealing with companies and/or people selling things, I agree whole-heartedly with two things quoted among the e-mail correspondents you quote on your cyberrebate site.
1: If it looks too good to be true, it is"
2: caveat emptor
I would certainly never jump into a site like cyberrebate and spend large sums of money, expecting to get it refunded quickly, if at all. In my case, I purchased two items which I had been unable to obtain elsewhere--at a relatively low cost. I also purchased a small baby toy, which was slightly over-priced. I had some confusion regarding the rebates, e-mailed cyberrebate and got a very quick reply (less than 24 hours), e-mailed a thank you for the help and again got a quick e-note. As of now, the rebate forms, etc., have recently been submitted. If I receive the rebates, I will do further shopping at their site. If I do not, I will still be pleased with my purchases--which I would otherwise not have found. The rebates will be icing. I think two things are obvious about this company. First, like many new e-businesses, they were not prepared for the quantity of the response. Second, it appears all their "100% off" merchandise is "remaindered." That is, it was manufacturers' overruns--not sold through regular channels. Also, to read the dates on your site, they have greatly improved since the new year. I think your site is valuable, helping to warn prospective buyers of #'s 1 & 2 above.

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cyberrebate
On July 1, 2000, I received the following e-mail from C.M.: "thanks for the informative site. On the premise that a person with a bad experience makes 10 times the noise that a person with a good experience does....(I own a business, so i've had the chance to personally test this theory...)

I've had, so far, a positive experience with Cyberrebate. Maybe they've finally gotten their act together? I have ordered three times: each time my order was at my house, correct, in two days. The rebate forms have been available in less than two days: once before the merchandise even arrived. My questions to customer service have been answered in a day or two. I had one product arrive on June 12th, broken. I received an email the next day saying it would be credited to my account. I got an email on June 28th saying that it HAD been credited to my account: i'll see what my statement says when I receive it. I have not gotten any rebates back yet, but it is a little soon for that.

I 'm sure that part of their plan is making money off the "float". Whether the products one orders are worth the credit card time to rent their purchase price is up to the individual. I bought some very cool stuff that i felt was close to (if under) being worth the retail price charged: if i end up paying 20 or 30 bucks for the "800.00" worth of stuff i ordered, so be it.

I've found their customer service to be fine, so far, and you know what? It's fun. I'll keep ya posted as to the status of my rebates.

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cyberrebate
On July 14, 2000, I received the following e-mail from A.M. and M.M.: "In reference to your Cyberrebate bashing site, I have placed 10 orders for a total of $4,000 with Cyberrebate and I have had no uncorrected problems. The rebates have come right on the 14 weeks, as promised.

The orders come extraordinarily fast. Of course they are over priced before the rebate, the rebate time is long and the process cumbersome, but all that is clearly stated in advance. I have had two instances where an item was not included and my credit card was immediately credited when I e-mailed the cyberrebate. Some of the items are poor quality, but when they are free, who should complain. There are enough good products to offset the duds.

I suspect the long lead time for rebates and the detailed rules for submittal are part of the way the company makes a profit.

I have noticed that most of the complaints on your site have involved the customer not following the rebate rules or for being impatient waiting the stated time.

I can understand a person being nervous. I have been myself, but there is no justifiable complaint when the rules are clearly stated and followed. If you don't like the rules, you don't have to order.

No. I do not work for Cyberrebate. I just order the good deals."

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My Cyberrebate.com experience
On July 21, 2000, I received the following e-mail from M.C.R.: "Hi. Nice Site. I ordered over $400 worth of merchandise from CR. It took 15 weeks, but I did receive my rebates in full and the order was shipped quickly and in excellent condition. I couldn't agree more that the items are overpriced. In the end they were mostly free. The true value of the items is about 50% on average of the cost. Rebates do make the difference. Very tedious to go through the rebate process. Had I known that in the beginning I wouldn't have ordered 15 items. It was about a 3 hour project to get the stuff together they needed. So far so good. Future orders though will be smaller because now I know the items are overpriced and that the rebate process is too time consuming. Thanks!"

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CyberRebate
On July 24, 2000, I received the following e-mail from S.C.: Thought I would throw in my .02 worth. I just found the CR site and was wowed by the prospect of free stuff- they are not even charging for shipping right now! So, I am embarrassed to say I ordered $2500 worth of stuff. I knew better but I couldn't resist. My stuff all arrived, trackable and well packaged, within a few days. They did not send a $150 mixing bowl (I know...I know) and I had to email them for a credit. I got the same reply as a previous poster about the "computer problem". They have credited it, however I did have to notify them. My stuff is a mixture of quality over-priced stuff and overpriced cheap crap- I am sending a few things back (like a $73 baby float that arrived with holes and a $44 "gourmet" spice set that is worth about $10) because they are not worth the interest I will pay on my card. I spent about 6 hours printing forms, copying, copying, copying, filling out, and stapling the stuff together for my 55 items. I DID keep copies of every single item I sent them because I refuse to be stuck with the prices on this stuff. It was a CHORE but in the end, as long as I get my money back, I still think it is worth it. I have gifts taken care of for my entire family for the holidays! You will hear from me in late October if I have any further issues.

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cyberrebate
On August 12, 2000, I received the following e-mail from K.W.: Early on in our Cyberrebate experience we came across your site and read the entries with some trepedation. However, we ultimately had a fairly positive experience with Cybberrebate. We promptly received our entire order and got our checks within the timeframe they laid out (we mailed in our rebate info on 5/5 and received our checks on 8/11). As long as people are willing to deal with the annoyances of a rebate process, a company with no public phone number (although they were responsive to our inquiry emails), and over-valued items, we can recommend this site (based on our own limited individual experience).

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CyberRebate
On August 14, 2000, I received the following e-mail from M.C.: I purchased about $250 worth of stuff in late 1999. I received my order within 1 week and it was complete without any problems. I printed my rebates off of their site without any problems within a few days of placing my order. I returned the rebates with the appropriate info and was able to track their status under my account on their web site. Although, the status changed on a couple items from complete back to missing information the situation was resolved after a couple e-mails from me. I received my checks without incident fairly close to the time promised. I have just recently placed another order that I received within a couple days of placing and haven't checked out yet. I let you know how it goes.

Thanks for your site and info.

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Signed Guestbook
On August 19, 2000, I received the following e-mail from N.W. : Hey, thanks for your board on "CyberRebate.com" I was going to order a bunch of stuff from them, because I thought, "Hey, what a great deal!" But then I thought, "Hmmmm, sounds a little too good to be true. I should find out more information." I'm glad that I did. Because it sounds like the sub-average stuff they sell is not worth the extraordinary effort it takes to buy it. Have a splendid day. I know I will.

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Follow-up e-mail
On August 21, 2000, I received the following e-mail from C.H. : A couple weeks ago I wrote to you about a positive ordering experience with Cyberrebate for posting on your web-page. I wanted to follow up and say that both my rebates have been processed, and check issue dates assigned, one is for 16 weeks after I placed the order, the other rebate date is for 15 weeks after I placed the order, right around their estimated processing times. I give CyberRebate a thumbs up for my test orders and plan to use them again. I'll probably never place orders as big as some others on your page seem to have done, but when the item ends up being free, why not order something that looks interesting to you? Thanks for your page, if nothing else it may serve as a cautionary tale to others to try things out slowly, before jumping in with both feet.

