Does it only happen to me?

Back in January, I accepted an e-mail invitation to join the CVS Advisory Panel. In exchange for my time in taking online surveys, I would be rewarded with Extra Care Bucks. I took the first survey in March. It took approximately 20 minutes of my time, and on completion I received an e-mail that my $10 in Extra Care Bucks would show up in my account by April 29, 2008. That date came and went, and I even gave it a little longer in case they were running behind. In June, I called the hotline and told them I never received my ECBs. The operator spoke to a supervisor and the ECBs were placed in my account immediately. The phone call took about 15 minutes while I was repeatedly placed on hold. That means for a 35 minute investment of my time, I earned $10 in ECBs. Not too bad. Then it happened again. I took a survey by e-mail invitation in the middle of June. This survey took 15 minutes to complete, with a promise that my ECB reward would be in my account on June 28th. They weren't. I called today, and was met with a similar response. They would need to have it investigated, and if I was due the ECBs, they would be placed into my account. I'm not a grump, by all means. I do take surveys for other companies, get paid decently for it, and have not had issues with payment like I do with CVS. I'm wondering if I'm the only one?

How about lost or returned rebate submissions? I follow the submission guidelines meticulously, but sometimes they are returned to me stating that I did not follow the guidelines. This happened with a Colgate-Palmolive promotion recently. I had to resubmit the form (there was no mistake on the original), verify the UPCs, send a letter of explanation, and stick another postage stamp on it. It was corrected, I received by incentive, but it took a silly amount of time.

And again, with the Publix/JC Penney gift card promotion back in January. While checking back through my rebate folder, I noticed I hadn't received it, so I e-mailed Publix. I received a phone call from a representative two weeks later explaining that many of the submissions for that promotion were lost. She asked me how many I qualified for, and the next day I received an overnight envelope containing my JC Penney gift card for $10. $10 is still $10, but for the amount of time it took me to resolve the issue, I have to wonder if it was worth it.

How about you? Do you think that rebates are worth it in comparison to the amount of time they take to manage?