BillyBarty
Austin,#2Consumer Comment
Tue, September 14, 2010
In case anyone is interested in a contrarian view here.. I was signed up for Shopper Discounts and Rewards when they called me on my cell phone. They convinced me with a 30-day free trial. I used my membership pretty much immediately and was credited with a little bit of cash back due to my purchases. Of course, I then forgot all about it and the 30 days passed without a thought. When I saw the $12.00 monthly membership fee show up on my card I had to trace it through the credit card company before I remembered signing up. I then decided I was going to cancel it. I did so and got no hassle from customer service. However, I was not going to get the $12.00 back, so I decided to try to use the service for the balance of my membership time so as to mitigate the $12.00. To my surprise, I discovered that the membership worked for me. Then one day I went to use it and discovered that my membership had lapsed (according to schedule). So I actually called Shopper Discounts and Rewards and signed back up. This was January '09 and I have been a member ever since. How I insure that it works for me is as follows. I take advantage of the monthly deal where you can buy up to $100 dollars worth of gift card for $80 (I get four $25 dollar gas cards for $20 each). Then I take advantage of the $10 monthly bonus that you can get by using the service at least once during the month (a requirement which the aforementioned gift cards purchase satisfies). So by doing a few minutes of pointing, clicking, and e-mailing, I come out ahead by $18.00 monthly ($20 gift card savings plus $10 monthly bonus minus $12.00 monthly fee) - at a minimum. I come out even further ahead if I use the service wisely for other purchases that I was going to make anyway. What I usually do is shop the web outside the service for whatever product I am interested in, note the 3 or 4 best deals that I find, and then log into the service to see if any of those 3 or 4 vendors are affiliated with the service. I find that around half the time I get the best deal through Shopper Discounts and Rewards. For example, the other day I found Quicken 2010 on Intuit's website for $20 off ($39.99) the best deal I could find that looked legit. I then went to Shopper Discounts and Rewards and discovered that Intuit is affiliated with the service. So I got the $20 Intuit discount plus was credited for an additional 15% cash back by linking to Intuit through Shopper Discounts and Rewards. So after more than a year and a half as a member, if I am getting scammed, Id like someone to explain how I have yet to see any truly bogus credit card charges as a result of my membership. To make this membership (and those like it) work for you, you just need to maybe plan your purchases a little more and be willing to do a little bit extra work. Most people probably wont do this and their membership fees are subsidizing the rest of us I guess. Cest la vie. I am sticking with Shopper Discounts and Rewards until it no longer works for me.