The Fixer: Sears keeps shirt rebate on its back

Dear Fixer: Sears had a rebate program that went from June 11 to June 20. You were required to purchase $50 or more of any combination of men's apparel and submit your application by July 20; then you would receive a $50 "Come Back Cash" coupon.

I made a purchase of men's shirts on June 14. The amount was $55.96 before tax.

I mailed my rebate form on June 27. On July 14, I called to verify that they received it. They said they did and I would get my coupon in four weeks.

It never came. I contacted them on Sept. 20 and again was told the rebate would be coming. On Nov. 12, I still had not received it. I talked to a woman who said I would have it in 30 days.

On Jan. 6, after still not hearing from them, I called and was transferred several times until I finally talked to a rep who told me they ran out of funding for the promotion and would only send me a $25 gift card.

How can a big company get away with something like this?

Patricia Renn

Dear Patricia: Well, that would have been quite a deal if it had actually worked.

This is why The Fixer is not a big fan of rebates. There's just too much opportunity for the whole thing to go south. And you weren't the only one who had a snafu with this particular rebate, as complaints on various blogs attest.

The good thing was you were really organized. As soon as we laid out your problem to the folks at Sears HQ, it got fixed immediately. They're sending out a $50 gift card to replace the coupon you would have gotten, and you can keep the $25 gift card they had mailed earlier.

Sears also promised to thoroughly review your case to figure out what when wrong.

Dear Fixer: For the past year and half, my home phone number has been listed as the number for the new Costco in my town. As of this writing, it is still under construction.

I tried to get this corrected. I sent an e-mail to Costco and I talked to the director of networking. He spoke to someone and for a time the calls stopped, but now they are continuing.

I do not want to change my phone number. I want the yellow pages to take it out of their searches online and I want to get it out of Google's (800) GOOG-411. I hope you can help me.

Teresa Arrieta

Dear Teresa: Just what you needed -- a huge new Costco opening in your town and everyone who wants to shop there or get a job there is calling your house. You told The Fixer this started about a year and a half ago, with the phone ringing from 6 a.m. to midnight.

The really weird thing is your number isn't similar at all to the actual Costco number.

The main culprits seemed to be Google 411 and a couple of online directory assistance sites.

The Fixer guessed Costco would want to help fix this -- after all, it was their potential customers calling the wrong place. (The store opened for business Nov. 18, while we were working on your problem.) We eventually ended up with Derek Snead, the discount giant's corporate counsel. Snead got in touch with the offending websites and they made the corrections. As for Google 411, that service was scrapped by Google on Nov. 12, so that fixed itself. Yay!

We waited a couple months as the calls gradually died down. When we last spoke with you, you said the calls have dropped significantly. We recently found one more website that still had it wrong; Costco has submitted a correction to that site, too.

As the Internet churns on and new Web pages replace old ones, this should get better.

Power scam?

If you gave or received an expensive Power Balance bracelet for the holidays, hoping it would boost your athletic strength and balance, we're sorry to rain on your workout. But we thought you should know that the purveyor has run into trouble for exaggerating its claims.

In Australia, Power Balance has admitted to engaging in "misleading conduct" in advertising the bracelets and has offered an apology and full refund to its Aussie customers. Authorities in Italy and Spain have fined the company. And a class-action suit recently was filed in Los Angeles.

Power Balance still claims that its $29.95 bracelets, worn by athletic superstars like Shaquille O'Neal and Drew Brees, optimize the body's natural energy flow through imbedded holograms.

The closest thing The Fixer has is a rubber Livestrong band the Junior Fixers got for free from a friend. We're thinking that unless this Power Balance bracelet does the squats and lifts for you, 30 bucks is a lot to pay.

Getting the runaround about a consumer problem? Tell it to The Fixer at www.pioneerlocal.com/ fixer.