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Carrier Verizon Smart Rewards - worth signing up?

J

jayes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 11, 2011
176
2
Has anyone checked out Verizon's Smart Rewards program? I have seen the ad on tv several times and logged into my VZN account online to see what it's all about. It says I have 32,000 points waiting for me. (Long time VZN customer). But when I went to register for the program, it required me to check a box where I am giving VZN permission to give "personal" ? information to 3rd party entities for advertising purposes. That is the part that is making me wonder if it's worth the hassle. I can't see exactly what 32,000 points gets me. If it's a 10 cent Target gift card, clearly it's not.
Any info appreciated. It would be nice to get something back after all these years of being a loyal VZN customer, but not if it means allowing them to share personal info with the world.
 
I don't think its worth my privacy, since they'll be tracking you and your habits, its not for me.
 
I saw the email today. 10,300 points Woot Woot!:D

Except I don't know what that means or what I get for it. I read the FAQs, and it was real lean on any tangible benefits for me, but did mention that I "might" be required to sign up for some kind of marketing scam. It appears that I would agree to allow them to send my personal info to third party spammers, and then I would get great benefits like undefined discounts on gift cards from somewhere and "local deals" that all require me to spend $$$.

Hmmm..... No thanks VZW.

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jayes said:
It says I have 32,000 points waiting for me. (Long time VZN customer).
Click to expand...

I've been a customer for about 10 months, and got 10,300. So I'm guessing the # of Monopoly Money/ Chucky Cheese token points is based on the # of lines and not on length of service, maybe.
 
1981d said:
I saw the email today. 10,300 points Woot Woot!:D

Except I don't know what that means or what I get for it. I read the FAQs, and it was real lean on any tangible benefits for me, but did mention that I "might" be required to sign up for some kind of marketing scam. It appears that I would agree to allow them to send my personal info to third party spammers, and then I would get great benefits like undefined discounts on gift cards from somewhere and "local deals" that all require me to spend $$$.

Hmmm..... No thanks VZW.

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I've been a customer for about 10 months, and got 10,300. So I'm guessing the # of Monopoly Money/ Chucky Cheese token points is based on the # of lines and not on length of service, maybe.
Click to expand...

We only have two lines but have been with VZN since it was Airtouch (MANY years) so I do think that the algorithm takes into account the number of years of service. However, I'm with you on what exactly they are sharing with others. And they don't say (on purpose?) what you get for your points until you've signed up.

Hmmm.. probably not VZN!
 
jayes said:
Has anyone checked out Verizon's Smart Rewards program? I have seen the ad on tv several times and logged into my VZN account online to see what it's all about. It says I have 32,000 points waiting for me. (Long time VZN customer). But when I went to register for the program, it required me to check a box where I am giving VZN permission to give "personal" ? information to 3rd party entities for advertising purposes. That is the part that is making me wonder if it's worth the hassle. I can't see exactly what 32,000 points gets me. If it's a 10 cent Target gift card, clearly it's not.
Any info appreciated. It would be nice to get something back after all these years of being a loyal VZN customer, but not if it means allowing them to share personal info with the world.
Click to expand...

I signed up and than I stopped paying attention to it. Its going to be quite a while before the amount builds up to buy anything meaningful. ;)
 
The whole thing is just a joke, especially the auctions.

I have 80,000 points and I have not ever won anything since I signed up a few months ago when they launched it in a few states including mine (Washington).

Most of the auctions are "extended play" which means that even though there is a set ending time, if anyone bets in the last 10 seconds the auction time gets extended by another 5-10 seconds. So really these auctions can go hours beyond what the actual end time.

It all comes down to if you have the patience to sit there clicking "bid now" for hours on end in an attempt to win something like an iPad air. But don't worry you never do win as someone always has more points than you.

Just an example, this iPad went for 122,000 points today.

ece5ngll.png


And then you have complete idiots using this program that bid up a $25 Verizon giftcard to 60,000 points while a $50 gift card can go for as little as 10,000.
 
Verizon is never in the business to lose money. This is another program to turn you upside down and empty your pockets.
 
I supposedly have over 25,000 points. But to enroll in Smart Rewards, you have to sign up for Verizon Selects, which targets ads and services towards you. They can also track your location, app usage, and web browsing, and share that with their partners as well.

I read an article that rated it one of the worst rewards programs out there. There is very little actual value to the end user, but Verizon gets all sorts of private information about you that they can turn around and sell to other people.

http://time.com/money/3025429/verizon-smart-rewards-loyalty-programs-retail/
 
I'm not a commie spy and I've never met Ed Snowdon so I'm not paranoid about vzw getting any of my information.

I've won two gift cards so far in the sweepstakes. Keep trying for a tablet every day but I'm sure that's the only prize others are submitting points towards which makes the odds astronomical.
 
jayes said:
Has anyone checked out Verizon's Smart Rewards program? I have seen the ad on tv several times and logged into my VZN account online to see what it's all about. It says I have 32,000 points waiting for me. (Long time VZN customer). But when I went to register for the program, it required me to check a box where I am giving VZN permission to give "personal" ? information to 3rd party entities for advertising purposes. That is the part that is making me wonder if it's worth the hassle. I can't see exactly what 32,000 points gets me. If it's a 10 cent Target gift card, clearly it's not.
Any info appreciated. It would be nice to get something back after all these years of being a loyal VZN customer, but not if it means allowing them to share personal info with the world.
Click to expand...

I signed up, don't really care about personal info being known. Points will pay for a car or hotel for upcoming trip.
 
I've managed to win two $100 Verizon giftcards from the auctions. Only because I programmed an app to auto bid for me. Otherwise you would literally have to sit there for hours manually pressing "Place bid" to even have a chance.
 
Mind sharing what app will auto bid? I have something I want to win but really don't have time to sit in front of this thing while it resets every 10 secs.
 
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