FullTimeFlyer

I realize BTW, oldpenny16, that you were describing a slightly different problem. Sorry, wasn't trying to address your post right above mine, but rather the most-seen problem where the counter just disappears.

(I have, BTW, sometimes found the program or computer restart to get the counter working again, but YMMV.)

FTF

thelostshark

Has anyone tried to uninstall the toolbar, and the reinstall it? Would I lose my searches/miles that have already accrued? Thx tls

FullTimeFlyer

I have done that, both with the AA toolbar and the US Air one (pretty much identical, from the same company). You don't lose the miles - they work on your AAdvantage or DM login, after all - and in fact it has been successful in getting things to work again.

But the main thing is: these toolbars are flaky, and they frequently just cut out for a couple of days. (They also usually don't start right on time in a new month.) You have to just expect some times they won't work. Don't wait until the last days to get your miles in. Most days they work. ^

If you don't mind the glitches, you'll stack a few miles and your underused accounts will always be current. I've learned not to count on them as high performance software...

FTF

oldpenny16

I've had the disappearing toolbar as well. Sometimes it works in one window and doesn't not show up in another.

No logic to it at all.

I am stubbord and just keep trying to get it to work. I'm a miles hog.

nonesuch flyer

I found the AA toolbar to be beyond flakey. After I downloaded it my web browser acted like it was infected with Malware, sending some of my normal google searches off to Ask.com etc. I could not get rid of this extremely annoying behavious untill I eradicated the AA toolbar from my computer (and this took more effort than I thought reasonable. The 535 miles I got was not worth the grief.

thelostshark

Well, I uninstalled and reinstalled the toolbar. I didn't lose the searches/miles, but I'm still not accruing anything. They keep telling me about the "sophisticated algorithm" hates me. Guess I'll lay off for a couple of days and see. I'm a miles hog too, and really want to earn the 100/month. tls

moo-moo

I have had similar negative experiences as most other FT'ers.

Miles have NEVER posted for me. Tried several browsers, different computers, uninstalling/reinstalling but either the miles accrue but don't post or they simply stop accruing completely. The Freecause support bozos are a joke. They aren't helpful at all and simply blame it on invalid searches, user error, or some other excuse to hide their ineptitude. It should be obvious to them based on the harsh feedback in this thread that their software isn't working properly, yet they seem unwilling to acknowledge or fix it.

For me, the USAir toolbar was a little better than the AA version. I did get a few miles posted before the stupid thing broke. The 500 mile bonus never posted and I'm not holding my breath.

After a little experimentation, I did notice that the Freecause toolbars have conflicts with other software. For instance, uninstalling the MyPoints toolbar allowed miles to start accruing again but as noted above, they never post to the FF account.

In all, I think these toolbars are a waste of time unless the software is actually tested, revised and updated.

NM

I didn't need to remove and reinstall to make it come good. Did it all on its own in December. I made my 300 qualifying searches with only 315 search attempts, so either I am getting better at finding the right things to search or the criteria has become less stringent.

thelostshark

60 days, good grief. Is this the timeframe people are experiencing for their 100 AA miles from the monthly searches to show up in their accounts?

The US toolbar miles from my January searches posted on Feb. 3, which is terrific. My AA miles for the January searches have not yet posted, and I'm wondering if they'll really take 60 days to show up.

I have both IE and Firefox on my computer, and I have the AA toolbar on the latter, and the US one on the former. So far since my initial hiccups, both toolbars have been counting searches correctly, but only US has posted. tls

KaiserG13

I know AA is offering 500 bonus miles to sign up for eShopping now through March 15, 2011 but can you also get 500 more from downloading the toolbar?

eShopping 500 miles sign up bonus

Toolbar Download

The toolbar link does not mention anything about getting bonus miles for downloading it now. Just wondering if its possible to get both...

oldpenny16

Why not do both and see what happens?

FullTimeFlyer

The one time the damn thing just decided it hated me, and just kept giving met the "sophisticated agorithm" BS with everything I did, I just gave it a 2-day rest and it was happy again. Hopefully it worked out the same way for you.


Also, moo-moo, you were bummed that the USAir install bonus never posted. Per the parallel thread on the US Air forum, the install bonuses ares supposed to post on 3/1. One hopes.

FTF

PropHead

Tried it. Didn't like it.

It acted like it had skipped the beta testing stage, so I uninstalled it from Firefox. (I was using a Mac, so maybe people have better luck with it on Windows.) I did get 1,000 miles, though, for downloading it and making a couple of searches. More miles = happier me.

thelostshark

When you stop earning credit for your searches, just click on the link for one of your search results, and it will start working again. Works every time. tls

FullTimeFlyer

Thanks^, but that was the first thing I tried! Usually showing more interest in the search results helps, as you suggest, but not always.

FTF