Those "rebate" cards are the next thing to a scam. I'm pretty sure they count on the recipient not using all the money. My advice is to take the thing to the grocery store, the hardware store, and the mall, and use it for every purchase until it's gone. At the end it gets really tricky because you have to know in advance exactly how much is on it to use the last bit AND use it at a place that will take that last $12.42 (you supply the correct amount) for partial payment and your regular debit card for the balance. Figuring out how much is left may require a long automated coma-inducing call to the issuing bank. An alternative involves checking online entering the same numbers over and over until you give up and then make the coma-inducing call. Could they make it more difficult?

yikes! Isn't there an office of consumer advocacy or something that's supposed to limit this sort of nonsense?

Here's what I did when I got my $500 GE Profile rebate debit card: I just used it to make fairly large purchases, like close to $100 at a time. If I had tried to use it for many small amounts, it would have been aggravating. I wrote down each time I used it, and it didn't take long at all before it was completely used up. I even used it at the optometrist and my doctor's office! So, you can sort of recoup your installation costs, but in an indirect way.