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cyberrebate
On August 23, 2000, I received the following e-mail from T.M. : I ordered 307.00 worth of stuff back on 5/2/00. Did everything to the T so I was sure to get my money back, well I got the stuff, no duplicate charges. but here it is 8/22/00 and I have received an e-mail telling me I will have to wait for my rebates a bit longer. I wanted to look at the account since they e-mailed me, but for some strange reason i am no longer an existing customer, cant seem to sign in nor can i go into it by order number. I just want my money back. And I will definately never order anything from them again. If you cant respond to a complaint and get some kind of response before hell freezes over, then your company is the pits. Just not my kind of company to deal with anymore. thanks, T.

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Cyberrebate ripoffs
On August 25, 2000, I received the following e-mail from R.L. : I too was sucked in. Among the items that I bought was a Dexxa keyboard. It was defective and fried my motherboard. I have e-mail cyberrebate and Dexxa several times. Neither has responded to date. I am now preparing to go to small claims court. Then they did the scam of saying that they did not receive my request for a rebate. They were all done at the same time. They were all mailed at the same time. I did not photocopy the UPCs because I did not expect this scam.

I got most of the rebates but it took much much longer than they said it would. Considering their inflated prices and the lost rebates, it was an OK deal if I don't count the hours of paper work and the fried computer.

If I do business with them again, I will prepare the court case as I go. I will photocopy everything. I will have witnesses to the stuffing of the envelopes and I will mail them Registered Mail, Receipt Requested.

That greatly increases the cost of the "free" items. My wife wants to do it just to get even for ripping us off the first time.

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CyberRebate
On August 28,2000, I received this e-mail from N.S.: "Hi Phil and other rebate shoppers.

I have to say that I found your site interesting. My experiences with CyberRebate have been nerve wracking and time consuming but I am also a very satisfied customer. I will agree with everyone who commented on the goods being overpriced prior to the rebate. I also would encourage everyone to only purchase brands they know to better assess quality. I think that holds true of any retail setting where you can't handle the merchandise, such as a mail order catalog.

I have also had several times where I have purchased an item which came without a UPC code, and one time where my 11 year old "assistant" forgot to include the UPC code. In each instance CyberRebate was VERY accomodating and flexible and honored the rebate without the proper documentation simply based on my word.

I would also agree that it is imperative to tke inventory and found it necessary to "remind" them to credit my account two months after it became apparent that I was not going to receive the items that were not available. Good luck and document EVERYTHING."

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Thank you for the forum!
On September 5,2000, I received this e-mail from S.T. : "I am a happy shopper. Have placed seven orders since May 1999 which now total over $9,000. I have never had a problem which has not been quickly resolved. Their customer service folks are excellent. BUT, I do have some advice/suggestions to share: Expect to spend A LOT of personal time&money to handle filing and managing the rebate. Frankly, I would never do business with them without the immediate use of a photocopier and a laser printer. And, PLEASE, Do Not use a credit card for which you pay interest, their prices are Way To Much--it takes far to long to get your money back to pay off your bill!!!"

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cyberrebate
On September 5,2000, I received this e-mail from M.G. : , You really made my evening by letting me see that I am not the only one who feels so powerless with this company who shows such an absolute disrespect toward their customers. I initially felt foolish for being sucked into such a scam. Now I just want out. I have tried to cancel my ~$1500 order before they ship it, but I am not getting any response to my emails and I don't know how to contact them...but I'm still trying.

Thanks again... your story is very telling of this company.

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+ feedback
On September 8,2000, I received this second e-mail from S.B. : "You may no longer care, but FWIW...

I've made a few more orders since this email, and CyberRebate did eventually pay all the rebates.

HOWEVER,

I've noticed lately that each time I've been back to the site, the pre-rebate prices have gotten more and more ridiculous. I've seen things listed for $200 that you could buy anywhere else for $25. I suspect this might mean they are losing solvency, and need to make up the cash in the short term. At these markups, a customer is essentially giving CyberRebate a hugely undercollateralized loan. I don't think I'll be playing that game...."

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Very Negative!
On September 15,2000, I received this e-mail from K.G. : "Oh, boy, do I have one to add to your Cyberrebate.com NEGATIVE list! I made a $405.92 purchase at Cyberrebate. I figured the items were a little high in price but figured I would get it all back because there is supposed to be a 100% rebate. And I figured I must have been getting quality items. What a fool I was. The stuff…eight items…are total and 100% junk!!!! There is even a suggested manufacturer’s retail price on one item for $12.95 and they had the audacity to sell it to me for $62.99!!!!!!!!!!! I am so irate. Of course, I am contacting everyone I can think of, the BBB, the Attorney General, even every source of media I can think of. Any positive notes you have on this site, I truly believe are false! I think it’s someone in the company or a friend who is sending them. The phone number listed for the C.O.O. is also disconnected that was mentioned in one of the notes.

And I have written to them and they have NOT responded to a single email!

I am angry and everyone is going to hear about it! These people have got to be shut down and we all need our money back! I’M STARTING A NEW WEBSITE JUST ABOUT SCAMMERS AND CYBERREBATE WILL BE AT THE TOP UNTIL THEY STRAIGHTEN OUT THEIR ACTIONS. Will let you know the address shortly."

KG of Washington

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price inflation on Cyberrebate?
On September 15,2000, I received this e-mail from A.Y. : "I stumbled accross your website after I found something fishy on the CyberRebate site and went looking for people with bad experiences with them. What caught my eye was a book ("Pooh Bouncy Songs" ) they were advertising as retailing for $39.95. I thought it looked like a pretty cheap book so I went and looked it up on Amazon. $6.95 was the price on Amazon. Sounds to me like CyberRebates is buying up cheap merchandise, selling it at greatly inflated prices, sticking the money in an interest earning account while they wait long periods of time (while they are back-logged) before they mail you back part or all of your money as a rebate.

Just thought I'd mention this since none of the postings I saw on your site said anything about price inflation."

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cyberreate
On September 23,2000, I received this e-mail from F.O. : "Just thought I'd drop you note regarding my experiences with Cyberrebate.com. I've placed 5 order with them totaling over $4,000. I've received all the rebates for the first 3 orders, the other two are being processed. All the ordering and delivery of the products have been smooth as silk. There have been 3 snags so far in the rebate process. A product arrived without a upc code. After 1 email to them the problem was resolved. I mixed up the product numbers on 2 rebate forms. Cyberrebate sent me snail mail alerting me to the problems. I redid the forms, resubmitted them and received the rebates. I wish all rebates went as smoothly. Yes the items are overpriced, some of them 10 times their cost. But there are reasonably priced articles, and furthermore if you receive a 100% rebate who cares what the price is? I see where some people think that they make their profit on the "float" when they hold your money. Jeez folks do the math, for example say you purchase a $100 item. Let's be generous and assume that they can get 10% annual yield on their investments. Figure 12 weeks from when they bill your credit card till when you cash the rebate check. That means that they'll make $2.50 from the float. Maybe that might be enough to cover shipping, handling and a portion of the rebate processing costs. Furthermore if you time it out right and place your order just as your billing cycle starts, and take advantage of your grace period, it will seven weeks from when you order till you pay your credit card bill that you'll be taking advantage of your credit card companies float. That means that your actual cash will be out of your hands for only 5 weeks. If you can make 7% annual yield that means the cost to you in lost opportunity is only 67 cents! I think they make their money from people who don't even bother to send in the rebate forms. And if you're that lazy you deserve to pay the inflated prices. And I hope you continue to not send in those forms because that means that cyberrebate will continue to supply me with a steady stream of FREE stuff! What do I do with the stuff? I've got lots of nieces and nephews who have lots of birthdays, I give some to local toy banks, and some have been used as raffle prizes. By the way Phil, I actually make a guaranteed minimum 28% annual yield on my purchases at Cyberrebate. I set aside $2000 to "play" with at Cyberrebate. In one years time I will get back my $2000 and in addition I will earn at least $560, guaranteed. In addition to that "bonus" cash I have all the products to give away. Not such a bad deal!"

