Points, Policies & Certificates

[wushdishmeen]

"If the only reason you spent $150 at Best Buy is to get the 150 RZ points...that is just silly. 150 points is $3. Spending $150 to get $3 back is not the smartest thing you can do. Spending $88 to get 88 points (which is $1.76) is completely insane unless you were going to spend the $88 anyway."

You need to learn how to interpret writing and decipher when people are speaking literal or not.  I never once said people are spending $150 just to get $3 back.  I said that people SPENT $150 in order to earn those 150 points and that it wasn't just $3 that is wasted.

Now someone who doesn't know how to read properly would think I said that people are spending money at best buy specifically to earn the points.  In reality I am saying that a byproduct of purchasing an item you want at Best Buy is that you earn points and it was the $150 purchase that earned that 150 points... NOT $3.  So you see you are not losing $3 you are losing the value of the incentive.

That's what people are annoyed about.   You have to spend another $150 at Best Buy to get those 150 points back.  As in to earn those points again you would have to make another $150 purchase which could also expire.  Now if you interpret that as me saying I would make a $150 purchase just to get a $3 coupon without actually having interest in the item I purchase then you need to brush up on your reading skills.

[wushdishmeen]

One more thing... I can't stand when people make excuses for Best Buy. This incentive program is much more important than you specific people defending it realize. Best Buy, despite the name, marks up the price on their items substantially in comparison to online shopping for the luxury of getting your item immediately. So the incentive program is a good way to make people more comfortable spending that extra $10-20 at Best Buy knowing they can earn a coupon back.

Those defending it by saying "then just don't use it. Go to other stores and see if you earn points" need to realize that almost every big business has a rewards program now and most of them have no expiration on points where you could lose them a few days after they are added. I now have rewards cards to Toysrus, Lowes, Gamestop, and even a small supply chain called Bobs Discount Furniture.

With Gamestop they even have items that are 100,000 points because you can keep accumulating them without them expiring and with their program you can not only trade in points for physical merchandise but also coupons for money off are much easier to obtain seeing as they are the cheapest options.

[canis39]

I've already said the RZ program is not that good. The only way it makes sense is if you use it to the absolute fullest. (RZ Dining, RZ Online Mall, RZ credit card, using preferred partners to get 5-10 points per $$, participating in bonus promotions, etc). I do all of that and I am at 5000 points right now ($100 in certificates) without really trying. You know how much I spent at Best Buy to get that 5000 points? Maybe $100 total. Almost all of it is from the other stuff.

If you just make retail purchases at Best Buy, the RZ program is pretty terrible. 1 point per dollar is not good when 1 point is the equivalent of 2 cents. It just doesn't make sense, you aren't getting any kind of value back. So I guess my advice to potential and existing RZ customers would be, think about what kind of shopper you are. If you are just an occasional Best Buy retail shopper, the program may not make sense.

This is somewhat relevant to your (mostly illogical) post, because you said if you lose 150 points, you have to spend $150 to get those 150 points back. If that is really true, the RZ program probably doesn't make sense for you. It would just not be worth it. If your rewards are going to be $3, $5, $7...then you'd probably be better off just shopping at Amazon and saving the $3, $5, $7 in the first place.

I'm not defending the program. What I'm doing is pointing out that people who are surprised that their points expire should have spent 2 minutes and read the FAQs when they joined the program. I'm also pointing out that 200 points seems like a lot (OMG! 200 Points!) but it's not. It's $4. I'm trying to give some of these complainers a little perspective.

You can't stand when people make excuses for Best Buy? Great. I am not doing that. I don't like the fact that points expire. I decided to get the RZ mastercard partly because I didn't want to worry about point expiration.

What I can't stand is people complaining with mostly illegible posts about "losing" less than $5 because they couldn't be bothered to spend 2 minutes reading about the program when they signed up, or they somehow magically got multiple accounts without knowing, or their dog signed them up and they didn't know, etc, etc. I can't stand people not taking a little bit of responsibility for their own actions or lack thereof.

[Ghostwheel00]

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canis39 wrote:
...

I'm not defending the program. What I'm doing is pointing out that people who are surprised that their points expire should have spent 2 minutes and read the FAQs when they joined the program. I'm also pointing out that 200 points seems like a lot (OMG! 200 Points!) but it's not. It's $4. I'm trying to give some of these complainers a little perspective....

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One thing you probably don't realize is that there were no FAQs when some of us joined the program. There were no expiration of points, there was no "Oops, sorry your points went missing, here they are, oh no, they are expiring so you really don't get them." (this frequently happened while launching the new website last year), there was no RZ dining, RZ online Mall, RZ ad nauseaum. There was a 3X4 card with five lines of what Best Buy was doing with your information and how many points you got for each dollar you spent, and places to hand write (*gasp*) your information in. Yep, way back when Kansas City was a prairie. Then things changed with no notice or warning, and got massively screwed up for a lot of people in the process. (including any points from RZ dining, etc etc.)

But maybe you do realize that and you just want to spend your time complaining (also ad nauseum, like we didn't get, or care enough about, your point of view) to people who want to tell Best Buy that their program has changed to the point many won't shop there any more. I suppose everyone needs a hobby.

[canis39]

Well, I'm sorry the program hasn't worked out for you. It's not a very good program without all of that other stuff, that apparently wasn't there in the beginning, so I'm a little surprised anyone who joined in the beginning is still around.

