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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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!
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:
[block]
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.
[/block]
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!!
I joined this site and after earning over $20 in rewards they pulled the plug saying I was inactive,I was only inactive for a few days.I didnt know they expect you to take a survey every day.I think they planted spyware on my account to track my computer browsing.I countered this by installing a anti tracking system.I I really think that why they dropped me.I dont need someone watching every move I make,so please beware of who you give permission to spy on you!
I have no problems with E Rewards, but I have about the same problems with Opinion Rewards Panel, they deactivated my account and said I violated the terms and conditions. I don’t understand why? I didn’t cheat and answered the surveys properly. Very disappointed. Fortunately all the rewards points went to my Wydnham Rewards directly
they did the same to me i was up to 90.00 dollars and went to get a reward at sallys beauty for my wife and they sent me the same message after all this time with these dumb ass surveys and they do this what a bunch of bull shit..frauds they are.
I thought they had quit doing that. They did that to me over a year ago, I had over $200 dollars they took. I researched the company president and board members and emailed them, within a few days account was reinstated.
Had my account shut down last week after 6 years. Never lied and filled out surveys to the best of my ability , I urge others to contact the attorney general on this
This happened to me TODAY after I spend countless hours doing surveys for extra cash today when I went to log in and claim my reward my page is gone, POOF anyone on E-rewards knows how many hours you have to spend to get anywhere so it is a lot of time wasted.
Just keep writing to them at every department at least six or seven times a day. I did that and my account was re instated. Now if I have to get in touch they reply the next day
I am a fairly new user to e-rewards, a bit over a year. I was pleased with being able to take surveys and earn gift cards to a few places that I prefer to purchase items. Starting in September when I tried to redeem the e-rewards of $75 for a $25 gift card to Walmart I got the message that I had already redeemed a gift card to that merchant within the set time frame of 180 days…that is six months. I was shocked as the few places I was earning gift cards at, i.e. Walmart, CVS and Amazon, all have 180 day time frame limits now. I did not receive warning on the site nor email regarding this matter and have yet to contact customer support. I am thankful for the items I was able to purchase for myself and for gifts but I have stopped taking surveys as it is not a benefit to me at all anymore 🙁 bummer.
Hi can anyone log in to their UK account anymore ?
I have just logged in after getting a message saying that my email address needed to be re subscribed to them and was then taken straight to the American site where I now have $9.65 which I can of course now re deem for vouchers in america.
I still have the equivalent of my Nectar points but now in dollars I cant spend.
Anyone else experienced this ??
Just logged in and everything seems fine with my account……so far anyway!
Hi how weird i just logged in again and back to my old account. Very strange though
Pleased it’s working for you again
[…] noticed. e-Rewards shuts down accounts. Rewards lost. (developing) – Frequent Miler Maybe this is what happened to me, and now they won't re open me for surveys. Not my website. […]
For many years E-rewards was a reliable site where one could redeem for gift cards, magazine subscriptions and millage programs (estimating your earnings by a third of its value). A big surprise was when I tried to redeem some of my $200 earned during many months and hours of painstaking time completing surveys. They asked for a phone verification (SMS or voice) for them to send a code. After many attempts and error messages, they inactivated my account. After many weeks and attempts contacting customer service, they have not solved their problem, stating that my provided home phone numbers are digital (?). This leads me to believe that this outfit has scammed me of my hard work. If you value your time, DO NOT WASTE YOURS, Chances are that after many hours of work you may get the runaround like me. You will get only excuses and a per-canned reply that they will “investigate” with their “technical” department!
I will be filing a demand at the BBB and SA for the amount they owe me..
I have tried messaging them through e-rewards website, Twitter, and Facebook. After 4 months, my account is still inactive. I’ve have also filed a complaint with BBB and also filed a consumer complaint with the Office of the Attorney General in Texas. Other than that, I have had no such luck…..
Finally – I managed to get my account restored. Took over 2 months of emails and calls. For those of you still locked out: Keep at it. For myself though, I am going to keep cashing out my rewards as soon as I have enough to redeem.
I tried to redeem a reward & they locked me out of my account claiming that my phone number was no good. ” The number you are using is showing up as a digital phone. You will need to use another phone number in order for the verification process to be successful. You will need to provide either a mobile phone or a landline.” My phone is a land line. It’s plugged into the wall.