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good job
On September 28,2000, I received this e-mail from B. : "first of all, i'd like to commend you for all the work you've put into your cyberrebate page. it is very informative and well-balanced. as for my shopping experience at cyberrebate, it has mostly been positive. their website is very easy to navigate and has one of the fastest response times i've seen among e-tailing sites. i do admit that a number of their products are mediocre at best. you just have to spend the time to wade through the items and discover the good deals. i did get a few crappy items but since they were virtually free anyway, i'm not complaining. i am now on my second order and my rebate checks are scheduled to be sent out in the first week of november. i've had no problems at all and never needed to contact customer service. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stay that way. but on the flip side, i am a bit skeptical of cyberrebate's business model. (why else would i search for 'cyberrebate' and 'scam' and stumble into your page? :+) however much i think about it, i can't see any formula for sustained profitability. could they be a pyramid scheme, where early customers are kept happy, and as the customer base expands and the pre-rebate payments mount, the company just folds and slip away? i hate to think so but it seems a possibility. so will i order more items from them? you bet i will. but only because i have two full rebates under my belt, so i am in such a position that if my third batch of rebates don't arrive, i can console myself and say that i only paid 33% of each of my three orders. not bad."

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CyberRebate.com ordering
On October 3,2000, I received this e-mail from J.K. : "I recently ordered from CyberRebate.com and afterwards found your problems page. Made me very leary that I just blew a load of money on the idea that I was going to get ripped off from what people were saying. I have not received any rebates yet, so I cannot comment on that process and still leary for now. BUT I received every item I ordered with all the UPC codes and in very good shape. For those who complain about the price, People are allowed to charge whatever they want. Who cares what the original price is, after the rebate it is either free or fairly inexpensive! Who cares how they make their money, as long as I get my money back. They are a BUSINESS and if they make money by investing my money for 2 months and then give me a free product and my money back, once again, who cares! I hope I don't run into any problems, but it looks like most of the people are complaining about being overcharged BEFORE the rebates and the time it takes to get their check in the mail. That's really not a problem, that's the way this business (CyberRebate.com) does it's business..."

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cyberrebate
On October 2,2000, I received this e-mail from L.B. : "Hi Phil, just wanted to keep you posted as to my dealings with CyberRebates. This is a lot of information, so please feel free to edit accordingly. My first order was on 12/08/99 I received it on 12/14/99 (two items were not sent, I emailed CyberRebates 1/20/99 and they credited my credit account on 1/25/99). One item, Coby Cassette-only Walkman didn't work. I downloaded the rebate forms easily and mailed them in on 12/15/99. Rebate checks should come in on 2/20 (10 weeks) or 3/13 (14 weeks). Rebate checks arrived 3/11/99 (about 14 weeks) and 4/18/99 (about 5 months). My second order was on 1/20/00 I received it on 1/24/00. I mailed the rebates on 1/24/00. Rebate checks should come in on 4/1/00 (10 weeks) or 5/29 (14 weeks). Three rebates were said to have no UPC codes. I e-mailed CyberRebates that the forms did not require UPC codes. CyberRebates then accepted them. Rebate checks arrived on 5/6, 5/10, 5/24, 6/12 about 15 to 20 weeks. I ordered a third time on 1/21/00, but when the package came on 1/25, I refused it and contacted CyberRebates. They said they would credit my account. When the credit did not come in by, I contacted my Credit Card company and told them that there was a dispute and the company gave me a temporary credit on 3/24. CyberRebates, after being contacted by the Credit Card company credited my account on 5/10. In summary, this is what I have found doing business with CyberRebates: 1. The rebate forms were easily downloaded and filled out. It's important to make copies of everything, even UPC codes. 2. The deliveries were between 4 and 5 days. 3. All items were extremely overpriced. 4. Rebate checks arrived between 14 and 20 weeks. a. E-mail every time there is a question 5. It's safer to use a credit card in case of any disputes. a. Rebate checks won't arrive for up to six months, so interest is accruing on the purchases. b. I believe that this is how CyberRebates makes its money, interest on our money!!! So, if you are willing to spend the time to fill out and copy the rebate forms; spend the money on postage and interest on your credit card (if any); be diligent in sending lots and lots of e-mails to stay informed, then CyberRebates is a good way to get some free things."

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CyberRebate is a Great Site!!!!!!!
On October 4,2000, I received this e-mail from M.G. : "I can't believe all the CyberRebate bashing going on here. I have been ordering from CyberRebate for over a year and I have gotten a rebate check back for every single item I have ordered!!!!!!!!! A few very minor problems were taken care of immediately with only one e-mail (great customer service). The one thing I will agree with is the overinflated prices, however, when I know I'm going to get 100% of it back I don't have a problem with it. I am not a wealthy person and this site has saved me so much money. I am able to get things for my kids that otherwise I would not have been able to. This Christmas will be even better for us thanks to CyberRebate. It upsets me greatly to see that some people want to try to put them out of business. And in response to KG of Washington I am not an employee or a family member of an employee. I am a very happy and satisfied customer of CyberRebate!!!!!!!!!! To those of you who are unhappy with CyberRebate, go shop and pay regular prices somewhere else, but don't try to take a good thing away from the rest of us."

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good experience
On October 12,2000, I received this e-mail from J.B. : "I wanted to say that I have had only good experiences with CyberRebate. I have ordered 4 times in the past year, and each time, got just what I ordered, within a week. I promptly returned the forms, and 10 weeks or less later, received my checks. I have not had a single problem with them. I have to say that yes, the prices are hugely inflated, but I figure that's how they stay in business... they must make a small fortune on the interest they earn in that 10 weeks (reading these previous postings I see orders for hundreds, even thousands of dollars in one shot!!) before the money is returned. How else would such a site stay in business? It is, after all, a business, not a philanthropy. As near as I can tell, I am getting great items, basically for free; they only cost me postage and some waiting time!"

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You just cost cyberreebate a customer.....
On October 15,2000, I received this e-mail from D.T. : "I recently stumbled across the Cyberebate site and was drawn in by the massive rebate offers. I, like many others, knew the items were overpriced - ridiculously so in many cases - but the rebate offers made the deal worthwhile. So I started an order. When I was done, I had about $400 worth of item on my order.

