Fixed, "Unable to process your redemption request" -- Update: next day, getting error again

[RenateW69623]

For everyone who has this problem, I just wanted to let you know that I finally got it fixed on my account today.  Contacted customer service about this on October 30, so it took a little over a week to fix.  Not sure what caused this, but the email I got today just said "Our technical team has completed their review. You access was restored and should now be able to redeem points if the Rewards program guidelines are followed.".  After receiving this email, I logged into my account and was able to do Instant Wins and Sweepstakes.  I've already missed a week of entering sweepstakes, so almost zero chance I will win, but wanted to see if it worked and it did.  Haven't tried to redeem a gift card (there are still 2 extra credit ones left, but don't want to waste a redemption on those).

I was kind of hoping they might just do something in the system to fix it for everyone who has this problem, but it looks like they can't (or won't) do that. It seems like something got screwed up in our accounts, and everyone who has this problem will need to contact customer service to get their accounts fixed.

[RenateW69623]

Well, I spoke too soon.  This was fixed yesterday, but just tried to do Instant Wins today and the error message is back. Really would be nice to know why this is happening.

[LisaC921113]

I haven't been able to redeem points for anything since 12/5/2024.  I think we should all get refunds for the time we have not been able to redeem. It was escalated and they said they would get back to me in 5-10 days and I haven't heard from them.

[SeanK1]

My account got locked again right after this maintance they had. Funny is I haven't done any points activies (videos or quiz) since the begining of the month for the extra credit and only done instant wins, so let's see if they claim I've done fraud again.

[Spring2025]

That is awful Renata @RenateW69623 !!!  😤😤😤  And it will be Monday before you can get help as you know they are off on weekends.

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[*** RENATA wrote: Well, I spoke too soon.  This was fixed yesterday, but just tried to do Instant Wins today and the error message is back. Really would be nice to know why this is happening. ***]

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[SeanK1]

So instead of fixing the issue, they decided to disable my account saying I broke the Terms of Service. I guess having over 1.7 million points and doing quizes, points everyday, saving over $3300 and being a 5 year old member means nothing to them. I can't get a hold of the person I was told was the point of contact and normal customer service can't do anything. I also have $300 worth of gift cards that I bought that they are saying they are voiding too.

Complete mess when they can't get a working program on a daily base.

[g411650t]

I'm having the exact same problem and no one at AARP wants to help me. I kept asking Desi how I was violating the terms of service but of course, no response. Going on two weeks now, unable to redeem points.

[RenateW69623]

Also, there were a lot of people in other posts who said they were getting this error on their accounts.  I wonder how many of them tried to get it fixed, but instead got disabled.  I have a friend with the same problem, but she hasn't contacted customer service about it yet, since she was waiting to see if I got mine fixed.  When I told her what happened to you, she said she is just going to quit this program (says it's not worth the hassle) and hope she can still use the gift cards she hasn't used, assuming they haven't been voided yet.

[RenateW69623]

Wow, that sucks.  Did they said what Terms of Service they think you broke?  I was wondering about the wording in the email I got, which said "if the Rewards program guidelines are followed" which made it sound like I wasn't following the guidelines, but I have no idea what that might have come from.

[SeanK1]

"Upon reviewing this matter, we ask that you review the guidelines for the AARP Rewards program. Per our terms and conditions, points that have been obtained fraudulently or through gaming techniques is a violation of the program. As a reminder, not following the guidelines will result in issues using the program. Note the section on the rules for completing earn activates."

No idea why they said this "fraudulently or through gaming techniques" I've done no such thing. But this email also makes me think it's a warning, but if it is then why am I no longer able to do anything?

[AARPConsumerCare]

@SeanK1 I'm so sorry for any frustration this has caused. Are you still experiencing an issue on the Rewards site after your escalation was completed? Please send me a private message with your full name, email address and mailing address so I can locate your account and look into this further.  - Janelle M.

[SeanK1]

I've already sent you my info. Do you need it again? Escalation person Travis never answers any calls or seems to answer my emails and now claiming they are going to void my 3 Carnival gift cards which you guys already taken money out and no idea when I'll even get my money back now my account won't allow me to do videos or quizes or redeem anything along black bar that shows points, savings and latest points I earned. Keeps saying to login in red acting like my account is suspended.

[AARPConsumerCare]

@SeanK1  I'm terribly sorry, I don't see a private message here with the info. If you'd like us to ensure the issue gets escalated, please send a private message so we can pull up your account and confirm the details. Thank you.  - Janelle M.

[SeanK1]

@AARPConsumerCare Sent info. Did you get it?

[AARPConsumerCare]

@SeanK1 I got it! Thank you! I responded as well 😄  - Janelle M.

[r767831w]

I spoke to a customer service rep about a week ago and have heard nothing further.  It was supposed to be escalated and fixed.  IT IS NOT FIXED!

[SeanK1]

I'll send it again.

[RenateW69623]

Sure would be nice if they gave more details. How can you even obtain points "fraudulently or through gaming techniques"? You have to watch a video or take a quiz to earn points, and if you don't complete the video or quiz, you don't get the points. Or are they talking about other things like using fitness trackers? But I don't use those, so not sure what happened with my account to get this problem in the first place. Would be nice to know, so this can be avoided in the future.

[Spring2025]

Renata @RenateW69623 , nothing was done fraudulently in my opinion. Just another software "glitch" AARP really needs to UNINSTALL and hire COMPETENT IT personnel (humans).

