my Best Buy - former BB Reward Zone Program

Dranakin

Dranakin

Member since Oct. 2003
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http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Global-Promotions/null/pcmcat309300050007.c?id=pcmcat309300050007

3 tiers, up from 2. Spend thresholds are $1500 and $3500 respectively, from $2500.

How do I qualify for My Best Buy Elite or Elite Plus?

Elite status is automatically awarded when you spend $1500 or more on qualifying purchases at Best Buy and BestBuy.com in a calendar year, or $1,500 or more in total anywhere on the My Best Buy MasterCard.

Elite Plus status is automatically awarded when you spend $3500 or more on qualifying purchases at Best Buy and BestBuy.com in a calendar year, $3,500 or more in total anywhere on the My Best Buy MasterCard
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Reward Zone Gamers Club appears to now be my Best Buy Gamers Club, program benefits seem to be the same.

What are the benefits of the My Best Buy Gamers Club?

Benefits include:

Get 2X points on new game software, digital content and game accessories

Get 2X points when you trade in games
Special money-saving exclusive offers
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Also:

Does it cost anything to be a My Best Buy Gamers Club member?

Gamers Club membership is free. You must be a U.S. or Puerto Rico resident at least 13 years of age with a valid e-mail address.
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EDIT: Thanks to person123, who noted that there's still a Gamers Club Unlocked tier, in which benefits include the same 10% bonus trade-in credit, 10% discount off Pre-Owned Games, 10 issues of @Gamer magazine, and exclusive Paid Subscription offers.

person123 said:
According to this there is still a "paid" option, which is what GCU is.

https://static.bestbuy.com/myrz/web/Content/Offers/Images/MyBestBuy_RegistrationTandC_9.13.13.pdf
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I imagine we'll get some answers about current statuses in the next few days if you're a Silver member and/or a paid GCU member, since all the programs have changed.

Just to share, I was a Silver member and my status is now Elite Plus through the current status year.

 
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that may be there reasoning but my PUR from gamestop usually post in 24 hours and if I use them and then end up returning a product they will still deduct points from my account, my account had been -800 at a point.

 
Damn. I guess the free-shipping no minimums was bound to end eventually. 

But overall, this "new" rewardzone sucks. If seems like every time they take a step forward, they take two steps back. 

 
Deader2818 said:
Thats just a badly informed rep. Pretty sure on the forums it was already confirmed we would still get $20.
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With all the ridiculous demands people make about price mistake deals around here (i.e. "that's a bait and switch", "I'm calling the BBB", "fraud", etc), I think this is one case where those people would actually be right.

I'm pretty sure it would actually be illegal for them to offer you a deal for $20, and then after you've already locked in your order to knock it down to $10. At the very least they would have to inform you directly of the change and allow you to cancel the pre-order. They can't just leave it to a disappointing "surprise" after the fact.

 
I've been a silver member for the last 3 years now and this was the last straw...

They have me as an elite plus member through 2015 but they can take their shitty program and stuff it up their ass.

As for retards on here assuming that EVERYONE abuses the pm and return policy, you can go eat dick.

I never abused any of that shit, just gave me reason to shop their instead of any other place. I don't think I've ever returned anything past 30 days have had to use pm past that either. Now I know what you're gonna say, "if you didn't use it, why does it matter?"

B/C to make something better for the customer, don't take perks away from them!! 

I wish they would just openly come out and say if the RZ program wasn't working for them instead of pissing on us and calling it rain.

...end of rant.

 
As long as this switch right before getting GTA V does not mess up the $20 cert I am fine. Who am I kidding...I will be calling someone about it.

 
Well apparently I'm now an Elite Plus. I wonder how will the 60-day original return policy for Silver members will work on purchases made prior to the change.

 
Interestingly under "Gamers Club Benefits" it says "remember, you get 10% off preowned games"

I'm not a GCU member though.  Does anyone else see that who isn't a GCU member?

 
klimb22 said:
I was no where near $3500 (to date or ever) and somehow managed to get Elite Plus. Maybe the same for some of you.
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I was never near the $3,500 mark EVER & somehow I'm an elite+!?. I know for a fact that this holiday season I'll never spend that much to retain that position, but I'll probably be close to elite once the PS4 hit in November.
 
I'm elite plus through 2014 as well, never spent the amount needed to get there. I'm guessing if you were a silver member prior to the change they just upgraded you to the highest level for the remainder of the year.

 
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I still fail to see how everyone is soooo upset about this. Let me point out a few facts from my perspective. NO ONE tried to get Premiere Silver using actual money on CAG. Either you just so happened to get there and it was a cool bonus or you found loopholes to get to it. Either way the $2,500 spent was never with the intention of getting silver for the sake of silver.

