Rewards for Good is horrible

[Epster]

@Tomsowa  Came back to say that I surpassed 700,000 Rewards points on Sunday. I bet I've spent fewer than 100,000 points since 4-15-2015, so they've just been piling up. No way will I spend 200,000 points on a $5 Walmart gift card. I earned these points by clicking around the site for a few minutes a day. I'm not spending them on low value gift cards, or second-rate merchandise, I can tell you that!

[Epster]

@Tomsowa Hi and welcome to the frustration that is Rewards for Good. It may not be an earth-shattering, life-saving topic, but it is one we talk about quite a lot.

Not only have other posters mentioned the lack of customer service and transparency of the administrating outfit, but we have mentioned the fact that the rewards points themselves are basically worthless as they are so ridiculously devalued. (Search this site for 'r4g earn points' to learn otherwise unpublished, so apparently secret, methods to earn more points.) 

Another point we've brought up is that the actual Rewards site stumbles along half broken year after year. For instance, the English language Medicare Q&A task, which was a daily renewing task for which one could earn 30 points, has been missing from the site for well over a year. The Spanish language version remains, however there's a trick to getting it to surrender those 30 daily points. And on it goes. 

I'm all for talking about these issues endlessly. Squeaky wheel and all.

[Tomsowa]

Sorry that I don't have a smart post on an important topic.

And if you think the Rewards for Good Program is well run, then skip this. I'm of the very opposite view, that the company AARP hired to run the rewards program is awful. Truly awful.

You can judge for yourself. A few months ago they switched the auction process and lo and behold, all the auctions now are running with bids in the hundreds of thousands of points. Even though it's illogical to believe that AARP members are making bids that average 230,000 points and higher. (the explanation that the bids now allow MAX point offers still doesn't explain why there are potentially that many points out there....)

In brief, that whole rewards system reeks and looks like a racket. Bids and sweepstakes are not being run transparently, because the firm behind it (based in Ohio) is not reliable or trustworthy.

The same firm was doing Verizon Wireless's rewards, until Verizon got smart and discarded them recently.  

If enough people start registering their displeasure, maybe the people here at AARP can make a similar move. If I find enough interest in this (not so significant) topic, I'll post a contact by which people can contact AARP and let them know our concern.