Because I had never dealt with the company, I thought I'd do a quick check on the Net before actually placing the order. Yours was the first site I came across. After reading the many comments, I thought I'd better check further. Boy! How do companies like this survive! I came across MANY site singling out Cyberrebates as a risky bet at best, outright thieves at worst. Yes, I found a number of sites with positive feedback, but these were vastly outnumbered by the negative comments I found. I also searched for some kind of response from Cyberrebates, or news of some effort at cleaning up their act. I found none.

So...my $400 is still in my pocket. Thank you for your web site, a graphic illustration of the power of the Web (as, unfortunately, is the continued existence of Cyberrebates!)"

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cyberrebate
On November 4,2000, I received this e-mail from R.K. : "I'm a sucker for a "deal". I have used cyberrebate several times. I think I have had a positive experience so far. Every order I have made has made it to my door in two days. Questions I had were answered promptly. I have been waiting for my rebates for about 8 weeks now. I looked on the website and found out I had until the end of this month to the begining of next month until I recieve them, as they have been marked as completed and give specific dates of arrival.

As far as the quality of the product, I have been mostly happy. There were a few products that weren't that great, but some were very nice, nicer than expected.

As far a pricing, I knew they were overpriced, but figured what the heck, they are going to give the money back over the long haul. I did notice just today while looking through the site. Several items I ordered two months ago, have doubled or tripled in price in that time. Example: a plush bunny(nice quality) was $49.99, is now $99.99. Here's a good one. A Tonka bubble firetruck is priced for $149!!. I found it for $9.99 at eToys. Talk about your mark ups.

I guess what it comes down to is, if you can afford to wait for the rebates, the price doesn't matter. But, if you purchase that truck on a credit card with 18% financing and everything goes smoothly, and you pay off the card when you receive the rebate. You will have just about paid the same price."

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complaint
On November 10,2000, I received this e-mail from T.K. : "Thanks for putting up this site about cyberrebate. I really don't have a problem about them using my money until the rebates come in. I'm sorry I didn't think about this business first. My wife and I used the service on five occasions with no problems at all. On the sixth time we failed to get one of the three items ordered. I have been sending e-mails since August, 2000 (it's now November) and only get an autogenerated "form e-mail" each time that they will get back to me. I'm really thinking of starting a similar site. This one, however, will have the capital and staff needed to give the customers true professional service. The margins may not grow as quickly, but in the long run I think it would be a gold mine. Please withhold my name as I don't want to get e-mails from possible "partners"."

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cyber rebate
On November 13,2000, I received this e-mail from "The Doctor" : "Please post their direct line for ALL customers to see. Their tel. # is (516) 295-0913.

Ask for the CEO, Joel Granick or the President, Joseph Lichter. Once you post their telephone number, and people call to complain, you will see how quick they are to make good on their rebates."

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CyberRbate
On November 23,2000, I received this e-mail from M. : " Cyberrebate.com is a bunch of lying, thieving jerks! Here is a link to a page by someone who has had problems with CyberRebate. http://www.madwand.org"

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overpriced
On November 16,2000, I received this e-mail from M. : " I purchased a software game through cyberrebate.com in October for $39.99. The rebate offer was for $35.00 which makes the final price of the product to be $4.99. I received the software immediately and sent the rebate the next day. A few days later, I went to a local Office Depot and saw the same game priced for $9.99. This great difference in prices concerned me so I went to Amazon.com to see at what price their site was selling the product. I was unable to find the same product but I found the second version of the same game for $19.99. Furthermore, I compared the prices of other items on their site to Amazon.com and found that many of their products are overpriced. Although I would be saving $5.00 (if I ever receive the rebate), by pricing their items at a higher rate than the actual retail value and then offering a rebate on the item seems like a scam. Their practice makes the buyer think that he/she is getting a better deal than he/she actually is. I emailed the customer service about this and they claim that they get their products at a higher rate than other retailers. I highly doubt that the difference is over 100%. I suggest that future customers research the retail price of an item and weigh the pros and cons before making a purchase at cyberrebate. As for me, I'll never do business with them again."

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a bad experience with cyberrebate
On November 19,2000, I received this e-mail from M.G. : "You're doing a good deed by creating and maintaining your page on CyberRebate. I wish I'd seen it before I dealt with the company.

I ordered just one item, for $29.95, from CyberRebate (which makes my difficulties small beer compared to some others'). There was a problem with the item. I asked to return it for a refund and was promised a UPS pickup within a few days. There's been no such pickup, and while it seems that my $29.95 was refunded on my credit card, my other credit card (I don't even know how CyberRebate got that card number) was charged $29.95. I've had no reply to my four emails in the past two months."

People should avoid this company.

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cyberrebate.com
On November 21,2000, I received this e-mail from T.B. : "Just a note. I ordered through Cyberrebate. Got everything within one week. Sent rebate forms promptly and they have received them (shows received on my account data.) Awaiting rebates. However, as at least one other person observed, their base prices are increasing incredibly. Their prices were already high a couple of months ago, however, they are at least twice as high now. I'm afraid this may be a pyramid scheme - they are financing rebates for past sales with current sales. Keeping my fingers crossed."

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cyberrebate
On November 19,2000, I received this e-mail from someone who did not include a name: "I've been a customer of cyberrebate for almost a year. I have had some MINOR problems, (rebate forms not received, missing items,) every time, the customer service has been superb. they fixed the problem every time. you do need to ensure if you return an item they credit your account, i had to remind them several times. with cyberrebate not only will you get 100% rebate, if you log on thru ebates you also receive 5% cash on the price of an item before the rebate. They're actually paying me for to get these items."

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cyberrebate
On November 27,2000, I received this e-mail from H.G. : "I just sent in an order for $290 to CR, maybe if I had seen your site first I wouldn't. I realized at the time that most of their "free" stuff sells for about 10 times retail. Example: the Oregon Scientific model RM806 radio-controlled clock. Mfr's list, $30. I bought it at Fry's in Feb '00 for $23. CR price: $250. But, who could resist getting a Xmas present to give for free? So I ordered a 6-inch laser level for $250 (therefore must be worth $25) and a Casio watch for $40 ($29 rebate, net $11). They shipped same day, UPS tracking# confirmed. Fortunately, the charge to my CC was on the first day of the cycle, which will give me an extra month to protest it if anything goes wrong. Will be sure to send the $250 form by certified mail.

Check out www.register.com, a good way to look up who owns a domain. It shows CR .com phone# as 718-471-4348 but the .net and .org as 516-295-0913. Go figure."

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Cyberrebate.com--bad experience
On November 30,2000, I received this e-mail from A.O. : "Thanks for posting this site. I ordered 11 items worth $576 (all with a 100% rebate) from Cyberrebate.com on 6/21/00. I noticed that their prices were high, but assumed since I would be getting 100% rebates, and had the cash on hand, I was OK with this. In June when I placed the order, the site was advertising that the rebate checks would be mailed within 8-10 weeks. (Now they say it's 10-14 weeks) I printed out and completed the rebate forms and sent them off with all the UPCs and everything the day after I received the items (which were delivered very quickly--in about 3 or 4 days).

It is now 11/30/00 and have only received 4 out of the 11 rebate checks (which arrived in October). At one point they said they had not received my rebate form for one of the items, so I told them I had all the documentation and copies of the UPC. So they authorized an "override." But it's been almost 5-1/2 months (over 21 weeks) and I'm still out over $440.

