AARP Rewards locked

[Shamrock73]

At least one account has been unlocked - so there is hope.

 

[bury me at sea]

I didn't use the code in question.  I need only a few hundred to pay off my next cruise.  Think I'll wander on over to see if I can order some.

 

And I fervently hope there is hope for this program.

[Organized Chaos]

I didn't even know this was happening. Did that person create a separate thread for it, because there's nothing in the big AARP thread? I don't think I would've been tempted to do it. It sounds like something you'd get from a shady website when you search for "free Rewards for Good codes," or something like that. Hope everyone gets their accounts straightened out.

[13cheermom]

23 hours ago, shoptom said:

Yes, I was told it was for having multiple accounts (which I don't).  I suspect it is from entering the same code multiple times last week.  Which means they still haven't figured out their own site error.  It's like AARP is too old to understand technology.

 

This is very interesting.  So they sent out a code or possibly 2 codes and people used them because there system allowed them to go through 🤔.  Personally I question their site sometimes, when I have not gotten my reward points after taking some of the quizzes.  Of course I have no way to complain about that, lol.  Does seem unfair to some of these posters as stated in this thread.  Guess it was to good to be true.

[Acheavacci]

12 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

 

This is very interesting.  So they sent out a code or possibly 2 codes and people used them because there system allowed them to go through 🤔.  Personally I question their site sometimes, when I have not gotten my reward points after taking some of the quizzes.  Of course I have no way to complain about that, lol.  Does seem unfair to some of these posters as stated in this thread.  Guess it was to good to be true.

 

In the terms and conditions it states that promo codes can only be used once.  Apparently they do monitor this and have acted accordingly.  I was locked out, was able to sign in and add to my cart, and now I am locked out again.   The rewards website seems very tempermental.  Since AARP offers us no other benefits as of yet, I will be cancelling my husbands subscription if this is not resolved in two weeks.  

[Ron_Self]

My wife just sent this message to AARP.

 

I have been a Member for over two years now. I used the Rewards For Good site to purchase gift cards, do quizzes, etc. I have added codes that I earned, that I was emailed and codes that I found on the Internet. My account has been locked as well as my husbands. I was told we violated TOS by using a code from the internet more than once. I was not aware there was a limit. If the code is accepted by the site multiple times, I believe that is on you and your web team, not I. If the accounts associated with the following email addresses are not unlocked and points reapplied, I will Cancel my AARP Membership and request a refund. The rewards website seems very temperamental.  Since AARP offers us no other benefits as of yet, I will be cancelling my subscription if this is not resolved in one week. Email accounts are xxxxx  Member # xxxxxxxx I am awaiting your response.......

[13cheermom]

39 minutes ago, Acheavacci said:

 

In the terms and conditions it states that promo codes can only be used once.  Apparently they do monitor this and have acted accordingly.  I was locked out, was able to sign in and add to my cart, and now I am locked out again.   The rewards website seems very tempermental.  Since AARP offers us no other benefits as of yet, I will be cancelling my husbands subscription if this is not resolved in two weeks.  

 

Yes much preferred Verizon site where the points were earned through payments.  I'm not an AARP member anyway so no loss on that end.  But I do use the Rewards for Good to purchase the gift cards, which can be time consuming lol.  But they do allow 5,000/day so I figure thats a $500 gift card everyday if I choose to purchase.  Some have posted about the Allstate rewards, might be another choice to look into.  Good Luck!

[teknoge3k]

23 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

 

Yes much preferred Verizon site where the points were earned through payments.  I'm not an AARP member anyway so no loss on that end.  But I do use the Rewards for Good to purchase the gift cards, which can be time consuming lol.  But they do allow 5,000/day so I figure thats a $500 gift card everyday if I choose to purchase.  Some have posted about the Allstate rewards, might be another choice to look into.  Good Luck!

 

I didn't think about this. I bet that's how those of us who used "the magic code" got caught. I took my account up to 300,000 points before I stopped that day. I imagine if I kept it at 5,000 and below, it would have never been flagged. I wish I had thought about that the day of. Oh well. No loss for me as I'm not an AARP member and I just create new accounts for the points. 

