PC Optimum members frustrated over process to recover stolen points

Customers whose PC Optimum points have been stolen or accidentally redeemed are speaking out about what they say is a frustrating process to try and recover their rewards.

Points user Kate Campbell said it took more than six months, and several service requests, for the rewards program to restore points that had been accidentally redeemed by someone else.

Last summer, the Whitby resident received an email stating that she had redeemed 30,000 points, which are worth at least $30.

“I was like, I have not redeemed 30,000, I’m sitting here working,” she recalled.

Campbell says customer service told her they couldn’t help, suggesting it might have been a family member who redeemed the points without her knowledge.

She followed up again, and that’s when customer service was able to figure out what actually happened.

Her points “had become entangled with someone else’s Mastercard in another province,” Campbell said. “So when my 30,000 points had been redeemed, it had been in an Atlantic superstore in Nova Scotia.”

Customer service would have to go in and detangle the situation, something she thought would be taken care of by the time she came back from her summer vacation. Instead, what followed was Campbell making follow-up call after follow-up call, into the winter months.

“I was on my sixth claim number and it wasn’t going anywhere,” she said.

Her experience is not a unique one.

When Brampton resident Daniel Bailey’s wallet was stolen, the thief redeemed 10,000 PC Optimum points somewhere in the east end of Toronto. All Bailey wants to do now is cancel the card and get a new one, but he says he’s tried calling, to no avail.

“…On hold for a long time, never actually ended up speaking to anybody. Tried navigating through the app, tried sending a message through the Optimum app, still haven’t heard back yet,” Bailey said.

During the holiday season, Campbell ended up taking to social media to put some pressure on the company, and said she found many others having similar problems.

Her points were finally restored on January 18, with a bonus to make up for the promotions she missed out on.

While Campbell notes the program has a great points-earning system, the whole six-month customer service odyssey has not left her with positive feelings about the program.

“It leaves a sour taste in your mouth,” she said.

An estimated 16-million Canadians are PC Optimum members.

CityNews reached out to Loblaw Companies, which runs the program, for an explanation as to why the recovery process appears to be so difficult.

They did not respond to the request for comment.

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