Do not buy from this company unless you're prepared to wait a LONG time for your money back...and keep complaining to the BBB--maybe they'll fix up their act."

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re: you know what
On December 1,2000, I received this e-mail from D.H. : "Hi, Edit as you like to post this to your CyberRebate hell page.

Boy, I wish I found your site before I ordered from CyberRebate on Dec. 1. Honestly, I'm really a cautious person, but when another site directed me to them and I saw the binoculars for "free" I just knew my husband or son would love them for Christmas, so I ordered them. Then, AFTER ordering, I went surfing some more and came back to their page and started piling "free" items into my cart - even though they were way overpriced, the rebates and free shipping made them free. By the time I toppled $300, (complete with "free" shipping), I figured I better check out their rep first and hit upon your page. Now I'm fuming. I didn't have to read more than a few paragraphs before I flew back to CyberRebate to dump my cart and cancel my previous order.

So what's the problem? Well, even though I checked out their Help page previously, I found nothing about cancelation problems. Moreover, the help page would not print - much the way pages of artwork that are copyrighted cannot print (VERY interesting). I copied it to WP and saved it anyway. After trying to find some way to contact them, by jumping through several hoops, I finally found a note that they cannot cancel orders!!!!!!! I have never heard of such a thing. Only a couple of hours had passed.

I contacted my credit card company and found they had already charged my account for $129.89 at 10:48 am (the same day of my order). I e-mailed CyberRebate and told them I was canceling anyway and that if the charge was not removed from my account in two business days (the time my credit card company said it would take to be posted), I would begin consumer dispute proceedings against them. Also VERY interesting is that my files do not reflect ANY record of my having sent CyberRebate that e-mail!!!!!!! - Yet my settings are adjusted to SAVE all messages that I have sent and all that I have received. This has NEVER happened before, and I suspect that it has to do with using THEIR form to send a message to them, rather than my own e-mail Write page - but, of course, their e-mail address is not listed on their site and the only way to contact them is via their form, which shows no address. (This is all very fishy.) So I found their address (which had been saved in my personal address page) and sent another message - more serious than the first (which I could not recall the entire contents of) and sent it off - just to have a record.

I have now compiled large record of my transactions with them and I'm ready to fight. My order is still listed on my account with them (though today is the day I ordered - I'm not wasting anytime with them). Also, they were so quick in charging my account, yet the status of my rebate is "Pending." Moreover, when I click on the word "Pending" (under rebate), a page comes up that states they cannot find my rebate, AND I cannot print that page because it is one of those non-toobar pages and so I can't access my "Print" or "WordPerfect" or "Copy" commands!!! And my old "Print Screen" button doesn't work on it either. This is all very convenient for them! I'll keep you posted."

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cyberrebate
On December 6,2000, I received this e-mail from C.B. : "I am a happy CyberRebate customer. I have ordered many items, and have gotten back my rebate checks in the time they said I would. I do have outstanding orders at the current time that have not been out long enough to get my money back. I would imagine the people at CyberRebate are checking your site constantly, and I would simply like to get the message to them that I hope they have not lost sight of how a good business can stay in business. With as many unhappy customers as are posted in this site, they should probably be very careful in the future."

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pleased with cyberrebate
On December 10,2000, I received this e-mail from S. : "I placed my first order for about $450.00 with CyberRebate on 8/25/00 and received all of the items within a week. I immediately prepared all of the rebate forms, copied them (including the UPC codes) in to a .PDF file (saves paper!) and mailed them off. I received all of the rebate checks in one batch on December 1, and as soon as the checks had been cashed I placed a second order for about $250.00. I received the second order on December 8. I must say that I have been VERY HAPPY with my experience so far! Yes I agree that the items are overpriced and and a couple were junk, but I also got some very nice items - from dog toys to a new shower head - and some gifts. Since I'm still skeptical (how do they stay in business, anyway?), I'm being very conservative with my ordering, waiting for rebates before I place a new order. I wonder what the statistics are as far as the percentage of people who return the rebate forms? This could help them make their money - if one out of 20, or 50, people doesn't return their forms or messes them up, they could end up making a profit. But this stuff is completely free, not even a shipping or tax charge, so I am one very pleased customer so far."

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I want to share my cyberrebate experience
On December 20,2000, I received this e-mail from A: "Hi, Phil, Thank you for putting up a website like this for Cyberrebate customers. I like Cyberrebate, and I have ordered about $20000 worth of items from CR, already got $10000 back, that includes EVERY single item of my orders before 9/3/00. For those who had bad experiences with Cyberrebate, sorry. For those who have patience and received all the rebates, happy holidays. I just received a large bunch of my checks yesterday, $3400, 3 business days before the posted check receiving date. I began to place orders on CR from May, 2000. One reason I trust this company is that their customer service quality level was extremely good at that time. All my emails were replied within 3-4 hours. All issues like broken items, un-removable UPCs were resolved toward customer's satisfaction. A company with main business purpose as cheating won't care about customer service. I have to say that their customer service quality dropped dramatically after October. But unlike others, I see this an indication of growing business. They probably have problem handling overwhelming load in Christmas time. From the total dollar amount of rebate returned on the site, I think the sales volume of this company went up 5 folds in the last 6 months. So tell me, why a business like this would go out of business? A little tip for those who didn't receive all rebates: you can check the rebate status of each item in your order from the CR website, the status would go from pending to received to completed. If in any step any goes wrong, resolve the problems quickly by sending CR emails. You really need some more attention and discipline to be get all your money back. I bet CR had done some research about statistics, someone would fail in the long and tedious rebate process. CR would make money on this. Right or wrong? I don't know. It's part of their business model. Think about how to improve your process so that no mistake is made on your side. It doesn't help at all to complain here, or checking up CR's domain name registration. I developed some processes that prone to minimal mistake in the rebate process:
0. Print all the rebate forms. Read the rebate process very CAREFULLY.
1. Prepare a 8x11.5 paper, use pencil to divide it to 16 equal grids.
2. Write the order number on the right corner. Write the item number on the bottom of each grid.
3. Cut the UPC, and staple them on the paper, one UPC per grid.
4. Copy this UPC paper.
5. Print all rebate envelops. The address is TOO long, you have to print to avoid mistake.
6. Fill in all rebate forms by hand.
7. Staple everything, put them into envelop.
8. Mail ALL of your bunch in one batch. So you one if one arrived, all should arrive.
9. Check your rebate status on the CR website regularly.
10. Once the status is "received", you are done. Wait for the checks.

I would like to discuss how to use CR positively. Any questions/comments, send email to ads@cyber888.com

Andrew, CPIM."

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?
On January 5,2001, I received this e-mail from E.K. : "Am I wrong in guessing that your complaint page about cyberrebate is very out of date?

I have done extensive research about complaints against this company. Most complaints were made prior to September 2,000. As far as I can tell all complaints have been satisfactorily concluded. There remain a few cases where the purchaser didn't follow directions that are still pending.

The Attorney General has been satisfied. the company now adheres to the advertising rules set down and has a 24/7 email customer service and a 24/6 phone customer service.

