Rebate Firm CPG Files Ch. 11

By Greg Scoblete -- TWICE, 11/21/2008

Tampa,, Fla. – The Chapter 11 filing of rebate fulfillment firm Continental Promotion Group (CPG) has sent manufacturers and retailers scrambling to find an alternative provider.

Among the vendors posting warnings to their customers about the possible rebate issues are Adobe, Canon and Logitech.

CPG serviced a wide range of rebates from retailers such as Costco and Newegg and manufacturers such as Westinghouse Digital, Samsung and Pentax.

“The bankruptcy filing will allow CPG to restructure its business while continuing to provide services to both new and existing customers during the restructuring period, and we anticipate emerging from Chapter 11 with the assistance of counsel, our clients and the court that supervises this process,” said CPG general counsel Kevin Iurato, in a statement.

“We are working with our clients to the extent possible to assist with the honoring of consumer rebate checks outstanding prior to the bankruptcy filing or providing alternate direction to consumers.”

CPG has not responded to a request for information.

Canon warned its customers that CPG checks issued for printer and video products may bounce. A spokesman said the company has also secured a new rebate fulfillment partner.

According to a letter posted on its Web site, Canon is telling its customers not to cash rebate checks printed on or before November 14.

For its part, Logitech has said through a spokesperson that its rebate holders “should be able to deposit their checks without any issues.”

Adobe is reissuing rebate checks for Photoshop Elements 7, Premiere Elements 7 and the bundle that combines both titles to its consumers. Adobe also said it would reimburse consumers who submitted the original rebate check and have incurred bank fees because the check did not clear.

An ArchBrook Laguna spokesperson told TWICE that the distributor is aware of the problem and is currently working to communicate directly with retailers who were involved in the rebate program. Once the company has reached all of the retailers, ArchBrook plans to post a complete list affected rebates on its Web site, along with a new address where consumers can have their rebates processed.

Pandigital has switched rebate providers to Parago “without any transition issues,” a spokesperson said. “All rebates in the pipeline are being forwarded to Parago for immediate payment. Also, all of our retailers were given new rebates by Tuesday of this week so we will have no impact on redemptions or any customer service issues.”

“We worked with them historically, in 2007 and 2006, but currently we don’t have any activities planned with them. So it has not impacted our plans whatsoever,” said Tom Murray, TomTom marketing VP. – Additional reporting by Colleen Bohen, Amy Gilroy, Lisa Johnston