Content starts here
CLOSE ×

Search

Re: Disappointed in the new rewards program

Reply
Contributor

Re: Disappointed in the new rewards program

No Auctions and can win only one sweepstake a month.  Who would be happy with the changes?

39,926 Views
115
Report
Periodic Contributor

A member for 8 years. They didn't send me the email they said they sent out saying the Rewards for Good expires 9/23/2019. Lost all my points!

Two weeks ago I tried to redeem new rewards for gift cards. What a pain. Turns out they charged my credit card $55.00 but never sent me the cards. I received emails from the 3 different vendors of the cards with NO link to redeem. (I didn't expect virtual cards or print outs either). No mail either.

 

I contacted AARP and spoke to Cynthia, who couldn't understand the problem and said 'that order is unflled'. Hmm, right, Cynthia - that's why I'm calling you! She said: 'You'll have to call the Rewards Hotline later to fix this - they aren't available' and said she couldn't give me a direct line. Great.

 

I waited 15 minutes and called back and spoke with Bill who was frustrated and sympathetic but the only thing he could do was give me each vendor's phone number and told me to call them to ask for a refund or a link to redeem the card.

 

No refund from AARP - they are now just a website where you can save a few bucks on gift cards but if you have problems you'll have to contact each vendor. When you place an order you think you are getting the cards in the mail, bulk, like before with the Goods program. Not now.

I think AARP needs to direct the buyer to each site when purchasing - THAT WAY YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GETTING INTO? And the tiny amount saved on each card is now moot since I've spent valuable time trying to resolve this issue

 

I will NOT be using the rewards program at all. Note: Turns out Bill says there is NO Rewards Hotline. Which one should I believe? Cynthia or Bill? Ha.

6,659 Views
3
Report
Community Manager
Community Manager

@Hums777   I am sorry you have not gotten the answers from our customer service.  I would be happy to follow up with you!  I see you have purchased three gift cards - have you received any of those?  I can follow up to see where they are if not.  You can also email me at community@aarp.org with any specifics.

 

Additionally, the emails for our old program were mailed for several months and our website also had announcements for the months leading up to the change.  We are sorry you did not see these announcements as we really did try to insure all of our users were notified.  

AARPTeri
0 Kudos
6,732 Views
1
Report
Periodic Contributor

Okay, thanks. I used to get all the notifications but that notification...no.

I had to get the emails sent to me again to download the 'gift cards' and print them out. Frustrating amount of time spent to follow up and get the rewards. I ordered actual gift cards so me spending my time and effort, paper and ink to print out wasn't worth the $2.00 saved per card. I understand about recycling and don't object to the paper cards - however, AARP shouldn't offer actual gift cards - they should state the cards will need to be printed out and a link will be sent. So confusing.

6,653 Views
0
Report
Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello @Hums777 

It's horrible that you never received the email informing us of the end of R4G and lost all your points.  Nobody could carry any points to the new program.  Your points went into the 50+ Winners Thank You Sweeps and nobody in the community has stated that they won.

I think it was a money issue which caused R4G to hype the new program and launch it as a Beta version for us to report all the problems.  With the 5 years experience they should know every problem that the members would encounter.

The gift card discounts are sad, and limits on everything.

I think that all of the member testers should get a $250.00 VISA card for time finding and reporting issues.

Hope you can get your money refunded.

 

Have a Blessed Day,

Marylin

6,791 Views
0
Report
Conversationalist

And then there is today's Daily Instant win.  A $5 gift card for Whole Foods.  $5 does not go far at Whole Foods.  So, you spend points to gamble on winning.  If you lose, you don't get your points back.  If you win, you get the card, but you forgo any chance of winning something better the rest of October.  Talk about a lose lose situation!

7,666 Views
0
Report
Contributor

The new program is no incentive to use if you want desirable rewards.  $9 for a $10 gift card, $45 for a $50 gift card - truly that is nothing very desirable.  Of course, many of the articles and information are valuable but they seem poorly arranged and just scattered around.

 

Receiving free items for points would be very good, but they need to be quality items.  This is what would attract readers to your publications.  Your articles are very helpful and valuable to people, but it does not help to advertise good point benefits, when they truly are not.

7,696 Views
0
Report
Contributor

Bring back the old rewards program.

7,480 Views
0
Report
Conversationalist

On a side note, the way the rewards program is working at the moment might save me some money. I will be going on cruises in the next two months, three weeks total, and I have less of an incentive to pay for internet access so I can keep getting points.  The only thing I might want to get online for are the sweepstakes. But since I have never won anyway, I guess I'll just have to miss some entries.

7,575 Views
5
Report
Super Contributor

This new program is, in my opinion, worthless. Even if I wanted to buy something by using my points, I can't because the bugs haven't been worked out. If I click on something to buy, I get is this irritating pop-up that tells me to join their rewards program!  At this point, it's a total waste of my time.

7,552 Views
4
Report
Super Contributor

    I don't doubt that your having problems with the rewards program, the question is why. I have been doing very well since the new rewards program started. I have only had a few very minor problems earning and redeeming points which a quick page refresh usually takes care of. So far during the new program I have earned over 500.00 in free gift cards mostly from the 3 redemptions per month and also several daily sweepstakes wins. When the new program first started I was very skeptical about it but have found that for me it pays off way better than the old .

0 Kudos
5,752 Views
1
Report
Super Contributor

i have no problem with earning or redeeming but just not much on the rewards page i can use 

0 Kudos
3,174 Views
0
Report
Trusted Social Butterfly

Hello @ej64073754 

 

I agree, and you should be the Top Author in this forum.  You have 11 Kudos😊

 

Have a Blessed Day

Marylin

0 Kudos
5,833 Views
0
Report
Periodic Contributor

Read my recent review. I tried to buy gift cards under the new rewards programs. A nightmare bc of the bugs! I don't recommend it at all.
6,809 Views
0
Report
Bronze Conversationalist

I, too, have noticed many things about the new Rewards program to make me wonder how I will react over time. As Russell pointed out, are we serving ourselves by gathering points?

