By Invitation Only…
You’ve seen the emails. Every time you sign up for a new loyalty account, you soon receive an email with the subject heading “By Invitation Only”. It sounds special, right?
These invitations are to participate in the the e-Rewards Opinion Panel. Basically, in exchange for your time in filling out surveys, e-Rewards offers rewards. These rewards (e-Rewards Currency / Opinion Points) can then be exchanged for miles, points, gift cards, etc.
Shutdown Rampage
It appears that e-Rewards has swept through their system and shut down many accounts without warning. Those who had not already redeemed their e-Rewards Currency / Opinion Points lost them. Many people have lost hundreds of dollars worth of rewards (but keep in mind that e-Rewards currency is worth considerably less than real currency).
You can find shutdown reports here:
This rash of shutdowns was brought to my attention by a reader named Caroline who wrote the following:
I’ve been a panelist on e-Rewards for years without any problems — I’ve found it to be a nice way to earn a few extra miles or hotel points to top off accounts for rewards. Earlier this month, a few days after I made a request for Iberia Avios, I tried to log in as usual, but got an error message that my account had been deactivated at my request or due to inactivity. Neither was the case, so I assumed there was a technical error and filled out their “Contact Us” form. After I didn’t hear back for a week, I tried again. I waited a few more days and finally decided to reach out to them via Twitter, as I couldn’t find another way to contact them (and the form wasn’t doing the trick).
At first the Twitter rep was responsive and seemed interested in helping. But a day later, I got the following message back:
“Thank you for your query. We have reviewed your account and we have identified several discrepancies in your account details and/or survey activity that are in breach of our terms and conditions. We regret to inform you that under such terms, we have had to suspend your account permanently. You will no longer be able to take surveys and claim rewards going forward. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
The e-Rewards Team”
The above is consistent with what many others have reported. The only reason conveyed for these shutdowns was discrepancies in accounts or in survey activity. If people had created and managed multiple accounts, then it makes complete sense for e-Rewards to shut them down. Similarly if people filled out surveys falsely in order to ensure that they would be accepted as a participant, or to save effort, then again the shutdowns make sense.
However, a number of people have reported that they did nothing wrong. I know — everyone says that. But, I think it is reasonable to expect that at least some are telling the truth, and have had their accounts shut down without any good reason.
What can you do?
I checked with Alexander Bachuwa, attorney and author of The Fine Print. If you lost rewards and believe you did nothing wrong, he recommends filing a claim in small claims court.
Reader experiences
I’ve never bothered with e-Rewards myself. It always seemed like too much work for too little reward. So, obviously, I wasn’t effected by the shutdowns. How about you? Has your account survived this wave of shutdowns? If not, did you lose rewards? Please comment below.
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Yes, they took over 500 points from me. When I wrote too them about the problem, they told me my account was accurate.
Been with E-rewards many years and have never had any problems. Yes I too am out $ 135.00 And no I too have done nothing wrong. Would of been nice to get some kind of warning.
I too have had my account suspended for no reason. I have done nothing wrong and have been a loyal surveyor for years now. My account was over $200.00 as I was saving to get something special with a gift card. I also have tried to get answers, but to no avail. What gives erewards?
Anyone interested in a class action for e-rewards unpaid money in your account needs to contact me. I found the new parent co. in Ct. and am getting ready to contact the Attorney general.
Just shut down my account after 5 years,said it was communication issues??
same thing happened to me..never did anything wrong and then.cannot login and they have my 171 dollars in survey currency!
Very interested in the class action.
I was shut down and didn’t even do one survey had just gotten the invite and did my profile and then no survey would come about so i contacted only to get a email saying i have been deactivated and can no longer participate in surveys due to suspicious activity,i had just gotten the invite waited over a year for the invite just to be shut down with no real reason and they will not respond
I have been part of the e-rewards panel for 6 years and I redeemed my points to get a e gift card but I never got it. I called e-rewards and they told me they would give me my points back. Which they did. Then I got an email telling me that my account had been closed for wrongful doing. I have done nothing wrong. This company stole from me and they are a very dishonest person. We all need to get together and sue e-rewards.
I have been receiving an error code when attempting to redeem rewards “QSB0303-17.” I have $522 of erewards currency stored that I cannot use and no explanation has yet been given as to why not. I followed the instructions to contact their support team and so far have only received an email saying they are sorry for the inconvenience and that they are reviewing the account for more information. Reading everyone’s responses I am almost fuming over this as it sounds like the chances this will be resolved are almost none. If my account has indeed been deactivated for breaching any of their terms, I would like to know exactly what they are referencing. I spent considerable time and effort completing each survey and absolutely never lied. My answers may not always be 100% consistent with one another, but that would be the nature of surveys in general and not out of any form of dishonesty or trying to speed through them. Questions asking you to place a number on a sliding scale of how you feel about something that are asked in different ways or after different sets of questions will naturally elicit different responses. I havent yet heard what the deal is but as far as it seems I have spent 30+ hours working hard on surveys during an f*cking pandemic and will have nothing to show for it. I could not be more upset and feel cheated out of several hours of work. All I am interested in now is the rewards I have already *earned*. If necessary, I will follow the same course of others in reporting them to the BBB and/or contacting them several times a week until my rewards have been released. I have no idea how this company is getting away with this.
