What has happened to Flybuys?

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andrew027

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#290712 29-Nov-2021 23:30

About four or five times a year, I redeem Flybuys points for a reward. So far this year I've got a barbecue, some nice Sony noise-cancelling headphones, a Blunt umbrella,and a Dyson hair dryer for the missus. The headphones I picked up myself from Noel Leeming, everything else was delivered in less than ten days.

Until now. I know we live in strange times and Covid has affected all sorts of things, but...

07 November
I redeemed 1,125 points for a reward. During redemption there was a message saying that there may be some delays and delivery should be within "8 working days".

17 November
Eight working day have elapsed and nothing has arrived. I try phoning the 0800 number and hang up after waiting 20 minutes. I send a polite email asking if they can (1) confirm whether the item has been dispatched, (2) provide an estimated delivery date, and (3) whether they have tracking numbers for their deliveries.

20 November
I get a reply saying "our rewards team are on the case". It doesn't answer any of my three direct questions. Instead it lists my delivery address and asks me to confirm whether it's correct. I reply immediately and tell them it is.

26 November
Fifteen working days since redeeming my points and I haven't had any further communication. I send another reasonably polite email (1) asking for an update, and (2) can they confirm if it has been dispatched yet.

28 November
I get a reply, again completely ignoring my questions, and again asking me to confirm my delivery address. My reply is quite terse this time, but I manually type in my delivery address. All this address confirmation makes me think maybe the item has been sent but got lost in transit, so again I ask if they can confirm if it has been dispatched.

29 November (today)
I receive this reply:
"I'm afraid, we're sorry to say, the reward is out of stock and we’re unable to confirm when it will be available again, therefore we've had to remove it from our website. As soon as stock arrives, your reward will be packed and sent out to you. If you’d rather not wait, we’d, of course, be happy to refund your points so you can choose something else instead."

I'd expect a website to show whether an item is in stock or not, but I guess items on the Flybuys store come from a number of different suppliers, so understand perhaps the information isn't immediately available. But surely they know whether an item has been dispatched or not? Then, to have their customer service people completely ignore simple direct questions and just deploy what seem like stalling tactics. It all seems very poor. I don't remember them ever being like this before, after being a member for 21 years.

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Hammered
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#2821295 30-Nov-2021 05:26

I had a similar issue with them earlier this year. We redeemed points on a Bosch water-blaster that included a patio cleaner attachment. We actually received the water-blaster, but there was no sign of the patio cleaner. It took a number of phonecalls and a few weeks to eventually sort it out and Bosch finally sent out the attachment. That kit/combo is no longer available on the Flybuys website (and I'm pretty sure the points value for the basic water-blaster have increased). When they first changed the description to only include the water-blaster, they forgot to change the accompanying image that still showed the patio cleaner. I had to inform them of that issue during one of the phone calls also.

From what I can gather, no other Bosch retailer sold that combination (at least at the time I ordered it) so it may have been a special arrangement at some time between Bosch and Flybuys and someone forgot to remove it from the website. It seems to me the sales team at Bosch and the product/reward team at Flybuys don't communicate. Goodness knows how many rewards simply aren't actually available at any one time, but seeing your troubles it's not looking good.

Communications with Flybuys were always polite, but they were hopeless at getting back to me when they promised they would, and when things were seemingly going around in circles they wouldn't pass the call to anyone who could/would actually answer questions or give a real answer, nor would a supervisor call when promised by a CSR.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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timmmay

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#2821302 30-Nov-2021 06:32

Bit slow delivering my Le Creuset pan recently, it was about 10 days that they said was the max, but otherwise ok. It was on special and I wonder if demand was high and they had to find alternate suppliers.

We are living in interesting times.

Goosey

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#2821308 30-Nov-2021 07:06

Welcome to the freight and logistics challenges...

As a guess, supplier of your reward was potentially instock, then out of stock and awaiting more then it has become too difficult to manage so they have bumped that item off.

I would be assuming FlyBuys themselves would expect suppliers to keep them fully updated but that obviously hasnt happened in this case and suspect there would be "conversations" about that. You never hear about instances like this ever, its not widespread.

based on your redemption rate, wouldnt you agree they have met your expectations on every other occasion in your 20 years?

Arsonist

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#2821311 30-Nov-2021 07:16

Wow how are you guys accumulating so many flybuys points! I get maybe a couple hundred a year.

xpd

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#2821337 30-Nov-2021 08:24

Arsonist:

Wow how are you guys accumulating so many flybuys points! I get maybe a couple hundred a year.

