Why is the rewards program so lame?

[Mongo]

I can't believe how alme the rewards seem from month to month. This month I can be entered into a sweepstakes...

ooooh-ahhhh. The sweeps is only good if I shop at specific stores. 

The most impressive thing I have gotten from the rewards is a hat. I like to think of it as a $10k hat.

It makes it nicer.  At least the program and hat are free.

Did I mention the hat? It's very nice.  

I do like the expedited dispute system, I got my last dispute resolved in a very short time. Kudos.

Also I do like the hat, and if that seems sarcastic it wasn't supposed to be, but the hat is the only reward  that was worth reading the Paypal advantage rewards page. Come on - learn how to grease the wheel properly. 

I may have missed some other good stuff. If i did please tell me about it. 

Did I mention I don't wear hats? (unless it's sub-zero outside).

Sincerely Mongo

[_LeslieL]

Thanks for your feedback. As you mention, the priority customer support is a key cornerstone of the program's benefits. Whenever you have a problem and call into Customer Support, you'll get routed to our best, most experienced agents who are on your side to help you through your issues.The monthly rewards are extras we give our members.

What kind of rewards and benefits would you like to see from the program? We're always looking for feedback on how we can improve our program and would love to hear your thoughts.

[Mongo]

My credit card gives me 1.25% cash back.

Ebay gives me A Coupon worth a discount off a future purchase.

Home Depot gives me 10% off my Paint for Paint Pro Rewards Program and has given me at least (3) coupons for

$50 off a $50.01 purchase. I get many other coupons from them as well.

Amazon Gives me free 2-day shipping, free release day shipping for video games, free streaming movies n stuff.

Tops gives me discount points on gas.

Sony gave me free t-shirt, (also 2 psp downloads, 2 ps3 game downloads, free year of ID theft protect due to the hacking). I've gotten free shirts from other websites and many companies over the years. LOTS & LOTS.

BJ's gives me coupons & Free membership (sort of)

Staples has given me 1000's of free business cards (no strings attached). They give me $2-$4 on recycling ink cartredges and other coupons both online and in-store. Also MANY useful Rewards club coupons and offers. Staples has one of the best Rewards programs over test of time. 

K-Mart gives me 1% cash back for Rewards Club (in coupon form).

The Community Bank down the block gave my cousin a Free Camping Lantern for opening a minimum account.

My Grandmother has gotten free Microwave, Color TV, Toaster, Toaster Oven and more for opening bank accounts over the years. 

I get free trades if I refer somone to Scottrade.

Newegg gave me a free pen. (But it was nice, heavy metal fancy with logo) & some coupons.

Tiger Direct gave me my own personal account rep.

I have gotten free credit card machine upgrades when my old old machine broke.

I can get a free SKYBOX at the Jake from some of my Distributors.

Some  Vegas Casinos will give me free $$$ if I go back. Trump never offered anything to me, but he gave my relatives many freebies, rooms, clothes, a Trump The Game, Trump Plaza humidor, meals, FREE $$$, bus tickets.

I give my employees free Health Care (HMO). 

PAYPAL GAVE ME $5 for opening my account all those years ago.

(It also paid $5 for referrals).

Other free stuff

I got scammed into some sales pitches 20 years ago by being offered ; a free pillow : free PRIZE! (junk jewelry) : free Seminar ( I left in the first 5 min) : I don't go for these any longer nor do I want "top dollar" to trade in my car.

Please don't offer to enter me into a sweepstakes just to add me to a mailing list - I hate that. Don't call me.

The free thing about these; "Wisdom." 

That's all for now - I know none of these are original but I'll think it over. Perhaps something will come to me.

Sincerely ~Mongo

[cygnus]

Mongo, you rule.

This was everything I wanted to say.

Seriously, this Paypal Advantage thing seems about as half-assed as something made by a bunch of chimps.

But at least the chimps wouldn't sell my info to other SPAM-sites.

-Now I'm not saying Paypal is doing that (but you all do it. We know you ALL do it.)

I'm just saying that Mongo hit it on the head with what a Rewards System is supposed to be.

It's supposed to be REWARDING to the customer.

This Paypal Advantage is neither rewarding nor an advantage that I can see.

Please end this farce. Thank you.