I furnished them with a cell phone number. Their response “I have sent your information to our technology team so that they can look at your account. ” Two weeks & no response. I am still locked out of my account. I had $150.00 in reward credits. They cheated me out of it. I believe they are crooks. I’m going to file complaints with the FTC, South West Air & a fraud complaint with the FBI.
[…] e-Rewards shuts down accounts. Rewards lost. (developing) […]
Please keep me posted on any successful contact information you may have. I tried reaching out to the email addresses on theses threads – returning undeliverable.
I just contact them through Twitter, but I still received the same result. It’s hopeless. I have also filed a claim through BBB. They are also on Facebook but not sure how responsive their messaging is.
I just got a new survey and deleted it after they locked me out of my rewards-I also e-mailed AC Moore about this and apparently they don’t care-will be shopping elsewhere unless it’s a deep discount. Waste of time-not sure what their game is.
Donna,
Have you tried to see if they’ve granted your access back? I know several people were restored including myself. I just sent one E-mail and within a week I was E-mailed a survey but this was a few months prior (April) when they were closing down accounts like crazy.
Where did you email? Can you post the email address?
I realized I hadn’t received any surveys in a couple of months and decided to check and received the following message: 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 from our website going forward. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Thank you for your inquiry,
So apparently I’m apart of this rash of shutdowns which is so upsetting as I had over $650 in my account. I would like to know what the discrepancies were. This vague explanation tells me nothing.
I have sent numerous emails and tweets. They always say that they’ll look into it but nothing ever gets done. I had over $200 in rewards! Ten years have gone down the toilet and I’m so pissed!
I just sent my fourth email and even though I have received an email nothing has been done and I only had 83 points but wanted to redeem them for an AC Moore gift card. Now I can’t even log in at all. Will not be bothered with this again and will be posting them info to social media.Wasted my time.
After taking many surveys over the past few years I decided to check my points to see where I was at and what they were worth. Wish I would have long ago because I found out I had around $250.00 . At the time I was busy and decided to cash in later. Well they must have seen that I was looking at my points for the first time and bam I was shut out with the same excuse as all the above have stated. I did nothing wrong but wanting to see what I had EARNED. E-rewards my ace. There must be a law firm out there that wants to take on a Class Action Law Suit. To me this is the same as employing a person having them do a job and then saying after years of employment “I will not pay you and I am taking back all your pay” If they would give me what I’m owed then shut me out that would be a different story, but firing someone just before payday and not giving them their check is truly a deplorable act !
I urge anyone affected to fight it as hard as you can. There is no reason for this. Spread the word on social media. Post on their Facebook page. Let’s not take this lying down.
I just found this site after being kicked out of my e-Rewards account when I was trying to redeem my earnings for a GameStop gift card. The site sent a verification code via text to my cell. That level of security must be new. When I entered it in the site, I was kicked out and can no longer sign in to my account.
After reading some of the comments, I might be out of luck.
Ironic, isn’t it? I’m actually struggling with an identity theft issue which involved my hotel points among other things. My account is still working, but folks with no suspicious activity are shut down.
Best of luck to the victims.
Same thing happened to me recently. When it hit, I’d had $59 in the account and had just managed to cash out $50. It irks me, though, because I’ve done nothing wrong. I am definitely using all avenues I can to fight this.
I just found myself a victim here as well. And pretty sure I was at the point of being able to cash out for another iTunes gift card. This is beyond infuriating especially based on this information from their own site:
You can terminate your account at any time, but in doing so you forfeit the Panel Currency in your account. If you wish to do so you can unsubscribe via this link or email Member Services or from the unsubscribe link present in the footer in any email from us or here.
We reserve the right to terminate your account at any time, immediately without specifying a reason, or if:
You have been inactive for 365 days or more
You are in breach of these terms
Your account termination will result in your panel currency being deleted.
Since neither of those are applicable to me, I am beyond exasperated!!
I got the canned response claiming discrepancies. I don’t even know how there can be discrepancies between the last redemption in January and the time in which I was eligible to redeem again considering I was off and on due to illnesses. But I have filed a complaint with the BBB. They poked the wrong bear.
