It was a test program thru Feb 2009, so we’ll see if they actually continue it beyond that or not. After spending 15K at Best Buy in the last 9 months, i’m hoping so! Gimme something! Even if it is just free shipping and bonus points.

I’ve been a member of BestBuy Reward Zone Premiere Silver, the plan which I thought was the highest, until I accidentally stumbled across this email in my bulk archive from 2 months ago which I never read until now.

My account number is correct and I’m going to persue this to the end. It’s 110% false advertisement / misrepresentation. I’ve spent the required amount to be in the program but apparently since I live in NYC, I can’t.

Bottom line: if they made this program & want to walk before they run by offering it in a few states, the least they could do for an apology to me for misleading me is offer it to me, seeing as I actually qualify for it anyways.

Mark my words: I will prevail. I don’t rest until I get my way.

i was at that game… bears vs. the vikings! what a great time. it is so rare that you get a company that actually appreciated your business AND shows it.

that was supposed to be 50% not 5x!

-c.

Premier Silver – Must spend $2,500 in a calendar year
1. 25% bonus points on every purchase
2. Point banking (save your points until you want to cash in)
3. 45-day extended return policy
5. Geek Squad services (not worth it)

Premier Black – Must spend $7,500 in a calendar year
1. 50% bonus points on every purchase
2. Point banking (save your points until you want to cash in)
3. 45-day extended return policy
5. Geek Squad services (again, not worth it)
6. Concierge service for “hard to find” items
7. Other perks to be determined

They will also be offering a Premier Black Mastercard. The details on that are still unclear. There you have it!

you need to have spent $7500 at best buy in the past 12 months.

aside from the services and 5x points, there are awesome events held for free for members.

tomorrow im going to the cubs game with dinner and time to walk on the field at wrigley.. all on best buy! they also set me up with bears tix! its a gift that keeps on giving.

for those of you that were curious. the program is amazing, but i cant see myself spending $7500 a year every year. they have earned my blu ray purchases with this, but i dont need anything else big! (i got a home theater from their magnolia center- thats why im so high in spending.)

cheers!

-c.

- email supposedly went out to only RZ Silver members (this is inaccurate since many “normal” RZ members have reported receiving it)

- BB is going to call RZ Silver members who are eligible before Sept 9th to let them know directly if they are eligible.

- the Black threshold is $7500 per calendar year, not $5K as was reported elsewhere.

Given the typical range of wildly varying info spewed by $7/hour call center staff, I’d take all that with a large grain of salt, but the young lady appeared to be reading from a prepared script & has answered this question many times in the past few days. We will see!

Lucky me, I guess.

And I just got an e-mail announcing my membership in the new Premier Plaid, which qualifies me for a free transporter that beams me back and forth amongst my home, Scotland, and any Best Buy store, and allows me to jack into the interweb Neuromancer-style, so I can play MP3s and Wii with my brain.

And it comes with a cheese-of-the-month for 12 months.

Lucky me indeed!

Before I hit the send, there’s always a little voice inside my head going, “Are you SURE you segmented your lists correctly? Are you SURE you matched the right message to the right recipient pool? Are you SURE you added all the sponsor logos, set up all the links and got the date right? It doesn’t matter how many times you check. Hitting send is a scary thing. With one click, you’re showing a huge audience of your peers, clients and customers what you’re made of.

Personally, I feel bad for the person or people responsible for this mistake. I’m sure some heads are gonna roll. Not saying they shouldn’t. Just want to remind all the conspiracy theorists and haters that mistakes happen. To err is human.

I am Paola with Best Buy Customer Care.
The Best Buy® Reward Zone® program is always innovating so that our program is even better for our
members. Yesterday, you may have inadvertently and inaccurately received the below message during an
initial email testing process. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion. You
continue to maintain your current membership status. If you are eligible for the Reward Zone program
Premier Black test that will run in a limited number of select markets, we will notify you by a
separate email. If you have any questions about this or the Reward Zone program, please visit
http://www.MyRewardZone.com or contact our Customer Service Center at 1-888-237-8289. Thank you.

This e-mail is legitimate and was a spoof on Best Buy’s part. I understand that many of you see this as a fault of technology and stupidity on Best Buy’s part but think about it, a multi-billion dollar technology conglomerate needs many employees to work for them. There are various development teams that go into developing the program to creating the e-mail that all members see. It is difficult to get all the systems to merge without fault, trust me, store teams see it ALL THE TIME.

Many store teams haven’t even heard of Premier Black but fortunately I have several co-workers that work for corporate with the development teams and they have explained me that it is a program in the works but is not slated to be released/piloted until right before Holidays or a little after.

There was an earlier post explaining the benefits of Premier Silver, everything he mentioned was correct. Premier Black is supposed to have additional benefits to Silver but Silver must be reached first in order to even qualify.

Unfortunately I am not a spokesperson for Best Buy but I do understand everyone’s frustration. Trust me though, corporate is aware of the fault and the miscommunication and there is to be an e-mail coming soon explaining the mishap and they should provide as much information as they can at this point in that follow-up e-mail.

Now I can guarantee I’m not in their top tier of customers….they sure want to lift me up before cutting me down, don’t they? Can’t wait to call tomorrow and be taken down a notch.

Ah well… back to my lonely corner in the store where my middle-classiness belongs….but for just a moment today, I ruled the world.

They should rename themselves “Overpriced TV Hut”.

It explains the mistake. I was really excited too, because I had just bought a 1080p 120Hz LCD TV and 1080p upconverting DVD player. I thought I had finally achieved something. Maybe next year.