Activating retail device without messing up rebate

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 04, 2007 Posts: 3

Apparently I fail at legalese.

Today I purchased a telephone adapter (D-Link VTA-VR) for $40 from my local CompUSA because they $140 in rebates (so free plus an extra $100 back). However, the rebate form is quite vague as to how I need to activate without voiding the rebate.

It says I must activate Vonage with 15 days. Easy enough. I assumed I'd go to www.vonage.com, click the Activate Your Store-Bought Device button, and then use my new Vonage account number on the CompUSA rebate.

But, then I notice the rebate form says "Purchases made at www.vonage.com are not eligible." Well, I purchased the device at CompUSA and was going to simply Activate it at www.vonage.com. Or does that count as purchasing the service at www.vonage.com?

Calling Vonage was no help ("it's not our offer so we don't know"), which makes sense. But the people at CompUSA didn't know either. Swell.

So, do I need to drive all the way back to CompUSA to activate this thing (or worse, return it and re-buy it so they're both on the same receipt), or can I just activate at www.vonage.com and still get the CompUSA rebate? It seems like the rebate would have said "you must activate at the store" if that really was a requirement, but it's not like they'd be sad if your rebate was invalid. I really don't want to mess this up since by the time I get a rejection from the rebate dept., it'll be way too late to sign up the right way.

Posts: 881 · Vonage Forum Evangelist Joined: Nov 05, 2005 Posts: 881

You have to activate the Vonage service within 15 days of your purchase of the D-Link VTA-VR from CompUSA to receive your rebate. Go to vonage.com, click the "Bought Vonage at a Store" Go button select "I bought my Vonage device at retail and want to activate a new account" and continue from there. Follow the remaining directions and you should be OK.

Quote:

But, then I notice the rebate form says "Purchases made at www.vonage.com are not eligible." Well, I purchased the device at CompUSA and was going to simply Activate it at www.vonage.com. Or does that count as purchasing the service at www.vonage.com?

You did NOT make the purchase at vonage.com, you made the purchase at CompUSA. You do NOT need to return anything back to CompUSA...just simply activate the device at vonage.com within 15 days of the purchase, mail your rebate forms accordingly and you should receive your rebate.

Posts: 1179 · Member of the Week Joined: Feb 28, 2005 Posts: 1179

I concur with Darrell. The rebate is simply saying that you cannot order an adapter from Vonage which is usually free plus shipping and handling and any activation charges... The rebate is not going to let you claim it for this kind of purchase.

The only way to activate a store bought one is to either call Vonage directly or go to their website as you indicated in your original post. You do not need to go back to compusa for activation.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 06, 2007 Posts: 1

I went for the same deal but I purchased my device @ Circuit City.

Following all of the hoops and what not I sent off my rebate form BUT the rebate center is saying the purchase was made outside of the promotion period. In reviewing the issue with them they admitted that they were not informed by Vonage that the promotion period was extended. They stated that they had an end date of 12/31/06 and not the Feb. deadline (as stated in the rebate form that I filled out).

So after now 4 phone calls and two resubmits of the form highlighting the end date.. They still will not honor the rebate!

So now I have looped Vonage in directly to see if they can offer assistance but at this time I think it might be a lost cause and I will end up switching service.

Has anyone else had a difficult time getting a rebate out of them?

Posts: 1327 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Nov 08, 2006 Posts: 1327

Mail in Rebates are scams, you wait forever for the payment and the company is hoping that you forget to send it in.

Always check the date of the rebate promotion.

Posts: 4777 · Vonage Forum **MVM** Joined: Aug 30, 2005 Posts: 4777

In any case I would read the rebate offer very carefully before assuming that I'll get $100 more back than I paid for the device. Most rebates read "up to $xxx", but will not pay back more than you laid out.