[Shamrock73]

I believe the issue with AARP point goes well beyond anything that was done by members of this forum and they have quite a mess to sort through.

 

I remember recently going to look at the auctions and the high bids were into hundreds of thousands for $5 (Five Dollar) gift cards. I suspect those high bidders did not spend weeks of taking quizzes just to get a $5 gift card.  

[kkanderson]

My account is locked as well.  I decided to be Miss Greedy Gut and it bit me. I just opened a new account since I’m not a member anyway.

[n6uqqq]

37 minutes ago, teknoge3k said:

 

I didn't think about this. I bet that's how those of us who used "the magic code" got caught. I took my account up to 300,000 points before I stopped that day. I imagine if I kept it at 5,000 and below, it would have never been flagged. I wish I had thought about that the day of. Oh well. No loss for me as I'm not an AARP member and I just create new accounts for the points. 

 

I am not sure that would be the issue. Normally if you will breech the 5000 mark the site will not let you take an additional quiz and tell you that you have reached your daily limit. I know this wasn't a quiz so who knows for sure.

[Acheavacci]

6 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

Let me see if I understand this.

Someone found a workaround, got greedy, worked the system, the company figured it out and now,,, you guys are blaming AARP and you're not even members???? smh

I do think you are mistaken.

 

I don't think the post are blaming AARP.  At least I am not.  Most of the posts have responded with their own accountability.   Also you do not have to be an AARP member to belong to the rewards program.  

[bury me at sea]

21 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

Not blaming AARP one bit. I am not blaming the person who posted the codes either. Many of us got greedy and screwed up. Maybe even hundreds of people did, who knows!

 

You and many others have taken this same attitude.  When it's all sorted out I hope your accounts are restored.

 

The ten percent has made a real difference to me and I am grateful to AARP for offering it.

[Shamrock73]

Agree, no one to blame but myself.

 

I hope the account is restored, but if not I understand. I will accept it and move on.

[Organized Chaos]

58 minutes ago, Acheavacci said:

I do think you are mistaken.

 

I don't think the post are blaming AARP.  At least I am not.  Most of the posts have responded with their own accountability.   Also you do not have to be an AARP member to belong to the rewards program.  

 

Threatening to cancel your membership after this incident does make it sound like you're blaming them. You said it yourself, it's in their TOS not to use codes more than once. If you're account was locked for being a part of this, it is in no way AARP's fault.

 

3 hours ago, Ron_Self said:

My wife just sent this message to AARP.

 

I have been a Member for over two years now. I used the Rewards For Good site to purchase gift cards, do quizzes, etc. I have added codes that I earned, that I was emailed and codes that I found on the Internet. My account has been locked as well as my husbands. I was told we violated TOS by using a code from the internet more than once. I was not aware there was a limit. If the code is accepted by the site multiple times, I believe that is on you and your web team, not I. If the accounts associated with the following email addresses are not unlocked and points reapplied, I will Cancel my AARP Membership and request a refund. The rewards website seems very temperamental.  Since AARP offers us no other benefits as of yet, I will be cancelling my subscription if this is not resolved in one week. Email accounts are xxxxx  Member # xxxxxxxx I am awaiting your response.......

 

Everyone in this thread took responsibility for using the code in question. No one even questioned the actions taken by AARP. How is it in any way their fault? Those who did it violated their TOS. Just because the code was accepted by their system doesn't justify using it to rack up thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of points. Nor does it relieve you of any blame for violating their terms. You're not clear about what you mean, but if you think you deserve to have the ill-gotten points reapplied to your account, you're wrong. I could see the logic in requesting any previously earned points returned, but nothing before the date you used the glitch code. You did something wrong, then threaten to cancel your membership because you got caught doing it. I doubt it's any loss to them to lose you. My first year's membership fee was only $12, thanks to a promotion. We made that back multiple times over with the savings we got on a car rental and hotels. Now the membership fee is back to its normal $16/yr. Cancelling is your prerogative, of course, but there are plenty of benefits to be had and it won't be hard to pay for itself again.

[Acheavacci]

1 minute ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Threatening to cancel your membership after this incident does make it sound like you're blaming them. You said it yourself, it's in their TOS not to use codes more than once. If you're account was locked for being a part of this, it is in no way AARP's fault.

