It was always free for me, and quite a few other people here. I've had a free account since day 1 of the RZ program. They've now made the RZ program even worse, free or not. What's going to happen to all of the points we have on account? Suddenly, those are all devalued now. Free or not, we had a 'deal' with them, and now they've changed it on us and made it worse. What's not to complain about?

And all current members will not be getting a $10 RZ Cert, just those that have paid $10 to join.

Thanks, eau! I was going to make the very same point, but you stole my thunder.

Now instead of getting a 66-cent reward on a $20 DVD, your reward will now be 40-cents with the 2% cash back. I guess that's worth celebrating!

But, of course, BB is giving its own spin on the changes by telling the user that the RZ program is now "easier than ever."

Just goes to show you how BB tries to please its customers!

They definitely weren't trying to please customers with this change. I'd say they were losing too much money with this program (I know I'm not the only one who made a large sum of rebates) and had ta tweak it to keep it from being discontinued. The letter sounds like a marketing geek trying to put a positive spin on it, not realizing he is insulting the very people he is trying to 'spin."

If it's a choice between 2% and none, I'm sticking with the 2%. Close, price match anything I bring in (Since Anita knows me and does some pretty wild things for me) and better than $0.00 rebates.

Terrible changes. Effectively worthless unless you buy alot of media or on big purchases.

Here is a chart showing how much each version of the program earns you during a year of purchases, assuming you pay $10 to join the Reward Zone for 1 year. The intersection point is at $750 in purchases. Below that, the new program benefits you more. Above that, the old program does. Remember, the first $300 spent under the old program only brought you to the break-even point on your investment.

Spend___Old RZ Earned____New RZ Earned
$300____$0.00___________$6.00
$400____$3.33___________$8.00
$500____$6.66___________$10.00
$600____$10.00__________$12.00
$700____$13.33__________$14.00
$750____$15.00__________$15.00
$800____$16.66__________$16.00
$900____$20.00__________$18.00
$1000___$23.33__________$20.00
$2500___$73.33__________$50.00
$5000___$156.66_________$100.00
$10000__$323.33_________$200.00

So it seems like we can conclude Best Buy is trying to attract more customers who will spend under $750 a year (under $62.50 a month) at the expense of offending customers who spend more than that in a year. It's hard to say how much more or less money Best Buy will be paying out in certificates now. But my guess is the DVD market is so competitive, they needed to pay out more to keep those customers shopping for low-priced items like DVDs and had to make the high-spending customers pay for it. It's probably a good move for keeping customers, since the 2% discount on more expensive items will still probably create a big enough discount to sway the consumer into buying it from Best Buy, while the free Reward Zone membership will be an attraction to low spenders.

By the way, I purchased my Reward Zone membership in early November last year. I received the notice today but I didn't get any refund in any amount even though I am losing 6 weeks of value off of my membership. Not that I plan to make a stink about the $1.00 or so that would amount to.

I could be wrong, but I thought a Reward Zone membership could be returned for a full refund within 30 days. At least I think I was told that once.

Before opening it, I knew the moment I got the letter in the mail stating important info about the RZ program that they would be increasing the points required to get a certificate because such programs rarely get better. The only surprise was the free membership. With free membership coming soon there is no reason (other than laziness) that everyone who shops at BBY won't join. That means there probably won't be any more of those special discounts for RZ members only because almost everyone will be a member.

I'd suggest to BBY to do this: why not simply deduct 2% off the subtotal on every purchase made at the register? There's no more RZ card to carry, people get their piddly 2% back immediately, and they can advertise it as "get 2% cash back instantly... no hassles". Then they could get rid of all the online infrastructure for the RZ and nobody would need to check for missing transactions because you could look at your receipt. It would be (to quote Darth Vader) "all too easy".

Wait a minute... this would be too logical, so it'll never happen (just like the flat tax). I think the RZ program is meant to be like a (very small) rebate where they hope enough people will forget the rebate or not purchase enough that they won't get their 2% back, but that it'll attract additional customers. 2% wouldn't even factor in my average decision unless I'm buying a big ticket item like a TV which happens about once every 3-5 years. The previous 3.3% wasn't much of a factor either. The only reason I go to BBY more often than CC is that BBY is closer and has a slightly better inventory.

I hope I can get enough points to get my next $5 certificate before the threshold increases. I assume on Sep. 18th they'll convert existing point balances by dividing by 100 rather than reset everyone back to 0 points?

Thanks, but a funny thing happened to me while purchasing this RZ card. Their register screwed up and my receipt got chewed up. After waiting for half an hour for them to print a receipt in a backroom somewhere, I finally gave up and told them, "You know, I probably don't need it anyway." I guess I'll settle for the $10 coupon if I ever get it, buy whatever big I plan to before that September date and request my $5 certificates.

Well, this is becoming similar to the free cards at grocery stores... they're free, but not everyone signs up and/or is willing to sign all the paperwork for small purchases. If they do sign up, BB gets instant tracking data on the customer... what they bought, what they returned, etc... much easier to track with a 'club card' than trying to get similar info through credit cards. Also, the coupons not only come in the mail months later, but they also expire, meaning that some won't even use the discounts (I shop at BB pretty regularly and even I had some coupons expire).

It does say 1 point for NEARLY ever 1 dollar... is it true that the cents in a purchase won't count?