Sure, I'm getting more points each day, but from what I've seen, on some items, they seem to be worth much less in value toward items than they were in RfG. In other areas, they are worth just as much or more, such as with the sweepstakes for Tuscany. We can sign up for up to five entries per day (more if you want to use snail mail to get more entries). If you can sign up for a certain number of entries per day on such a sweepstakes, the only concern might be if you have enough points accumulated to do so.

We get a slight stroke to the ego by the fact that we do earn more points than we need in order to go after those things we want from the AARP Rewards offerings.

I'm still holding out for time to tell me what I truly want from the new AARP Rewards program. I don't know if it will be a week, a month, a year, or whatever before I figure it out.

Still, I won't let the new AARP Rewards, as it stands now, dissuade me from my membership in AARP. I've already gained enough tangible and intangible rewards from AARP and the RfG to make me believe that I'm a life member of AARP. The AARP Rewards program we have now is a bonus, even with its bugs and other things we might not like about it.

Through this forum and other means to contact those who can make changes to the program, perhaps we can help make it better for all.

Enjoy!

7,619 Views
1
Report
Bronze Conversationalist

They're not listening. I've been saying that they need to hire extra Programmers to fix the bugs in the Rewards Program. I can't stand the fact that I have to clear my cache files everytime I want to see my Balance total. They also had for a quick minute some Items For Points ( and I mean a minute ) but do to the 3 Redemption policy I have to wait until next month. I'm just saying. 

Concerned Member
0 Kudos
5,526 Views
0
Report
Conversationalist

I expected there to be bugs or issues, but not this many.  I am somewhat disappointed becuase of the number, but I have faith that they will be fixed, but it will probably take longer due to the number of problems that need to be fixed.  I even suspect that some of the fixes will have to be fixed as well.  That's the nature of these things lately.  

 

One thing though. If I had known there would be limits placed on some of the things we can purchase I would have been more vocal about it before the switch.  Specifically the Carnival cards.  When they were available, before the pin fiasco, it looked like there were no points needed to buy them.  Same is true on other gift cards, although I haven't clicked on any to confirm that.  Because of that, I wonder, what is the point of going after a large number of points?  I am starting to feel like an idiot trying to max out my points every day, not knowing what I would ever use them for.  I can only hope that future offerings will become available.  In the meantime, I wonder if the time spent on AARP Rewards might be better spent at a part time job, in retirement.

7,622 Views
0
Report
Periodic Contributor

...and to add insult to injury, despite the months used to roll out the new Rewards program, it launched to ridicule and failure. 

 

People are complainin about programming glitches, receiving gift cards that are unusable, and just basic chaos.

 

It seems fitting that the Rewards website is down as I write this.

 

Garnett

7,714 Views
0
Report
Periodic Contributor

I agree. 

 

The new program is a pale shadow of the Rewards For Good program.

 

For me, I purchased a LOT of gift cards in the last couple of years through RFG.  However, now they're limiting the amount you can purchase to 1 card per month from any supplier and a total of 3 per month from all suppliers.

 

Not sure why they would think that the new program holds any value for current AARP members, especially when compared to RFG.  Also, don't see the new Rewards program enticing anyone to join AARP.

 

For me, I won't be renewing my membership when it comes due next month.

 

Garnett

2
Kudos
8542
Views
7,646 Views
8
Report
Periodic Contributor

The new rewads aren't rewards at all. Mostly gift cards. Where are all the good daily deals that used to be available? 

6,709 Views
7
Report
Community Concierge

@bruceschuh  As you learn skills and know-how for the future, the AARP Rewards program will provide you with awesome incentives. AARP members can earn up to 7,500 points each day - Non-members can earn up to 5,000 points each day with Trivia, Quizzes, Sweepstakes, Fitness Tracking, Retirement Calculators and More. From the aarp.org home page, click on *AARP Rewards  to explore the catalog.  
 

0 Kudos
6,700 Views
6
Report
Super Contributor

the program is slow and awkward and there is nothing to get after you earn the points

what awesome incentives

and where are you hiding the catalog with awesome incentives and rewards

7,162 Views
5
Report
Super Contributor

2 years later

the program has actually gotten worse 

very few good options i can use my points on 

and rewards are smaller and less frequent

3,182 Views
0
Report
Contributor

disappointed in the reward points redemption for my points where is the catalog for AARP reward points I have over 88,000 points I need to be redeemed can we get cash for these points if so send me the link a desperate game player email me as soon as possible I called I've been transferred to three different departments none helped me if this is the way how you going to treat us that I don't think we need to be a part of AARP membership

6,856 Views
3
Report
Community Concierge

Hi @19556, to access the AARP Rewards Catalog please visit: https://www.aarp.org/rewards and click the "Redeem" tab. If my post answers your question, please mark it as an "Accepted Solution" by clicking on the ellipsis option button (the three dots) in the top-right corner of the reply.

0 Kudos
6,792 Views
2
Report
Super Contributor

very few rewards i can use and all gift card i can use are only 5$ and go quickly

3,187 Views
1
Report
Super Contributor

the current program is awkward and slow and rewards not even close to what we had before

or the one before that

would think AARP would stay with what is valuable to the members or make improvements

3,185 Views
0
Report
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Users
Need to Know

NEW: AARP Games Tournament Tuesdays! This week, achieve a top score in Atari Asteroids® and you could win $100! Learn More.

AARP Games Tournament Tuesdays

More From AARP