Looks Like Another Loyalty Program Devalued
Fortunately this one does not affect the ability to book planes with showers or hotels in tropical destinations. Still annoying though. Verizon Rewards+ has increased redemption prices by 10%.
Yesterday morning I posted about the only worthwhile redemption I’ve found for Verizion Smart Rewards points (wireless services). That prompted me to log in to my Verizon Rewards+ account (residential services) and see if I had enough points for anything. And discovered less than 4 months after the program launch the points needed to redeem for gift cards has increased, with the lowest redemption now at 1100 points for a $10 gift card up from 1000.
Points needed in December 2015
Points needed in April 2016
Checking my inbox I can’t find any emails about the impending points increase, a shame because I actually had enough shortly after signing up to redeem at the 1,000 point level. In the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal and hardly as shocking as the unexpected hike by Alaska Airlines, but disappointing.
Verizon Smart Rewards was always pretty much worthless, but Verizon Rewards+ actually seemed pretty decent. It didn’t require sharing more personal information, and points could easily be earned by opting out of paper billing statements, downloading their app, etc. Plus, it essentially offered rebates for purchasing movies and premium channels.  But if they’re already increasing the prices (with no notice) this early into the program it doesn’t bode well for its future value.
I logged into Verizon awards on Easter and decided not to redeem until my next point deposit at the end of the month. However, at that time Frontier Communications had taken over Verizon, so I lost out on redeeming for $30 worth of Starbucks gift cards. As an added insult, Frontier really screwed up the transition. Oh well. I’m just mad I left money on the table.
Yes, really disappointed that Frontier took over and we lost all our Verizon points. Plus we had an outage for a whole day during the transition.