That was nice of them.

While it does suck that the threshold for earning certificates was raised again, I'm not going to complain. At least I'll be earning some kind of reward without having to sign up for a major credit card. Hopefully, since I'll be done with school in April, that I'll have more money to spend there.

I've been an RZ member for less than a year, haven't received any email or mail regarding changes. Is this because I'm a Business member in the RZ program? Or maybe my mail is just really slow. They gave me a membership for free last fall cause I own a business.

I just checked the website I sign on to and it says for $600 spent I get $20 back, $1200 spent I get $40 back, and so on. Perhaps the website hasn't been updated yet though.

Best Buy is segmenting it's customer base. RZ is a great way for them to track your purchases and buying patterns. It's getting competitive out there, so Best Buy is trying to stay one step ahead.

The new rates don't start until September, right? I don't think they'll be advertising them until then.

They still have those Reward Zone $10 signup cards all over the stores. Can't blame them for not pulling all of them, I guess, since the change just came about recently, but I was sickened that they're still pushing them at the cash register. I didn't use my card because I was just buying gift cards, and the cashier immediately went into a spiel about how the reward zone is a great deal, blahblahblah.

No one has brought this up but when I started with RZ on the 1st day you earned $5.00 for every $125.00 you spent, so it was actually a 4 percent give back.

I got the letter in the mail yesterday explaining all the changes and how RZ is now "easier than ever" and "better than before."

At least they didn't slap us in the face like last time with the "we talked to our customers and they want to have to spend more money to get the same reward certificate" garbage.

As for those of you that are saying "it's still something back," you're missing the point. Many of us are sick of Best Buy constantly lowering the value of this program. They try to spin it this time with lines like "everyday member benefits" and "exclusive members-only deals," but DUH.... EVERYONE IS A MEMBER NOW!

Oh, but they are slapping us in the face. I sent them an E-mail, through the Reward Zone site, which was:

To whom it may concern:

I really don't understand how the changes to the Reward Zone program, coming in September, is making it easier to earn Reward Zone certificates? The current system is to spend $150, get a $5 Reward Zone certificate. This new program is making customers spend $100 more, for a total of $250, to get a $5 RZ certificate. How is this easier, or a better deal? It is a better deal for Best Buy, not the customer. I mean no disrespect, but I'm really considering taking my business elsewhere.

Sincerely,
Kevin

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The response is this:

Kevin,

I am Dianne with Best Buy Customer Care. I am sorry to hear that you do not agree with the upcoming changes with the Reward Zone.

We talked to members to find out what they currently liked and disliked about the Reward Zone program. We realized that we needed to make some changes, including keeping track of your points easier. So you will now receive 1 point for nearly every $1 you spend at Best Buy and start receiving reward certificates when you reach 250 points. We have also added special member only offers such as extra bonus points. The terms and conditions of a Reward Zone membership can be found at www.myrewardzone.com.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

Dianne

Best Buy Customer Care Team

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What a joke! They talked to their members, and the members said they wanted to spend more money! Plus, the added special member only offers such as extra bonus points is something that they USED to do, but, do not do, now. Best Buy has really gone down the drain, this year. Sad. It used to be my favorite store.

It is both of things....for them.

I agree, if they *really* wanted to make it 'easy' for the consumer, they'd add the rebate balance to the card to use as a gift card type thing, or even after earning the money rather than having to snail mail a cert or print it off [and you only get two tries], or apply an instant X% discount at the time of purchase. I'd rather get an instant 1.5% off at the time of purchase than 2% nine months down the road after spending 250.
Or I'll just go to BB to 'play' with stuff, and buy online through ****** or mypoints and get cash or points back on every purchase.

I love how their response ignores half of your email.

No one from Best Buy has ever asked me what I like and dislike about the program.

When Best Buy first started the RZ program they sent me a card for free. (I must have been a good customer.) I never used it because deals on the net were still pretty darn good and I didn't want to feel like I had to buy my DVDs from one store. I'm not surprised to hear they changed the plan. Although they don't sell DVDs, Hallmark did a similiar change to their goldcrown cards (which were always free) a few years ago. I used to get 10% back on my ornament purchases which I felt was a very nice thank you for my business. Then they lowered the kickback and made the plan worthless to me.

I feel for you. Every time I go for a price match, they make it an act of congress. Have to call, then wait for somebody to go back and make sure the item is in stock.

I just wish they would speed up point redemtion timeframes. I have 2500 points still pending from the last three months.

Really? My pending points get moved over to the earned category pretty accurately at every 30 days or month. It does take a while before those are converted to certificates.

I did notice that prior to the Holidays, I had about $35 worth of certs just sitting there, unissued. It wasn't until after the new year did they finally release them. I'm assuming that was because they didn't want to cut into their actual earnings by letting me pick up cheaper gifts if I was going to be buying them anyway.

I'm really worried that the same thing is going to happen here. I mean, I'm afraid they're going to be holding our earned certificates until after the cutover. I just bought a $1500 tv on 6/10 so I should be getting $50 for that, not $30. If they are not issued by mid-August I will be raising hell.

well said.

yeah its free but what bothers me is that they advertise it as better for the customer, which is obviously a lie.

and ive NEVER used RZ and this obviously isnt going to get me to start using it. i just think its bogus how they advertise and lie about it.