Verizon Wireless has today launched a new rewards program, Verizon Up. It seems the ethos behind this is to simplify how its rewards program works, as at the heart of it Verizon customers will now receive one point (credit) for every $300 they spend with Verizon through monthly billing. In return, those individual credits can be redeemed against individual rewards. So in short, one reward costs one credit, and one credit is awarded each time a customer reaches $300 in paid billing. Verizon even states that each customer who enrolls in the new program will get their first credit, just by enrolling.
Where things get slightly more complicated is that the ‘one reward per credit’ is what Verizon refers to as “Earned Rewards.” As the company has also now announced two further reward categories, “Unexpected Rewards” and “Super Tickets.” The latter two are not part of the earned credit process and instead are designed to be less-frequently encountered and not the result of direct customer behavior/spending. Instead Verizon states that Unexpected Rewards will be sent to customers every so often, and not all customers. Examples (given by Verizon) of when these rewards may come through is ‘just to say thank you’ to a customer, or “on special occasions” – such as the anniversary of when a customer joined Verizon. In contrast, Super Tickets will be a first-come-first-served type of affair, where tickets to various events will be announced alongside a “ticket availability countdown.” The idea being that when the countdown ends, those who are quick enough will secure those Super Tickets. Interestingly, the FAQs also briefly describes another reward category, referred to as “Dream Tickets.” Very little information is provided on this one and it is expected that these rewards will only be available to a very select number of customers. Although, Verizon does describe Dream Tickets as “once-in-a-lifetime / money can’t buy experiences.”
Existing Verizon customers may be asking what is happening with ‘Smart Rewards’ which up until today was the company’s main rewards program. Well, in announcing the launch of Verizon Up, Verizon has also confirmed that the new rewards program will replace Smart Rewards. Although it will be a gradual replacing with Smart Rewards due to be fully retired on November 1, 2017. Between now and then, while the program will still be technically active, Verizon customers will no longer be able to earn points, or take advantage of any ‘daily deals.’ Essentially, between now and November 1, Smart Rewards will remain open so that customers who already have points, can spend those points.
More info: Verizon Up