Over a decade ago, I was recruited to join in Harris Poll online surveys. Harris obtained a source of data at very little expense to the company. I, in exchange for my time and trouble, began to accumulate something called “Hi Points. Said points were awarded by the polling company at rates set by them. Such rates supposedly had and have to do with the length and complexity of each survey.
For the period since my recruitment through the 1st half of 2011, the points have been redeemable for items selected from a list linked to the number of points one has amassed. “For 3000 points… For 7000 points…
Over the years, I have redeemed my “Hi Points” for a counter-top cappuccino machine (with express capability) that Gloria found of interest, and for a very low-end backyard refractor telescope that interested me. The telescope has largely gathered dust indoors rather than light outdoors. I’ve used it a bit this past summer to search for and view a supernova that astronomers have been very excited about. Perhaps this fall and winter it will get more use. I hope I learn enough in class to make it useful.
The point to keep in mind is that when points were redeemed the item of choice arrived quickly.
Last month the redemption process changed. HiPoints are now only usefull in exchange for gift cards. Most of the gift cards are for magazines, movies, restaurant meals, and other items that are of little interest or for restaurant companies that do not exist in this commercial region.
Then I noticed something called an i-card. While I own no items inscribed with Apple’s pirated alphabetic logo I discovered that said i-cards could be redeemed at a few on-line stores I actually had interest in. LLBEAN, Cabelas, REI showed up. I found a card I could afford and went into the LLBean catalogue to try to match a useful item with a card limit. The redemption guide made it sound as if I could shop, select, purchase and apply the gift card.
Not at all so. Rather it was redeem points for card. Wait 3-5 days for an electronic verification of my eligibility to redeem the points for the card. Go back on line and open an account with i-cards – an account I do not want as I will not be purchasing i-cards as gifts for others – order card, wait 1-2 business days to have the i-card delivered by e-mail. Hope that the item I selected is still in stock.
It’s been two business days now. The i-card has not arrived. I’ve selected the item I can use from LLBean’s on-line catalogue but until I have the i-card in hand I don’t want to order it. I suspect that there will further hoops to traverse.
The old redemption plan rarely had that much I wanted; so I could let my HiPoints accrue and use the rarely and with no discontent. The new system offers me fewer good options to redeem points for items that I might actually want.
I’ve gotten tired of the largely repetitive surveys from Harris Polls. I’ve been considering terminating my services to them.
There’s just the matter of the residual 1,031 points in my account. It will most likely require another 6 months of surveys to amass sufficient points to redeem them for another i-card. Or, perhaps Amazon will offer a card that I can use to buy Kindle downloads. I only know that it’s certain that I have no interest in the offering currently available, one of four popular culture magazines.
Harris Polls should have polled me about this change.
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