Good luck with your crusade to "tell Best Buy" anything on this site. I'm not sure too many Best Buy executives are on this site...and even if they were, I doubt that a bunch of (mostly) poorly written forum posts are going to cause too much change. But I guess if it makes some people feel better to post here, that is good for peace of mind, so I say go for it. I'm going to continue to occasionally respond to the crazier posts to try to force some facts into people's life. If you think that constitutes a hobby, I am happy for you, everyone needs an opinion.

[GuRuAsaki]

They all expire after February? So basically everything I just bought Recently which is February by the way... Is now gone because of an Expiration Date that didn't even last a few weeks? 

I am out raged, because I just used my Reward Zone Card on the last few Games I had lined up to buy, I don't plan to buy anymore... And now i'm finding out that the points i'd like to use for something a little extra are now gone, because it's time to Roll over? More like Roll Over & Die, at the sight of the number of points I have,  

I never even knew about any kind of Expiration at all... Nor do people ever even take the time to ask us for our card... 

I'd go somewhere else to buy my stuff, scept I have nothing else to buy... Now I can see why people turn to the Internet for Free Movies, lOlzers...

[canis39]

If you never knew about point expiration, you didn't read the FAQ, because it's clearly written in there.

And what do you mean "nor do people ever even take the time to ask us for our card"? You mean the cashiers are not asking you if you have an RZ card? Wow, every cashier I have ever had at BB has asked me. Of course, I am also smart enough to have my card ready without being asked.

Maybe BB should implement an IQ test before giving RZ cards out.

[jediliz]

this is what I need to know.....I earned 100 points for my huku plus subscription on Jan 31st...5 days later I lost 215 points from annualization of points...DId I lose those points I had JUST EARNED?

[Bubba10k]

"If you never knew about point expiration, you didn't read the FAQ, because it's clearly written in there."

The problem is that this was not the case for the folks who originally enrolled with the rewards program.  It was something that Best Buy altered along the way.  No doubt to save themselves some money when times got a little tougher.  In most situations it isn't like you're likely to loose that many points; however, as a customer it is very annoying to loose any points simply because the calendar rolls over.  This is an short-sighted, anti-customer policy that serves little purpose other than to alienate Best Buy's loyal customer base.  It should be switched back.  The rewards offered through the basic program are meager enough as is.  Ultimately this sort of thing just ends up driving folks away.  The web offers a lot of alternatives and is still largely tax free and often times shipping free as well.  Why is the Reward Zone concept really that relevant when there's not much of a reward involved?  The simple fact here is that no one wants to see what they have "earned" be taken away.  For the little cost involved and the evident confusion it is causing switching it back to the way it was makes sense.  Having said that do I expect it to ever switch back?  Probably not.  But if you don't voice dissatisfaction with something it won't likely change on its own.

[GuRuAsaki]

First off... Because I was a member before this was noted in a FAQ, of which you have said... I had no reason to view the FAQ, not to mention, I never visit www.BestBuy.com nor my Reward Zone Information On-Line, because I never make purchases On-Line, I always do in store, because I hate anything to do with Accounts & Internet... 

It's things like this that makes me wander why they even started with the Programs to begin with... I'd of been better off without a Reward Zone Card, since I got nothing outta the Program at all from it...

It would have saved me a whole lotta Trouble, since no one at Best Buy even seems to know what their doing at all... 

I Pre-Ordered The Old Republic Collectors Edition... & had to speak to 10 people about it, just so I could pick it up... Lone enough had to worry about my $5 down, which no one even knew how to take care of... As a matter of fact, acording to my Reward Zone Account, I purchased a Pre-Order for it, but only paid $30 twards it in total... The game was friggen over $100... Not $30, so where are my points?

Second of all... Theres nothing mentioned about any of my Blue Ray Purchases that were done recently... The Cashiers don't know how to use the Reward Zone, nor do they know how to place an Order on an Item...  

Again, this is my Best Buy... The one by me, I don't have any other video stores around here... This is the only one... I can go to Walmart, but they sell almost nothing at all in this Catagory... 

My Account Purchases don't even match my Reciepts that I have, which by now are probably already thrown away... It's BS I tells ya... & I have no more Big Purchases comming in, either... Which is whats ticking me off,  

Anyways, lastly, I agree with the last Post... 

The best part is when a guy was behind me who had found out his Game, The Old Republic wasn't even at the Store, he had to go really far away, because Best Buy Got less copies then were sold... So not only did I have problems, but so did he, & on top of this, Best Buy didn't even know about the Pre-Order Bonus Content Items... I had to Complain over the Phone, & have them send me the Content... I am very great-ful that Game Stop was willing to give me the Light Saber Crystal for the Light Saber, since Best Buy didn't even know it even existed... & Game Stop didn't have to do that, so I thank them for it... 

The only thing I can think of for my Blue Ray purchases at this point, were that because of an Experation Period, they were never even added, since they were suppose to be put on there about at the time of the Experation Period... 

It says I only got a $10 Gift Card after all of this, & have 0 Points... But I can't buy anything for $10, especially when their telling me it's about to Expire Again... This Is BS, because both Experation Dates are in the same Month,  



I mean, seriously, what is going on??? What good is a Reward Program, if I can't even use it?