Reward card - what's the point

[#1]

I have received a reward card from Plusnet and have gone through the palaver 
of activating it and setting up an account with Purecard.com. I see that 
£50 has been loaded onto this card.

I don't see the point of making it so complicated, when you could just 
have credited £50 to my Plusnet account. Do I need to retain this card 
- will you add any more money to it in the future, or can I just throw 
it away and cancel my Purecard account when I have spent the £50? Can I 
do anything else with it or is there any other reason to keep it?

[#2]

Hi @LeonardW, thanks for getting in touch

I do apologise for the issues you have faced with activating your Plusnet Reward Card. Once you have used your reward card, we won't require it back so you are free to dispose of the card as you wish.

Let us know if you need any further assistance

[#3]

Thanks, I didn't have any "issues", but just thought that it was a very cumbersome method of sending a reward, and wondered why Plusnet used that process rather than just sending the credit to my account. Forcing me to open an account with Purecard made me think that there must be more to it - wanting me to continue to use it for other purposes, for example.

Presumably there is some benefit to Plusnet from this relationship with Purecard / Blackhawk.

[#4]

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@LeonardW wrote:

Presumably there is some benefit to Plusnet from this relationship with Purecard / Blackhawk.

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My guess would be that it doesn't actually cost Plusnet £50 to give you £50!

[#5]

Just to add, if you go through a cashback site to sign up to plusnet, you can get a higher value cashback that goes into your bank account, instead of getting this prepaid mastercard. It will take longer though. 

[#6]

So so unbelievably negative, the customer service guy has no reason to say sorry to you, its a credit card with a free £50 on it, yes you can obviously cancel it after, have you never had a credit card before? You have chosen to switch to plusnet, at no point did it say your account would be credited with £50 but I’m guessing you never checked how you were going to receive the cash back when signing up, you’d just thought you would moan about it afterwards, go away, spend the free money, stop moaning and in the future don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

[#7]

One post wonder, who obviously does not know the mess that Pnet usually create with gift cards not being sent, wait until you have read and posted a bit more on these fora before trying to tell others how to behave.

[#8]

Dear Westlake1980

I'm afraid you misunderstood my message. I was not moaning about anything, and was indeed surprised and grateful for the £50 reward from PlusNet.

As a customer, I was just curious why the mangement had chosen what appeared a cumbersome and complicated method for distributing rewards rather than the apparently more straightforward option of crediting customers' accounts. Issuing a credit card and requiring customers to set up an account with the card provider seemed to imply that this would be something for future use beyond just spending the initial amount with which the card is credited.

Plusnet's model seems to encourage us to take an interest in how the service is provided, and requests for information allow us to participate in constructive discussion on this community.

Best wishes

LeonardW

[#9]

They DID receive the gift card, a free £50 and still moaning, also its irrelevant how much I have read and posted

Moderator's note by Dick (Strat): personal Insult(s) removed as per Forum rules.

[#10]

Hi folks,

Just wanted to add some clarity around the gift cards and other rewards we offer.

Although crediting someone's account is a reasonable suggestion, we (and many other providers) offer giftcards to give our customers the option of where they spend their reward. In most cases we have found that our customers prefer to be able to utilize a reward at a retailer away from their Plusnet account. Additionally,  there are some circumstances (such as customers paying for Line Rental Saver up front and then having a heavily discounted broadband service) where it would take an extended period of time for account credit to be exhausted (for example, £50 account credit where only £10 a month is being paid out for broadband would take five months to be fully utilized).

Ultimately, we're upfront in how we provide the cashback (via the FAQ's here) but welcome any feedback.

Finally - Just a gentle reminder to please ensure that any discussion on this (and any) topic remains civil as per the community forum guidelines.

Best wishes

Dave