Welcome to scam week here at CheapEncounters.com! This week I will be highlighting several scams that I have recently encountered that badly need to see the light of day. Some of my most memorable and popular posts have been about scams (see the FreeNEzy.com saga and the Reservations Rewards scam), so I thought it would be appropriate to revisit this very important topic.
The first scam I will highlight this week is the current debacle from the recent Sears and Dockers Fathers Day rebate offer. According to their initial press release, consumers would receive a $75 Shell gas card and a “$10 Sears Reward Card” for purchasing $100 in Dockers apparel items during the promotion period after mail-in rebate. Pretty sweet deal: spend $100 and get back $85. Understandably, many consumers took advantage of the deal (including myself), expecting to receive a $75 Shell gift card and a $10 Sears gift card.
Imagine our surprise when we get our rebate back with a $75 Shell gift card and a $10 Sears COUPON! Yes, instead of a gift card good on anything in the store or online and without expiration as alluded to in the press release announcing the deal, consumers received a crappy $10 off $50 purchase coupon. Not only does the coupon require a $50 purchase, the purchase must be from Men’s Apparel and made by 10/15/2008, and excludes “special purchases, Great Price items, Introductory Offers, Lands End merchandise, Levi’s (pretty ironic considering Dockers is a Levi’s brand), fragrances, Celestial Star diamonds, Sears.com, Kmart.com, Landsend.com, Sears Auctions on Ebay, outlet store purchases, catalog orders, gift cards, money orders, wire transfers and protection agreements.” Additionally the coupon cannot be combined with other coupons like a gift card could.
Needless to say I and many others who took part in this deal feel quite deceived by this and are pursuing Sears for our $10 gift cards. Initially some on SlickDeals reported they were able to call Sears Customer Service and get the gift card sent, but apparently Sears has now decided to deny these requests. One person has reported that they had success filing a BBB complaint over the matter, so that may be the way to go at this point. As for me, I am waiting for the submission in my wife’s name to come in so that I can try to take care of both $10 gift cards with one call and one BBB complaint. Also if the rebate doesn’t come it escalates the issue to another level.
Have you been scammed by Sears on this deal too? Leave us a comment here to share your story with the world, and then use the following contact information to let Sears and Levi Strauss know you aren’t taking their crap laying down!
Sears
1-800-549-4505
Email
Sears National Customer Relations
3333 Beverly Road
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179
Dockers
1-800-DOCKERS (1-800-362-5377)
Email form
Levi Strauss & Co.
Attn: Consumer Relations
1155 Battery St.
San Francisco, CA 94111
