The Espon Rebate Follies Continue

I've spent the past few days in The Palouse, in eastern Washington. The weather wasn't good, making my shot-count fairly low, but we explored and found some places we'll visit again. There's some stunning scenery of wheat and canola (rape seed) fields and the infrastructure required to farm them. I have a weakness for decaying old farm buildings, which are plentiful in The Palouse. The bad weather gave me an excuse to concentrate on some of these old derelicts. I'm about to begin making prints for my upcoming summer shows; those will include a few photos from this trip.

Wheat fields in The Palouse on a rainy May morning

While I was away I received an email from Epson, indicating my "rebate" roll of paper had shipped! I returned home to find, on my front porch, several boxes, one of which bore Epson labels. Finally, the efforts to get the promised rebate from Epson had succeeded. But wait—maybe not.

The label on the shipping carton indicated the contents were Exhibition Canvas Matte (Epson # S045257). Upon opening the box I found it did indeed contain a roll of canvas. I was sure I'd requested Exhibition Fiber Paper (S045189). Either I checked the wrong box on the rebate form, or Epson sent the wrong item. I reviewed the emails I'd sent to Epson, which included the rebate form, the purchase receipt, and the UPC barcode from the shipping crate. I had checked the EEF option, so the error was theirs.

After all this time, after sending the required supporting items to Epson three times, in three different ways, they finally fulfill the rebate, and they send the wrong item. I'm trying to think of some other way this could have been screwed up.... Nope, can't think of one.

I fired off an email to Erika, the person with whom I'd corresponded previously. I explained that I'd received the wrong stuff, and included a copy of the rebate form clearly showing the checked box for EEF. I received a replay indicating the situation would be reviewed.

Dear Jay Cross 

Thank You for your email concerning your rebate.   It has been received and sent to the Rebate Center for inquiry on the documents needed for processing.  We are sorry for any inconvenience this mishap has caused you.  Please allow 3 to 4 weeks for processing for rebate.

Sincerely,

Erika

Epson Call Center

It's not entirely clear what this means, what will happen next. Who knew this was to become an on-going story, The Great Epson Rebate Follies.

  --Jay