The only real benefits IMO were: free expedited shipping, 25% more points (not a big deal, but it was nice), double the standard day return (60 instead of 30), and early black friday.

Those same benefits now happen at $3500 except the return period is tripled. Granted it is insane to have a 15 day return policy, but overall I never return things unless they break and even then it was very rare OR if I change my mind, and I know if I want it within the first week or so. So while that did not effect me, I still admit it was a crap move making it 15 days.

Now we have the new $1500 tier. It basically offers everything the $2500/3500 tier does but to a lesser extent. We still get black friday, free shipping on anything (just not expedited), double the return period (to the standard 30 days), and a 10% bonus (meh). Again not as great as silver but it is $1000 less than silver and $2000 less than Elite Plus.

Overall what I am saying is...Silver was never an amazing thing to begin with, it was just a decent bonus. I don't see how this is any worse overall. It isn't better mind you, to me it's the same.

 
crazedracerguy said:
Seriously... Who even uses the shit that they were getting from being Silver before? The deals that got me to Silver were all instore (musical instruments) and the only reason that I bought so much was that everything I bought was about 80% off MSRP. I'm not buying anything there that I couldn't get cheaper elsewhere.

I'm just wondering how much of this is actual complaining by people that used the benefits and how much is the normal blustery false indignancy that we seem to always get around here now...
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I actually use the Silver benefits quite a bit. The free expedited shipping is quite nice as is the 60-day price matching policy. Looks like both of those are gone now. I would typically buy from Best Buy first because as a Silver member and a CC-holder it was easy to rack up a ton of Reward Zone certificates for things I was going to buy anyway. From what I gather that won't be the case anymore...so after picking up my PS4 pre-order...I'll likely buy more through Amazon with Prime in the future. I'm not butt-hurt about it though. I knew I was getting a lot more value from my Silver membership than I would from other retailers and it was only a matter of time before Best Buy came more inline with their competitors.

 
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I'm just glad I can login to see my reward zone points. The site has been broken for years whenever I tried to use it.

First try and I got into mybestbuy without problems. 

 
Currently silver and bumped to elite plus until Feb 2014.  Whether it's til '14 or '15 seems to depend on how much you spent this year.  Now I just have to spend a few hundred more to get elite so I can keep my point banking going.

 
Darby27 said:
Interestingly under "Gamers Club Benefits" it says "remember, you get 10% off preowned games"

I'm not a GCU member though. Does anyone else see that who isn't a GCU member?
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my GCU unlocked was set to expire some time this month (i forget when) and it does not show I am an unlocked member in the side pane like it used to before, so I assume it has ended. But I still see this bonus, "remember, you get 10% off preowned games"...

perhaps it is just a glitch, but i doesnt seem like that $15 gets you much any more. I actually prefer print magazines to digital....but since it's cheaper for them, they don't even give you the choice any more. but it seems like the only real benefit is the 10% bonus in trade now as regular members will still get the double points on trade ins,

 
So say if I reach $3,500 in December. Will I basically only get the Elite plus membership for one month and have to start all over again next year? Or does that mean I get it for one whole calendar year? 

 
jdb230 said:
my GCU unlocked was set to expire some time this month (i forget when) and it does not show I am an unlocked member in the side pane like it used to before, so I assume it has ended. But I still see this bonus, "remember, you get 10% off preowned games"...

perhaps it is just a glitch, but i doesnt seem like that $15 gets you much any more. I actually prefer print magazines to digital....but since it's cheaper for them, they don't even give you the choice any more. but it seems like the only real benefit is the 10% bonus in trade now as regular members will still get the double points on trade ins,
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I'm going to renew gcu today in case they're about to announce the end of the program. I'd at least like one more welcome packet!

 
c.gibbits said:
So say if I reach $3,500 in December. Will I basically only get the Elite plus membership for one month and have to start all over again next year? Or does that mean I get it for one whole calendar year?
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As soon as the purchase that put you over clears you would then have elite plus until the feb of the following year, ie you get it this year your plus membership would be good until feb 2015.

 
People sure are getting pissed about some slight changes to their program.

Like others here, the only thing I'm concerned about is my $20 GC for my GTAV preorder.  I have a screencap from the website as well as an instore flyer that says $20 GC with pre-order so I think I should be good in case they try and give me and guff about it.

 
tylerh1701 said:
People sure are getting pissed about some slight changes to their program.

Like others here, the only thing I'm concerned about is my $20 GC for my GTAV preorder. I have a screencap from the website as well as an instore flyer that says $20 GC with pre-order so I think I should be good in case they try and give me and guff about it.
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The change might be minor, but it's always annoying when an old program gets "replaced" by a new one that at an instant seems inferior to what already existed.

