So Metro and Airmiles have just ripped me off $20 (as a Team!) --- Need Advice

[kava5]

So I've got 196 air miles in my account but metro said they are "old air miles" so they can't be converted to $20 cash back, only "future air miles" can go towards the cash back activity once my account has been set to cash.

I've only mostly accumulated air miles at Metro and only every redeemed for Metro gift certificates, so I've been LOYAL.

No point complaining to Airmiles as they have always been parasites and this isn't going to change.

I've complained to Metro in the past about deteriorating Airmiles redemptions and it hasn't helped.

So- the advice I need: any ideas for any good so-called "dream rewards" I can get for 196 miles? I find the Airmiles site to be unintelligible, unnavigable and confusing, not unlike the Airmiles program itself.

[rigatti]

I have over 500 airmiles, they ripped me off of a 95 bonus, because I don't have my receipt anymore and refuse to put them into cash. Metro and airmiles just lost a loyal customer! You could get a Rona GC for someone.

[anisa]

whatever you do, do it fast. you never know what the next rewards to disappear will be.

treat yourself to a movie or something. whatever you do, do it quick! hehe

good luck

[EvilTofu]

I'm not sure if I fully understand why you said they rip you off. Do you mean your miles disappeared? Or do you mean that the rewards you want are no longer available? In latter case, I understand how you feel. I only ever get car wash voucher and metro certificates, which are both gone.

They are in the process of converting to the more convenient direct redemption model. The "dream miles" are the old ones in which you need to request for a certificate online, while "cash miles" are redeemable directly at retailers. You should set up your account so that the future mileage are Cash Miles. In the future, you will be able to redeem it directly at Metro.

In the meantime, I think the best Dream Rewards are Movie Package for Two (190 miles), or Magazine subscriptions such as Style at home (110 miles) and Lou Lou (75 miles)

I hope this helps.

[kava5]

Thank you for these suggestions, they are all very helpful and I will look into them.

It just sucks that the rewards ( the Metro $20 gift certificate) that i was expecting to redeem got yanked away without warning.

By "rip off" I meant that Airmiles and Metro, in collaboration, have created such convoluted rules that I can't use the points I have already legitimately accumulated towards redeeming for this reward. I can only redeem for Metro groceries "future earnings" as allocated to the cash program.

This new system also means that a lot of people will end up with "dangling" unusable points. Points pre-allocated to cash or dream rewards that just run short of what they really wanted, since rewards are constantly being altered and yanked by Airmiles and their sponsors without warning.

[luckbealady]

To see what Air Miles has to offer in your reward range:

Go to the Air Miles website
Click "Dream Rewards"
Scroll down to the bottom and you can select to shop for items by miles

[kava5]

To see what Air Miles has to offer in your reward range:

Go to the Air Miles website
Click "Dream Rewards"
Scroll down to the bottom and you can select to shop for items by miles

Saw this, but since the lowest category is shop by "under 2,000 reward air miles" and I've only got 196 this means way too much stuff to scroll through.
This is why I asked for help for good ideas so I wouldn't have to waste a lot of time looking through the poorly designed Airmiles site.

Thanks anyway.

[Pinkypie]

I switched my account to cash instead of dream miles as soon as it was available.
They didn't rip you off, you just can't redeem them the way you want to, we all have to follow the rules.

[Poirot]

I switched my account to cash instead of dream miles as soon as it was available.
They didn't rip you off, you just can't redeem them the way you want to, we all have to follow the rules.

People are just complaining about a very bad rule.

[walkonby]

So I've got 196 air miles in my account but metro said they are "old air miles" so they can't be converted to $20 cash back, only "future air miles" can go towards the cash back activity once my account has been set to cash.

I've only mostly accumulated air miles at Metro and only every redeemed for Metro gift certificates, so I've been LOYAL.

No point complaining to Airmiles as they have always been parasites and this isn't going to change.

I've complained to Metro in the past about deteriorating Airmiles redemptions and it hasn't helped.

So- the advice I need: any ideas for any good so-called "dream rewards" I can get for 196 miles? I find the Airmiles site to be unintelligible, unnavigable and confusing, not unlike the Airmiles program itself.

I don't know if you saw this rant yet, but if you have time to read through the posts, you will see you are not alone. This
" rule " ( of discontinuing the GC's, and locking the dream balances up tight) was dropped on all of us in a very sneaky way, and AM knew most of us had our preferences set to dream, because cash setting offered less value when redeeming for Metro groceries, or Shell gas etc.

btw, my deepest sympathies, I know the frustration.

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/304779-...g-else-canada/

[FallenPixels]

Airmiles said some time ago that you had to switch and it was widely speculated on here that the GC rewards would disappear once they cash system was in full effect. I know when I asked them their reply was something along the lines of 'we change rewards all the time and will continue to do so'.

I waited until I knew I had the airmiles owed to me and enough to redeem, cashed them in and changed to cash rewards some time ago and have already cashed them in for $10 once