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Tomsowa
Contributor ⭐⭐
April 8, 2021

impossible to win instant awards

  • April 8, 2021
  • 217 replies
  • 89148 views

I'm deeply distrustful of the whole Rewards operation.

 

For one, I've gone through more than 400 consecutive Instant Wins and won nothing. NADA.

 

And why is that?  Anyone explain that?

 

And what about finding out some general information on who's winning the rewards sweepstakes? Is there any attempt on the part of the provider/operator or AARP Rewards to give out some information that explains there are real people winning the sweeps?

 

AND why can't the provider of AARP Rewards provide me a running total of my cumulative entries into a sweepstake? It used to do that, provide a running total on all my entries, but now it doesn't do that.

 

As always, I'm deeply skeptical of the people running this thing...

 

 

 

 

    217 replies

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    TomsowaAuthor
    Contributor ⭐⭐
    April 21, 2021

    My ongoing "SORRY NOT TODAY" string has reached 545 failed attempts at the Instant Win.

     

    My other hunch is that some economic concerns have hobbled the actual number of wins awarded by the company that manages the rewards program. Certainly, it might be a tougher economy for that firm -- don't really know yes or no. Winning seems to be in short supply, based on this thread. Something is behind that. Or am I a conspiracy nut?

    Tom G. Sowa
      WesleyB545233
      Contributor ⭐
      April 21, 2021

      I know how you feel.  I have been trying to win something for almost a year and not one win.  Seems like some members win multiple times and others never win.  What do we need to do to be in the winner's elite group?

        MichelleM50204
        Contributor ⭐⭐
        April 30, 2021

        Don't know if I'm happy to inform you or not but my dad won an instant win today. The Maggiano's/Chilli's gift card. I think today is the last day that one will be listed. FYI... He played around 9 pm here on the west coast.

          AnneG461594
          Contributor ⭐⭐
          May 5, 2021

          Thanks for the tips Michelle!!  I played an instant win on a whim in the middle of the night here (3AM East Coast) doing what most our age have to do in the middle of the night, and hey I won, first time since they went to the seven day deal.  Maybe it was the time, or maybe because the card was not as popular as others, but maybe this will be the time I play going forward to get more luck.

           

          Anne

            TomsowaAuthor
            Contributor ⭐⭐
            May 5, 2021

            Well, I haven’t found the magic solution yet. At 4:30 Pacific time today I tried to win the Starbucks instant win. The system wouldn’t even let me play it.  WTH?  I just tried it at 10 am and it let me .... and of course I didn’t win.


            SORRY NOT TODAY.... ON an endless replay loop in my life .....

             

            Tom G. Sowa
              11320cs
              Contributor ⭐⭐⭐
              May 2, 2021

              I guess it is not impossible to win instant awards, but for me, it appears, it is impossible!  Too many people playing for the number of awards available!

                WesleyB545233
                Contributor ⭐
                May 5, 2021

                Your experience is the same as mine.  Approaching my one year anniversary in AARP and not one instant win and no sweepstakes win.  More trouble than its worth to log in and try really.  

                  AJF2K1
                  Contributor ⭐
                  May 16, 2021

                  I am glad we are all expressing our experiences with this "Instant Win" game. I had started a topic similar to this one "The Odds Are Against You!", and now we can all see that the odds are really terribly against us from winning an "Instant Win". I had expressed my views and I will say it again, why does AARP offer ("Instant Win") as a benefit  to us if we can't "benefit" from it. When you have members that say they "don't want to waste my points" or "I don't waste my time" what does that tell you about this program. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that AARP has designed the Instant win game so we can educate ourselves with videos and quizzes and in turn with those points give us incentives to continue this education. But at what point do you say that this program/benefit is not working. In my case, if 500 unsuccessful attempts to win is supposed to be an incentive something is definitely wrong with AARP's thinking. At this point the only way that I can try to figure this out is that the main reason for all our unsuccessful attempts is that AARP wants us to complete has may quizzes and videos as we can. That way they will continue getting paid by the sponsors/commercials for those quizzes and videos. So it's a win for their sponsors, a win for AARP, and we end up being the losers doing all the work for AARP and we get nothing in return. One last thing, with all these members expressing their criticisms of this particular program, where is AARP? Why haven't they explained to all us why this is happening. At this point my confidence in the integrity of AARP and how they are handling this program is 0.

