EBATES UPDATE!!!

Do you remember this post I did a while back about Ebates?

I figured that I'd do a follow up on it to keep you posted on how well it's worked for me. 

This blog is titled Rantin' & Ravin' and I want to make sure that I am fair in my reviews of products I use and recommend to you.

On a scale of 1 - 10, I would give Ebates a 7.

I haven't made too many purchases through Ebates and I've gotten almost $30 cash back. I've also referred two people, which has given me an additional $10 {$5 per referral.}

Even though you normally only get 1-3% cash back on most stores, that's $30 back in my pocket that I normally wouldn't have. So, I love this.

However... here's my rant... I have two complaints. 

1. My husband signed up as well. He uses it so that he can buy my gifts and save some money too. Smart guy! He also used it to buy tickets to fly out to see our family earlier this year. Most people buy plane tickets between 4-8 weeks in advance. We are a 6-8 week kind of people. Best deals usually happen 2 months out, so that is why we do it that early. He actually bought the tickets 8 weeks early. Well, Ebates only keeps 3 months record and you don't get your refund on flights, hotels and car rentals until 30 days after the last day of flight or rental. Well, we were never refunded. And we cannot even inquire on it because we do not have the Ebates tracking ticket #. Sad thing is, we booked our tickets during a special they were having where we would have received a double rebate. Yeah, BIG BUMMER! 

Tip: If you plan to use Ebates for travel, make sure you write down the ticket #. Keep it somewhere safe so that you can inquire on it later.

2. Ebates has relationships with many companies that I've never heard of. Occasionally these companies participate in Ebates Daily Double Refund. I check the daily doubles occasionally and if I need something from that type of site, I'll order then. I checked out their daily double one day and it was for a company called 123InkJets. Now I had never heard of them, but I was in need of some ink. Their normal percentage back is 16%, but with the daily double I was to receive 32% cash back! Plus the company had a 10% coupon code. Well, I made my purchase and I never received a refund. I contacted customer service and I was told that my ticket didn't show that I had made a purchase. I sent them all of the information they would need to verify that I had in fact made a purchase after logging in through their system and they never responded again. 

Tip: If a large amount of cash back is promised back maybe it is really to good to be true. Stick to the smaller cash back amounts. Then again, maybe it's because the company isn't well known. Stick to the popular companies.

How about you? Have you had any problems using companies like Ebates?

UPDATE: 8/1/2013 - After posting this post to my Twitter, Ebates quickly contacted me to address the issues listed above. They have since credited me for both issues.