despicable rebate service

I bought something a while ago that was half-price after rebate. Anyway, proud of my purchase I promptly filed the rebates and went on my way. One of the rebate checks still has not arrived, so I called the company (Parago) today.

After navigating through an annoying options tree, I finally got a person and he confirmed exactly what their website had said: the rebate is valid and is scheduled for "final processing." Last time I had called, the service rep said that the rebate terms required at least ten weeks for processing. They got it on the 13th of October (which is probably a bad sign since that's a Friday too), and I called on week 9. The rep said to wait, and it should be out shortly, but refused to give me a time frame.

It's week 17, so I called and asked about the ridiculous wait and the guy said that it is scheduled to be mailed on March 14. Okay, so that is more than five months, or nearly 21 weeks. If I don't have the check in hand by March 19, I will begin emitting smoke from my ears.

Rebate Rule #45: Do not believe you will receive a rebate unless there is a maximum bound on the time it will take. "8-12 weeks" is tolerable, but "at least 10 weeks" is not. Due to the fine print, they could legally keep my money as long as they want.

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