Here’s the Corporate Phone number: 214-782-2800
I received an email yesterday that they reactivated my account and I was able to log in and redeem for 2 different rewards this morning. I still have $164 reward dollars left AND now my account is inactive again. How frustrating.
[…] e-Rewards shuts down accounts. Rewards lost. (developing) [this is the post with the most comments] […]
Any current updates about the shutdowns yet?
I have messaged via Twitter and they have written back to say that they have submitted my information to the technology team to review my account and will get back to me as soon as they can with an update. That was 2 days ago.
I have also emailed and received a ‘cut and paste’ reply on how to log-in! Obviously haven’t read any further than I can’t log in. So have replied back asking them to re-read my email, they have now forwarded my account to be checked again. I’m not holding my breath for a positive outcome but will keep you posted.
My account has been reactivated again, had been made inactive twice.
Funnily enough, after saying that “I’m not holding my breath” only 3 hours ago, I’ve just received an email advising me that my account is active again. So, I’ve cashed in 6500 points for 2000 Virgin miles but I’ve still got over 3000 left and I can’t cash in again for another 30 days. Fingers crossed my account hasn’t been deactivated again by then!
Yep faith in e rewards gone as they have deactivated me again. Looks like the heat was on them to pay out points which people earned. Not bothering to contat them again now as got my nectar points and a new skirt from ebay.
Yes totally agree, wasted enough time chasing them as it is, hope everyone gets what they were owed!
Who do I write to to try and get my account activated please? I’m not bothered if they deactivate it again but I would at least like to convert my 10,000 points into Virgin Air miles.
I just wrote to every department on the site (where it tells you your account is deactivated) 3 times each day for 3 days and got in touch via twitter as well. They answered after about a week. Twitter answered straight away and I sent them my email address so they could look into my account.
If you get your miles its worth the effort.
Thank you, I will give it a go and see what happens!
Did you ever get your miles.
Thanks
I’m in the UK and this happened to me just the other week too. I’m collecting points for Virgin miles, have done for years and years, never had a problem until now. I have over 10,000 points and am very unhappy! Strangely the email address of the reply I received from Member Support was erewardsaustralia@mailmw.custhelp.com. Why on earth am I receiving an email from Australia when I live in the U.K.? I intend to write back to question their decision but don’t hold out much hope.
After a month of numerous e mails and phone calls AND an e mail to the CEO I finally got a response from customer service this morning about my account being closed. It says that they are reviewing my account and it may take awhile but they will let me know what they are going to do We’ll see. .. I must say I am stunned, I had no hope of ever hearing from them so maybe they are beginning to see the firestorm they created and that it’s not going to go away . They may have expected we would just ride quietly into the sunset and when that didn’t happen decided that playing nice was the better option. Keep the emails and calls going you might get lucky.
I got my account re-activated after a month of chasing and messaging via facebook, logged in and cashed out my rewards, attempted a couple of surveys that I didn’t qualify for. Got my nectar points awarded the next day, logged into e-rewards account again and had been deactivated again! Don’t think I will bother chasing it this time – at least I got what I had rightfully earned I suppose!
You are right, my account has been de-activated again!
Wow, I thought they were trying to make things right by doing the right thing. Now, it appears based on your reply, they reactivated accounts in order to payout earned monies to possibly avoid lawsuits. Their actions are suspect at best. I wouldn’t bother chasing them down again either. It’s really sad, because E-rewards had so many loyal members!
That is not a good sign.
I tried to log into my account yesterday (4/19/2017) in order to finally place a rewards order. When I did I received the error message telling me that my account had been deactivated due to in activity. That’s crazy! I had been taking these survey almost every day for just about the past year and had built up my account to over $1675.00. That’s right $1675!! I had just completed a survey whereas the company had sent me some laundry detergent to try for two weeks. I did just that, and two weeks later I received another survey from the same company (which I kept a copy of) asking me to answer their questions, which I did for another $4.00. This crap about the inactivity is garbage. My wife also has her own account which has about $30. She has not completed a survey in over two months! What this tells me is that e-rewards decided to find the members with large account and then shut them down for what they called in activity, or whatever other excuse they decided to give. I have contacted e-rewards twice by phone, was told someone will get back to me with 24 hours. Yea right!! I also sent a email via their website and received a response back that stating they will get back to me shortly. This kind of treatment is in-excusable and should never had happen to anyone this way. I spent over a year taking all these surveys, spending over 20 to 60 minutes completing many of these survey only to yahoo decide that my time and effort should account for nothing.
