I have never been a fan of Epson. It was mostly because of my so-so experience with their printers, usually stemming from their use of gravity feeds for paper input. After not so long, the gravity feeds jammed on me, or sucked in five sheets of paper at once rather than one. This post at Ed Foster’s Gripelog details a nasty rebate scam program in which Epson (or their rebate clearinghouse) creates a bank account (Ecount) in your name with C/Base, a Pennsylvania-based financial institution. Instead of a rebate check, you are sent a debit card, complete with a VISA logo.
While this is not a horrible idea, it does beg the question as to how Epson or its affiliates can legally open a bank account in your name without your express approval. While it is convenient to have a debit card with a VISA logo that can be used at millions of retailers, it is troublesome that the recipient of the rebate is held responsible for an overlimit fee of $15 if the card is not returned to Epson (or its affiliate). The only way you can receive the rebate check is to return the debit card and wait another six to eight weeks. You are apparently not given the choice of receiving a check or a debit card when you fill out the rebate form.
So, this is yet another reason to not buy an Epson printer. What Epson has done here is basically trick its customers into having open bank accounts with some bank of Epson’s choosing. Let’s not even get into how this may affect your credit score or credit history. Shady rebate practices are the first non-hardware-related reason Epson has given me to not purchase their equipment. So, if you managed to never have a bad experience with Epson hardware, at least be aware of how the corporate office treats their customers.
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