Staples claims that my rebate check has already been cashed.

I have been waiting to recieve two rebates from Staples for a Maxtor 200 GB hard drive ($40) and a Zenith Remote Control ($10) that I pruchased about two months ago. I submitted the rebate online at www.stapleseasyrebates.com.

Everything was fine and the rebates were approved. Then about two or three weeks ago, I noticed that the status online changed to "Rebate Check has cleared." I assumed that meant that my checks had been mailed out. Now three weeks later, I still haven't received them yet.

I called the number that was in the rebate terms and I spoke with a customer service representative. She told me that both rebate checks had been cashed already. Now this was impossible because I hadn't received anything. She refused to reissue me any new checks. I asked for the location of the bank where it had been cashed and she couldn't give me that information. All she could do was give me the check numbers. I thought that maybe someone in my family had cashed the check but forgot to tell me but no one remembered seeing or cashing anything from Staples in the the past few weeks.

Could someone have stolen the rebate checks and cashed it? What should I do now?

I just realized that this should have been posted in the Rebate Tracking forum. Maybe a MOD can move it there.

Same thing happened to me, i.e., a $10 rebate which the Web site claimed had been cashed when I never received it. Then when I complained to Parago about it, they claimed not that they had already mailed me the rebate check, but rather than I had requested a gift CD rather than a check, which is ridiculous since their own Web site indicated that I had requested a check. I made a huge stink and complained to Staples' corporate office, the BBB, and various other places, and I finally got not only a new $10 check but also $15 in Staples Dollars to compensate me for my trouble. You can read the entire story here.