We swipe ours everywhere we go, mainly New World. Feeding a family adds up pretty quick throughout the year :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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djtOtago

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#2821339 30-Nov-2021 08:31

Use flybuys card wherever possible, plus my BNZ credit card gives me x amount of flybuys points for every dollar spent on the credit card.

Eva888

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#2821341 30-Nov-2021 08:34

Same here. Was advised my order could not be filled a couple weeks after ordering and feeling smug that I’d ticked another thing off my presents list.

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Handsomedan

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#2821350 30-Nov-2021 08:52

I have never had more than a couple of hundred flybuys points, despite being a member for what seems like decades.

Everything is cash equivalent, more expensive on their site and if I used my 100 points right now (which are expiring) to get, say, a Kindle, I'd pay more than retail in addition to the points to get it.

It just seems so (forgive the pun) pointless.

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quickymart

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#2821352 30-Nov-2021 08:55

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/loyalty-retrospective-why-the-flybuys-brand-almost-disappeared-after-25-years/VYZU3HKI4GOZK6UA3SDCK7VIQY/ (paywalled)

Takes a look at Fly Buys once Air NZ stopped partnering with them.

Personally (as Handsomedan says) I've never found them to be particularly appealing. You might spend $600 in purchases to get a one way flight from Auckland to Hamilton :D Okay, extreme example, but I never saw the value in it. I had it years ago and just let it expire.

PolicyGuy

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#2821354 30-Nov-2021 08:55

Flybuys updated their T&C a couple of years ago, and when I read them (yes, I'm sorry, I know you're not supposed to do that) I decided not to have anything more to do with them. They basically gave themselves permission to do whatever they like with my personal information, including on-selling it.

Flybuys card cut in half and in the bin, all emails from Flybuys have been black-holed since.

Mahon

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#2821355 30-Nov-2021 08:56

I would sooner have cheaper groceries in the first place!!!

No wonder New World is more expensive.

Stu

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#2821360 30-Nov-2021 09:00

We don't bother collecting points like we did many, many moons ago. As above, it's just not worth it anymore. The credit card was switched to cash rewards instead. We do collect points if we happen to be at a shop that offers them, but don't shop just for points. The only reason we had enough points for the water-blaster was due to the wife being given a large amount of points as part of a long service gift.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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jonathan18

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#2821361 30-Nov-2021 09:01

Handsomedan:

I have never had more than a couple of hundred flybuys points, despite being a member for what seems like decades.

Everything is cash equivalent, more expensive on their site and if I used my 100 points right now (which are expiring) to get, say, a Kindle, I'd pay more than retail in addition to the points to get it.

It just seems so (forgive the pun) pointless.

I'd agree.

I typically don't think much of schemes that require the swapping of points for products, as it is damn unusual to be able to choose the exact product one wants let alone "pay" a good price for it compared to purchasing it directly from a retailer oneself. That's why we've nearly always used a credit card with cashback rewards.

As for Flybuys, the only way I regularly earn points is via online surveys, and I have it set up to have them automatically converted to New World dollars. @Handsomedan - have you looked at that option? Probably the best for those of us earning few points.

Handsomedan

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#2821363 30-Nov-2021 09:06

jonathan18:

Handsomedan:

I have never had more than a couple of hundred flybuys points, despite being a member for what seems like decades.

Everything is cash equivalent, more expensive on their site and if I used my 100 points right now (which are expiring) to get, say, a Kindle, I'd pay more than retail in addition to the points to get it.

It just seems so (forgive the pun) pointless.

I'd agree.

I typically don't think much of schemes that require the swapping of points for products, as it is damn unusual to be able to choose the exact product one wants let alone "pay" a good price for it compared to purchasing it directly from a retailer oneself. That's why we've nearly always used a credit card with cashback rewards.

As for Flybuys, the only way I regularly earn points is via online surveys, and I have it set up to have them automatically converted to New World dollars. @Handsomedan - have you looked at that option? Probably the best for those of us earning few points.

I think that might be the way forward for me - not that this helps OP in any way with the logistics issues they're having!

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timmmay

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#2821365 30-Nov-2021 09:11

Surveys, various stores, insurance company, etc, all give out flybuys points. I got about 150 points recently renewing my insurance. We don't go out of our way to go places that offer them, but if we do we use them. I get rewards maybe annually, and for the $300 pan I got recently I paid 1/3 of it in cash.

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