Same here. If the price is decent before rebate then sure I'll buy it, but if not, forget it. It's just not worth all the hassels now that rebate houses pretty much handle most of the rebates (even the maufactures ones). It's standard practice for these rebate houses to deny legitamate rebates and it just isn't worth all the time involved fighting them to give it to you.
Just a tip though. With office max, try dealing directlly with the store if possible. They have employees that specifically deal with rebate problems. I have gotten them to give me the rebate money in the past even though it was a manufactures rebate. they still make you go through a lot of trouble following up on it before they will do anything though.