MS Cash back - pending still

danger boy

A month or so ago I purchased a Blu Ray player through Ebay using the MS Cash back program. A month later my cash back is still pending. I don't think it should have taken this long.

I just wrote to MS today about it.. is there anyone out there who still has a cash back refund pending from a month ago? I don't want to lose it, but it's not being processed by someone. So I'm trying to figure out where the log jam is taking place. I think I have 44 days left to figure it out before it gets canceled as not processed or unclaimed.

Motzart

IIRC it's 30-60 days.
I'm waiting for mine still.

Early B.

My cashback purchases required a 60 day waiting period. I gotta wait 'til next month.

I was hoping that the huge cashbacks would be offered again right before Xmas, but it didn't happen.

ND13

They use mail-in cash back refunds in hope that you'll not apply or forget to and then forget about not getting it after a month or so. If you don't keep on their ****, you'll likely never see it. They seem to be able to find loop-holes in the disclaimer, too. Had that happen more than twice.

Hope you get yours soon, but I'd keep bugging the **** out of them.

mmadden28

ND13 wrote: »

They use mail-in cash back refunds in hope that you'll not apply or forget to and then forget about not getting it after a month or so. If you don't keep on their ****, you'll likely never see it. They seem to be able to find loop-holes in the disclaimer, too. Had that happen more than twice.

Hope you get yours soon, but I'd keep bugging the **** out of them.

Say what?
Mail in refunds? Where did you read that? This was not a mail-in rebate offer.
I have 3 of 4 pending, as expected.
The cashback account will show you what is pending and what is available for payment. If it's pending, it will tell you the date it will be available for payment.
In the one that is available now, I purchased the item on Oct 27th, so looks like 60 days was adhered to. When payment was requested, it offered me the choice of Paypal, Bank deposit, or mailed paper check (although for this particular purchase being on eBay-only PP was avalable).

Here's a quote from the Cashback site on how it works.

Usually 60 days after your purchase (although this time period may vary for some stores), and when your cashback account reaches a balance of at least $5, you can claim your cold, hard cash. Terms and conditions.

The link to the terms and conditions go on to state that some cashback will need to process for up to 90 days. It also states that you have up to 6 months to file a claim for cashback not processed for some reason. It also states that accounts that are unused after 12 months may be closed (including any unclaimed rewards.)

They send an email when the cashback is ready for payment, so there really is no reason that anybody should 'forget' about the available money for over a year.

danger boy

I thought I remember a few people in here getting their refund right away into their PayPal account? I could be wrong but that's one thing that prompted me to buy items using the LiveSearch refund offered by MS.

So I get an email back today from Cash Back support and I can not request the money for 60 days and will be considered pending till then. But it also sounds like it could expire if not claimed from what I have read. Because it has an end date of 44 days and expires on Feb 2nd in my case.

Either way.. it's suppose to be deposited into my PayPal account.

WilliamM2

I believe the main reason they make you wait, is to insure you don't return the item.

danger boy

well my cashback failed for some stupid reason I don't know about.

I was suppose to get my cashback from Microsoft for a Blu Ray player I bought way back in early Dec, 08. I was counting down the days. MS tried to process the cashback three times and now have given up.

It wouldn't be so bad but the amount was $110. Money i could have used to buy more movies or something else useful.

I'm screwed.

damnit! that sucks.. especially after waiting the 60 days the make you wait only to find out you're gonna get screwed.

phipiper10

Thanks to the advice here I used MS cash back and got mine the other day $37 and change of some polk car speakers.

Best of luck on your cash back.

NotaSuv

phipiper10 wrote: »

Thanks to the advice here I used MS cash back and got mine the other day $37 and change of some polk car speakers.

Best of luck on your cash back.

i had 2 purchase that should have been MS cash back...the later was paid right away, still waiting for the second one...........at least they paid the more expensive one first.....used 2 different cards on different accounts

mmadden28

That sucks. They didn't provide any explanation? That's not right to string you along like that.

I've recieved at least 3 of mine sof far. I just checked now.....ahhh I see some failures....

January 31, 2009
cashback payment
$200.00 Failed

January 31, 2009
eBay $200.00 In process
Date of purchase:December 2, 2008

Quantity:1 $200.00

January 31, 2009
cashback payment
$200.00 Failed


We've encounterd a problem depositing your cashback reward into the PayPal account that you used for your eBay purchase. But we will keep trying.

