Oh, he's not the only one! My first one was rejected because the dealer delayed in getting the registration info submitted to DMV on time. I submitted two more times (once soon after the rejection, then a few days later when I got the plates). BOTH checks were cashed... only got one set of stickers, though! Not worth fighting with the state over $8 to get my refund.

Anyway, the lesson here is to make sure the dealer actually submits the registration! Just because you have the paper tag doesn't actually mean they did anything with DMV!