Well they didn't respond to my demand letter so the next step is via the courthouse. I will prepare my claim today and file it tomorrow.

I always photo copy all documents sent in for the rebate, including the fron of the envelope to prove it was properly labeled in the event they deny they recieve it. I have been denied rebates 3 times since i have been doing this over the countless times i sent them in with out issue. Every time i received a postcard/letter stating the reason iwas denied the rebate, and was able to fax the copies i made of reseipt/upc/rebate form etc. and was able to successfullly complete every rebate i have ever applied for. it may or may not be too late for you to resend this information, but it will be helpfulk for future rebates. Also please check out this website www.ibuypower.com it has been many years since i purchased a premade system, but am told there's are quality machines, although some customers have reported videocards glued into machines, and unable to upgraded without replacing motherboard, but there prices cannot be beat for premade systems imho. i would never purchase a premade desktop, but have been considering a laptop from them for school. Also, build your own is very economical if you shop sale and www.newegg.com, after one build you can upgrade your pc one component at a time to maintain a top of the line rig if you so desire as opposed to buying a new sytem every time. Most difficult part of a build is installation of windows and drivers. Sorry for such long post....... Hope i was able to help someone.

in my opinion, "rebate" = "we have zero respect for our customers, as we expect them to be lazy losers, easily enticed buy a low $# . . . and the 5% who we expect to slip thru the cracks, and send-in, we can toy with to eternity."

"rebates" :rolleyes: . .bait, and re-bait . . . change the spelling to protect the lure.

The only kind of "rebate" that I pay attention to is the instant in-store rebate. Any rebate that I have to apply for is as good as worthless, IMO. I don't have the time to track down and extract payment for each of these, so I don't get most of them, and that is exactly what the companies know will happen.

Sorry this happened with Alienware, though. Seem like neat computers.

As for building your own PC, I used to do that. My current desktop is the last one I built, a dual-CPU SCSI machine. I don't think it makes sense to build a run-of-the-mill machine that you could buy for $500, but if you want something special (that would cost >$1500 to buy), and your time is free (including all the time to sort out software drivers etc) then it is fun and educational. Worth doing once, just to learn about PCs.