I was really concerned to read about all of the MyPoints account closure reports here, so I sent an email to a contact I have over at MyPoints, Sha Fakiri, their VP of Consumer Marketing.
Here's my original email and his response. My comments follow.
Subject: Question Regarding Account Deletions/Customer Service
From: [deleted for privacy]
Date: Mon, March 1, 2010 10:40 am
To: [deleted for privacy]
Hi, Sha! I've been reading some negative things about MyPoints lately and
I wanted to touch base with you and see if there's anything you can do to
help.
The first complaint I'm hearing is that the co-registration marketing
campaign that MyPoints is participating in is -- intentionally or
accidentally -- creating multiple accounts for existing MyPoints members,
whose primary accounts are then closed out for violating the TOS for
multiple accounts per household.
A message board posting regarding the problem can be found here:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2384075
I often visit co-reg sites as part of a paid offer on one rewards program
or another. "Earn $.30 when you sign up for more information from Company
X!" I don't know if MyPoints does those types of offers, but many other
rewards programs do. And in the course of completing those offers, I have
personally come across the MyPoints co-reg offer and made a point of
ticking the "Join MyPoints?" box "No." However, it's been my experience
that sometimes you get signed up for things *regardless* of how you tick
off the boxes -- so as a result, like many other people, I use an
alternate email address when visiting co-reg sites because I know I'll end
up being spammed.
Some offers default to "Yes" in the co-reg form (no doubt to push signups
for which they'll be paid), and the user who inadvertently hits the
"Submit" button without paying close attention could EASILY be signed up
for an offer, such as a duplicate MyPoints account, with no intention of
doing so, and with no intention of violating MyPoints' TOS.
If the member is not actively using that second account in an attempt to
game the system, is it fair to penalize them by banning them from MyPoints
and making them forfeit their account balance, when they may have been
honest and active members of MyPoints for years? I don't think it is.
And this brings me to the second issue I'm hearing complaints about, which
is that MyPoints lacks a staffed phone number for customer support and
that members with real concerns who try to access customer support by
email only receive automated replies. Is there an official customer
service phone number for MyPoints? I know there used to be (several
owners ago). If someone feels that their account was locked down in
error, what recourse do they have? Is there someone they can speak with
about this?
I understand the importance of a rewards program having a valid database
for marketing purposes, and I also know that MyPoints will only get paid
once per IP for some offers. I'm also not so naive as to think that some
people don't create duplicate accounts to try to take advantage of the
free points that MyPoints offers. However, I think there's at least some
anecdotal evidence that the account deletions are being made in an unfair
and arbitrary way, leaving members with no avenue for redress.
If there's anything you can do to help out these folks whose second
account was created in error, I know they'd be very grateful... plus it
would be great PR for MyPoints to show its fairness as a company in
examining accounts on a case-by-case basis. Thanks for reading and for
considering this.
Sincerely,
Becky Ford
Subject: RE: Question Regarding Account Deletions/Customer Service
From: "Fakiri, Sha" [deleted for privacy]
Date: Wed, March 10, 2010 6:26 pm
To: [deleted for privacy]
Cc: "Baird, Kenneth" [deleted for privacy]
Becky,
I am not at liberty to disclose our acquisition methods or sources on
record but I can tell you that the problems you have outlined below do
rarely happen when overzealous publisher's auto enroll users to our
program without the users consent. For this reason we require all new
members to acknowledge the sign-up by verifying their email address
(also known as double opting-in). When we are able to catch publishers
violating our terms we immediately remove them from our network, however
they often find our offer through other sources like CJ or other
publishers.
As you can see it can become a real challenge to police the networks and
publishers. It's quite the headache for us as much as it is for many of
our members.
In regards to account deletions we look at several key factors when
terminating an account including the number of time(s) a single user
confirms their email address... If a member has several open accounts
and they willingly clicked on the verifying email, I think they are well
aware of their actions. They typically open numerous accounts in order
to collect the small bounty from the offering site. I will be happy to
review any account that was closed for duplication if you want to
forward the member information to me so that I may contact them
directly.
Furthermore, I have copied our head of member services on this string,
Ken Baird. Ken will monitor the emails coming in regarding dedications
and investigate furthermore on a member to member basis.
Thanks for reaching out and I apologize for the delay in my response.
Thanks, Sha
- - - - -
Becky again here. I think what he's saying is that it's POSSIBLE that duplicate accounts could be created even if you selected "NO" to "Do you want to join MyPoints?" when you were doing an offer on another rewards program. Their intent is only to delete members that CONFIRMED that duplicate account by clicking on the confirmation email MyPoints sends.
But, they're willing to review accounts on a case-by-case basis.
He asks that I filter these complaints and forward them to his personal email address. I run a website of my own and don't want to spam DISboards with my url by posting my email publicly here, so I'm not sure of the best way to do this; I guess via PM's. If you feel your MyPoints account was deleted in error and you want a personal review by a MyPoints VP, send me a PM with your MyPoints email address, and the best email address for them to reach you, and I'll forward it on. Please don't send me your password or any other personal info -- I don't need to know it!
Hope I'm able to help,
Becky
