Give me MyPoints!!!
Written: Nov 30 '00
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Earn points by surfing! That was the header on an email I received from a friend well over a year ago. I looked this MyPoints program over and thought, ”What the hey? My friend gets points if I join, and I’m not out anything! It IS free!”
Who can pass up the chance to get something for little or nothing? Not me! So a few minutes, a simple registration form, and some surfing later, I was up and running.
How do I earn points?
After you join, which gets you your first 100 points, a quick trip to the MyPoints home page and a click on the Earn Points link gets those points a rolling in! Under this link are five other links: Tell a friend, Take a Survey, Surf the Web, Shop, and Check it out.
Tell a friend. - Just like anything else on the web, the more hits a site gets, the more advertisers are willing to pay for a spot. When a friend signs up, you get 100 points, if they use your referral number, of course.
Take a Survey - Although this is an easy way to earn points, there has only been one survey available to me, and that was the demographics survey they give at the time you sign up! It was simple, and only asked my interests so that I can receive emails to earn points.
Surf the Web - Under this section of the site is a list of links to some of the MyPoints sponsors. Below each icon is a short description of the site and an indication of how often you can click through for points: once a year, once a month, once a week, or daily. These are usually worth ten points per hit.
Shop - Need I say more? Ok, I do need to! There are vendors listed by category. Each dollar you spend when purchasing through the MyPoints site earns you two points. During special times of the year, three or four points are offered for every dollar spent.
Check it out! - Here are a bunch of links to trial offers. Usually, it s try such and such free for 30 or 90 days. There are lots of magazines, book and video clubs to be found this way. The points vary from 50 to 250 for taking advantage of the offer.
Emails - It is to your advantage to check as many of the interests listed on your first survey as possible. If you do, any time an offer is available in one of these categories, you will be sent an email. These emails are always worth at least 10 points just for reading them. If you should choose to take advantage of the service or item offered more points are available. Don’t worry, your mailbox won’t be flooded. I rarely get more than two emails a day.
Special Offers - So many of these have passed before me that none come to mind other than the one I actually chose to do. An example is the best explanation here. If I signed up for Sprint long distance through MyPoints I received 250 points. From that point on, every dollar I spend on long distance with Sprint gets me five points at MyPoints. My average long distance bill is $50 a month, so that equals out to another 250 points a month.
MyPoints also offers a free internet service provider! - If you download the MyPoints browser and use their service you can receive an additional 50 points a month.
Ok, I’ve been earning points, what do they get me?
This is where the real fun begins. Once you reach a minimum of 1000 points, you may begin redeeming them for gift certificates. There are all sorts of vendors from which to choose. My favorite is Target. For 1250 points I get a $10 gift certificate in the mail to use at my leisure. This is great when I need a package of diapers or a little outfit for one of the girls.
The list of vendors ranges from Spiegel to Blockbuster Video to Olive Garden/Red Lobster, just about anything you can think of. There are even online certificates available. There is something for everyone. For those of you willing to save tens or hundreds of thousands of points, there are cruises and trips available as well. In addition, the more points you save, the fewer you need to get to the next level. For instance, although it takes 1250 to get a $10 certificate, it takes only 2400 for $20 and goes down a little more with each increment.
The premise of this site is great, and it used to be absolutely wonderful. Lately though, MyPoints has left something to be desired.
Where are my points? - As I stated earlier, I signed up for Sprint long distance through MyPoints. Only twice, since last January have they credited my earnings to my account. On both occasions, I wrote them to inquire, and I ended up sending them another email with my bill totals. They took my word for it!
Customer service has gotten shoddy to say the least. - Lately, every time I have sent them an email, I simply get an automated response. This last time it was over a week before an actual individual contacted me. Even then, I was asked for paper documentation and receipts, neither of which apply to what I was asking!
Emails are becoming less frequent. - Instead of two or three emails every day, they are sending two or three every two or three days. This has greatly slowed the number of points I have been earning.
Higher point totals required to redeem. - It used to take 1000 points to get a $10 gift certificate, now it’s 1250… Talk about inflation!
I have heard that MyPoints is under new management, so maybe they are partially to blame. MyPoints used to be a spectacular site, now they are mediocre, good at best. BUT they are a free site, so I won’t really complain!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
hlcooper75
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Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Reviews written: 54
Trusted by: 26 members
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