I realize part of the reason rebates are so popular with businesses is that the customer buys their product because of them, but then fails to actually get the rebate. Some people are just lazy or forgetful enough to neglect to do so. Or, often, the company make the process a big enough pain that the customer fails to fill out the form correctly or just flat out gives up on the process. Or, they ignore you and hope you go away.
DirecTV appears to be employing method #3.
We initially signed up with DirecTV when we moved out to the countryside, choosing it over it’s competitors mainly because of one channel (that we haven’t even added to our lineup yet): Sentanta Sports. I’m a rabid rugby fan, but you can’t watch it anywhere in the US as far as I can tell, except on Sentanta. But that doesn’t really make a difference to the matter at hand, does it? 
When we signed up, they were running a $100 rebate promotion. So of course, I eventually got around to submitting it (but well before it was set to expire). Unlike some of my rebate attempts in the past, this was an utterly painless process that took less than a minute on DirecTV’s site. Almost immediately received my confirmation email stating the “Please allow 6-8 weeks to receive your $100 rebate check by mail” boilerplate. I naively assumed that actually getting the rebate might be as painless.
Nevertheless, my calendar popped up yesterday to let me know that it had been eight weeks since I had initially submitted the rebate, so I made a mental note to look into who I should be harassing soon. But what do I find in my email inbox today but another brief email stating “Your rebate submission has been received! Please allow 6-8 weeks for processing.” Going to the rebate site, I find their contact form, spent several minutes tracking down all the minutiae they require, put in my brief, cordial note on the problem (despite my initial impulse to word it along the lines of “What’s the deal with this latest email? Where the !$@! is my rebate already?“), and hit submit. Blank page, but for two words:
Illegal Request
@#&* You, DirecTV Rebate Department!
