impossible to win instant awards

[Tomsowa]

I'm deeply distrustful of the whole Rewards operation.

For one, I've gone through more than 400 consecutive Instant Wins and won nothing. NADA.

And why is that?  Anyone explain that?

And what about finding out some general information on who's winning the rewards sweepstakes? Is there any attempt on the part of the provider/operator or AARP Rewards to give out some information that explains there are real people winning the sweeps?

AND why can't the provider of AARP Rewards provide me a running total of my cumulative entries into a sweepstake? It used to do that, provide a running total on all my entries, but now it doesn't do that.

As always, I'm deeply skeptical of the people running this thing...

[al45009948]

Hello everyone 🤗. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. You've said exactly what a lot of AARP members are saying and feeling. It's a shame the way we're treated

 I've never won a Instant Win game yet

 The new Extra Credit for December have longer videos and the Rewards are TERRIBLE. These $5 gift cards for points are a out right slap in our faces. Then they want Feedback. It seems like we need someone to Petition AARP to help it's members in a time that we're struggling to make ins meet. C'mon now, we as members should be seeing gift cards for points $10 - $25. Also, how many Instant Win prizes for each prize is available. I'm just saying

[AARPJanelleM]

@AJF2K1 Don't give up! The AARP Rewards program has become quite popular and redemption options sell out quick. I encourage you to keep checking back as we update the inventory. Thanks for being a part of our family!

[AJF2K1]

Hello Janelle, thank you very much for looking at this on the bright side and I apologize for being a stick in the mud. But please understand the frustration that we as "paid members" are going through. As for myself, not being able to win in over a year is very aggravating. I am sure that other members share that same feeling with me. You stated that the inventory is updated, that might be true but that has not helped us at all. Understand that having new gift cards being offered to us is not the answer. From what I can see AARP is expanding their membership count every day, at this rate if you continue offering the same amount of gift cards as you are now, we will definitely reach a dead end when it comes to paid AARP members winning anything. For many of us that would be very disappointing.

[BeachGirl23]

Thank you for responding. Doesn't it seem odd to you that many are losing consistently while a handful win on what seems to be a regular basis? What do they know that we don't? Have you considered making this program for members only? 

[rednexsrus]

I have always said this program should be for MEMBERS ONLY. What is the reason in letting non-members participate ?? MONEY !! 

Just Saying

[WesleyB545233]

I finally won an instant card win after playing almost every day for 17 months.  It was a Peets coffee gift card.  Every time I see a card you can purchase with points it is already sold out, so I guess you have to keep checking the site day and night to catch them fast.  I agree, this is not worth it any longer.  Waste of time and energy.  

[11320cs]

Just want to say “Instant Wins” they are not.  Still impossible to win.  And I agree with another post where people are talking about the Instant Wins (since the box that opened went away), about how fast the “Sorry” you aren’t a winner comes up on the screen.  It comes up automatically.  So fast that I believe there is nothing there to win.

[mjt1959]

Of the 400 times you have tried to win a instant prize thousands and thousands of people including myself are also trying to win those same prizes making the odds of winning one quite small. About 2 weeks ago I did actually finally win a prize after like you unsuccessfully trying for some time.. Feel free to give up trying which will increase my chances of winning again : ) Also earlier in the awards program I did use to win fairly regularly, now I believe they only award 100 of each instant prize. I'm guessing that when I was winning more they were most likely giving away way more than 100 of some of the prizes they offered. What they are offering in the awards program has greatly reduced which is annoying. That is especially true for the value of gift cards you can get for just points. Most are now 5.00 and the occasional 10.00 card. Not long ago I was redeeming points for gift cards valued 20.00 - 25.00.

[nancyian]

It is more difficult to win because it is open to everyone and featured on sweepstakes sites to play these instant win games!

[rednexsrus]

@mjt1959

It's not an Instant Win but remember when your points meant something 😫  

Just Saying 

[gm5271]

@mjt1959 

Hey

FYI 

Instant Daily wins are now 100 WINS OVER COURSE OF 7 DAYS (each last 7 days once available) .... earlier when I also won more often was 100 TO WIN EVERY DAY (24hrs 9-9)

This big change made odds nearly impossible vs olden days.... Been since Nov 2020 I've won one 😞

Good luck!

Ginger  ;   )

[BeachGirl23]

I have reviewed the Instant Daily winners list for the period of April 1 to June 23, 2021. Again I have found that there are people who won 8, 11, and 14 times during this period. There are others who won 'only' 6 to 8 times during the same period.  These same people won up to 16 times (some only won 11 times, others 8 times) during the period of Dec 31, 2020 and Mar 31, 2021. As a refresher, the names I selected stand out simply because of their uniqueness and the frequency they appear in the winners list.

@AARPTeri  - I know you had stated that employees are forbidden to participate but clearly someone is gaming the system. Perhaps these are not employees but somehow they are involved in this inordinate number of wins every period. Please have this checked into. I don't mean to be rude, but it is not enough to say that employees are forbidden to participate when the numbers indicate something foul is going on. 

I am like so many others who participate every day and get skunked every day. I have tried different times of the day, including between the hours of 2 and 5 AM EST (and believe me, I need my beauty sleep!). NOTHING!! Yet somehow, this handful of people know with a consistent frequency when to play and win. It is frustrating to say the least.

[Tomsowa]

Thanks again for pushing on this. I still think it's a racket.

Anyway you can email me the names of winners list you got recently?  Or even post it here so we can view it?

And PS>.. I did at last win an Instant Win, a $10 card. It was at least 825 tries over the past 15 months since I'd won anything on AARP.  So it is happening, but not as random as it should be.

