A reminder that Sony's offer of five free Master tapes with purchase of a new HDV camcorder, including the Canopn AI, G1, or H1, expires March 31, 2007.

The link is:
https://www.hi5mer.com/merlin/sonyhi5?command=get&style=home

this would be a nice deal....if it wouldn't give me an error message everytime it try to register, and if sony would reply to my emails : )

The March issue of DV magazine has a full page ad that promotes a 5 tape offer with the purchase of a Sony DVCAM deck. I took them up and ordered one from B&H. The link in the advertisment has no information about the offer. I called the Rebate processing center and they have no idea about the offer being advertised. Email has not been returned.

I emailed the editor in chief at DV magazine and his response was "Yikes!...Stay tuned, I will find out what is what"

I have spend a couple of hours trying to get my tapes. Sony makes some cool stuff, but they seem a bit disorganized.

'Stay Tuned'!

I had no problem registering. There could be an issue with AV software, browser, proxy server, or firewall settings.

I bought an XHA1 from B+H (which is a great place to deal with), filled out the online rebate form on the Sony site:

https://www.hi5mer.com/merlin/sonyhi5?command=get&style=home

I sent in the receipt and all the information that was asked for. My claim was rejected because B+H does not print the serial number of the camera on the receipt. I spoke to Sony six times, faxed warranty cards and was told my claim would be considered. That was over a month ago, still no tapes. At this point it's not worth the effort to keep calling them for 5 tapes. Instead I'll keep Sony's bait and switch offer in mind when choosing the tapes I use.

I bought an XHA1 from B+H (which is a great place to deal with), filled out the online rebate form on the Sony site:

https://www.hi5mer.com/merlin/sonyhi5?command=get&style=home

I sent in the receipt and all the information that was asked for. My claim was rejected because B+H does not print the serial number of the camera on the receipt. I spoke to Sony six times, faxed warranty cards and was told my claim would be considered. That was over a month ago, still no tapes. At this point it's not worth the effort to keep calling them for 5 tapes. Instead I'll keep Sony's bait and switch offer in mind when choosing the tapes I use.

Which receipt did you use? The receipt emailed me did NOT have the number, but the one that came packed with the camera DOES have the serial number. My initial request was done email and I used the wrong receipt (the one emailed), but once I mailed the copy of the original receipt with the serial number I got my tapes in a couple weeks.

There's something funky going on with this rebate biz. I too originally had problems trying to register on their site. Trying to send image files of the receipt (for 2 XH-A1's) would give errors after trying several times. Then I tried faxing all info and got line errors. I ended up mailing via certified mail with return receipt all required docs, which they received. On the site I get:

"Status: Rejected
Reason: Model number does not match backup received"

I checked to make sure both serial numbers were correct. What a crock! It's ok though, I'm not going to twist their arm for free tape that I'm not going to buy anyway :) It's just not worth the hassle.

Bill

I was amazed to see that my tapes came last week !
After all the problems I have read about I thought I would not get them.

The paperwork from Sony also said that all requests for the free tapes had to be in by April 30, for cams bought up to March 31. So if you bought last month you have to end of April to submit your claim.

Which receipt did you use? The receipt emailed me did NOT have the number, but the one that came packed with the camera DOES have the serial number. My initial request was done email and I used the wrong receipt (the one emailed), but once I mailed the copy of the original receipt with the serial number I got my tapes in a couple weeks.

I had faxed the B+H receipt with the serial number on it along with the warranty card and the online receipt. I have called the phone number on the site and have spoken to Kelly 3 times who told me they did receive my fax and everything was ok. After not receiving the tapes and continuing to see rejected on the website, I called again and spoke to Steve. Steve told me would forward my request onto Terry Lawn who is the head of the program. I got a call back from Steve saying my request was approved. That was at least six weeks ago, still no tapes. It seems I'm not the only who whose had problems with this rebate.

I also had trouble getting tapes. Kept getting bounced for incorrect serial number. Found that the number on the B&H receipt had too many characters! Used the number on the camera and got registered. Then had to call Sony to get an email address to send a jpeg photo of my receipt. Took a long time to get all required info into their system. About three weeks after submitting the info the tapes arrived. Two weeks after the tapes came I received a free Sony "Hi5" tee shirt and mouse pad!

I gave up too!! They lost my paperwork. Then when I re-submitted they said that it didn't match the original paperwork. HUH? They lost the original.

Then I had handwritten the serial# on the invoice and that was rejected too!!

Every twist and turn was a dead end. But I really won.

WHY?

So, Canon gained a well paying customer and SONY lost my business...4Ever.

So, Canon gained a well paying customer and SONY lost my business...4Ever.

Ditto!!! I now love Panny tapes!

I gave up a long time ago. system errors when I tried to put in all my info (actually, after I put in all my info..even worse)... and, it didn't say what was wrong, just a really vague error message. Tried a few times. mine was from B&H, so maybe the same problem w/ the length of the serial #'s. I gave up - was kind of stupid - if you're going to set something like that up, it should work.. if not, don't bother... nice idea, but execution looks bad on both sony's part and the fulfillment vendor's part too..

But they did get your name, address, etc. for their mailing list.

Hopefully someone from Sony PR reads this board and decides to do the right thing and make good on their offer. There are a lot of professional videographers who read and post here. There's nothing worse for a company then a bad rep.

I finally got my offer approved after being rejected several times.

I had to talk to the person in charge of the program "Mindy".

They did accept my back-up even though the receipt did not have the serial number on it. I faxed the UPC with the serial, the receipt and the page from the site.

The rejection was (they say) because the receipt did not have the serial number on it. But when I read their "terms" back to them proving that was not a requirement, they approved it on the phone with me.

Also she told me that "Sony" only gives them tapes once in a while. Then they approve enough requests for the number of tapes they got. They go through this process once in a while, when they get tapes.

She is expecting the next allotment next week, so call them to make sure you are on the list to be fulfilled.

Howard

I finally gave up with a bad taste in my mouth. I made 7 phone calls and was told 5 times the tapes had been authorized to be sent. I will never buy a sony product with a mail in rebate attached.