Technical Difficulty Redeeming Daily Deal

[JoLo49]

Today I could not purchase the Albertson Daily Deal.  I had the Albertson daily deal in the cart, however, a Home Depot daily deal from 2 weeks ago, that I had purchased,  was still also in the cart.  I tried to remove the Home Depot deal from the cart so that I could proceed to checkout, however, the system would not allow me to proceed.  Cycling around in circles to remove the Home Depot, I finally got back into the cart to check out with the Home Depot removed, however, the Albertson gift card was already sold out.   These technical difficulties should not be happening as I am confused as to why the Home Depot was still in my cart when I had already purchased it 2 weeks prior. Just a heads up, prior to purchasing, make sure that you start with an empty cart as it is to difficult to remove unwanted items during checkout.  It took a while and a lot of effort, but I finally was able to remove the sold out Albertson daily deal from my cart.  Very frustrating.

[AARPTeri]

@JoLo49 I also received your message and have our team looking into this.  I will get back to you soon!

[JoLo49]

Hi @AARPTeri 

Can you also ask your team to look into the reason why redeemed gift cards are now going to Spam instead of our email inbox??  This started happening this past week after the Redemption Page was "reorganized" where Daily Instant Wins are mixed in with other redemption options.  The newly reorganized page is really hard to navigate.

[a170938b]

Hi Teri,

I am glad your team is looking into this big problem. Here are the steps that need to be done for purchasing a gift card:

1-Add to the cart

2-View cart

3-Verify account

4-Proceed to checkout   then 5- enter payment info

4a-Or Continue shopping and then add item to the cart proceed to checkout as before

4b-Or continue shopping and decide not to buy anything more. Can’t go back to 2- Sticky problem here as it seems that we cannot get back to the cart unless we do another purchase (or pretend to do it)

Problems noticed:

A- Just entering payment info takes a little time; it seems that time is not allowed (20 minutes like in the old system would be great; why not?)

B- What is the use of the Continue Shopping button if you cannot get back to the cart easily or if you do not have the time to shop more in the case of the Daily Deal? (20 minutes??)

C- I tried the process on the CVS daily deal this week and though the item was in my cart, all gift cards were sold out at 12.05pm ET (maybe before; 12.05pm is when I checked the time) including the one in my cart which I could not purchase.

Teri, I sincerely hope that you will be able to convey the immensity of the problem and the frustration incurred to your team. I see problems at several levels in this process and I hope your team will figure out the answers; may I suggest your team checks out the final process as a customer because it helps discover missed steps and problems.

Thank you, Teri, for taking care of this issue (through your team); I am looking forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. 

[JoLo49]

I agree, @a170938b , there are several levels in the process of purchasing the Daily Deal that are frustrating.  Just getting the Daily Deal into the shopping cart is a hit or miss, and then proceeding to complete the checkout within the time constraints before the offer is sold out is extremely frustrating.  There is no time to "Continue Shopping" for other items, so what's the use of having that option?  It appears the AARP website is unable to handle the traffic or demand which adds to further frustration of going around in circles trying to check out.  The Daily deal should not be offered at all if the high demand cannot be met.  Selling out within minutes of offering is not worth the frustration or the small amount of savings.  JMHO. 

[JoLo49]

Thanks, @AARPTeri .  Really appreciate.

[gm5271]

@JoLo49 @a170938b 

Hey there

Can't say I have much experience with shopping cart these days since don't use BUT my reason for replying is that in old Rewards we were given 20 minutes to complete sale of Daily Deal once had it in cart b4 it'd be removed from our carts 

I spent many a day waiting & watching for those few that would fall out if I'd missed Deal

Does anyone know what rules are now? I'm curious cause sold out seems react differently these days & I agree members should be given ample time to finish their purchases b4 lose Deal

Note: in reviewing website doesn't seem we actually have a cart to access; CORRECTION: After posting this other day....today 🤪 I noticed cart pic next to All Rewards bar WOW! amazing never noticed b4 its now Daily Deal time we'll see if there after 2PM 🤯

...remaining DELETED Thanks! 

Good luck 

Ginger  ;  )

[a170938b]

Somewhat a similar problem with the Kroger Daily Deal a week ago. I got kicked out of the cart and could not get back in it before the gift card was sold out. In fact 2 days later the Kroger gift card was still in my cart (sold out of course)! I asked customer service for an easy way to access the cart and I was forcelly told that there was no cart and no need for one! Go figure!

[JoLo49]

Thanks, @a170938b for letting me know that I'm not the only one having difficulty with the Daily Deals.  Once the Daily deal is in the cart, it should be ours to purchase with ample time to check out.  Hope AARP tech support can investigate why "sold out" Daily Deal items are sometimes remaining in the cart.

[AnneG461594]

Me again - wouldn't you know that, since the CVS daily deal was sold out by the time I logged back in, I did get the regular CVS card available and - no difficulty at all!!  Perhaps the difficulty is due to too many people logging in at the same time to get the daily deal but still I maintain that once it is in your cart it should stay there.  Now I am off to CVS to use the card to get hubby's allergy medicine

[AnneG461594]

Well add me to the list of people that had a Daily Deal taken out of my cart while I was trying to check out.  The technical difficulties continue - if I was in the grocery store with something in my cart I have it until I get to the cashier - why do things get taken out of your cart while you have to log back in due to a difficulty on the AARP side?  You should get at least 10 minutes to log back out and log back and have the item still be in the cart

[JoLo49]

I agree, once the Daily deal is in the cart, it should be yours  to purchase with ample time to check out.  Unfortunately, that's not the case, and it appears the website is unable to handle the amount of traffic.  The demand is higher than the supply, so  unless AARP can meet the higher demand, the Daily deal should not be offered.  Also, there is an option to "continue shopping", however, there is no point to keep shopping because you won't be able to check out in time.  It may be better not to offer the Daily Deal at a set time, but instead introduce the deal at a  "surprise" time during the day and allow members to purchase on first come first served.  It will be luck of the draw to see it, and everyone will have an equal chance to purchase with less frustration.   JMHO