Common Questions About Cell Phone
Rebates
Some of our most popular cell phone deals are those which include
a heavily subsidized cell phone price plus a Customer Loyalty Rebate.
These deep discounts are made available because the carriers (Cingular,
Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.) pay our company a commission
to acquire new customers for them.
Why Do So Many Cell Phone Deals Include Rebates?
Our most popular cell phone deals are those which are heavily subsidized.
In many cases, we are able to offer a free cell phone for customers
establishing a new account with a carrier (Cingular, Verizon Wireless,
T-Mobile, Sprint, etc.).
These deep discounts are possible because the carriers pay us commission
to acquire new customers for them. However, the carriers also withdraw
payments when a customer cancels within the first six months. Rebates
ensure that a customer has maintained the account in order to receive
the discount.
Why 180 Days for Some Rebates?
We get many questions regarding why a customer must keep an account
in good standing for six (6) months before submitting a claim for
certain rebates. This period is designed to match the policies of
the carriers.
If a customer does not keep an account in good standing for six months,
then the carrier charges the wireless fulfilment center back for 100%
of the amount it paid us to acquire the customer.
We don’t like the six-month window, and are working on ways to make
it less confusing, but if a customer keeps his account in good standing
and submits the rebate on time, the rebates will be paid.
How Can I Make Sure My Cell Phone Rebate Gets Paid?
We recognize that the world of cell phones can be confusing. Here
are some tips to anybody worried about getting his or her Cell Phone
rebate:
- Make sure you use the proper forms. All of our
rebate forms are unique to the specific order, and are included
in the box with every eligible shipment. We will also soon add the
ability to download copies of your sales receipt and rebate claim
forms from our web site
- Don't accept a "new account" offer unless you're really
switching carriers. Many rebate claims do get rejected
because the carrier reports to us that the customer was not new.
If you took the offer but then cancelled another account, the carriers
figure it out and charge us back.
- Don't change your account after signing up (or
if you do, let us know). Carriers will sometimes report your account
to us as deactivated if you change your rate plan, your phone number,
or other details about your account. If you need to keep your existing
phone number, please submit the request with your original order.
If you are not sure which is the right rate plan, please call us
to order by phone and we’ll help you make the right decision up
front. If you make such changes to your account later, the carrier
may report it to us as a deactivation. If you feel you’ve been improperly
reported as a deactivation, call us and we can investigate to get
it corrected with the carrier.
- Don't Submit Early. If you are submitting a Customer
Loyalty Rebate, we cannot process your claim until the carrier can
confirm that you have remained a new customer in good standing for
six months. For these rebates, you must wait 180 days from the activation
date that is shown on the Sales Receipt included with your shipment.
Why Does It Take So Long to Process Rebates?
Recent growth has unfortunately been accompanied by some growing
pains. In our fulfilment warehouse's ongoing attempt to improve our
customers’ experience and stay ahead of the growth, the warehouse
transitioned to a new rebate redemption center in 2005. The new rebate
processing vendor is among the best in the industry, with blue-chip
clients such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Amazon.com and more. However,
during the transition there were some customers who got an incorrect
set of instructions and applications ended up in the wrong place.
The result of this transition was a backlog that the fulfilment center
has been working diligently to fix, plus redemption errors on as many
as 2% of our rebates. Two percent is 2% too many by our standards
– but we have worked hard to identify and correct all errors and are
happy to report that our customers are now getting their rebate applications
processed much more quickly.
What
If I Have More Questions?
We would like to hear from you and encourage our customers to contact
us by visiting our customer
service center, where you will find links and contact information
specific to your order.
Please note that in recent months our fulfilment center has added
two new customer service call centers to help keep up with our growth
and provide service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. |
