I thought that the appliance rebate was going to make some good headlines for Gov. Culver. But it looks like it is going down as a fiasco. The program was supposed to start at 8:00AM today, but by 8:10, the website was already down.
It only had the message: "The service is unavailable."
The phone lines are also jammed. Most of the time I don't even get a busy signal, it just leaves me hanging, listening to static. Has anyone else tried to get a rebate yet?
UPDATE from desmoinesdem: The $2.8 million in stimulus money for these rebates in Iowa was exhausted in one day. Representative Bruce Braley has urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “to include funding for clean energy appliance rebate programs in any jobs legislation considered by the House.”
12 Comments
a bit early
to call the program a failure, but I understand your frustration. I hope they get the site/phone lines working.
I’ll see if I know anyone else who’s had a similar problem.
desmoinesdem Mon 1 Mar 9:37 AM
website still not working
as of 9:45 am today. Here’s more about the program:
desmoinesdem Mon 1 Mar 9:48 AM
10:45 Update
The website is still down, and so are the phone lines. But at least I am getting a busy signal now, I guess that’s progress.
corncam Mon 1 Mar 10:45 AM
KCCI-TV in Des Moines
says people have been reporting problems this morning. Republican activist/blogger Dave Chung also hasn’t been able to get through.
desmoinesdem Mon 1 Mar 9:58 AM
Comment from Gazette Online
There is a growing list of comments on the Cedar Rapids Gazette website. One of them was interesting, but I have no idea if it is true.
corncam Mon 1 Mar 10:51 AM
WHO report
At 11:05, WHO reported that the whole system is shut down, and that they hope to be operational later today. I’m going to hold off on further updates until something changes, but it sure looks like this is going to lead the evening news tonight.
corncam Mon 1 Mar 11:07 AM
forgot to mention
that this is not a state program, it’s a federal initiative using funds from last year’s stimulus bill. It is administered by the Iowa Office of Energy Independence, but it wasn’t a Culver administration invention.
desmoinesdem Mon 1 Mar 1:12 PM
After much redialing I got in via phone,
was apologized to (and placed on hold by a recording), then after waiting for a while, was told to call back later – and hung up on.
iowafarmboy Mon 1 Mar 3:07 PM
They ran out of money about 3:00PM
Now they are only taking names for the waiting list. I never got through on the phone, and the web site never got past the page for entering my name and address.
corncam Mon 1 Mar 3:21 PM
I just got in, and was told there is still money -
just before they put me on hold, let me sit, then came back to say, “call back later” – and hung up on me again.
iowafarmboy Mon 1 Mar 3:36 PM
Just to maybe help someone else
I can confirm that, as mentioned elsewhere on the web, Firefox works on the rebate site where IE and Safari don’t.
Of course, the money has run out; waiting list only for everything. 2.7 million gone in less than 6 hours.
iowafarmboy Mon 1 Mar 4:01 PM
interesting
because this morning I tried to get on the site using Firefox, and couldn’t get through.
The rebate certainly seems to have stimulated a lot of appliance purchases. In the long run many people will save energy and money on utility bills. I
desmoinesdem Mon 1 Mar 4:36 PM