On Your Side: Tech Video Card Trouble

26.05.2010
I bought a BFG Tech video card at a Fry's Electronics store and submitted a rebate claim. BFG rejected it, seemingly because the barcode on my box doesn't match the one associated with the rebate. On BFG's site, the barcode on the video card's spec sheet doesn't match the barcode on my box. So all video cards sold with the same packaging as mine are excluded from the rebate. Is this due to a packaging mistake, a documentation mistake, or a mistake on the rebate form?

Eric Bousset, Dublin, California

OYS responds: We contacted BFG about Bousset's issue. A company representative told us that it had first set up the re­­bate offer for a similar model and then changed it, but that Fry's had posted the rebate offer before getting BFG's update. She also said BFG's rebate company was going back through the submissions and honoring the claims for both models. Bousset has received his $10 rebate.

If a company unfairly rejects , call it. With the right documentation, you may be able to prove that the company made a mistake. By bringing an issue to a company's attention, you give it a chance to correct its error-not only for you, but for other customers as well.

Bill Holleman of Stone Mountain, Georgia, contacted us after he ordered a warranty replacement for a failing hard drive in his daughter's HP Pavilion laptop. An HP customer service agent told Holleman that he had three days to ship the bad hard drive to HP, or he would be charged for the new drive. Under this tight deadline, Holleman paid a local computer service company $49 to remove the old drive. He asked HP to reimburse the $49, but it refused, saying that he needed preauthorization.