I have sent for quite a few items myself. There are hundreds of people who have ordered and received items billed in the thousands (and worth in the hundreds) and who have received the rebates in full, albeit after a 14 week wait.

Julie Boorstin has an article in Fortune Mag http://www.fortune.com/fortune/cool to which I replied (attached) I mentioned that so far none of the complaints had any real substance. And yet, how do they make their money? Is it a scam? Do you know?"

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My experiences..
On January 5,2001, I received this e-mail from J.O. : "By no means should this email be considered my endorsement of CyberRebate. It is definitely NOT for the faint-of-heart, because you'll sweat as you're waiting for your checks! (The products all arrived within 2-3 days)

Within the past year I have placed 5 separate orders with CyberRebate. Altogether I've "risked" about $1,300.00 (19 different items - most of good to very good quality). Though it seemed to take an exceptionally LONG time to receive my rebates, I have received all of them. I've also had to return a couple of items, which didn't cause any "major" problems (They give you a short deadline for returns and are slow to respond to a return request. You have to have a special return authorization number supplied from them before you can return anything).

My advice for someone considering buying from CyberRebate:

> Expect to pay extremely high prices for the items;

> BE VERY CAREFUL TO FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS FOR RECEIVING THE REBATE (This is extremely important because they don't seem very forgiving on mistakes - they keep the money if you accidentally disqualify your rebate).

> If you have to contact them, don't expect a reply within the same week (email). And don't expect the answers to necessarily answer the question or concern you needed addressed (I have a couple of stories I could share.........)

> Make copies of everything that you send in (everything!!! I even copied the stamped envelopes to prove that I had the rebate code on each one and that I had mailed them to the right place).

> Save all of the original packaging until you receive your rebates. It might help if there's confusion about the rebate.

> Unless you like paying interest charges, don't wait for the rebates before you pay off the charge - it will take quite a while. And don't risk anything you're not willing to lose. I haven't lost yet but I've sweated quite a bit. I'm not sure if I'm going to order from them again.

> Check your account at the website frequently and stay on there backs if something doesn't seem right! (bugging them to send your rebates early only leads to automated-response generic emails).

I received most of my rebates relatively close to on time (average 12 weeks). Once, they actually issued my checks twice (it only took them a week to realize what they had done and ask for the checks back). The status report at the website is only moderately helpful. I received most of my checks before they even listed the check date and number at the site. All in all, I guess my experience has been positive but I'm not sure I'm ready to go through the stress again any time soon."

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Cyberrebate feedback...
On January 7,2001, I received this e-mail from E.E. : "Greetings. I've placed 3 orders from Cyberrebate now. On the first order, I contacted them (via email) after my rebates were about 1-2 weeks overdue in arriving, to which they replied 2-3 days later that they were behind and everything was on its way. He was right. I got all the rebates shortly after that email conversation.

My second order was huge - about 25 items. I received everything I ordered and sent my rebates in immediately. After several weeks, I checked back and found that 2 of the rebates I sent in were never received, so I emailed and asked why 2 of these rebates weren't showing up. I had copies of the UPC codes if they were needed. In reply, they told me that they hadn't received those 2 rebates, but would process the full order anyway to save me the trouble of sending my copies in. They went out of the way to save me (and them, of course) the extra time of processing.

I'm now on my third order. Yes - all the stuff at CyberRebate is 2-3 times what you would pay in a store. But, then again, they do need to make money off your interest, so why not mark up the product? I have yet to have any gross errors from their site. Though they are slow, the rebates have always been good when I've taken them to the bank.

As a person who works in business, I'm a little unimpressed at how sloppily their business seems to be run, especially after reading some of your comments. But at the same time, I certainly wouldn't call them a "fraud" or "scam" by any stretch of the imagination. Their money is good. If you have rebates that are a little late - don't panic. This is a legit business."

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Thanks for creating the Don't Buy from Cyberrebate Site!
On January 27,2001, I received this e-mail from N.K. : "Here's yet another sad tale. I placed an order in October 2000 for over $500. Considering some of the other stories on your site I feel lucky to only be out 1 of the rebates for $79. Cyberrebate has been unresponsive. They have responded with only canned excuses and ignored my requests to have the matter escallated. I finally got a response that they never got the rebate form for this outstanind item. They asked me to fax my documentation to a number which did not function for 3 days. I was told to wait 7 days for the resubmission to be posted on my account. After 7 business days the status had not changed.

Because their mailing address is in Ohio, I filed a complaint with the Ohio Attorney General. After reading your site, I will also contact the New York Attorney General as well. I also filed a complaint with the US Postal Service for Mail Fraud.

I let Cyberrebate know of the complaints that I had filed and asked for a status on the resubmitted rebate. Their response to my E-Mail inquiry was that they are reviewing my account and it will take them 7 days to respond. Thanks for providing this site so that others can be aware that this is not a company they should deal with."

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my cyberrebate experiences.
On January 30,2001, I received this e-mail from M.K. : "Well, the first time I saw cyberrebate I figured scam. But I had a few bucks to waste, and figured why not give it a shot.

13 orders and $8,000 later I am a cyberrebate fan. Ive gotten every order in a consistant amount of time. they've never messed up an order, or not sent me an item. I've gotten all the rebates back so far.

I will admit, the shipping is slow for my taste<8 days each and every time so far> and the rebates are slower. But the shipping was free, so i will wait 8 days. and the rebates always get here. You have to keep your eyes on this company, if you dont pay attention they will try to keep your money a week or 3 extra, but you will get it back. about half the merchadise is cheap, but then its free. Thats what it all comes down to. If you can't aford the intrest, or the time to follow up the rebates, then don't go here. If you can, more power to ya.

Also, while their coustomer service was pretty average, even slow last year, I have to give them mad props this year. since december 2000 Ive been getting an average of 2 hour response time, which is way better than I've ever gotten from amazon or buy.com.

Overall, they are good. they are winning, and you are winning. The people who have been dissing them sound really whiney for the most part. If you dont have the patience, dont get into it in the first place."

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They're still at it!
On January 30,2001, I received this e-mail from N.K. This is the same N.K. listed above on January 27, 2001: "After 12 weeks and numerous requests for a status on a rebate for $79 that was not paid, I finally was told to resubmit the rebate via fax then wait 7 business days for it to be posted. It has now been 7 days and it has not been posted.

My requests for escalation have been ignored, despite letting Cyberrebate know that I was lodging complaints. I complained to the Ohio Attorney General because this is where Cyberrebate's mailing address is. I also filed a complaints with the US Postal Service. Thanks to your site, I have now also filed a complaint with the NY Attorney General."

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Cyberscrewed
On February 2, 2001, I received this e-mail from C.C. : "Hi Phil --

I really like your Cyberscam, I mean Cyberrebate, info page. It's comforting to know I'm not alone in my frustration with this company. But mind-boggling to see that they are still ignoring the Better Business Bureau and NY State Attorney General's office. Is there no threat of more substantial financial penalty for such deplorable business practices?!

I've placed three orders with them and am awaiting rebates on the first order. On the third order, I noticed that all but one rebate form was available. When I inquired about this, I was advised that the item was out-of-stock and should not have been listed on the site. However, my credit card had already been charged for it.