Have been doing the surveys for 7 years or so and all of the sudden with $980.00 in my account is has been suspended. Never gave misleading answers, This also does not take into account the hundreds of times that a survey has gone all the way to absolute end and then gives the partial credit. Now im not whining because i really liked the program and hotel rewards but i spent at least 2 hours a day on this and what happens to the $980.00 in my account?
This kind of behavior is still the norm at e-rewards. I just experienced it myself. I’d been using it for some time, and presumably have a great record of sincerity with them. However, my only phone is Google voice, and when they decided to reject google voice for verification numbers, I was stuck with a large balance I am not able to redeem. Here’s their “final answer” to my numerous inquiries:
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We understand that the issue is quite frustrating on your end but as part of our account security, our system will not allow VOIP or Google numbers to be used for account verification. Sadly, there’s currently no process to override this type of restriction aside from using a different number that is valid.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may be causing you on your end.
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I have been saving mine up for the last few years in order to “buy” a new computer.
Looks like that is not going to happen now. Had reward points of $3,372.00 as of 03-11-20
which comes out to be over $1124……Shit….3 years of my life wasted just so someone runs
off with my money…..NO MORE SURVEYS FOR ME.
Donald,
You mentioned that you were saving up for a computer. Does E-rewards offer computers? I was only aware of gift cards such as Starbucks, restaurants and retail stores, but I wasn’t aware they rewarded computers. Was your account closed?
I’ve been doing E-Rewards surveys for about 6 months. My account was deactivated for NO REASON this morning when I tried to log in. I completed 4 surveys last night to meet the threshold to finally get a $25 e-gift for Burlington Coat Factory today. I contacted them and they replied that someone would call me. How convenient of the to deactivate my account as soon as I reached the threshold . I’ll give an update as soon as I hear from them (or not) within 3 days.
Yup they did the same thing to my account and my GF’s account we contacted them through “Contact Us” and after about a week they reinstated both accounts as well the money on both accounts totalling about $450. Just be firm and persistent
I recently lost $744.83 in credits as my account was deactivated. They couldn’t share any details why but ignored the fact that I had taken hundreds of surveys over many years without a problem. Suddenly I am inattentive and inaccurate. I am not alone and suspect they are closing accounts with large balances to avoid pay outs even though a $25 gift card costs your account $75. I guess a $50 profit is not enough. This used to be a decent survey site but has become an unresponsive pathetic scam. Beware of eRewards.
I have used this site for a few years now, completing surveys regularly, accruing points and then I’ve been able to redeem these in exchange for nectar points. Although the surveys are variable, and quite often I complete a chunk and they throw me off, stating that they have X number of people in my demographic that have completed the survey already, I have managed to accrue points eventually and redeem them without issue. …….
….that was up until 3 weeks ago when I completed the online redemption form and got to the last page where you click confirm and it states ‘internal server error’ in red. This has gone on repeatedly for weeks now. I have messaged customer services numerous times. After 2 weeks I received responses suggested I clear ,my cache and try again- I’ve now tried this NUMEROUS times and it has not addressed the issue. I responded to these suggestions…no reply back! Someone else from customer services suggested I send a screenshot of the error message to help them assist me- I did so straight away and no response back! It is getting ridiculous now. The lack of responsiveness, lack of direct number to address the issue properly, and the fact I am being prevented from accessing the points I have earned for this length of time is ridiculous, and really poor.
Anyone else experienced this? I have read from others about their accounts just being shut down without warning- has this happened to me perhaps? I am still being sent survey requests and I am still able to accrue points and increase my balance, alongside no problems at all logging in, which would suggest my account is still very much live and active. All I can say is this is very disappointing and it is criminal if they do not resolve this and enable me to redeem the points I have earned.
Same as many before me have posted. Tried to redeem points and was told I had to enter a valid phone #. I entered my phone # in numerous formats all telling me it wasn’t a valid #. Contacted customer service and they 2 weeks later tell me the format is 1+10 digit #. (who puts a 1 in front of their own #?) I go back to try and redeem points again and this time they tell me my account was suspended. There is several back and forths that I have with them,all documented and a screenshot showing my balance. Finally this last time I try to redeem they say that my account is suspended as above posters stated because of my negligence. It’s funny how I had this account for years but now that I want to use what I’ve earned there’s a problem.
What is our next recourse?
I can’t believe this continues to happen. A few years ago they closed my account with no notice or reason given. At the time there were complaints by many people that this was also happening to them. Customer service did not respond to requests for explanations except to say that people had “violated the terms of service”. I lost all my reward points. I went online and found info on the company and the parent company.I found the CEO and the board members and emailed all of them with my complaint and told them that at least I want access to the rewards I had earned. I emailed customer service and told them what I had done. It took about 2 weeks but I got a response and they promised to restore my account which they did about a week later.
Not a traveler darn but relied on them to fill my Starbucks card. It’s been full enough for several years, now all gone!!
I was just realizing my Starbucks was getting low and I hadn’t been receiving any Erewards’s offers lately. My app is completely gone!! And I do not see an app at the App Store!!