January 31, 2009
cashback payment
$200.00 Failed


We've encounterd a problem depositing your cashback reward into the PayPal account that you used for your eBay purchase. But we will keep trying.

January 20, 2009
eBay $112.25 Rewarded
Date of purchase:November 21, 2008

Your cashback reward was deposited in your PayPal account, which you used for your eBay purchase.
Quantity:1 $112.25

January 20, 2009
cashback payment
$112.25 Rewarded

Your cashback reward was deposited right after your purchase into your PayPal account, which you used for your eBay purchase.

January 13, 2009
cashback payment
Paid toPayPal
$49.75 Rewarded

January 8, 2009
eBay $49.75 Rewarded
Date of purchase:November 5, 2008

eBay
Quantity:1 $49.75


January 1, 2009
cashback payment
Paid toPayPal
$25.00 Rewarded
December 31, 2008
eBay $25.00 Rewarded

polktiger

It is crap like this that actually keeps me from buying where there is a vendor/3rd party cash back or rebates.

Anymore, I will pay a little more to avoid these things since actually collecting is so unreliable. Of course this is why they offer all these cash back/mail in rebate. The goal is to wear out the customer with the processing so they don't end up having to pay.

danger boy

well I'm glad to hear that some people have gotten some or all of their cashback.

I will continue to bug MS about the problem. I have been in contact with the Ebay seller I purchased the BD player from. I asked if he ever received any kind of official email from MS Cashback that he might have forgotten to return or something. he said no email or notification of any kind was ever sent to him from cashback.

I think it was just a bait and switch kind of deal.. some people get their cashback, but the majority probably do not. Just like a rebate you might get from a store where you have to mail it in and provide the UPC code and serial number of the item. How many people really jump through all the hoops to get back $10? not many i would think, so the company doesn't have to pay out much $ really in rebates.

mmadden28

I don't think the original seller of the item is involved in the cashback process at all with respect to the cashback via MS and ebay deals. Its all strictly via MS. The seller only had to list the item properly, as a BIN and PP only and the item had to be found via a live.com search and clicked on from the search results. This was not a rebate offer from the seller or the manufacturer.

I also doubt that MS would string people along and deliberately make the process difficult or 'bait and switch' just to get bad press in the end. The idea/goal was to lure people into using live.com as the search engine as opposed to using google. They make money off of advertising on the serach engine-that is after all how google makes thier money. What better way to get people to start using it?

In any case I make screen shots of any possibly iffy deal. I have screen shots of all of my ebay deals with MS cashback offers that show the eligibility verification for each deal, and I kept all the email communications about the cashback status, so I expect to get my $200 in the end.

Toxis

I had 3 purchases using the cash back program. The first two were for 7.99 and then 8.49. Both went pending immediately and I received the money about 6 weeks later. The third purchase was for 68.70 and it never went pending like it was supposed to. I noticed it the next day and emailed MS. Nothing happened. The only thing I got was an automated email saying "we'll get with you, don't contact us. we're looking into it." Never got another email for almost 3 weeks so I resubmit a new claim. Same automatic email with no follow up. Gave it a third try and finally got an email from a live person. Since then, it's been almost 3 weeks and I'm still waiting to hear from anyone. It's beyond ridiculous at this point and I really doubt I'll feel comfortable "relying" on them to stand by what they claim. Yeah I know, it's MS but it said I'll get the money back when I made the purchase. I thought it was automatic and electronic. Oh well... guess that's $70 I'll never see.

danger boy

I followed every rule to a T with the cashback program. i left nothing to chance.. I will email them.. last time I emailed them, they were prompt in responding. I still have some hope.. just bugs the shite out of me that after waiting 60 days.. it says FAILED

hoosier21

hmm, I was lucky, got I all my cash back. 4 ebay auctions, for a totla of 678.00 cash back.

treitz3

It doesn't matter what product I have purchased or where. Every single damn refund I have ever mailed in, qualified for or turned in was not honored. I have just made up my mind that based upon many multiple experiences concerning rebates that basically I [the consumer] am being lied to about the promise of getting $$$ back just to move the product.

