My roommate called me this morning. Apparently someone from an 888 number has been calling his line. He answered this morning and it was a certain credit card company looking to talk to “someone who is responsible for billing” on my account. He told them they should be calling my cell phone. They said that they don’t have that information on record – only one number (his number apparently) and they were not allowed to update that over the phone. They asked for the best time to reach me. He said sometime in the evenings.
Funny thing is, the number they called was the main number for the house – but not my number. I have my cell and only my cell, and it’s been that way for years now. So I logged into my account and looked up the company’s number and gave them a call. They have no record of anyone trying to call me recently. And why would they? They have no need to call me right now – unless they’re trying to sell me something.
So it looks like someone found my billing information and looked up the phone number for this address. Yeah, that gives me the warm-and-fuzzies. I’ll have to keep an eye on that account.
In other news, it looks like I’ll have to take these guys to small claims court if I’m ever going to see my $500 in rebates for my cell phone purchase from last year. Granted, I was in the wrong when I initially sent in my rebate paperwork – but with the best intentions. I had paid my account well in advance and sent in the paperwork early because I knew that I was going to have to move and didn’t want that interfering with my rebate. But at the time I thought that was allowed.
To make a long story short – I sent in the paperwork. Weeks and weeks later they sent me an email confirmation. When I looked it up, the status said:
Dates of submitted wireless bills do not fall within the date range specified on the rebate form.
You will receive a letter or postcard describing this problem. The letter or postcard may have instructions on how to correct this error.
I waited for a letter or postcard, but did not receive one. I wasn’t sure if I would ever get it because I had moved. So I emailed them asking what actions I need to take. They told me they couldn’t help me because I provided the wrong bill. I complained and explained the situation. They said (essentially) “oh, ok. Just follow these steps and we’ll take care of it.” I followed the instructions and gave them more than enough information. No email confirmation. I sent an email asking for a status. “Sorry. We can’t help you. You’re not allowed to resubmit your bill. Essentially you get one shot, and since you provided the wrong bill your rebate request is null and void.”
So there goes the money that was going to pay for my flight to Spain.
On top of that, I’m not happy with Best Buy – but again this is actually my fault. When I bought my TV I was supposed to get some “reward zone” gift card things for all of the points that I earned for spending so much cash. I waited and waited for them to arrive – because I had lots of things I was going to spend them on 
After I moved I found the envelope with them in it. $95 worth. Woohoo! But they had expired 9 days before I found them. I called up the Reward Zone number and asked if they could reissue them. “Sorry, we can’t help you.” They apparently have a “no reissue” policy. So there goes $95.
Also – from the move – my awesome Klipsch PC speakers died. The subwoofer keeps blowing fuses immediately when powering it on. I didn’t notice until about a month after moving because it took me that long to get settled in enough and get off my lazy butt to set them up. My roommate was cool enough to call Klipsch and talk to them. They told him that I’d have to find my receipt and bring it to Best Buy and they could send it in for repair under the 1 yr warranty. Only thing is, it took me another month to find the receipt – and guess how far out of warranty it was? Just over a month. And (even though they have the EXACT make and model IN STOCK) they aren’t able to help me any further with replacing or repairing them.
Wow. Best Buy REALLY goes out of their way to help their customers, eh?
So let’s just tally this. I’m out $500 from my cell phone rebates, $95 from the Reward Zone cash, $160 for my speakers (that I have yet to replace and not sure that I will), and not to mention the $300+ that I spent to send all of Jason’s stuff out to AZ.
That’s over $1k in losses in about 2 months. Ouch.
