On the Ilyce Glink Show today, I spoke with Mary. She had bought her 14-year old son a cell phone. She filled in the $50 rebate form, cut out the skew from the box. She mailed it in and wound up getting a $50 Visa Card. When she tried to activate it, she couldn’t. (I’ve suggested that Mary follow up with the telephone company and enlist their help in getting the card activated.)

Compare that to Tom’s experience. He got an invitation to test drive a new car. If he drove the car, he was promised a $50 Visa card. He drove the car, and didn’t get a huge, heavy sales pitch and his Visa card arrived in 3 weeks and worked perfectly.

Are you finding that companies are sending stored value cards instead of checks? Let me know and comment on your experiences here in the Ilyce Glink Blog.

September 3, 2006