Contact all departments several times for several days. Or contact via Twitter,thats what i did. I think they have had a tech problem and the deactivation of accounts was generated automatically by the system. Dont quote me on this but by the replys i have received from them, this appears to be the case. Contact them again as everything is up and running again now and i logged in and cashed in my points yesterday and they are now sending surveys again….well in the uk anyway.
I agree.There are a lot of us that this has happened to so hnthe same responses that you have gotten. Try e mailing the CEO: glaben@researchnow.com ( parent company)
Receivef another email today saying their tech team were fixing my account and i should be able to redeem ny rewards in 2 to 3 days. I also received a survey in my mailbox today. Is my faith in e rewards restored or is it the fact that i contacted every department 3 times in 3 days and also twitter ??
My account has been reactivated today and all points restored. Really impressed with e-Rewards customer service.
Can you redeem them?
I have redeemed 5000 points today in exchange for Nectar points, will update here once they are credited to my Nectar account.
Just logged in and redeemed my points so they have fixed the tech issue. Well done my faith is totally restored !
I had been with e-rewards for about 7 or 8 years, and always answered the surveys truthfully. They marked my account inactive. I tried contacting them, and it took them over two weeks to respond to my email. It was the same message posted above. This is extremely frustrating.
So I got the generic violation of contract response to my query. Bogus. I’ve followed all protocols. I’ve participated in product trials. I’ve been with them 3 years and then I’m deactivated? They get paid to distribute the vendor surveys. Unilaterally wiping out earned rewards is theft in my book! And from the sound of the numbers involved – they just reaped a huge windfall of cash! They’re not worried. No one is going to go after them. Likely they’ll do it again in the future. I primarily used it to earn hotel points. Just recently got an invite from the Hotel group to join e-rewards! Think I’ll jot a note to them that they are promoting a theft operation.
perhaps because I queried them on twitter???
just had another message ,twitter this time, asking for email address to look into my account to sort it out
Will let you all know what happens next
Here’s a quote from their Facebook online chat service. I asked them why my account was marked inactive when actually I was quite active.
“Hi Bill, I will need to place an investigation into your case to see if it can be reactivated. This can take a few days time and we will email you once we have more information. Thanks for your patience.”
Had a reply from E-Rewards tonight saying they were very sorry and had reactivated my account and put my points back, which they have, but when I try to get my Nectar points a message a comes up
Sorry, but you’ve already redeemed for a Reward from this partner during this redemption period. Please review the terms & conditions for this Reward.
So its back I go to the contact form.
At least its start….anybody else been reactivated??
Thanks for sharing, very interesting
Mmmmm. I thought so too.will see what happens now with the points. Ill keep you posted
Just had another email saying sorry it is a technical issue and the team are working on it.
Let you know what happens tomorrow
Have written to Resolver to see what they can come up with, its worth a try
I would suggest contacting their reward partners and explain to them what is going on. Suggest that they pull their reward offers. I have been a member of e_Rewards when they began the U-Promise rewards.
That was canceled last year. Then they put a limit on how many specific partner rewards you could “cash in” per quarter. Just when I was ready to “cash in” this quarter for my favorite reward partner, they mark my account inactive. I was participating multiple times a week, so I definitely was not inactive. I feel like I’m on the USS Indianapolis.
Rex or anyone,
If you find out the E-mail addresses to CEO’s or board members would you kindly pass them on to me at socialuser4179@icloud.com? In advance, “thanks!” I have found the CEO’s name, but there wasn’t an E-mail address for him.
I think I’ve found the CEO and some board members for e rewards. The e mails at e rewards follow this format: first initial, last name @ researchnow.com ( this is the parent company)
Gary Laben CEO
John Rothwell- President,COO
Kris Baker -VP
Am Maltby -Sr. VP
Michael Bigby-CTO
Steve Costa-CFO
That’s what I’ve found so far. If anyone has found anything different please post/correct
There`s a site called Resolver and its in association with Money Expert.com They open a case on your behalf with you providing the information for them.If its not answered it gets escalated up the ranks until someone answers. I dont know the company name that e rewards operate on though.Does anyone know??
