Annual service time (only) using Reward points?

[brg]

Is there a way to cash-in reward points and get the equivalent of the $49 add-on one year of service time? Yes, I see that I can get service and time bundles, but I don't need more talk/text/data.

[PaulCrawhorne]

IME no

I use the bundle-flip approach, as cheap as $29 for a year, ignore the wastage

[lg800g user]

The one year service add-on has never been available for purchase with reward points.

[brg]

Thanks all. I've done the bundle-flip numerous times and have plenty of T/T/D but also have a good chunk of reward points so wanted to see if I was missing anything...

[SlowLoris]

Thanks all. I've done the bundle-flip numerous times and have plenty of T/T/D but also have a good chunk of reward points so wanted to see if I was missing anything...

If you click back and forth in the app, you may get the PayGo options to show up, then you could redeem 8000 points for a year (2000 per 90 days) with minimal T/T/D. It's hit or miss as to when it show up, but I usually can get it after 4-5 tries of back and forth.

[PaulCrawhorne]

Crazy expensive compared to $30.

I suppose if you had those points already just sitting there nothing else to use them for, then call it "free"

[brg]

I suppose if you had those points already just sitting there nothing else to use them for, then call it "free"

Yeah. The points are just sitting there, and with the way things are going in TracFone-Land and Rewards-Land, who knows for how long. And it is an "awkward" amount -- just under 10,500. I do consider anything I get from them to be "free."

Don't need to/want to cash them in on a device. Already have 5 digits-worth of talk, and of text, and data in the high teens of GB. Might possibly cash the rewards in on more data; we'll see; but I already have enough to to use close to 1 GB/mo. for my remaining service time and I don't use even close to that.

But: have almost exactly a year-and-a-half of service time remaining, and because I am a low TTD user, given what I have in the account, service time is actually of the most benefit to me.

Using a desktop computer and Chrome, I see the $19.99 90-day, 60/60/60 option without issue. I could get 5 of those and add 450 days for "free."

I could get the twin pack of Orbic Journeys for $44, and sequentially add 2 years of service time, but that's real money as opposed to Rewards Box Tops...

[PaulCrawhorne]

My younger people chew through data so odd amounts like that easily get used up on add-on GBs

Hardly anybody here uses T&T from cell providers anymore, just a few oldies

[Mr_K]

Yeah. The points are just sitting there, and with the way things are going in TracFone-Land and Rewards-Land, who knows for how long. And it is an "awkward" amount -- just under 10,500. I do consider anything I get from them to be "free."

...

I could get the twin pack of Orbic Journeys for $44, and sequentially add 2 years of service time, but that's real money as opposed to Rewards Box Tops...

To continue your thought - get 2 Orbics. Create a new account for each - refer back to the mother account with 10500 points. So with 2x5000 going into the mother account you get up to 20000 points. Can buy a nice phone with the rewards at 20000 after 60 days.

You can then move Orbic lines to the mother account after 60 days, and merge services. Before move you can use the 2500 points in Orbic accounts (friendly referral) to buy some service, say, 1GB of data and 30/500/500 package - so these are not stranded points in 2 idle accounts.

[brg]

To continue your thought - get 2 Orbics. Create a new account for each - refer back to the mother account with 10500 points. So with 2x5000 going into the mother account you get up to 20000 points. Can buy a nice phone with the rewards at 20000 after 60 days.

You can then move Orbic lines to the mother account after 60 days, and merge services. Before move you can use the 2500 points in Orbic accounts (friendly referral) to buy some service, say, 1GB of data and 30/500/500 package - so these are not stranded points in 2 idle accounts.

Thanks. All possible, but many gambles as well—particularly with the combining. I’ve done combines a number of times, but many in the forum think there’s a crack-down on them. But good food for thought. And I’ve never done it myself but I’ve read of issues with self-referral…

[PaulCrawhorne]

Yes self-referrals are self-defeating, their AI has gotten smarter over the past year.

I’ve done combines a number of times, but many in the forum think there’s a crack-down on them

Not a matter of opinion or debate, Tracfone has openly and most explicitly been trying to get both its in-house and outsourced CSRs to decline attempts at combining.

The "hang up and try again" still works, for now but IMO the odds have been declining, more attempts over a longer time period are now required.

And one day they are likely IMO to pay their outsourced programmers to "fix" their idiotically designed systems to simply make doing that impossible, maybe for all humans.

Yes those last are my opinions, but the first is objective fact.

[Mr_K]

Yes self-referrals are self-defeating, their AI has gotten smarter over the past year.

Can you elaborate how smart their AI is? I always open new TFone accounts from an Incognito browser (no pre-existing cookies), then use this new TFone number for a new gmail address which is then linked to this TFone. I actually have Gmail sign up page with a new email as I activate a TFone line, then once it's active, I give Gmail this new phone number, and have Gmail complete the account creation.

How would AI know it's a self-referral? Sometimes there are subnets from the same IP address, so having the same IP is not a proof of anything. I guess I could go to a coffee shop, and open the TFone account there. Then even IP is different.

In which way would any of this look like a self-referral? Nothing is linked to anything. A new person doing this would look exactly the same!

[hpham]

How would AI know it's a self-referral? Sometimes there are subnets from the same IP address, so having the same IP is not a proof of anything. I guess I could go to a coffee shop, and open the TFone account there. Then even IP is different.

I don't know if TF uses AI or real people to detect self-referral. I think they rely on same IP. Yes, sometimes there are subnets from the same IP address, so the same IP is not a definite proof of self-referral. But the way TF Fraud Prevention Dept works, you're deemed guilty until you can prove you're innnocent and it's not easy to convince them that you're innocent. Most of the time, their decisions are irreversible.