I did not threaten and am not blaming AARP. I did state that I would cancel because I have no benefit from AARP other than the rewards program.  Stating what I am going to do is not threatening, IMHO.

[bury me at sea]

I value Cruise Critic, have learned a lot here, and while I often disagree with expressed opinions I don't often question the integrity of the poster.

 

The very few responses here that have me shaking my head are those that sure seem to be saying "you caught me cheating so I won't do business with you anymore."

 

It's hard to imagine an organization would consider that to be a loss.

[Lottacruises]

AARP doesn't care If you leave, bye. 

[2wheelin]

1 hour ago, mapman_2004 said:

How dare you not read the entirety of fine print!

Read—-remember.  Not the same. Lol

[keywest1]

I'm an AARP member and have used the Rewards program for Carnival gift cards.  I didn't see the code, but if I had, I would probably have used it.  I get shared codes for pizza delivery off a particular website, and they either work or they don't.  If the AARP code worked, I wouldn't have thought anything of using it once.  Using the same code multiple times would not have seemed to be the right thing to do, but that's just me.  

Thanks to everybody for sharing so I didn't have to learn the hard way.

 

[cruizinisthebest]

7 hours ago, bury me at sea said:

I value Cruise Critic, have learned a lot here, and while I often disagree with expressed opinions I don't often question the integrity of the poster.

 

The very few responses here that have me shaking my head are those that sure seem to be saying "you caught me cheating so I won't do business with you anymore."

 

It's hard to imagine an organization would consider that to be a loss.

 

 

Agreed.

 

If you've ever plugged in the codes, then you know they can't be used more than once. I usually save all of my emails and then go back through them and add the codes once every few weeks. Sometimes I Iose out, because I've waited too long and it will say right then "this promo code has either already been used or expired."  You also can't take the same quiz for which you've earned points over and over again. The codes are one-time use. The reason why this one was "magical" is because it was able to be used over and over again. There's really no need to even cheat like this. You can earn 5,000 points a day. I rarely take quizzes. I log in daily, use the codes emailed to me, and the code from the insert when the cards are mailed. You earn points at double the rate when you are a member and this discount along with others make the annual membership fee of $16 well worth it. 

 

I made sure my account wasn't locked after I saw this thread yesterday. Hoping they didn't just blanket lock people's accounts who routinely buy Carnival gift cards. Worked just fine. But I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped offering the cards eventually behind this foolishness. I do have Allstate. And yes I'm a customer. So I'm good.

[jasmine_cruise_yeah]

I belong to a group on social media that shares how to get points and often shares codes for points. Many people have posted on that group that they are locked out. I know at least one person posted a picture of a code they received with their gift card order and it seems many used it and are now locked out. I didn't use it because I earned enough points and paid off my entire cruise already. I also knew that the codes that are sent with purchases were typically one use only (which I only knew because of the group, I never read TOS admittedly) so it seemed fishy at the time. Not passing judgement on anyone because I might have done the same thing if I needed points. 

[Organized Chaos]

7 hours ago, kkanderson said:

I am not eligible for membership & I also apologized via email. I had over 12,000 points prior to my greediness.  I’m guilty as charged & lesson learned.  

 

Not sure if there are other things you're referring to, but in case you didn't know, you no longer have to be 50 to qualify to be a member of AARP. I signed up for membership at age 42. And as I said before, the first year paid for itself several times over with the savings we got from a car rental and hotel discounts. It's worth having a look at their benefits to see if any of you might think you'll take advantage of some.

[kkanderson]

11 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

Not sure if there are other things you're referring to, but in case you didn't know, you no longer have to be 50 to qualify to be a member of AARP. I signed up for membership at age 42. And as I said before, the first year paid for itself several times over with the savings we got from a car rental and hotel discounts. It's worth having a look at their benefits to see if any of you might think you'll take advantage of some.

I didn’t realize that at all! Thanks for the info!

[2wheelin]

Anyone on here who was locked out, still not able to use rewards for good? I have been able to earn points but cannot log in to spend points. Phone rep tells me they are still investigating and have not unlocked accounts yet but it previously sounded like at least some on these boards were immediately restored. How much investigating can it take?