Woolworths customers lose rewards points in Qantas email mistake: 'Hoodwinked'
Woolworths customers have revealed how they lost thousands of Everyday Rewards points by clicking on an Easter-themed email from Qantas.
Disappointed Everyday Rewards member Bonnie Strathie lost all the points she'd been saving for her Christmas shopping when she clicked on a Qantas email offer and unwittingly converted $50 worth of points.
“Did anyone else get caught out with the Qantas email this morning, not read it properly and convert all their saved Christmas money to Qantas points?” asked Ms Strathie in a Facebook post.
“Just me? Ok. Devastated. Hard lesson to learn,” she lamented.
The email, sent to Qantas Frequent Flyer card holders, urged Everyday Rewards members to “be the first to crack open” the Easter egg in the email to earn 1,000 bonus points.
“After an Easter treat? Just be one of the first 1,000 Qantas Frequent Flyers to choose to earn Qantas Points with Everyday Rewards and you’ll crack open 1,000 bonus Qantas points,” reads the email from the Aussie airline.
However, Ms Strathie failed to “read the fine print” which indicated that by clicking the egg and signing into her Everyday Rewards account, she would be instantly converting her points into 1,000 Qantas points.
According to the Qantas website, Everyday Rewards members can “choose to earn 1,000 Qantas Points for every 2,000 Rewards points” by making their choice “Qantas Points” when redeeming rewards.
Everyday Rewards members can also save up their points throughout the year to enjoy between December 1 and January 1 as part of the "Bank for Christmas" Rewards option.
'I felt hoodwinked' says Woolworths Everyday Rewards member
Ms Strathie told Yahoo News Australia that she “panicked” when she realised what she had done and immediately checked the app the moment her Everyday Rewards points were gone.
“[It was] mostly my own fault for not further reading, but I felt hoodwinked at the prize nature of the email and urgency to click,” she explained.
Ms Strathie explained that Everyday Rewards members should be warned by email before their points are converted into Qantas points.
“It was only $50, but it’s the most I’ve ever had this early in the year. I normally only have $50 by Christmas, so I was really stoked that I might have been able to get to a whole grocery shop for December,” she said.
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Woolworths to return points to customer
An Everyday Rewards spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia they were aware of the "honest mistake" and will return the points back to Ms Strathie's account.
“In this particular case, we have reached out to the customer and as it appeared to be an honest mistake, we will arrange to transfer the points back to their Everyday Reward account," the spokesperson said.
“Everyday Rewards members can choose to switch between earning Everyday Rewards points and Qantas Frequent Flyer points at their convenience.”
Qantas urged to warn Everyday Rewards members before converting points
Ms Strathie wasn't the only Woolworths customer who inadvertently lost her Christmas cash by clicking on the Qantas email.
Other Everyday Rewards members revealed they also misread the email and called for the airline to warn customers before converting their points.
“I feel like this is something that needs to come up as a warning and to confirm if you wish to convert, not just be mentioned in the fine print,” commented one shopper.
Another shopper said she “did the same thing a few weeks ago” and was unable to get her points back after converting them to a third party.
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