Some of the nation's biggest retailers are now asking the same questions KIRO 7 did when our Consumer Investigators first exposed an international rebate company.

Earlier this year, reporter Amy Clancy revealed that Star Rebates, which has a Seattle address, isn't really headquartered in Seattle at all. Clancy also learned that many consumers nation-wide are not getting their promised rebates.

Now, retailing giants Costco, Walmart and Chevron are taking notice of Star Rebates, because of Clancy’s report.

The three corporations tell Clancy they have no relationship with Star Rebates, yet their names and logos fill the Star Rebates flyer used to sell consumers on its money back program.

After Clancy’s first investigation aired and revealed that many program participants are not getting their rebates as promised, Clancy was inundated with dozens of emails from all over the country from even more Star Rebates customers who say they too have not received the rebate money promised. At the time, Star Rebates' president Sodi Hundal asked KIRO 7 and consumers to give the company time to catch up with the high demand.

But nearly four months later, of the 57 people who emailed KIRO 7, only four have received all the money they're owed. Two consumers have recovered partial rebates. The rest tell Clancy they are still waiting for their rebates.

Dave Nabors of Port Orchard is one of them.

"The Star Rebates ended up not working at all," Nabors said. "I got nothing. And I get stuck with a bill every month."

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Nabors said he signed up for Star Rebates through a man selling security systems. He said the salesman promised the monthly rebates would cover the monthly cost of an ADT alarm system; more than $40. Nabors is not getting the rebates, yet he still gets the bill for the security system every month, and he's angry he cannot get out of his contract. He told Clancy his attempts so far have been unsuccessful.

"They said, 'We got you; you signed the contract,'" Nabors said. "'This is not our problem. We’re not Star Rebates. We’re not them.' And I said, 'You guys are going door to door selling their product and representing them. You used Star Rebates as a selling point, how can you say it’s not your problem? It is your problem.'"

Colette McCully of Olympia signed up with Star Rebates because she said she trusted the names the company implies are its partners, especially Costco.

She told Clancy that upon signing up with Star Rebates, "you were supposed to choose a company, and we chose Costco."

But Rich Olin, a lawyer for Costco, told KIRO 7 the warehouse giant has no ties to Star Rebates. After Consumer Investigators brought a Star Rebates flyer with Costco's logo to the Issaquah-based company's attention, Olin said Costco was investigating how Star Rebates can claim to have a relationship with Costco when it doesn't.

Sean Comey, a spokesman for Chevron, told Clancy it, too, has no relationship with Star Rebates and "will take the appropriate actions necessary to stop what appears to be an unauthorized use of the Chevron brand.

"Dan Fogleman of Walmart said that company is also "concerned that the group is using our name without permission, and that it may be deceiving customers. We are continuing to pursue ways to get them to cease and desist."

ADT spokesman Bob Tucker also said his company has no relationship with Start Rebates. Tucker told Clancy that anyone who signed up with Star Rebates while buying an ADT alarm system signed up with the third party selling the system, not with ADT. He said questions should be directed towards those companies, not ADT.

And Sodi Hundal of Star Rebates agrees. He told Clancy the best way for Star Rebates customers to get their money is for them to appeal directly to the company that signed them up for the rebate program.

Meanwhile, consumers are still waiting for their rebates and Hundal says they may have to wait longer. He told Clancy the program is still seriously backlogged. When Clancy asked if Hundal could guarantee that all Star Rebates customers would eventually get all of their rebate money, Hundal admitted he could not make that promise. He claimed the company is "making progress."

Hundal said the names and logos of Costco, Chevron and Walmart will no longer be used.

The complaints against Star Rebates keep coming in. So far, the Washington State Attorney General's office has received 166 and the Better Business Bureau has logged 398.