It seems like Best Buy rewardzone changes their rules every few years. So it's not surprising it's time for another (this time major) overall. I remember in times past them changing thresholds, making your points expire, then they don't expire, then they expire again. Etc. Most of the people complaining have probably been around awhile and been through all of it with Best Buy before.

As long as the points values stay essentially the same, then I am not too bothered. Kind of a bummer if the free shipping (no minimum) goes away. Although I'm sure that's a money loser for them.

 
tylerh1701 said:
People sure are getting pissed about some slight changes to their program.

Like others here, the only thing I'm concerned about is my $20 GC for my GTAV preorder. I have a screencap from the website as well as an instore flyer that says $20 GC with pre-order so I think I should be good in case they try and give me and guff about it.
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Yeah no shit.

I suppose everyone should go sign up for the Walmart rewards program.... errr.... or from now on have their games price matched at Gamestop... err... oh nevermind.

 
I've never come close to spending $2500 in a year and I've been a Silver member for 3 or 4 years running *shrugs*

With that said, do I still get the 25% point bonus on purchases and free expedited shipping?  Yes.  Then, that works for me.

 
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maximumzero said:
"10% point bonus" is hella confusing.
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Pretty sure it just means you get 10% extra points... Like if you buy something for $20, you get 20 points plus 2 bonus points.

Edit: Not sure if that stacks with the Gamers Club 2X points or not, though. Hhhrrrmm.

 
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gossamer said:
Currently silver and bumped to elite plus until Feb 2014. Whether it's til '14 or '15 seems to depend on how much you spent this year. Now I just have to spend a few hundred more to get elite so I can keep my point banking going.
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How do you check when you expire?

 
mitch079 said:
I've never come close to spending $2500 in a year and I've been a Silver member for 3 or 4 years running *shrugs*

With that said, do I still get the 25% point bonus on purchases and free expedited shipping? Yes. Then, that works for me.
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I'm the exact same way. They keep extending my silver for no reason. It's been awesome.

 
I haven't had a chance to read through the thread, but I was silver, now I am elite plus. 25% bonus points? shit! This is going to be crazy! Crap Mine expires 2/14. I've only spent $2 this year at BB. lol

 
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went to myrz and shows I'm plus until feb 2015.  I had about $5-600 left to reach silver (was until feb 2014).

unlocked expired last week.  I still get mags but some spring issues got "lost".

I really don't see how this revamp is better at all aside from those that couldn't reach silver but spent around $1500.  I wonder how many millions this shit cost to implement.

 
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No way I am going to reach elite anytime soon, but will we still be able to have point banking as long as you have GCU? 

 
Yeah, looks like they at least converted my Silver to Elite Plus at least... what's annoying is I thought I was good to go for Silver next year already, but now I have $600 to spend to retain it.  Weak.

 
Agent Orange said:
The change might be minor, but it's always annoying when an old program gets "replaced" by a new one that at an instant seems inferior to what already existed.

It seems like Best Buy rewardzone changes their rules every few years. So it's not surprising it's time for another (this time major) overall. I remember in times past them changing thresholds, making your points expire, then they don't expire, then they expire again. Etc. Most of the people complaining have probably been around awhile and been through all of it with Best Buy before.

As long as the points values stay essentially the same, then I am not too bothered. Kind of a bummer if the free shipping (no minimum) goes away. Although I'm sure that's a money loser for them.
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Heck I remember when RZ cost $10-15 a year to just join.

 
Even though the new program is way shittier, I would give Best Buy my business over pretty much any other B&M.

This is how many points I earned on a $281 transaction. Tax was $15. And yes, I do have the BBY credit card. I don't see why anyone who shops there frequently wouldn't have one.

Total Points Earned with this transaction - 1082
  • Purchases - 281
  • RZGC Everyday Bonus Point Promo - 239
  • Reward Zone credit card bonus - 422
  • Premier 25% Bonus - 70
  • Reward Zone Credit Card Premier Silver Bonus - 70
1082 is equal to $21.64. That's 7.6% cash back. I am basically getting items tax free and them some. Not to mention you don't get taxed for whatever amount you redeem using certificate.

And this is only ONE perk of being Premier Silver/Elite Plus. There are so many more that you guys are getting and you probably don't even realize it.

You can bitch about how terrible the program is now versus before (and I'm complaining too), but the nonsense like "I'm gonna take my business elsewhere" is stupid. There is no other B&M with a better rewards program. Nothing comes close to it.


If you got grandfathered into the Elite/Elite Plus program until 2014/2015 when you weren't Premier Silver to begin with, wtf are you complaining about?

