FWIW, my experience with Canon Pro9000 rebate

I am in the system for a $100 rebate. The $400 rebate submission (with 5D purchase) is no where to be found, despite being mailed at the same time.

I've emailed attached copies of that rebate and receipt three times via their web check rebate status page with no response.

I called their 800 number, and they have no record of it (after prompts that discourage you from proceeding). I asked what to do and they give a fax number. So I have tried to fax it in about 20 tries, and the fax machine terminates it every time. I've used two different fax machines, neither of which has ever had problems before.

I tell you, after having gone through this recently with Sandisk, it's a major pain in the butt. It seems like most, if not all of it, is engineered to discourage you from proceeding with the claim.

I thought Canon might have learned their lesson from a year or two back. Guess not. Very frustrating and very bad for customer satisfaction and loyalty, IMHO.

BTW, my rebate from Apple on another Canon printer for the kids went lickety split, and they notify you where it is each step of the way. What a difference.

I waited six months for a Canon rebate check of $670, from Xmas 2006 to June 2007. Had to pester them several times too, and their excuses were incredibly lame. Oh well, good company in many ways, but you are right--it sometimes seemed like they were actively trying to get me to give up.

I just checked on a $100 rebate for Microsoft Office from a Black Friday special, and guess what? They lost the rebate as well.

The thing that connects Sandisk, Microsoft, and Canon is the Young-America rebate firm.

What a shady outfit.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1032&thread=21962854

"information on Young America and Canon rebate procedure
electrochromics - 2/6/2007

This is my first post here, but I thought it would be a good place to start since there are so many rebate nightmare stories happening here in this forum

First of all, most people don’t know anything about Young America and what it actually does … my wife worked for them for a short while about 2 years ago to make some part time money, so this is fact, not fiction (it’s kind of a scary story though, so anyone under 15 might want to close this window right now)

Have you ever seen one of those flyers put up advertising “work from home and make tons of money”? … that’s EXACTLY what Young America is and that’s exactly how they get their employees

This means that anyone and everyone that applies gets a job at Young America regardless of skill, education, criminal tendencies or anything else you can imagine

Most of the workers are Mom’s that want to make some extra cash during their spare time, but others are just people that can’t or won't get a job elsewhere for whatever reason … several are Mom’s that take double the workload and farm out their teenagers to do the extra work so they get more money (Young America pays a certain amount for each rebate that is processed, usually around $0.05 per envelope) – it’s considered to be last ditch employment around here

Young America doesn’t have a training program in the conventional sense … every rebate goes through a different process according to the manufacturer – there are different things that the workers have to enter into their website and different things that need to be done with the rebate forms, different ways of stuffing the rebates etc … there is a pamphlet that comes with each type of rebate telling the worker how to process it and a toll free phone number to call in an emergency, but no real training to speak of

Also, Young America isn’t the one that actually pays the rebates either – all they do is process them and send them to back to whoever issues them, Canon in this case – so as much as we all want to berate Canon for this, their only fault was in choosing Young America to do their processing (something I’m guessing Canon has told some of the members with problems when they called Canon directly)

Here’s scary fact #1 … while we might think that our valuable rebates are being handled with care at a state of the art processing plant by highly trained workers, in fact they are actually being handled in PEOPLE’S HOMES, and they are there in lots of 500 or 1000 – this means that our irreplaceable UPC’s that were treated like golden certificates by us are subject to all kinds of household dangers such as being moved from the kitchen table to the living room couch, nosey guests (or teenage children’s guests) rifling through them, being mixed up with piles of open envelopes and other rebates, falling into a crevice between the seat and the door of the family car on the way to/from the drop-off point or a curious toddler just checking out all of the mail that Mommy brought home … one thing to note: workers might get into “trouble” if they damage or lose any part of the rebate, so it’s much easier to just “lose” it entirely and say that it was never there, which there is no way to prove one way or another

Scary fact#2 … many of the workers have figured out how to really make extra money by working there … all they have to do is to look for receipts that don’t have the buyers name and information on them, and then conveniently have the UPC’s, the receipt, or the entire rebate envelope “disappear” (into their pocket) and say they never got it with the other 2000 Canon rebates that they took home yesterday … then it’s only a matter of downloading their own Canon rebate form from the web, filling all of it out in their own, or a friends name and sending it right back in for processing and waiting for the rebate checks to roll in – I'm not being paranoid here, another worker explained to my wife exactly how to do this while they were waiting for the truck to meet them (in a grocery store parking lot) to drop off the bundles of rebates for the workers to take home … this other worker told her that all of them know how to do this, and exactly which rebates work best for this (always the high dollar ones) – she also told her not to do this to any of them that were from Minnesota (where Young America is located) because it would be one of the workers that was doing this and that they all kind of ‘look out for each other’

