The company is not honoring rebate. The purchase was within the program dates.
Consumer Complaints & Reviews
TrendNet uses some of the same old rebate schemes to lure customers to buy their products! Most TrendNet products you see on store shelves come with a rebate offer. You buy the product, take it home and use it (if it works), you fill out the rebate form, send all information receipts, UPCs, and whatever else they ask for, and mail it in. Many weeks later, one might expect to get a rebate check which, when cashed, will bring down the original price of the product purchased, making it a bargain.
TrendNet has a nasty habit of not honoring rebates. Their business practice has been going on for years now. They refuse to pay a rebate, saying you forgot a UPC or a sales receipt or a photocopy of some document. They tell you to include the missing item or information and they'll process the rebate. Weeks later, they will again say they are not processing the rebate for yet another reason (take your pick of which reason). Not honoring a rebate agreement is a fraudulent practice rooted in false advertising and breach of written agreement constituted by an advertised offer. It leads to fraudulent misleading advertising and it is against the law.
I fell for their scam too. I knew the risks and had read the scores of complaints all over the web, but I decided to buy a simple adapter for $19.99 with a $10 mail-in rebate. I sent in the rebate form with all information required, along with the UPC from the product box and original sales receipt.
A month went by and I recently received my refusal notice (refuse to pay rebate) for a ridiculous reason that I didn't include a photocopy of an invoice. This made me laugh, since I assume they mean a sales receipt which was included in my mailing and the rebate form says nothing of sending photocopies with submission of rebate.
Here's where it gets ugly. I have read numerous other complaints regarding TrendNet's refusal to process rebates and some of those reasons were the exact match as my own refusal. According to the complaints, no matter what you say, send, e-mail, include, etc., the rebate will still not be processed. I have spoken not only to the manager of the store where I purchased the product, but to managers of other stores carrying TrendNet products. They all give the same disturbing report: There have been countless numbers of complaints from customers that TrendNet does not honor its rebate agreements!
My problem is related to a rebate scam. I purchased a TRENDnet Wireless Router (TEW-452BRP) with a rebate offer of $30 from Buy.com in previous month. I mailed in all the required documents for the rebate offer. I mailed a copy of the receipt, a copy of the rebate form, and the real UPCs which I did not make copy of. Later, I received a letter from TRENDnet's rebate department stating that I did not include any UPC in my rebate submission. Although I can't prove that I sent the UPC in, I am very certain that I did send it. I still have the product's box with the UPC cut off. I contacted the rebate center and they can't do anything to help me get my rebate. At this point, is there anything I can do at all?