                    TomsowaAuthor
                    Contributor ⭐⭐
                    May 16, 2021

                    So true. It’s an erratic weird system, badly operated.

                    Tom G. Sowa
                      11320cs
                      Contributor ⭐⭐⭐
                      June 29, 2021

                      Since it is nearly impossible to win an Instant Win, please, please make Instant Wins for “Members Only.”  Perhaps by doing that for the members of AARP, we would have a better chance of winning something!  Why do non-members get to play anyway?  Doesn’t seem fair.

                        WesleyB545233
                        Contributor ⭐
                        June 29, 2021

                        I don't think anyone from AARP even reads these posts.  

                         

                        13 months as an AARP member playing instant wins daily and so far not one win.  This is what I get every time.

                         

                          mjt1959
                          Contributor ⭐⭐
                          July 5, 2021

                          Of the 400 times you have tried to win a instant prize thousands and thousands of people including myself are also trying to win those same prizes making the odds of winning one quite small. About 2 weeks ago I did actually finally win a prize after like you unsuccessfully trying for some time.. Feel free to give up trying which will increase my chances of winning again : ) Also earlier in the awards program I did use to win fairly regularly, now I believe they only award 100 of each instant prize. I'm guessing that when I was winning more they were most likely giving away way more than 100 of some of the prizes they offered. What they are offering in the awards program has greatly reduced which is annoying. That is especially true for the value of gift cards you can get for just points. Most are now 5.00 and the occasional 10.00 card. Not long ago I was redeeming points for gift cards valued 20.00 - 25.00.

                            gm5271
                            gm5271
                            Community Champion ⭐
                            July 6, 2021

                            @mjt1959 

                            Hey

                            FYI 

                            Instant Daily wins are now 100 WINS OVER COURSE OF 7 DAYS (each last 7 days once available) .... earlier when I also won more often was 100 TO WIN EVERY DAY (24hrs 9-9)

                            This big change made odds nearly impossible vs olden days.... Been since Nov 2020 I've won one 😞

                            Good luck!

                            Ginger  ;   )

                              BeachGirl23
                              Contributor ⭐⭐⭐
                              July 6, 2021

                              I have reviewed the Instant Daily winners list for the period of April 1 to June 23, 2021. Again I have found that there are people who won 8, 11, and 14 times during this period. There are others who won 'only' 6 to 8 times during the same period.  These same people won up to 16 times (some only won 11 times, others 8 times) during the period of Dec 31, 2020 and Mar 31, 2021. As a refresher, the names I selected stand out simply because of their uniqueness and the frequency they appear in the winners list.

                               

                              @AARPTeri  - I know you had stated that employees are forbidden to participate but clearly someone is gaming the system. Perhaps these are not employees but somehow they are involved in this inordinate number of wins every period. Please have this checked into. I don't mean to be rude, but it is not enough to say that employees are forbidden to participate when the numbers indicate something foul is going on. 

                               

                              I am like so many others who participate every day and get skunked every day. I have tried different times of the day, including between the hours of 2 and 5 AM EST (and believe me, I need my beauty sleep!). NOTHING!! Yet somehow, this handful of people know with a consistent frequency when to play and win. It is frustrating to say the least.

                               

                               

                                11320cs
                                Contributor ⭐⭐⭐
                                July 25, 2021

                                Just want to say “Instant Wins” they are not.  Still impossible to win.  And I agree with another post where people are talking about the Instant Wins (since the box that opened went away), about how fast the “Sorry” you aren’t a winner comes up on the screen.  It comes up automatically.  So fast that I believe there is nothing there to win.

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