Suspicious Business Practices

Suspicious Business Practices

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By Wes Horrocks

With your dime in mind we have a company to tell you about that promises big rebates on home improvements, but never delivers. Now we're taking action for you.

It sounds almost too good to be true, get your windows replaced, send in a rebate four years later and you'll be reimbursed. But it seems the company behind it all is more likely to void your claim rather than send you a check.

The Moore family says they were skeptical about the offer promising to replace their windows for free, but they were assured that everything would be okay. Homeowner, Laura Moore, said, "Everything had to go in it's own registered envelope. You had to make copies and send in, and you had to sign drivers license pictures, and you had to send all kinds of stuff. And then they were supposed to validate it and send it back."

But rather than receiving a rebate check Laura received a letter denying their claim. Reading from the letter she said, "You did not send your registratino registered mail, and we did. You did not send your claim registered mail, and we did.

But the company behind the rebates, National Energy Rebate Fund doesn't make it easy to get your money. In fact, the rule explaining when to send in the rebate says, "You can only apply on or before the 17th day after the dealer gives you a rebate check no earlier than the 47th month after the issue date and later than the 30th day after.

But Laura has records showing they followed all the rules exactly. "I saved everything, made sure i had copies of everything. and I was really disappointed to find out it was a hoax," said Moore.

After doing a little checking it turns out the NERF has had problems with other customers. The Better Business Bureau has even given them an 'F' ranking for failure to follow-up on complaints, and says you need to be very careful when getting involved with any business. "If it's a scam or fraud issue, briefly, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is," said Donna Oe, President and CEO of the BBB.

We also learned from the Better Business Bureau that the NERF is currently being sued by Wisconsin for deception and misrepresentation, and Utah has fined the company and banned them from doing business in the state.
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