Rebates are a major angioplasty candidate as I have written before here and here
So, I thought AT&T Wireless had it nailed. I mailed in a rebate form on Feb 5. They SMS me confirmation of receipt on Feb 22. On Mar 18, they text me again saying it had been mailed. I still do not have the rebate. So I go to their site and it is well documented and even has an internal tracking number. It is rare to see a rebate workflow so digitized and so transparent.
Here's where the process breaks down. I enter a form to initiate a query. They already have the trail documented but the form makes you enter all the gory details again including the 15 digit IMEI serial number. Strikingly, no place for their tracking number. And when you press enter - "We are unable to process your request at this time. Please try again later." 3 times over an hour get the same error.
So I try the toll free number. Voice confirms details and tells me payment mailed, and hangs up. No human being to talk to to say the payment has not been received.
So, I try the 611 - customer service on my PDA...call centers are all closed! I have nothing against Sunday closures like Chick-fil-a does for spiritual reasons. But AT&T is happy to sell you stuff in their stores on Sundays - but with over 60 million customers, it is mind-boggling they do not have a single customer service rep available today.
Then I happen to check with my wife if she got two rebates last Fall and had used them. No clue what I am talking about. I go check on those and the AT&T site shows mailed in August and September.
AT&T usually sends out debit cards as its rebates. So there should be an electronic trail if they were abused. 3 rebates supposedly mailed but not received.
What a way to ruin what looked like - finally - a streamlined rebate process.
Update: 4/21 - after 4 handoffs over an hour, I finally got to a supervisor in their rebate processing center in Milwaukee. They are going to reissue 2 out of the 3 cards and assured me there were no mailing issues at their end. We will see in a couple of weeks.
Update 4/22 - Guess what? The query form I entered on-line must have gone through, not rejected as the error message said. This morning I get an email back - it has yet another tracking number and is even signed by a Katherine. Sadly, all it does is tell me to call the toll free number which I did yesterday.