That was over two months ago. Since then, I have sent six email messages to Customer Service and called twice. Each time, the runaround continues. I receive boilerplate email responses (often replete with misspellings) which completely ignore my concerns. It's as if the people hired to respond to them are brain-dead or "special ed" summer interns. (If you're interested, I'll be glad to forward this to you) And I've yet to see a credit Visa account.

Yesterday, I went on a mission to find a live human being with the power to help me. I found a phone number for the corporate offices on your site, and then called the office of Jeffrey Klar -- Exec VP in charge of Customer Service, among other areas.

This is the info about him from a press release on the Cyberrebate site:

"CYBERREBATE MAKES THREE KEY EXECUTIVE HIRES Online retailer adds operations, marketing expertise in time for the holidays

CEDARHURST, N.Y. (November 28, 2000) - Adding a hefty dose of experience to its executive suite, CyberRebate has appointed Jeffrey Klar executive vice president ...

The 35-year-old Klar brings years of executive experience to the company. For the past five years, he was an executive officer of Ulano Corporation, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of specialty films and chemicals for the printing and graphic arts industries. For the last two years, he also served as vice president, operations and finance.

In his new position, Klar will oversee CyberRebate's customer service, human resources, finance, operations, warehousing and fulfillment, and merchandising operations. Reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer Joel Granik and President and Chief Operating Officer Joseph Lichter, he is charged with defining a strategic business model for the company, instituting management systems to ensure efficient communication and implementation of business plans, and augmenting the existing management structure with highly experienced managers.

'CyberRebate affords me the challenge of applying my management and leadership skills in an e-commerce business environment,' he said."

My conversation with Klar was brief. I told him that I'm a very unhappy customer and that I wanted to fax him a print-out of my email exchanges. He gave me a fax number and said he'd look for it.

Today I called his office again and got voicemail. I left a message, but unsurprisingly, have yet to hear back.

You might want to publish the info re Klar at the top of your site, including this number for his office: Office phone: 516-295-0913 x106 Corporate fax: 516-295-1393

I think the media should be made aware of the ongoing, apparently rampant issues with this company. If you have any contacts, perhaps publicity in such a forum would finally motivate Klar and his team to get their act together. I plan to contact my credit card company and cc the New York BBB, New York State Attorney General's office, Bizrate, and Gomez.com."


...and then later that same day, I received this... Check out this article re CyberRebate's successful web site (apparently written by their web design co.): http://www.eonbusiness.com/success_rebate.asp

A web search yielded this email address for Jeffrey Klar: 73252.1467@compuserve.com Not sure if it's current, but if there's any way you can confirm it, it would be great to post on your CyberRebate page."

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Update on 2/2/2001 posting
On February 3, 2001, I received another e-mail from C.C. : "P.S. My latest Visa account records just became available online.

Yesterday -- slightly over two months since I placed my last order -- I was finally credited the amount owed me by CyberRebate for an item not received. Contacting Jeffrey Klar directly appears to have worked! (Would have been nice if he'd called me to let me know.)"

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another addition for your website
On February 12, 2001, I received this e-mail from C.W. : "I had recently been a pretty regular customer of CyberRebate.com however I was scared away with my last order I placed in late 2000. I received the item and then found that Younker's sold the EXACT same item for 1\3 of the price (and that wasn't even on sale). So I stopped surfing their site for free items. Until early February when I received one of the email alerts that advertises free offers. They had found an offer on CyberRebate.com website that had an item listed for $11.99, but a refund of $51.99 (resulting in a $40 profit for whomever took the time to order the item). So, I figured now was a good time to try the site out again. I placed the order, received the clock, then noticed the website price had been changed to $51.99 rather than the $11.99 I paid. This was the first time that I realized it truly was an error and not a promotional gimmick to get people back to their website. So, today, my rebate is finally available for me to download and the rebate is for $11.99 (not $51.99). So I sent an email to the customer care email address. THEY ANSWERED!!!! In a timely manner even! I was shocked. However the contents of the email was not at all how our company would have answered. The site was truly in error. They are not willing to honor their mistake as companies are expected to do. Rather, their only offer to correct the problem is for me to send the item back. However, no mention has been made at crediting me for shipping or any inconvenience of packaging it and taking it to the post office (which for me is not just a few blocks away).

So, now we have a company who takes FOREVER to mail rebate checks, likes to deny submissions at random (if dealing with them, please keep a copy of EVERYTHING) stating things like - you didn't submit the correct UPC code (well, how many UPC codes are there on an item?), or denies the rebate because the submission is not stapled (that's my favorite by the way), charges at least 3 times more than the item is worth, and now, they will change rebate amounts at random and not honor their mistakes. Gee, wish I could make a mistake at work, just change it, and ignore any consequences that resulted because of my actions.

Its things like this that cause consumers to be afraid of ecommerce. I will also be reporting this incident to the New York Attorney General's office (to show them the follow up just isn't there) and to the Better Business Bureau. I would encourage anyone who has had a problem with this company to do the same. It is our responsibility to help each other on this sort of thing and to send a message to businesses that this type of behavior is not acceptable... even in challenging economic times.

My experiences, mixed with my opinion,"

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Cyberrebate has been good for me
On February 12, 2001, I received this e-mail from C.H. : " I've written to you before, in August of last year, and wanted to send in a follow-up. In the last 9 months I've ordered over $1300 worth of merchandise from CyberRebate and have had what I would term a very good experience with them. I received all my orders within 5 days, my rebates arrived within the time period that the company gave and I've never had to try and contact their help-desk, because there's never been a problem. Yes, you have to be very meticulous filling out the rebate paperwork. Yes, the items are overpriced and yes, you're giving them a no-interest loan, but you get something for free. The company has to stay in business somehow so how is it that people that seem so surprised by this revelation? I for one hope that CyberRebate continues to offer what is a very good service for people with the patience to use it correctly. Hopefully your site serves to weed out the people that don't have that patience."

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Cyberrebate problem
On March 1, 2001, I received this e-mail from R. : "I purchased an item (# 63005, 5 Speed Bowl Rest Hand Mixer) for $129.99 on Oct. 24, 2000. The item was advertised in the website's "100% Off" section. I expected the full 100% rebate, but since then the terms of the purchase seem to have changed, without my knowledge or notification. I received a check for $79.99, which is $50 less than was advertised and promised.

I contacted the Customer Care department 3 times, asking to be paid the balance that they owed me. They basically told me "too bad, WE say that the item did not have a 100% rebate at the time of your purchase." This is false. I did not "mistakenly" buy a non-fully-rebated item. I never even LOOK at the other sections of the website. The item is still for sale, and still advertised in the 100% Off section, although the price has changed."

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cyberebate
On March 6, 2001, I received this e-mail from J.K. : "I placed an order for four items with cyberrebate - $509.96 total. The next day I came across your site, and figured I might be out the $500.00. Luckily everything they said happened like clockwork.

I placed my order on 11/13/00. They shipped on 11/14/00 and my credit card was charged that day too. I received everything on 11/17/00. On 11/24/00 I downloaded the rebate forms and carefully filled them out, and sent them with the UPC codes. It took a while for their order status page to show that they had received the rebate forms. On 1/19/01 I checked my order status on their site, and it showed that the checks were to be issued on 2/28/01 (about 14 weeks from the date I had sent in the rebate forms). I received three checks on 2/26/01 and the fourth on 2/27/01. I received all my money back.