Over my life, I probably have racked up well over 1K worth of rebates and not a single one has come to me, even after extensive follow-ups. Now that I have accepted that fact, [at least it's a "fact" to me] I haven't been upset about rebates and follow ups because I don't purchase items that claim to have a refund unless it's an instant refund at the POS.

Motzart

Opppssss gooffed here!

Motzart

Mine is still pending....purchase date of Dec 6th.
Feb 6th I'll see.

I hate rebates but thought I'd give this a try.
One of the reasons PPL didn't like Circuit City.
I have NEVER got a rebate returned to me ever from anything I have bought!
Why can't they just give you the rebate right off the item there?
I'll tell you why......cuz you fill out all the info to get the rebate and they sell your info.
Then you get all this useless crap AD stuff in the mail.

Thus they make a tidy sum off your info they sell.....so IF you get the rebate it's peanuts compared to what they made selling your info!

*****SORRY FOR THE DOUBLE POST!*****
Dunno what happened there? :rolleyes:

danger boy

probably similar to why some stores ask you for your telephone number.. so they can sell it later to advertisers in bulk. I refuse to give my phone number to a store.. how silly is that to even ask?

treitz3

That's when you have the $25-$50 an hour phone sex hotline # ready. Just give them that #. That'll teach 'em to ask for your # once they start to see their phone bill.

inspiredsports

100% of mine became available on the 60th day after purchase

mmadden28

When I built my computer, I bought everything that had a rebate attached to it. I saved a bundle. I would say at least 10 different rebates if not more. I stayed on top of them every step of the way, kept scans of the forms and detailed track of the status. I got all of the money back except one because they went out of business (ClubPC or something--it was only $12).

I personally hate rebates-They are evil. I only really like the instant rebates. To me it was worth it though since I did them all at the same time-but I avoid them at all costs any other time because I know I will forget about it.

treitz3

.........and when you don't forget about it, how much time do you spend trying to get it? Would that equate to less or more than what you would put in [per hour] at work?

Which leads me to the question.....is it really worth it? The stress, hassle, documentation, followup?

mmadden28

That's why I did them all at the same time and avoid the onsies twosies.
I fill out the form (triple reading the fine print), scan the form. Put it and the UPS code in the envelope (which I have a template on the computer to quickly print), seal it, postmark it (to show date) and mail it off. When I get some notification that they received the forms I move the scanned form to a folder called received. When they send me a check, I move it to a folder called paid. Every so often I check the folders to see if any hadn't had any activity. If I did this often I would probably put them in my calendar with reminders.

IIRC, I saved $500-$600 with those rebates for my computer-It was well worth it to me. Probably was no more than an hour, maybe two, total and I certainly don't make that much per hour.

Otherwise, for me the rebate has to be significant enough for me to bother. A $2 rebate it not worth it. A $10 rebate is probably not even worth it. I think once it gets above $30 it makes it all the more worthwhile.

danger boy

hoosier21 wrote: »

hmm, I was lucky, got I all my cash back. 4 ebay auctions, for a totla of 678.00 cash back.

thanks Russ for making me feel even worse



JK. hey glad you got all that was due to come your way.

SBrown712

I got about $164 back from Live Search on an e-bay purchase. Seems like it was right at the 60 day mark too. I got emails to give me status from LS and I even got an email from paypal that the money had been deposited.
Like someone said above, make sure you follow the directions to the letter. The only time I've been screwed on a promo was by Amazon.

danger boy

I think I may have found the problem.

My paypal account had a different email address set than what my Ebay account email address is. hoping this solves the problem.

I have a ticket with MSN Cashback right now going.

Early B.

danger boy wrote: »

I think I may have found the problem.

My paypal account had a different email address set than what my Ebay account email address is. hoping this solves the problem.

I have a ticket with MSN Cashback right now going.

Good. I hope it works out for you.

I got a $118 cashback last week from an ebay purchase, but I'm waiting on $68 that I'm owed. I got the dreaded FAILED message, too. Not sure why.

mmadden28

danger boy wrote: »

I think I may have found the problem.

My paypal account had a different email address set than what my Ebay account email address is. hoping this solves the problem.

I have a ticket with MSN Cashback right now going.

Oohh could be my issue too. I changed my PP email addy not too long ago. Of course my old email addy should still work on there, but maybe they're only looking at the primary. Or the one I used with the purchase
Thanks for the update and GL with your finally getting resolution.