On July 31, 2006, I purchased a washer and dryer at Sears in Fort Collins, Colorado. Part of the purchase included a promotional six-month supply of high efficiency Tide detergent (TIDEHE). I correctly filled out the rebate form, attached a copy of the receipt and mailed everything on August 8, 2006 to the appropriate address according to the instructions.

After waiting six weeks, I received a logically incoherent letter from Sears thanking me for choosing Sears and telling me that the place of purchase wasn’t valid because it wasn’t Sears. The letter informed me that I had to resubmit the paperwork if I still wanted to participate. After calling the assistance number given the letter and waiting 10 minutes for a representative, I was told that the letter I received couldn’t be for the Tide promotion as there was no tracking ID (tracking ID was 681935144 according to the letter) in the computer. The customer representative told me there was nothing she could do and I would have to resubmit. So, I resubmitted the paperwork per the instructions I received in the rejection letter (which they could not possibly have sent me according to the customer representative), including a copy of the rejection letter, a copy of the receipt and a copy of the stub I retained from the rebate form.

After waiting several weeks, I checked their online rebate site (www.sears.com/rebates) to see if the rebate was being processed; it wasn’t. So I once again called customer service and was told that there was no record of my rebate submission and I would have to resubmit. I asked to speak with a supervisor, who asked me for a load of information before telling me that the rejection letter was sent in error. She said she would pass it on and I could expect my rebate in four to six weeks. I had already waited more than eight weeks.

Today, some gal from Sears called me at work and said they needed more information before they could release the detergent coupons. She asked for some codes from the receipt, which I didn’t have with me at work, of course. So tomorrow I will take all of the paperwork I have to work with me and call Sears back and give them information that I have already sent twice by mail.

I cannot even begin to tell you how angry I am at the complete and utter disregard, with which Sears has treated me as a customer in this matter. I don’t know if I will ever see the detergent coupons they owe me, but I will never, ever buy anything at Sears again. What a dump.

Regards,

Bret