Its worth giving a go. I have just just started a case with them over a parking fine.if the companys not listed they will get in touch with you for more info.Its free as well.
As soon as I find the companys name I shall be opening a case.If we all do the same perhaps they will be exposed for what they are doing.
It is fraud and they are doing us all out of money in the long run.
Thank you for the info. The parent company of e rewards is called :Research Now, they bought e rewards.
Hi. Thanks for the info on how to contact eRewards (ResearchNow) as that is exactly what I did late yesterday afternoon, emailing all on this list. Low and behold by 10am today I received a call and they have helped me with my email issue and I’m now back in my account. Bibgy and Costa emails came back undeliverable. I suggest you do the same for the issue you are having. My email on file I no longer had access to so I couldn’t reset my password. I had submitted a contact us form with no results. Again thanks allot for the contact info.
I had mine shut down last week with more than 2000 points owing to me.I convert them to Nectar points which I use on ebay to buy items.The maddening thing is that the day before they closed my account,I checked to see how many points I had and thought I would wait until I had another 500 points as you get more for your exchange rate after 2500. I have had 187.50 pounds in the last 18 months this way to spend on ebay and the 2500 points would have given me another 12.50 pounds.
I have written to every department but got no answer. This was a great way to earn extra points for a few minutes work a few times a week.Who has had my points ?? Surely its not legal to do this.Anybody else from the uk had this done to them or know what to do about it. Do you think Nectar has anything to do with it?? I may write to them to see if they are still awarding points to e rewards cashed in points.
Mine was just deactivated today. Wow. Guess I’m supposed to be grateful that my account stayed open longer than my husband’s – his was shut down on March 13. This is wrong – randomly – without any real explanation or proof of wrongdoing – they just close everyone out of their accounts and then all you get are generic automated responses (if you even get a reply at all) – and the worst part is cheating members out of all of the money they earned.
It’s interesting because the partners like Southwest and Hilton Honors, etc probably pay e-Rewards a monthly fee to be on their website, and in return, e-Rewards does “their part” by sending us the surveys, fulfilling their obligation to the companies that pay them, BUT then e-rewards starts shutting down accounts, keeping all of the members’ currency…kind of double dipping. This would especially make sense if they are getting ready to close down for good…or maybe it makes no sense at all and I am just thinking out loud. Bottom line is something doesn’t seem right here.
It isn’t right some messages are saying their accounts were deleted because of they violated the terms of agreement yet they do not provide anything that would substantiate their claim. While we did have an explicit duty to abide by their terms ,they had an implicit duty to not use that arbitrariily as an excuse to dump people just because they don’t want to pay them. That is fraud in my book and what they have done is theft.
Exact same thing happened to me tonight! I filled in a few surveys this morning and then went to “cash out” for the £10 amazon voucher and it says that the account is “inactive” due to disuse. That’s clearly impossible so I think they are, in fact, shutting down accounts randomly.
I just checked their Facebook page again. Surprise, surprise, they have now deleted EVERY negative comment ever posted. This means every visitor post is gone, at least going back a couple of years, it seems.
I’m busy trying to find who the CEO is and any Board of Directors and their e mail adresses then I’m going to start e mailing them. If anyone has already obtained this info please share it. I will post when I find it.
Just checked and my account has been deactivated without any explanation. I had nearly £100 of Nectar reward points accumulated so far.
They have stolen my money as far as I can see.
My account was deactivated and this was the response I received from Customer Service: “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 close your account permanently. You will no longer be able to take surveys and claim rewards from e-Rewards going forward.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.”
I’ve sent three emails requesting follow-up information, and I have not received any response.
Seems to me that’s a rather one sided explanation. Just because they say you violated their terms etc. doesn’t make it so. Where is our chance to answer the accusations. Don’t they need proof before they can steal our money?
