Purchased a $10 Applebee's Gift card around 11/10/24 and received NOTHING

[RiverBoatAndrew]

I Purchased a $10 Applebee's Gift card around 11/10/24 and received NOTHING. I called AARP customer service the next morning and was told that I have to wait 24 hours before they could do anything. I explained that I've purchased many gift cards over the years and every one was emailed within minutes. Next day I called AGAIN and was told that my case would be "escalated" and that I would have a response within 5 days! It's now a week later and NOTHING AGAIN! Anyone else having an issue with gift card redemption?

[dl904t65]

Had this issue a while back of the card not being linked to the email, I keep my email from aarp of when they sent the card and the order number and they were able to resend the link.  This of course may not help you if you never received the email.  I now check ever email and check the link to make sure it takes me to a card before placing in a separate email folder until I use the card. If they did not send an email, maybe you can check your aarp rewards earning and purchase details for the actual date they removed the points and the transaction number, or if you purchased with creditcard check your statement for the transaction number. Of course you can not check the aarp rewards site for the information until they actually get that back up and running since I was going to let you know where that was but can't get there with the rewards site still down!

Hope you are able to resolve this since it is truly annoying when it does not work properly.

[RiverBoatAndrew]

I never received ANY email. Strange because I've been trading points for gift cards for years, but all of a sudden, this one never showed up! Contacted AARP customer service yesterday and they said I need to wait until WEDNESDAY until they can do anything?! Wednesday will be the 4th time I had to contact them just to have this straightened out! AARP customer service is NOT very helpful on this one 😞

[AARPConsumerCare]

@RiverBoatAndrew Thank you for reaching out and letting us know you still have not received your gift card. I can definitely understand how frustrating this can be. I'm terribly sorry for your experience. Let me take a look at your account and see what's going on. Please send me a private message with your full name, mailing address and email address, so I can locate your account. You may need to enable your private messages first, here is an article with steps to do that: https://aarp.info/47hWcl7.  - Janelle M.

[RiverBoatAndrew]

Update... I just spent another 30 minutes chatting with AARP agent Melissa. She would not transfer me to Janelle M. And she was absolutely NO help whatsoever. She wanted to "escalate" my case which means nothing to me! I told her that my case was already "escalated" 5 days ago by another agent... Which apparently did NOTHING as I was told at that time that I would receive a response within 5 days! This is AARP at its finest folks! 😡

[AARPConsumerCare]

@RiverBoatAndrew I'm so sorry your chat experience was unsuccessful. If you do not hear back from your original escalation within the 5 business day timeframe, we would then need to escalate it to our next level of support. I encourage you to reach out to us again to have the escalation opened so our Consumer Care team can investigate your account issue. I understand you do not have the option for private messages here on the Community site, please reach out to us using one of the following methods when you have a moment: https://aarp.info/3epCObA  - Janelle M.

[RiverBoatAndrew]

So WHERE is the "ENABLE PERSONAL MESSAGES" button Janelle M.????

[RiverBoatAndrew]

Janelle M... Is there some other way to contact you directly? I've asked to be transferred to you but the agents tell me that they can't do that (AARP policy). HELP!

[AARPConsumerCare]

@RiverBoatAndrew I'm terribly sorry. I'm not able to accept transfers. Please know you can rest assured that our amazing phone and chat agents are able to check on your escalation and send it to our next level of support if needed. I encourage you to reach out to our team via chat or phone again for further assistance.  - Janelle M.

[RiverBoatAndrew]

And so here we are, 2 weeks from the day of my original PURCHASE of the $10 Applebee's Gift card and I still haven't heard back from AARP?!! Your customer service is PATHETIC! I've chatted with at least 6 different AARP customer service agents and NONE of them can resolve this. Let this be a WARNING to anyone considering a purchase on the AARP site! You may never receive whatever you purchase and AARP customer service agents will NOT help you!

[RiverBoatAndrew]

Update... It's day 15 and still NO response from AARP, even though my issue was "escalated" 5 days ago, and the AARP customer service "agent" that I chatted with PROMISED that I would have a response within 3-5 days! This is what you will be dealing with if you purchase anything from AARP folks! More to come...

[RiverBoatAndrew]

It's now day 16 and still NO response from AARP! I contacted another AARP customer service agent today and they told me that they are still working on it!!! Is this pathetic or what?!?!? This is NOT how members should be treated folks! 16 days and counting!

[AARPConsumerCare]

@RiverBoatAndrew I can see why this would be upsetting, and I wish I could fix it for you. I'm glad you were able to reach out to our team to follow up on your escalation. Be sure to keep an eye out for an email from our Consumer Care Ombudsman team once they complete their review of your case.  - Janelle M.

[RiverBoatAndrew]

Yes, that's what I was told, that the Ombudsman team was now working on it as of 11/26. TY

[RiverBoatAndrew]

And so AARP did refund my 22,000 points that I originally used to purchase the $10 Appleby's GIFT CARD... However, I wanted the GIFT CARD, not my points refunded. So after wasting hours of my time and extreme aggravation... Nothing was done other than refund my points. SADLY PATHETIC!

[AARPConsumerCare]

@RiverBoatAndrew You're welcome!  - Janelle M.

[RiverBoatAndrew]

My account will not allow me to enable private messages 😞  All this frustration for a $10 gift card? Seriously?

[RiverBoatAndrew · Accepted solution]

I just received a $10 Appleby's GIFT CARD and I am grateful for whoever finally resolved this matter. THANK YOU!