WESTERN DIGITAL AND ITS REBATES- WHAT A JOKE!

(Posted Friday 3-8-2006) When I went to FRY'S ELECTRONICS - in Phoenix, AZ in mid October of 2003 I'd been forewarned about buying anything from their store that had any kind of rebate attached to it. That ended up being a nightmare. I should have learned then I guess but then Checkers Auto Parts had a rebate and were the same also.

On Sunday 1-8-06 I went to our local Best Buy and purchased at Western Digital 160GB hard drive. Having had a 9 gig hard drive for the past 6 years in my computer it was time for an upgrade. It was $120 but after purchase, Best Buy had a $50 online rebate and Western Digital had a $30 mail in rebate which would take UP TO 8 weeks!

That same night I did my Best Buy rebate on line and three weeks later they paid up. I was impressed, considering I didn't have much faith in Best Buy a few years ago.

Western Digital on the other hand has to be the joke of the year. I emailed them SIX weeks into the rebate period asking them about where to file eventual complaints with the BBB as I foresaw this being another Fry's and Checkers affair. My first two emails came back automated, saying a rep would email me within 24 hours. Try a WEEK later! Finally on my third email they told me to contact them if I never got the rebate.

That I did on the morning of Monday March 6th, EIGHT WEEKS to the day, since my rebate left. The rep, Brenda who answered the phone was as useful as a square wheel. When I asked her the CEO's name so that I could file a complaint, when I asked her what the address was for Western Digital's headquarters and when I asked her about the process of my complaint, each question was answered with, "I don't have any information to provide you with.

That same night I filed complaints with the BBB and two days later on Wednesday 3-8-2006 I called Best Buy's headquarters. A rep by the name of Crystal was very, very helpful. Not only did she listen to what I had to say about Western Digitals appalling rebate time, she also got me on a three way conversation to Western Digital. After Ian listened to what I had to say he said, "Your rebate was mailed yesterday." When I asked him how long it would take for that to get to me, he said, 'and get ready for this folks,' "TWO TO THREE WEEKS?"

Unbelievable, that is totally beyond my intelligence. Firstly, how a company can't get a piece of paper to a customer's door in EIGHT weeks if very, very hard for me to fathom but to have the audacity to say it's an 'EIGHT WEEK REBATE' and then after that time has passed, NOT have it delivered to you; and THEN to say it will be up to TWO to THREE weeks on top of the 8 weeks already is something else isn't it?

I just wanted to enlighten you all out there on Western Digitals rebate time. You may want to consider another company and one that has a better response time with getting money back to the customer.

Thanks again for your reading, Johnny Anderson: