AARP Rewards eGift Cards

[Dee_Jay]

8 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You have to be a member of the AARP Rewards...not necessarily the actual AARP.  Maybe you're correct and they have changed something...but it has always been kicked around here on CC that you did NOT have to join AARP with a paid membership.  AARP Rewards is supposed to be free.

AARP Rewards is still free.  They have always had some gift cards that were AARP  'Members Only'.  Princess previously did not have this restriction, but it was changed sometime in the last few weeks. It now shows as 'Members Only'.

[JoseyP]

DeeJay is correct.  You have been confused Rick and Jeannie with the cards, and the membership requirements. In May I bought princess cards w/o being a member of aarp. and a few years ago I bought Carnival cards without being a member of aarp. You could always do aarp Rewards for free, but now there is not really anything good there, to me.

Unfortunately, in the past 2 weeks they have changed the Princess cards to Members Only.  I will have to rejoin AARP.  And now, most every card is members only.

So, when i rejoin I hope i can buy some cards! The cruise is now paid for; lost a little money because i couldnt buy more cards on my computer, but if i rejoin and try that will be proof that they have fixed my computer problem.

[milolii]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You have to be a member of the AARP Rewards...not necessarily the actual AARP.  Maybe you're correct and they have changed something...but it has always been kicked around here on CC that you did NOT have to join AARP with a paid membership.  AARP Rewards is supposed to be free.

The change happened last week and was reported on this thread post # 282 by @wallyj   I checked it at that time and got the same notice. 
 

@JoseyP I wonder if your issues were because the website was updating  to reflect the new requirement to join.  Hopefully you can join and get those cards now. 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

You have to be a member of the AARP Rewards...not necessarily the actual AARP. 

Pretty sure that this is correct.  Free to join Rewards but you don't receive any AARP benefits (or politics) by doing so. 

[JoseyP]

And in posts 283 and 284 it was in question again, whether you had to be a member or not, so i kept trying. Yes, Milolii, what you said could be the case; updating the system.

Anyway, I'll probably rejoin and attempt to buy what i want soon. My Princess cruise is in November, another transatlantic.

Edited August 15 by JoseyP

[milolii]

34 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Pretty sure that this is correct.  Free to join Rewards but you don't receive any AARP benefits (or politics) by doing so. 

Maybe check again?  The website now reflects “members only”.  Further states, “Want to unlock this awesome members only reward?  Become an AARP member to get exclusive rewards like discounted gift cards…”  
 

Cost is $12.00 per year with automatic renewal.  
 

 

 

[JoseyP]

Hi, whoever is reading about my continuing saga with aarp:

 

Well, I rejoined, cleared the cache,did what ever they wanted with the ad blockers, called up twice,and yet again today,  and STILL can't buy any Princess gift cards!!

I have never experienced such a hard and crazy thing. Nothing is wrong with my card, and I tried a few cards.  Again, they say they are "escalating" my case, and I have heard by email, but nothing else yet. 

It is really infuriating. Right now i have no other computer or device to try on. I hate that i'll lose $ in the future if this keeps being the case! Maybe I can try at the library.

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, JoseyP said:

Hi, whoever is reading about my continuing saga with aarp:

 

Well, I rejoined, cleared the cache,did what ever they wanted with the ad blockers, called up twice,and yet again today,  and STILL can't buy any Princess gift cards!!

I have never experienced such a hard and crazy thing. Nothing is wrong with my card, and I tried a few cards.  Again, they say they are "escalating" my case, and I have heard by email, but nothing else yet. 

It is really infuriating. Right now i have no other computer or device to try on. I hate that i'll lose $ in the future if this keeps being the case! Maybe I can try at the library.

Thanks for updating us.

This is baffling.  Has to be on your end, if others are not having any problems.  
Do you have a family member or friend that could try it?  You just pay them back.  What a PiTA.

Hope you get them soon.

[JimmyVWine]

19 hours ago, milolii said:

Maybe check again?  The website now reflects “members only”.

Yep.  Just checked and it does say that.  But do we know if that means "Rewards Members" or "Full-Fledged Members"?  I am both, so I can't stress-test the system as I get through the filter and can purchase no matter what.  JoseyP has tried under both scenarios and appears to be having a tech issue so their experience does not seem to answer the "membership" question.  Is anyone who is a Rewards Member but not a Full-Fledged Member having success?

Edited August 16 by JimmyVWine

[JoseyP]

8 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Yep.  Just checked and it does say that.  But do we know if that means "Rewards Members" or "Full-Fledged Members"?  (I am both, so I can't stress-test the system as I get through the filter and can purchase no matter what.)

Everyone who is there is a Rewards member.  It means AARP members. That is what is implied. You have to be an aarp member to reap most rewards, and most  gift cards.

[JoseyP]

36 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Thanks for updating us.

This is baffling.  Has to be on your end, if others are not having any problems.  
Do you have a family member or friend that could try it?  You just pay them back.  What a PiTA.

Hope you get them soon.

Thanks.  It's totally infuriating to me. I never experienced anything like this before. Right now i have no other computer to check on. I can't spend all day on this. But i don't have any problem buying things on other websites. One day I'll know why !! 

No, I have no family that could try, and it would be too much of a hassle with my friends right now.  It is just weird to know that others can buy these cards at a discount, but i can't - and haven't been able to since i tried in late July.

[JimmyVWine]

1 minute ago, JoseyP said:

Thanks.  It's totally infuriating to me. I never experienced anything like this before. Right now i have no other computer to check on. I can't spend all day on this. But i don't have any problem buying things on other websites. One day I'll know why !! 

I'm sure that this won't make you feel any better, but I had an issue with my account  and it took several months and several long calls to get to the bottom of it.  Fortunately my wife has a "Rewards" account and I was able to buy all the GCs I needed that way, but that might not help under the current "Members Only" scenario.  Turns out that someone tried to sign up for a new Rewards account using the same User Name as mine and the system detected that as fraud and locked my account out from buying Princess GCs since that was the vast majority of my past purchases.  I guess the few one-off Honey Baked Ham GCs didn't bother them.  😁  At least, this is the story that they told me.  So they had to set up a convenient time for a call with me to talk to a high-level tech guy who was in touch with their fraud department on another line and completely erase my existing account and have me create a brand new one tied to a different email address.  I was able to use my work email to do this.  Once they did this, I have not had an issue.  I did lose whatever Rewards Points I had accumulated, but I don't really care about that.  So as painful as this might be, you might want to speak with someone who can begin the process of wiping out your old (Rewards) account and starting over with a new account.     

[JoseyP]

9 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I'm sure that this won't make you feel any better, but I had an issue with my account  and it took several months and several long calls to get to the bottom of it.  Fortunately my wife has a "Rewards" account and I was able to buy all the GCs I needed that way, but that might not help under the current "Members Only" scenario.  Turns out that someone tried to sign up for a new Rewards account using the same User Name as mine and the system detected that as fraud and locked my account out from buying Princess GCs since that was the vast majority of my past purchases.  I guess the few one-off Honey Baked Ham GCs didn't bother them.  😁  At least, this is the story that they told me.  So they had to set up a convenient time for a call with me to talk to a high-level tech guy who was in touch with their fraud dep.t    

Oh gosh, Jimmy. wow. Maybe something like that happened to me. Maybe. I don't have another email address to use. Well, I don't want to start using another one.  Glad you finally got it straightened out. One day i'll know!  thanks for the reply.

[JoseyP]

23 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I'm sure that this won't make you feel any better, but I had an issue with my account  and it took several months and several long calls to get to the bottom of it.  Fortunately my wife has a "Rewards" account and I was able to buy all the GCs I needed that way, but that might not help under the current "Members Only" scenario.  Turns out that someone tried to sign up for a new Rewards account using the same User Name as mine and the system detected that as fraud and locked my account out from buying Princess GCs since that was the vast majority of my past purchases.  I guess the few one-off Honey Baked Ham GCs didn't bother them.  😁  At least, this is the story that they told me.      

Question:  If I go on another persons computer, or use a friends aarp membership, if i try to buy gift cards, will it stop me because i use MY credit card? Or the other person wd have to buy them, and I pay him/her back?

[JimmyVWine]

3 minutes ago, JoseyP said:

Question:  If I go on another persons computer, or use a friends aarp membership, if i try to buy gift cards, will it stop me because i use MY credit card? Or the other person wd have to buy them, and I pay him/her back?

Since I don't know what error is triggering your problem, I can't answer.  But in my circumstance, it didn't matter what computer I used, how many times I cleared my cache, or if I went in through the dark web.  I was able to log in to my account and everything looked normal.  I could search for and find Princess Gift Cards and could see the price.  But as soon as I tried to put one in my cart, I got an error message that said that the problem was on their end and to try back later.  So the credit card I intended to use was irrelevant. I kept trying "later" but after a month of being stubborn, I finally concluded that the error was fatal and wasn't going to fix itself, especially since so many people here were able to buy cards in the time interval when I could not.  

Edited August 16 by JimmyVWine

[PacnGoNow]

16 minutes ago, JoseyP said:

Question:  If I go on another persons computer, or use a friends aarp membership, if i try to buy gift cards, will it stop me because i use MY credit card? Or the other person wd have to buy them, and I pay him/her back?

Usually, if it’s the CC, you’ll get a CC error.  Or, use another payment.

Sounds like you may have a corrupt rewards account number with AARP.  Or, email address has been compromised.

 

Hope they figure it out.  

Did you try to change your password for your AARP account? If you can’t, something is wrong with your account for sure.

Edited August 16 by PacnGoNow

[JoseyP]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

Usually, if it’s the CC, you’ll get a CC error.  Or, use another payment.

