Verizon Rebate Visa Cash Cards - A BAD IDEA

I recently added several phones to my cell phone plan - my folks were getting tired of all the telemarketers and other people calling them and it was cheaper to add them to my plan than to get their own cell phone plan. I bought four new cell phones and each had a $50 rebate. Well, instead of cutting me a rebate check for the phones, Verizon sent me prepaid Visa cards - four of them worth $50 each. The company (a subsidiary of Verizon) claimed that you could obtain your cash in a variety of ways - or just use the card in place of a credit or debit card. One way was, in theory, to do a bank transfer that you could do online. I spent about 45 minutes (the night I played with the web cam) trying to get it to work but after inputting my data to register the cards, it kept saying I didn't enter any data at all! I finally got frustrated and called and in the end, it was easier to go in person to my bank and get cash advances.

That was an hour of my time I won't ever get back! What a pain in the neck! The companies tend to think that people won't go through the trouble of getting their rebates and, then, if you do, I think they think that someone will use the Visa card to purchase something but only end up with a purchase less than what the card is worth - and if there is only $1 or whatever left, then consumers will throw it away. Verizon - and whoever else -gets to keep the money you don't use.

That kind of thing pisses me off. So, I just wanted to go on record as saying that I think it's a bad idea.