Now, I will have to admit that their prices are grossly inflated, but in the end it is free. Most of their stuff is closeouts, but if it's something you can use who cares. Two of the items were brand names ( GE & Emerson). If you don't have the time or patience to fill out all the rebate forms (one for each product), then don't get involved. If you don't have the patience to wait three months to get your money back, then don't get use them. If you are paying finance charges on your credit card, then this may not be for you. I used my Discover card and got a 1% rebate from them, so not only did I get everything free, I got $5.09 back from Discover and, since I pay my bill in full each month - no finance charges.

I'm going to order from them again. Hopefully, my experience will still be positive.

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Cyberrebate.com going out of business???
On March 7, 2001, I received this e-mail from J.V. : "Hi, I've visited your site a few times. I dothink you are doing a fine job alerting people about the possible chance of fraud by cyberrebate.com.
I've been ordering from Cyberrebate.com for about an year and I never had any serious problems. Couple of times when they didn't receive my rebate applications they did put an override for those items. I did recieve almost all the rebates within the promised dates. Usually couple of days early.
Although this is the history, I am still skeptic of doing business with them. I've bought about $10,000 worth of products from them. But now I think they are going out of business. I was watching them since the beginning of this year to see whether they will get thru the Dot com crisis. Apparantly they started this huge sale after new year giving upto $100 in coupons(even for the free items. after using the coupons you still will receive the full rebate. Which is equivalent to getting cash back. They were also giving away a free scooter with each order $500 or above). During this period of time They also increased the inventory. My suspesion is that they are going out of business and they are planning to leave with the money they've made since december. Today when i checked the site (the sale's over), their total inventory is less than 40% of what they had a week before. Just wanted to warn all the customers out there. This warning might not come true, in which case we can all smile. But the flip side isn't that pleasent . You are warned."

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none
On March 7, 2001, I received this e-mail from E.H. : "Hi-- I thought I'd tell you my experiences with cyberrebate.... Since May of 2000, I have ordered aproximately $25,000 of merchandise from them. I have never had a problem with getting my rebates back, although it is nerve-wracking to wait so long. I always panic and think they will rip me off, but they always send the rebates out. Several times I have called them to complain about a product, and they have taken care of it. So-- I have to say-- they are my favorite site!"

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Cyber Rebates
On March 13, 2001, I received this e-mail from C.P. : "Ok, I placed my order on March 4, 2001. Order shipped on March 6, all well and good so far. Today March 13, still have not received order, again no problem. Then I check cyber rebates, go to my account, get into rebate information, then click under rebate status, then click on Pending Further Materials, and then a new page opens and guess what it said. Your rebate is incomplete for the following reason(s):

Rebate Code was not on the envelope. Well now what, as I still have not received the items , nor have I sent the rebate forms (have them printed right here) is this the normal way they do stuff. Boy I will say this has me worried, when the status is "Rebate Code was not on the envelope", appears to me that I am already in trouble. But then again this may be normal, I don't know, I did send them an E-Mail. Feel free to post this, but please do not put my E-mail address on your site. Then again, maybe I am just a little overly worried to soon. Is this the normal way they list envelopes they have not received.

Another thing is my shopping cart which was overfilled, has now disappeared, and yes I could say I am grateful for that, but not if this all works out in the future, because it took 4 or 5 days to find and add all that junk that I don't need. Oh well, I am just sitting and hoping but sure do not like what the sites says about my rebate status."

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Over $10,000 in rebates
On March 17, 2001, I received this e-mail from D.G. : "I have ordered over $20,000 in rebate items and have gotten over $10,000 back. Anytime that I have had a problem, they have resolved it to my satisfaction. I have a system to filling out rebates and it works great for me. In addition, because my credit card earns air miles, I have earned essentially a free ticket! Folks, the site says 10-14 weeks from the time they recieve your rebate, not from the time you order. Unfortuantely, they have gotten so big, I imagine that it takes awhile to process all the incoming rebates. Be patient and it pays off! (go to cybergold or ebates first and get 5% cash-back off your pre-rebate order-from a seperate website!) With regard to (a previous posting) their inventory and going out of business - I hope that guy is wrong. I can say that their inventory of 100% free items has fluctuated from 400 - 4000 since I have been using their service. I also suspect that part of their business model includes the idea that most (or all) of the products come from companies who are able to claim a tax write-off for each completed rebate. That's why some of the items are outdated models that may be found elsewhere as a clearance or something."

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CyberRebate problem
On March 19, 2001, I received this e-mail from A.W. : "Recently I purchased a Toy Tool Case SKU# 44041 for an exorbitant sum of $83.99. I guess I was lured by the "Free after Rebate" enticement. I submitted everything according to their instructions:
Staple UPS code to the form
Included copy of the receipt
Wrote the rebate code below my address outside the envelope.

Upon checking the status of the rebate, it stated that the rebate code was missing from the envelope. I called up their customer service # and was told that they have a glitch in their system and all rebates have that same status and it should be rectified soon. Is their anybody else out there who has the same problem. I purchased the tool case on 3/2/2001 and immediately sent out the rebate form after it was posted online (3/8/2001). Somebody had posted that cyberrebate might be bankrupt and I am wondering whether they are buying time by delaying the rebates using this "Status" excuse."

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Stop complaining!
On March 20, 2001, I received this e-mail from J.L. : "I have spent and received over $10,000 with CyberRebate, and have been VERY HAPPY with the service I have recieved. Checks come 14 weeks after my order is delivered (as promised), and I don't even pay interest on the money, thanks to the 0% credit cards I get from AmEx, Discover, and Capital One. I am a very happy customer from SoCal, and wish CyberRebate employees all the best.

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Checks showing up!
On March 31, 2001, I received three e-mails from S.T. : "I have just hit the 14 week mark without receiving checks for an order placed on 12/18/00 with rebates mailed on 12/22/00. The rebate status area says my checks were mailed on 3/23/01. Today, 3/31/01--no checks.

I have ordered from Cyberrebate since 1998, my experience is to have received checks by week 12. I called their toll-free customer service department who advised me to wait two more weeks and then ask for a stop-payment. As my order was for more than 40 items, I have a problem believing that each and every one of those checks are lost in the mail.

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I have noticed a slow-down in email replies from customer service (2-5 day lag). I have been successful, without too much "on-hold" time, in speaking with someone by calling the toll-free customer service number (1-866-273-2283). fyi: whenever I have a problem, I both email and call.

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Here are a few tips I have developed to help speed the filing of Cyberrebates:

--Ignore the Survey on page two of the rebate form. (I have asked them--it's optional.)
--Prepare stamped envelopes in advance (I use self-adhesive stamps AND self-sealing #10 envelopes--saves on lots of licking!)
--Print out the rebate forms and envelopes as soon as they are available. (One less step to take once the order arrives.)
--Here's my best tip (for addressing the envelope): copy/paste the rebate address in to your word processing program; pre-address your return address with an additional line: "Rebate Code: #####" and simply change the last digit or two. Once you get the knack of it...it is so simple and so very efficient!

Happy Rebating!"

PHIL KONSTANTIN

P.O.BOX 17515
SAN DIEGO, CA 92177-0515
United States

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