Rebate checks not honored at Staples.

So, I was heading to Staples one day and my sister says, "Here, take this." and hands me a rebate check she got from Staples. She had purchased a labeler and there was a mail-in rebate check sent back to her for $20.

So, off I go to Staples. As the girl is ringing up my purchases, I hand her the check. "Oh, sorry, we don't take those here."

"What do you mean? Its your check, why wouldn't you accept them?"

"Sorry, you have to take them to the bank." Well that is a pain in the butt, but now I am committed.

I take it to the bank and cash it on the following Monday.

Fast forward to more than a week later I see this on my bank statement.


For the life of me I cannot remember what this was. So I fire off an angry email to my bank. There is no corresponding $20 entry in the last 3 months on my statements. And I get this reply, "The entry labelled "Item Rtd Unpaid" refers to the cheque from Staples that was deposited into your account on January 9, 2009. This cheque was returned because they placed a stop payment on it."

Are you kidding me? Now I have to wait til they mail the stupid thing back to me to find out what the hell went wrong with it.

Although, now it becomes clear why they wouldn't accept it at Staples, they probably knew it was worthless.