Sounds like you may have a corrupt rewards account number with AARP.  Or, email address has been compromised.

 

Hope they figure it out.  

Did you try to change your password for your AARP account? If you can’t, something is wrong with your account for sure.

Was able to change password. But today I didnt have the 3 letters to type in at first! That is what prompted my call to them. It's been "we'll put in a ticket for you for a higher dept" for about 2 weeks now. Not credit card.  Tried using another. My cc is fine.

After I called I re entered everything, and finally got the 3 letters to type in. That was weird. Never happened before. And, today I rejoined, just to see if I could buy a card!

Edited August 16 by JoseyP
addition

[JoseyP]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

Since I don't know what error is triggering your problem, I can't answer.  But in my circumstance, it didn't matter what computer I used, how many times I cleared my cache, or if I went in through the dark web.  I was able to log in to my account and everything looked normal.  I could search for and find Princess Gift Cards and could see the price.  But as soon as I tried to put one in my cart, I got an error message that said that the problem was on their end and to try back later.  So the credit card I intended to use was irrelevant. I kept trying "later" but after a month of being stubborn, I finally concluded that the error was fatal and wasn't going to fix itself, especially since so many people here were able to buy cards in the time interval when I could not.  

Mines a bit different. I can put anything in the cart, put in the credit card #, but as soon as the processing starts it says there is an error, and to call.  Glad you finally got yours figured out! I will one day too. I am in the same boat (pardon the pun) that you were in.

[PacnGoNow]

4 minutes ago, JoseyP said:

Was able to change password. But today I didnt have the 3 letters to type in at first! That is what prompted my call to them. It's been "we'll put in a ticket for you for a higher dept" for about 2 weeks now. Not credit card.  Tried using another. My cc is fine.

After I called I re entered everything, and finally got the 3 letters to type in. That was weird. Never happened before.

Are you referring to the security code?

You may not be signed out.

Sign out and log back in.

 

[Jadn13]

1 hour ago, JoseyP said:

Thanks.  It's totally infuriating to me. I never experienced anything like this before. Right now i have no other computer to check on. I can't spend all day on this. But i don't have any problem buying things on other websites. One day I'll know why !! 

No, I have no family that could try, and it would be too much of a hassle with my friends right now.  It is just weird to know that others can buy these cards at a discount, but i can't - and haven't been able to since i tried in late July.

I had issues in the past and called AARP, they  recommended using Microsoft edge as my browser. I haven’t had issues since and just purchased HAL gift cards today. 

[PacnGoNow]

Just now, Jadn13 said:

I had issues in the past and called AARP, they  recommended using Microsoft edge as my browser. I haven’t had issues since and just purchased HAL gift cards today. 

That’s a good idea.  I always use Safari on my iphone.  NP purchasing.

 

[Thrak]

Just bought two this morning and applied them to the balance of an upcoming cruise. The AARP site was wigging out and wouldn't load my cart. I ended up closing everything and rebooting the laptop and then everything worked fine. Using Windows 10 Pro and Firefox.

[MacMadame]

3 hours ago, JoseyP said:

Thanks.  It's totally infuriating to me. I never experienced anything like this before. Right now i have no other computer to check on.

Have you tried using "incognito" mode on your browser or using another browser you've never used before on the AARP site? If the problem is cached data like cookies, these tricks will get around that.

 

If that doesn't work, the problem is 99.9% on the backend and only they can fix it. Unless you just make a new account, of course.

 

2 hours ago, JoseyP said:

Question:  If I go on another persons computer, or use a friends aarp membership, if i try to buy gift cards, will it stop me because i use MY credit card? Or the other person wd have to buy them, and I pay him/her back?

You should be able to use your own cards. They ask for the name on the card and the billing address separately from the membership name and address.

Edited August 16 by MacMadame

[JoseyP]

42 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

Have you tried using "incognito" mode on your browser or using another browser you've never used before on the AARP site? If the problem is cached data like cookies, these tricks will get around that.

 

If that doesn't work, the problem is 99.9% on the backend and only they can fix it. Unless you just make a new account, of course.

 

You have SOLVED my problem!!  thank you!  went incognito and just ordered a 100 princess card. (tried a food gift card first)  It said confirmation for both.  Thanks.  you are SO smart. I'll still talk to some tech person at aarp. if and when they email me. Bless you for your kind help. They are already showing up in my email as purchased. I'll do this every time.

[Thrak]

29 minutes ago, JoseyP said:

You have SOLVED my problem!!  thank you!  went incognito and just ordered a 100 princess card. (tried a food gift card first)  It said confirmation for both.  Thanks.  you are SO smart. I'll still talk to some tech person at aarp. if and when they email me. Bless you for your kind help. They are already showing up in my email as purchased. I'll do this every time.

 

Don't forget that the email just informs you about the card. You still have to use the link in the email to actually get the card.