AARP Gives Out Gift Cards, Vendor Refuses to Honor, AARP Refuses to Help. This is AARP Advocacy?

[KennethK249742]

I won a $500 Walgreens gift card in a raffle from AARP, and received an email from AARP containing the digital gift card.  I did not use the card.  On April 18, 2025, I received an email from AARP stating in part that:

    "Walgreens has notified AARP Rewards about a compromise involving a gift card you redeemed via AARP Rewards. As a result, the card has been voided, and the remaining balance can no longer be used in its current form.

        In order to resolve this issue, Walgreens has requested that you contact their customer care team at 1-833-522-2487. Walgreens will be able to provide an active replacement gift card including your remaining balance."

 I called the indicated telephone number.  After a lot of back and forth, Walgreens said that the card the card was redeemed and thus had a zero balance and could not be replaced.  They would not tell me when, where, how or by whom the card was redeemed.  I see in Community that many others have had issues with Walgreens gift cards.

I went  as far as filing a complaint with the BBB in Illinois, Walgreens home state.  In one response, Walgreens said it does not have a relationship with AARP and did not provide AARP with gift cards.  Where did AARP get Walgreens gift cards then?  AARP won't answer that question either.

I was then asked to contact an AARP Rewards person (after I had already done an online chat and been told they could not help).  I did so, and she has ghosted me.  No response whatsoever.

The lessons I get here appear to be that 1) Walgreens does not stand by its gift cards once issued, and 2) that AARP will disclaim all responsibility for gift cards that it hands out and do nothing to help its members in this situation.

If this is the kind of advocacy that AARP conducts, we can all kiss our Social Security and Medicare goodbye.  I am not very happy about paying to be a member of AARP right now.

[JohnD955022]

Kenneth - For what it is worth, I have the same situation with a $500 Walgreens gift card.  After a number of attempts I was able to communicate with someone from Walgreens and after a few emails she informed a couple of weeks ago that a new gift card was issued and sent AARP.  I am now waiting to hear back from AARP.  

[SpringIsHereVA]

John @JohnD955022 & Kenneth @KennethK249742 , I hope you get this resolved SOON!!! Good Luck.

[GailL1]

I cannot speak to your specific situation but most merchants will have a gift card expiration because it clears a “debt” off their books.  So, it is more of an accounting feature for them to do it this way.  Plus, I assume that the longer it takes to honor the gift card amount, the more likely that the card may have been lost but it still has to be cleared off their books. 

A bit different but even our Government will cancel an EBT card after 9-months of non-use - 

[shamit]

I completely disagree.  I have several cards that I have received from AARP.  Almost all of them say NO EXPRIATION DATE.  I recently one a Walgreens Sweepstakes and it says NO EXPIRATION DATE.  How can they legally change their terms?

[WebWiseWoman]

Hi, Kenneth!

I was just wondering if it is possible AARP was scammed by their promotion providers, or involved somehow itself...

Checking other complaints just since 01-Jan-2025 seems to indicate an amazing amount of loss to Members with the same issues, be it cruise or retail gift cards. Especially when considering this Walgreens issue...

Thanks for the thorough and detailed information!

[GiannisK745032]

I’ve been stacking up gift cards redeemed through AARP’s rewards program over time, but when I tried to use them, I found all 8 had a zero balance. I was told they were canceled by AARP without any notice. What are they going to tell me? Inbox and wait forever for a reply. 

[AARPConsumerCare]

Hi GiannisK745032. I certainly understand why you'd be frustrated that the gift cards have a zero balance. Can you please send us a private message with your name and mailing address, so we may locate your AARP Rewards account and check on the gift cards for you? Visit https://aarp.info/47hWcl7 for directions on how to enable private messages. Thanks for being part of AARP Rewards. - Brandon C.

[SpringIsHereVA]

@GiannisK745032 , I wonder IF there was an EXPIRATION date involved maybe???

[GiannisK745032]

Not at all. "This card has no expiration date or fees"

[SpringIsHereVA]

@GiannisK745032 , well someone needs to fix this for you!!!

[AARPConsumerCare]

KennethK249742 When Walgreens informed us about the compromise they experienced, they provided the contact telephone number for us to share with you. We were assured that their agents are trained to handle the issue and should not be directing you back to us. Although you purchased or redeemed the gift card through our program, Walgreens issued the gift card and will need to assist you with replacing it, as the compromise occurred at Walgreens, not AARP. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. However, I will need to direct you back to Walgreens for assistance and suggest calling their customer service number again at 1-877-250-5823 for a reissue of your gift card. - Christy C. 

[KennethK249742]

Christy,

As I have told AARP repeatedly, and stated in my post above, I did call Walgreens several times and WALGREENS REFUSES TO HONOR OR REPLACE THE CARD.  Thus, telling me to call them again, even after I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (and was told Walgreens did not provide the card to AARP), is not helpful.

Why can't AARP tell me where and how it got these cards?  More importantly, why won't AARP advocate for its members on this issue?  Who at AARP can I escalate this to?

Ken Kaslow

[AARPConsumerCare]

KennethK249742 The cards were issued from Walgreens, Ken. This is why we refer you to them for reissue of your card if it was compromised. Please send us a private message or contact us, so we can work on this with you. If you haven't enabled private messaging, you can find the instructions here - https://aarp.info/47hWcl7 - For other ways to get in contact with us, click here - https://aarp.info/3epCObA - Christy C. 

[KennethK249742]

     1) I have tried chatting with Rewards before and got nowhere,

     2) You’ve told me to enable private messaging before BUT THERE IS NO BUTTON TO TURN IT ON UNDER PREFERENCES, along with numerous Rewards glitches.  I don’t know why it is so difficult for AARP to hire competent IT people.

     3). If Walgreens assures you that their people are trained to deal with this, why isn’t there someone there who we can call directly? No one I spoke to even seemed aware of the gift card problem until I explained it at great length, and even after that, as I said above, they denied even providing the cards to AARP.

     All the way around, this is a load of crap.  Again, who at AARP can I escalate this to? Someone who has some ability to do something should know that nothing is being done.

[SpringIsHereVA]

Kenneth @KennethK249742 , IF this is "important" to you, maybe try sharing your story with the media (newspapers, TV stations). Also doing a BBB Review seems to have helped some folks. As @rednexsrus , said total waste of time trying to get AARP to care. Sorry this happened to you. Good Luck!

[rednexsrus]

Hi Ken:

sorry to say but you are just wasting your time & breath with these yahoo’s. It might be a little different if we actually had humans in the Consumer Care Department but NOT.

AARP has put all of it’s resources into a bunch of inadequate bots.

😮‍💨