I have been a loyal and consistent member of e-rewards for about 8 years, taking multiple surveys a week and always answering them honestly. On March 30, when I went to login to my account I received the message it had been deactivated. I assumed this was a mistake and sent a message to member services. Multiple emails to member services later, messages to their Facebook, and numerous calls to customer service later I have yet to receive any help…or answers. I am told time and time again by representatives they cannot access my information and do not have the authority to reactivate my account. When I ask for a call back from someone who can do those things, no response. I think there are fraudulent practices at work. Please join me in reporting them to consumer reporting agencies:
Federal Trade Commission 1-877-382-4357
Texas state consumer agency (as company based in Dallas) 1-800-621-0508
Also through ic3.gov
I agree, we need to take this up the ladder to people who have the authority to make them listen. Thanks for the phone numbers and I will be calling and issuing my complaint. Let’s make sure we don’t just fade quietly into the sunset. They have stolen our money, and that’s a crime no matter what state you’re in.
I’ve been thinking about who to contact. The government agencies are fine as far as they go, but response from them is slow if ever. What about contacting Hilton, Southwest, and all the others? Also, if we can find addresses for the actual survey companies they should be made aware as well.
Steve Duncan 416-623-5231 initially helped to restore my account; however within about a month got deactivated again for no reason. Am done with this company.
I am in the same boat as most of you. I’ve been with erewards for a number of years now. I get a decent number of survey offers, but the rewards I want are limited to once per quarter. Therefore, I ended up with over $600 in erewards currency. Went to the site hoping to redeem two days ago but saw that my account was inactive. Contacted their customer service but have yet to hear back. Based on all the comments, I am not hopeful.
I religiously filled in surveys as honestly as I could, even though I knew that lying would gain me the rewards. I had £20 worth of nectar points when they shut me down without explanation. Although this is not a significant amount I still fell that I have been robbed. I have emailed twice but still have received no reply.
I stopped getting survey requests so I wnt to log-in. Got notice my account had been deactivated! Crazy – I spent many hours completing surveys and have tested multiple products! No fooling around, either. I had just used most of my rewards for Hilton points, but this whole thing smells fishy to me!
Mine hasn’t been deactivated (yet), but I’ve noticed a huge surge in technical glitches with the surveys. At least 80% of my surveys abort mid-survey, and send me to various pages such as quota full, no surveys at this time, or (usually) just the beginning of a new survey (usually for less money). No “you didn’t qualify,” and no record of the previous survey in my log.
I have contacted technical support, but they usually tell me I just “overlooked” the “you didn’t qualify” message, or some other lame excuse. Wow.
Do you suppose they are having financial problems and in an attempt to save money or delay bankruptcy they cancelled people’s accounts especially anyone who has a substantial amount of rewards?
Rex,
I do believe they are experiencing financially difficulty which has made it hard to pay out on members’ rewards. They got me today after taking a survey earlier. Fortunately, I only loss $22.75.
I’m researching who the company officers are but e rewards are intertwined and owned by other companies etc. I think I’ve found the list of CEO and boad members but want to be sure before I start launching e mails.
I’ve also contacted Christopher Elliot, a consumer advocate who has a website and entered my complaint there. Waiting to hear what they find out.I encourage others to do the same.
I agree. They must be desperate to steal these account balances from us.
My account was deactivated as well. I have sent several requests to reactivate my account with no response. I have reached out three times on Twitter. The reason showing is that my account was deactivated because of inactivity, however I completed a survey just a couple of days before the account was deactivated.
Account was suspended, no rules broken and I had completed surveys they day before. Followed protocol and no response whatsoever. Had a boatload of currency at time of suspension. Very arbitrary. The lack of response and utter lack of customer courtesy has motivated me to write each of the sponsoring partners to discourage use of the service.
Contacted Alaska Airlines and they are emailing E-Rewards on my behalf to find out what the issue is. It’ll be interesing to hear if they get a response. I followed E-Rewards Contact US protocol ten days ago and haven’t heard anything. I also left a voicemail on their customer service number.
I’ll update if anything happens.
Aloha
What is their Customer Service Phone Number?
Thanks
My account was de-activated when I reached $99.50 which was just $.50 short of my 2000 mile redemption for Alaska Airlines. Really Lame. I was thinking about contacting Alaska just to let them know because it was thought one of their promotions but seems fruitless.
