How can it not be worth it? I have racked up over $150 in just over a year. The $5-$10 surveys do take 5 roughly minutes with a good DSL connection but you figure that for roughly 3 hours of time(worst case) spread out over 15-16 months I have received 9,000 HHonors points............to me that is a no-brainer.

The dollar value of erewards is HIGHLY inflated over their true value. Right now I have nearly 50 erewards "dollars," which I will probably redeem for the 3,000 HHonors points. (That's the only thing I've ever redeemed erewards for -- HHonors points).

Unfortunately, 3,000 HHonors points are not worth anything near $50. Probably more like $30 (1 cent each) or even less. This is based on my having redeemed numerous HHonors hotel awards, trying hard to maximize value received for points.


Kathy

I think we all agree on that: the dollar-numbers they associate with the rewards are way out of whack with the value of the rewards - if we were actually talking about US currency.

But the key with e-Rewards is to throw out the dollar-number they associate with the rewards and ask yourself is the effort needed to earn those 3000 HH points worth it to you? Whether you need 50 or a million of their e-nuggets is irrelevant: it's merely a question of how much time you have to invest to get to your desired reward level and whether that is worth it to you.

I like e-rewards. I answer some survey questions, get to learn about some new products and/or deals (one of which I have taken advantage of) and end up with 3000 HHonors points. Luckily, I�m usually able to spare a few minutes when I receive the surveys. I wish that I could redeem for HHonors more than once a year, however.

Well put. That's exactly the way you should look at it. I'm thrilled. I finally got to $50 and cashed in for my HHonors points. Love to see that balance bounce past 200,000 ...

e-rewards offers the same stuff as the Discover card rewards. Discover dollars are redeemable as real dollars so there is a 1-1 payback.

Discover will double rewards with basically the same list of merchants as e-rewards. The double rewards for Blockbuster means $2.00 rentals. That is the best deal I've found, as our local Blockbuster charges $4.00 plus tax!

Gracewood groves seems a good deal. Omaha Steaks is a rip-off. The reward is redeemable only from a special rewards catalog, in which the prices are so much higher than their website your rewards cupon actually looses money!

Are we talking about the same "e-rewards" program? AFAIK, it is unrelated to credit card programs. Is there a connection here that I'm missing???

One big negative about the erewards program is frequent difficulty getting credit for special surveys that are supposed to pay bigger amounts, such as $10 in erewards money. At the moment, I am still waiting for $10 credit on an Oreon survey about restaurant and fast food preferences that I took a few weeks ago. I waited for 10 business days to pass, then I sent an inquiry to erewards. Got a promise that the reward would be posted "ASAP," but STILL no credit.

The value of this program really becomes questionable when you spend 15-20 minutes on a survey, DON'T get the promised reward, and then have to spend more time e-mailing to find out what happened!


Kathy

Curiously, I took the same survey (mid-Nov), had the same problem with credit not posting, contacted them and received the same response as you did. My credit, however, was applied later that same day.

The only reward currently offered that appeals to me at all is the Blockbuster one. First of all, it is the only one where the dollar value of the reward is in scale with the e$ used. e$25 for 6 movies is e$4.17 apiece, and that's very close to what you would pay in real $ to rent them.

More importantly, it's the only reward where you actually get something free, as opposed to a discount on something which you might never have considered buying in the first place. Although $25 for 1000 miles is roughly charging double, I might take the AA miles if I could just cash in and bank them, but NO, I have to buy an actual flight at the same time. I wouldn't mind getting a couple of fancy steaks for free, but I have to pay out to buy a bunch of their overpriced meat and then get a discount. Same thing with E-Bags; it never would have occurred to me to buy from them, so getting a discount on their overpriced stuff is hardly getting something for free.

Welcome to Flyertalk.

I agree about the Blockbuster - but have a question. I am using up from earlier this year, and have been able to use them anytime until next week. Someone told me they had some that were required to be used within a specific time frame - like once a month or something like that.

Has anyone gotten them recently? And what are the terms of usage?

It looks like the Vail awards were removed completely. There doesn't even seem to be a mention as to Vail being a sponsor anymore.

The Blockuster or AA awards seem to be the best bet. The Hilton points aren't really worth it, but if you need Hilton points go for it.

So here's what I don't understand. $50 e-rewards gets you 3000 HHonors points or 2500 AA miles. However, HHonors lets you convert AA miles into HHonors points at a 2:1 rate, which means the 2500 miles are worth 5000 HHonors points. Am I missing something or is taking HHonors points for e-rewards directly not really a good deal?

What you're missing is that you can ONLY get the 2500 AA miles from erewards if you have a qualifying flight on AA! Some of us don't fly AA very often but like to accumulate some AA miles nonetheless (for redemption purposes and because all AA miles, whether flight or bonus, count towards million-miler status). The AA offer is worthless for people like us.


Kathy

The new ones are each good for one month, the first one beginning when the award is redeemed. They come through email right away so if you redeemed today, 12/20 you would get 6 coupons with the following dates (give or take a day):
12/20-1/19
1/20-2/19
2/20-3/19
3/20-4/19
4/20-5/19
5/20-6/19

They also have your name on them and say they are only good for that person.