Scary fact #3 … any number of people might have access to your envelope and the contents (including the ultra-valuable UPC’s) … from what I know, at least 4 other people were digging into the envelopes before my wife got them, and who knows how many people after her – all along this line there is no way to tell if anything dubious happens to any of the contents – in fact, even after it’s processed and sent back to Canon, if a UPC happens to disappear it is likely that the rebate will be denied – if any of the contents disappear, there isn’t any way to prove it or to track where it went astray

All this combined really scares me … I have $430 worth of rebates coming to me and I’m going to really make sure I cover all my bases – I’m going to make copies of all of my UPC’s and then take pictures of all of them, with the rebate form and receipts right next to the envelope … I am printing a copy of the picture

as for the people that have already sent theirs in and are in the middle of this BS - the advice I've seen posted to call Canon directly is perfect - calling Young America will get you the run around because there's no telling where your actual envelope and stuff is at

Canon will take this seriously and will take it up directly with Young America - YA has every reason to listen to Canon, because that's who is paying them"

If this is through that "rebatestatus.com" domain, then I am currently dealing with the same problem only for a 9500. It seems that standard procedure is to claim that some necessary item is missing from the rebate submission. The angle that I am taking (which may seem drastic to some) is to involve the Attorney General's office local to the rebate handling company. The Arizona A-G's office has a convenient online complaint form. I figure that if enough of the folks being cheated make enough noise, then the business practice may be changed (yes, I'm being optimistic).

Google "young america" class action

You will see that many, many people have similar thoughts, for years now.

I will share one page that looks hopeful:

http://www . fatwallet.com/forums/textthread.php?catid=24&threadid=314746&print=1

(Remove the two spaces)

What they recommend is to at first make an effort to resolve the issue over the phone, and keep a record of your contact. Then, send info on the problem to BBB , FTC, state's AG, consumeraffairs, etc (listed on that page to some degree). Make the complaint about the manufacturer, not Young America. You will then get your check shortly. It seems it's all about shaming the manufacturer into doing the right thing.

I just found this tonight and will be giving it a go on Monday.

If you have a copy of your stuff (or even if you don't), call the number on the rebate form (you have to go through the voice prompts), and eventually at the end it will ask if you want to speak to a CSR. I'm hoping the fax in my case will resolve this.

What I found with the Sandisk rebate problem is that they basically solve the problems of those who make a stink, but not necessarily anyone else. That's a very profitable scheme for them. Other news suggested that YA keeps much of the uncashed check money, so they have incentive to deny you your money (it's supposed to go to unclaimed assets in your local state.)

It's pretty wild that that poster from last year (that I quoted above) is basically saying that many independent contractors for YA are basically stealing the info to collect on the big rebates. I'm guessing that's what happened with the $400 rebate, as that is a fairly huge rebate.

Also, check this page for sample threatening letter:

http://www . consumeraffairs.com/consumerism/rebate_madness04.html

I had the same problem with Young America on an Okidata rebate and am now having a similar problem with my Canon rebate. My final solution the last time was to file a complaint with my state AG requesting the money and asking that Okidata be barred from doing business in this state. I sent a copy of the complaint to Okidata, their VP contacted me, then I received my rebate within the week. The Oki purchase was from a local retailer and my Canon purchase was online, so I don't know if this collection method will work as well.
--
Jimmy

Followup on this thread. The Canon Rebate Center did apparently get my fax and have entered my data into the system. Although I have yet to receive a check from any of my rebate purchases, at least this is a step forward. I am coming to believe that the independent contractors are diverting some of the more lucrative rebate material (for themselves) as described in an earlier thread. The temptation is too high I suspect ($400 in this case).

Definitely worth a call if you are not yet in their system despite having submitted the rebate.

I got rejected for the Canon PIXMA Pro9000 $100 rebate because the place I bought it was supposedly not a qualifying store. I just talked to Canon and they are going to review it. But the girl said that PC Connection (where I got the printer) was not on their list. Funny, I was looking at the list on their website and they are listed on there!

I have a feeling this is going to be like the AT&T rebate for my cellphones.... months and months of battling with them.