I’ve had the same experience as many other posters. I have had an account for a couple years with no problem. My account was shut down with the message that I requested it or there has been a period on inactivity. I routinely redeem my points for iTunes and Starbucks gift cards. I had over $600 in reward money built up in my account. I have filled out the contact us form twice and haven’t heard anything back. I’m really annoyed by this.
same here
If they want to de-activare my account for whatever reason fine but give me the money I earned then kick me out. If they had a problem with my answers then I should have been told before the reward was given but the fact that it was credited to me implies approval on their part. In essence they stole my money and if the reason they closed all these accounts was because they somehow benefitted from it ( saved money etc.) and not for the reasons they stated then that is fraud.
If the already earned rewards from all these thousands of people go back into their “pot” to distribute then they have benefitted twice, once for our answers and once for the additional rewards they acquired. Where’s our benefit? How is that not a crime ?
Glad you’ve posted about e-Rewards. I had been a member for many years and got the same message that the other responders received. Yes, I too, had been bothered by the low payouts, but I figured that I was doing a favor to the companies that were paying them to have surveys done. Lately, I began to be concerned about some significant technology flaws with their surveys. If you want to carry our complains further, I’ll be happy to help.
[…] e-Rewards shuts down accounts. Rewards lost. (developing) […]
I had been with them for 7-8 years and my account was shut down 2 days ago. Never had any trouble with them at all until now.
Can we get together and file a class action lawsuit? Is there attorney in the house ?
Yes same here and I second the class action suit inquiry.
[…] Tuesday I wrote about a rash of e-Rewards account shutdowns purportedly due to discrepancies in members’ account details and/or survey […]
Thanks for this. I tried logging in 4 days ago and got the message that my account had been de-activated at my request. I did no such thing. I filled out the “contact us” form that day and yesterday. I haven’t heard back from them.
Its a shame really. I have been a member going on 8 years, and never had a problem. I fill out the surveys and get the reward dollars. I routinely redeem my rewards for iTunes gift cards, magazines, Starbucks gift cards. As at the last time I logged in, I had a balance of $553 in my rewards account.
There was no Tomfoolery on my part, and thats the part that hurts. They could have just come and say “We are closing your account”. I would have been ok with that.
I did one survey once but found that they are offering the miles at about 2cent cost per mile as opposed to other survey site that offer money. 25 miles for a survey which would net you 50 cents from another survey
You know, I’m beginning to sense there may be an iceberg story here.
I used it to get extra Southwest points there via transfer, but thought it was too much work. Now that I blog, I don’t waste time on it. All my points were transferred out and I’m not sure if I got shut down.
Erewards shut down in last month for me and my wife. As previous commenter stated lots of tomfoolery on my part. I has it down to a science to get accepted. Redeemed hertz points for last 4 years. Sad.
I did not have my account shut down recently, but that’s because I did have it shut down a few years ago. No tomfoolery on my part. I did not re-enlist. Fool me once ……
Sue? really… sue…
E-rewards top value is SUPER low. whats the top miles payout, 2,000 miles? and you recommend suing over 2,000 miles
This is why we can’t have nice things. And why ppl from other countries laugh at our legal system.
This has been going on for years actually. They may have ramped up the number of accounts they are shutting down but they’ve been doing this sort of thing for at least 3 years that I know of.
I have never committed “tomfoolery ” yet suddenly I’m locked out. This is crazy. They could at least give us our rewards. No warning. No nothing. Very upset right now.
Don’t give up! They shut me out in April, I had $250 worth of points. I emailed customer service at least 4 times and always got a canned reply back.Then I found the CEO and board members email addresses and emailed them and I called the main office also. Just as I was giving up all hope I got an email from them saying they had received my inquiry and would check into it and get back to me in a few days. It took about a week when I received a notice that my account had been reinstated. No explanation , apology, nothing but I’m have my account back and all my rewards back. Keep hammering them any way you can.
Can you share this info?
Another reader shared the following info:
The parent company of e rewards is: Research Now. All emails follow this format: first initial, last name@researchnow.com.
The officers are: CEO-Gary Laben, COO John Rothwell, VP-Kris Baker, CTO- Michael Bigby, CFO- Steve Costa
Thank you. The same thing has just happened to me. I have over $250 worth of rewards. I’ve contacted them through their website to no avail.
Is this hilton? I did everything but nothing help, any suggestions? It was 260K points there.
No problems, my account is fine. I redeem my rewards as soon as I hit the earliest threshold.
I want to participate in E-Rewards, can you give me the referral code or a few links to join the site?