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[*** RENATA wrote: Sure would be nice if they gave more details. How can you even obtain points "fraudulently or through gaming techniques"? You have to watch a video or take a quiz to earn points, and if you don't complete the video or quiz, you don't get the points. Or are they talking about other things like using fitness trackers? But I don't use those, so not sure what happened with my account to get this problem in the first place. Would be nice to know, so this can be avoided in the future. ***]

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[Spring2025]

[11/8/24] Sean @SeanK1 , maybe AARP only "blocked" the accounts they felt a need to "investigate" for fraud since NOT EVERYONE was/has been blocked. I am so sorry you are still blocked!!! I feel, maybe wrong - but this year 2024, AARP is cutting lose their "human employees" with retirement and replacing with "software" that is obviously NOT working out.

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[*** SEAN wrote: "Upon reviewing this matter, we ask that you review the guidelines for the AARP Rewards program. Per our terms and conditions, points that have been obtained fraudulently or through gaming techniques is a violation of the program. As a reminder, not following the guidelines will result in issues using the program. Note the section on the rules for completing earn activates."

No idea why they said this "fraudulently or through gaming techniques" I've done no such thing. But this email also makes me think it's a warning, but if it is then why am I no longer able to do anything? ***]

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[MemberS2006]

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[AARPConsumerCare]

@MemberS2006 Let me help clear this up! That's simply not true. We are all real life agents on the Community site and on our Consumer Care team that handle the escalations. I'm terribly sorry for your experience and I can understand that you may think there is AI customer service bots because we have to ask for the same account info from each person that reports an account issue. That email that you pasted is directly from our Consumer Care Ombudsman team. Did you have an opportunity to respond to them and ask for clarification about if the rules that were broken? We are actively working to fix the issues that are being reported by our members. If you are experiencing this issue on your Rewards account, please know that we will need to speak with you in private message in order to locate the account and review the details to escalate if needed. Once our Rewards site is back up later today, let me know if you continue to get that redemption error message. If you do, please send me a private message with your full name and mailing address, so I can take a look at your account.  - Janelle M.

[r767831w]

No offense intended, Janelle M., but don't you feel a little foolish that they're forcing you to say that AARP is "actively working to fix this issue," when obviously AARP is NOT doing that?  There is no computer glitch in the world, no matter how complicated, that takes literally weeks to fix.  If AARP cared enough about us to want to fix this, it would have fixed this.  I haven't been able to redeem for three weeks now, and despite it having been escalated twice, nothing has changed.

[RenateW69623]

I'm not sure if these are bots, since the responses are slightly different.  Here is part of an email I received, also from Cynthia:

per our terms and conditions, points that have been obtained fraudulently or through gaming techniques is a violation of the program. If these rules are not followed, you will have issues with the program which may result in a permanent loss of access to Rewards.

Regards,
Cynthia
Consumer Care

I got this yesterday and sent a reply saying I only earn points by doing quizzes, watching videos, and entering promo codes from AARP emails that I receive.  How is any of that fraudulent?

[AARPConsumerCare]

@RenateW69623 I can assure you that is a valid reply from our Consumer Care Ombudsman team, not a bot! You may be interested in reviewing the AARP Rewards terms & conditions while you wait to hear back from our team: https://www.aarp.org/about-aarp/rewards-terms-and-conditions/. ?cmp=SNO-LITHIUM---&socialid=15263788764; - Janelle M.

[RenateW69623]

I have reviewed the terms and conditions and can't find anything in there to explain why my account was flagged with this error message and why the response from AARP suggests I am doing something fraudulent. I suspect that something changed in the AARP system, because I have not changed my rewards activity for the several years that I have been a member and have only been flagged now.  And from other comments in this post and other posts, no one else in this situation has been given any specific information as to why it has happened to them.

[AARPConsumerCare]

@RenateW69623 I completely understand what you're saying, and I'm really sorry for the frustration this has caused. You can expect to receive more info via email once they review the new escalation. Hopefully that will provide more insight.  - Janelle M.

[SeanK1]

Sad that I can't even talk to the person that was assgined to my case when he said I could call him. Left two messages and called bunch of times. I even called the other number I was given and no one answers it. I don't like that they can accuse me of something, but I can't defend myself and have somone to acually look into things. I beleivie they just go with whatever their system tells them even if its messes up, just like how every month extra credit is broken and when the website fails most of the time.

[Spring2025]

Sean @SeanK1 , when the person who created AARP was still alive, members were treated with respect. But it is not only AARP. Other places like Disney and Walmart are the same. When Walt was still alive, he CARED about his employees and folks who visited Disney. Sam would visit his Walmarts, mingle with his employees and customers.

Now these 3 places care about MONEY.

I am NOT blaming the AARP Employees for how we are being treated = NO customer service on the weekends and ONLY during the week 8am ET to 8pm ET.

They work for AARP and doing the best they can with what they are told to do.

Bottom line, whomever takes over from the RETIRED head of AARP needs to held ACCOUNTABLE = or things will only get worst.

This site use to be VIBRANT years ago with happy members. Now it is boring, dead with NEW members leaving soon after joining.

Take Care!

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[*** SEAN wrote: Sad that I can't even talk to the person that was assgined to my case when he said I could call him. Left two messages and called bunch of times. I even called the other number I was given and no one answers it. I don't like that they can accuse me of something, but I can't defend myself and have somone to acually look into things. I beleivie they just go with whatever their system tells them even if its messes up, just like how every month extra credit is broken and when the website fails most of the time. ***]

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[SeanK1]

Indeed, yet they will continue to reduce the gift card values some used to be $100, $50, $25 now down to $10 to $5. We used to be able to get 5 gift cards with points now down to 3 and could get the same gift card 3 times. Now they keep raising the point values for points gift cards and reducing the savings on buying gift cards, yet they are going to increase membership fee's in Jan.

They gotten way to crazy! I love this program, but they keep making it worst with each update. Shame!