 
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skiizim said:
How do you check when you expire?
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The default page after you enter your login info will display the length of your Elite membership. On the right hand side around the middle of the page.

There are less and less retailers offering great gaming deals in general. So to me, anybody on here that thinks we're better off with Best Buy going out of business is really short sighted. Best Buy certainly has eased up on the gaming initiative so the deals have been less steller and frequent as in the past but they still periodically offer great deals. My credit card statement is evidence enough and I see plenty of Best Buy charges to date so you guys that gloat in the Best Buy failings obviously missed out on the 2011-2012 deals so I feel sorry for you. Even the Amazon nuthuggers have to admit the Amazon deals lately have paled in comparison to what they had in the past. A large reason is because other retailers like Best Buy have cut back on promotions.
 
SgtWiggles said:
So to current Silver Members, are we currently on the Plus tier? Or the Elite tier...

Either way, Best Buy is the champ at taking awesome things and turning them into shit.
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Looks that way. I was Silver before and now I'm Elite Plus. The changes they made are HORRIBLE!

EDIT: Anyone know how to delete posts from mobile?
 
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this is a response from bestbuy forum regarding the future of gamers unlocked membership.






Re: Gamers Club Unlocked Gone? (re: MyBestBuy)






Options

 









5 hours ago

Hello mdemop, 

Bperrin is correct. The paid version of Gamers Club still features all of the same benefits as the Reward Zone Gamers Club Unlocked program offered. I would suggest keeping an eye on BestBuy.com and MyBestBuy.com for new promotional offers for the paid version of Gamers Club members. 

Game On,

 
GBAstar said:
Yeah no shit.

I suppose everyone should go sign up for the Walmart rewards program.... errr.... or from now on have their games price matched at Gamestop... err... oh nevermind.
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Your argument falls apart for a few reasons. First, Gamestop does have a free rewards program (although admittedly it's not a very generous one) and there are several retailers that price match video games. Similarly, those of us with Target Red cards and Amazon rewards cards already have various incentives for buying from those retailers. While Best Buy doesn't owe anyone anything and RZ/GZ have been decent rewards programs, changing a program in the last three months of the year when some of us specifically planned preorders to hit a $2500 threshold based on the prior program is an issue. Frankly, I'm not going to spend $3500 by the end of the year, so I really have little incentive to do additional preorders or purchases at Best Buy considering Amazon and Target generally PM their ads and I have an Amazon card and a Target card that offer better returns than RZ points.

 
bojay1997 said:
Your argument falls apart for a few reasons. First, Gamestop does have a free rewards program (although admittedly it's not a very generous one) and there are several retailers that price match video games. Similarly, those of us with Target Red cards and Amazon rewards cards already have various incentives for buying from those retailers. While Best Buy doesn't owe anyone anything and RZ/GZ have been decent rewards programs, changing a program in the last three months of the year when some of us specifically planned preorders to hit a $2500 threshold based on the prior program is an issue. Frankly, I'm not going to spend $3500 by the end of the year, so I really have little incentive to do additional preorders or purchases at Best Buy considering Amazon and Target generally PM their ads and I have an Amazon card and a Target card that offer better returns than RZ points.
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^ What is one retailer that offers all of the following: Price Matching, Store pick-up, Rewards Program?

And last time I checked to earn Amazon points you needed to apply for a Credit Card and to get a Red Card you needed to either apply for a Credit Card or give out financial information---and while I don't see anything wrong with that it's a bigger leap of faith then just a name and e-mail address.

No store offers the perks that Best Buy does. You can't even argue otherwise and over the last 24 months I can't think of a B&M store that has had as many consistent deals across all platforms including both new and old games and hardware.

How often does Gamestop discount new hardware? I have spent thousands there over the last two years and to show for it I have something like 100,000 points which on a good day is worth a $100. I earn points infinitely faster at Best Buy and can do much more with them.

so I really have little incentive to do additional preorders or purchases at Best Buy considering Amazon and Target generally PM their ads and I have an Amazon card and a Target card that offer better returns than RZ points.
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Can you do in-store pickup at either Target or Amazon? While everyone has heard the horror stories you have an infinitely better chance at A) Getting a deal and B) actually having your preorder reserved when ordering from Best Buy as compared to Target.

How did the whole reservation system work for the Wii U launch at Target? Oh right... they just gave them out first come first serve.

And again if you have no problem opening lines of credit (which you don't if you have both an AZ card and Red Card) you'd earn more in points with the RZ Credit Card then you would with Amazon and the points you earned would be greater in overall value then the 5% you save with the Red Card.

 
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I was a victim of trying to renew my GCU after the "new" program went active today I think. Wasted 30 minutes with employees trying to figure out why I can't renew my GCU, anyone else had any problems?

 
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