[BeachGirl23]

The list of winners can be found at:

https://bit.ly/2ZMG8ny

I 'print' the file to my hard drive creating a pdf file. I can then search the pdf file. The dates start with the most recent so at the end of the file will be the first date covered by the file. I'm sorry if this sounds confusing, but you will see what I am poorly trying to say when you see the file.

By the way, if you click on any Instant Win, then click on the 'Official Rules' in the Disclaimer section, you will get a long list of Instant Wins going back to what seems like the beginning of time. Click on any one of them for the rules. Toward the bottom of the 'rules' is a link to see the list of winners. Every Instant Win listed in that very long list takes you to the same list of winners.

Best of luck!

[AJF2K1]

I wonder if we should report this issue with the 

AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline: 877-908-3360

Yea right. NOT!

Or better yet how about the FTC Federal Trade Commission at 1-877-FTC-HELP, 1-877-ID-THEFT. 

Maybe that will get the attention of someone in AARP that might actually care.

[AnneG461594]

I agree that @AARPTeri should look into this!! Definitely something fishy going on

Anne

[HokiePoq]

@BeachGirl23   Thank you for your analysis.   It should be crystal clear to any decision maker at AARP that something is wrong.   

As I suggested before...and others as well...these instant wins MUST be limited to members only.  An individual can have many different email addresses.  Paid memberships are tied to real addresses.   Some have shared that sweepstakes sites are sending people to this site just to compete.  That is not the purpose AARP had in mind.    Fraud is being committed and the paying members are being left out for the most part. 

[WesleyB545233]

I don't think anyone from AARP even reads these posts.  

13 months as an AARP member playing instant wins daily and so far not one win.  This is what I get every time.

[11320cs]

Since it is nearly impossible to win an Instant Win, please, please make Instant Wins for “Members Only.”  Perhaps by doing that for the members of AARP, we would have a better chance of winning something!  Why do non-members get to play anyway?  Doesn’t seem fair.

[MemberS2006]

Its difficult to win anything here or elsewhere.There are lots of people that just enter sweepstakes as a hobby.If you check the coupons boards that have discount codes,etc almost all have links to as many sweepstakes as they can find for their readers.Many sites list the aarp sweepstakes so a lot entries most likely aren't even interested in aarp.Not sure if sweepstakes have to be legally open to everyone or not.

[AJF2K1]

I am glad we are all expressing our experiences with this "Instant Win" game. I had started a topic similar to this one "The Odds Are Against You!", and now we can all see that the odds are really terribly against us from winning an "Instant Win". I had expressed my views and I will say it again, why does AARP offer ("Instant Win") as a benefit  to us if we can't "benefit" from it. When you have members that say they "don't want to waste my points" or "I don't waste my time" what does that tell you about this program. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that AARP has designed the Instant win game so we can educate ourselves with videos and quizzes and in turn with those points give us incentives to continue this education. But at what point do you say that this program/benefit is not working. In my case, if 500 unsuccessful attempts to win is supposed to be an incentive something is definitely wrong with AARP's thinking. At this point the only way that I can try to figure this out is that the main reason for all our unsuccessful attempts is that AARP wants us to complete has may quizzes and videos as we can. That way they will continue getting paid by the sponsors/commercials for those quizzes and videos. So it's a win for their sponsors, a win for AARP, and we end up being the losers doing all the work for AARP and we get nothing in return. One last thing, with all these members expressing their criticisms of this particular program, where is AARP? Why haven't they explained to all us why this is happening. At this point my confidence in the integrity of AARP and how they are handling this program is 0.

[BeachGirl23]

Thank you, @AJF2K1 for accurately expressing my thoughts on the instant wins. With each passing, losing day I find myself wondering 'why am I doing this?'. It is no longer fun when you win maybe once every 6 months meanwhile hearing about other's fortunate wins on a regular basis. 

The timing of a win should be a random, system generated win time not sometime after midnight every night EST. Also, people should be allowed only 3 instant wins a month. 

And yes, where is AARP on this??? 

[Tomsowa]

So true. It’s an erratic weird system, badly operated.

[WesleyB545233]

Your experience is the same as mine.  Approaching my one year anniversary in AARP and not one instant win and no sweepstakes win.  More trouble than its worth to log in and try really.  

[11320cs]

I guess it is not impossible to win instant awards, but for me, it appears, it is impossible!  Too many people playing for the number of awards available!

[MichelleM50204]

Don't know if I'm happy to inform you or not but my dad won an instant win today. The Maggiano's/Chilli's gift card. I think today is the last day that one will be listed. FYI... He played around 9 pm here on the west coast.

[AnneG461594]

Thanks for the tips Michelle!!  I played an instant win on a whim in the middle of the night here (3AM East Coast) doing what most our age have to do in the middle of the night, and hey I won, first time since they went to the seven day deal.  Maybe it was the time, or maybe because the card was not as popular as others, but maybe this will be the time I play going forward to get more luck.

Anne

[MichelleM50204]

I just won $10 WalMart instant win. Roughly 9:30 pm West Coast. Maybe there is something to the time... Maybe I shouldn't have given up my secrets...😁

[MichelleM50204]

Just won $10 Dunkin instant win. That's instant wins 2 days in a row for me. About 10:30 pm here in the West. Good luck to all!

[JoLo49]

Wow, @MichelleM50204 ,  you have been incredibly lucky!  Thanks for posting and glad to hear someone is winning.  I've given up on the Sweepstakes, but wouldn't mind winning an Instant Win in the near future.