[Nicholas2239]

The priority support is also so lame. If your primary account balance ever goes negative, you're automaticlly redirected to the Paypal collections department. This means sometimes I can't even get customer support if collections isn't in the office. What happens in my case:

I have a $210 balance because of my rolling reserve, I get a $20 chargeback and my available balance in -20 but really I still have $190 in my account. I'm still auto redirected to collections when I call, and I have to give them all this information(name, email, last 4 of SS) just to be redirected to 4 more agents in different departments and waste 20 minutes. This is only assuming the collections department is open.

Thie PPA program is a (bad) attempt to make us feel like we're getting something in exchange for the hundreds(or thousands) in PP fees we pay.

[_LeslieL]

Hi cygnus, Just wanted to make sure you got my PM. Please feel free to respond if you’d like to chat further.

[Zaphed]

For what it is worth, I just wanted to add my voice to say I think Mongo is right on target. 

A ‘rewards program’ should not be about water bottles, hats, or other marketing merchandise.  An especially horrible plan would be anything involving sweepstakes entries or otherwise requiring personal information being shared with third parties and resulting in sales calls. 

That entire issue aside, what I really wanted to respond to was your reply, where you indicated: “priority customer support is a key cornerstone of the program's benefits. Whenever you  have a problem and call into Customer Support, you'll get  routed to our best, most experienced agents who are on your side to help you through your issues.  The monthly rewards are extras we give our members.”

That makes a lot of sense, I would think the most helpful thing you could do for your top customers would be to put the resources towards giving them the top-level support. 

I have to tell you however, my experience this morning was not so great.  I was in a situation where I needed PayPal support, and upon calling the “special number” for Advantage members, I discovered several things which I found surprising:

First, my call was answered by a computer instead of a person.  Having an actual person answer seems more appropriate for a priority number reserved for the best customers. 

Second, I don’t recall anything on the greeting either from the automated system or the person that eventually answered identifying this as being a “PayPal Advantage” line – from all appearances it seemed to be standard PayPal support.  Actaully, in looking into this a litte more I am even more perpelxed.  The banner on my PayPal login screen says "Call your dedicated PayPal Adtantage Agent at  <removed> ".  But that number is listed right off the PayPal home page (click on Merchant Servcies) and is the number anyone would use to contact PayPal support - I'm not sure where the 'dedicaed agent' comes in?

Third, I think there is a real disconnect between PayPal and the PayPal MasterCard.  I really like the fact that these are linked because I strongly prefer PayPal as a payment method and this allows me to manage all monthly expenses in one place.  The problem is that I don’t think “priority” support with PayPal Advantage has anything to do with priority on the PayPal MasterCard side however, which is very unfortunate.  I spend enough with PayPal to qualify for Advantage (and will qualify about four months early for next year) but I spend a great deal more with the PayPal MasterCard and I’m really disappointed with the support, integration, and account management on the PayPal MasterCard side.  It’s too bad there is not a closer link between them.

In summary, I think you are on the right track - cut out the water bottles, hats, and other stuff and focus on good customer service.  I'm just not sure I'm seeing that given the above...

Thanks for listening however...

[_LeslieL]

Hi Zaphed,

Thanks for your thoughts. I wanted to address your feedback on the priority customer support.

1) You're right - the CS number for Advantage numbers is the same as everyone else, BUT once you authenticate yourself through the computer system, you are routed to our dedicated Advantage agents-- our most senior and most experienced agents. Your call will be treated differently and routed to a different team to receive priority support because you are an Advantage member.

2) The line does not currently acknowledge Advantage members, as you mention below. It's a great suggestion to get that added in so our Advantage members know that they are indeed recognized for who they are. We will look into that!

3) That's a great point that you mention about the PayPal Mastercard support and you're right that we need to more to make sure that the support you receive from PayPal is comparable with the support from your PayPal Mastercard. We will be looking into that too.

Thanks so much for your feedback!

[piggyhug]

Have to be a member of Advtantage to get top of the line priority help, then this suggests help line for all other Paypal members is mediocre?? Or have to spend $5k to get good help when needed? Doesn't sound like very good business practice to me.

[strikehawkecomm]

How about enhanced transitional pages when the customer leaves our site and comes to you? Standard members can modify the header but hey... make our pages stand out that we ARE Paypal Advantage Members and why we got there. I'm sure your designers can think outside of the box and enhance those transitional pages beyond what standard members can do.