# AGR Points For Shopping time to post



## the_traveler (Aug 26, 2019)

http://shop.amtrakguestrewards.com/faqs.html

Be aware that the time to “approved” is now 120 days! It used to be 60 days.

I found this out because I had purchases from Walmart in April and May that still showed as “pending”. So I contacted AGR. They said a retailer usually takes up to 120 days (and sometimes longer) to approve points. They even have this in the T&C.

However, I myself find this hard to believe. When I purchase on the AA or DL or UA shopping portals, the points usually post to my account on average within 3 days (or as soon as it ships). And this even includes Walmart!


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## TinCan782 (Aug 26, 2019)

FWIW...here is my experience since last December(from purchase to posting):
Barnes and Noble December-February 63 days
Barnes and Noble December-March 63 days
Best Buy January-April 103 days
Sears March-May 80 days
Smarthome June-July 33 days


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## Devil's Advocate (Aug 27, 2019)

the_traveler said:


> I myself find this hard to believe. When I purchase on the AA or DL or UA shopping portals, the points usually post to my account on average within 3 days (or as soon as it ships). And this even includes Walmart!


I find it easy to believe because I've seen it firsthand. I realized I had some AGR points that were about to expire and I had something common I needed to purchase so it seemed like an easy fix to me. I found an approved retailer with a good price, used an appropriate browser, followed the link, made screenshots, and checked for confirmation. Everything seemed fine until months later when my points expired anyway because it took so long for my purchase to post.


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## PVD (Aug 27, 2019)

I had a similar experience with a hotel program. I made a purchase to stave off expiration, and it didn't post. But I called the hotel rewards program, and based on the fact that I clearly made the purchase with a reasonable amount of time to spare, they restored the points, so it didn't end badly.


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## me_little_me (Aug 27, 2019)

PVD said:


> I had a similar experience with a hotel program. I made a purchase to stave off expiration, and it didn't post. But I called the hotel rewards program, and based on the fact that I clearly made the purchase with a reasonable amount of time to spare, they restored the points, so it didn't end badly.


Hotels know the competition is often only blocks away so encouraging loyalty is easier than for airlines. For Amtrak, they act like they are hoping everyone goes away although their individual employees often go out of their way to resolve issues.


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## Devil's Advocate (Aug 27, 2019)

PVD said:


> I had a similar experience with a hotel program. I made a purchase to stave off expiration, and it didn't post. But I called the hotel rewards program, and based on the fact that I clearly made the purchase with a reasonable amount of time to spare, they restored the points, so it didn't end badly.


To be fair to AGR they manually reinstated my points by request. That being said it truly boggles the mind to realize that 120 days is deemed acceptable for an automated process that most businesses can clear in a week or less.


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## PVD (Aug 27, 2019)

120 days seems absurdly long. I've had involvements with businesses that batch process at predetermined times, so I could live with a reasonable lag, but 120 is not reasonable.


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## BuffaloBoy (Aug 28, 2019)

Devil's Advocate said:


> To be fair to AGR they manually reinstated my points by request. That being said it truly boggles the mind to realize that 120 days is deemed acceptable for an automated process that most businesses can clear in a week or less.


The way companies do business these days turns my stomach. I do the survey thing, and have earned a lot of AGR points, but I get quite a chuckle when I don't qualify for a survey after I have already answered what I feel was the survey!


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## D E K E R (Sep 3, 2019)

BuffaloBoy said:


> The way companies do business these days turns my stomach. I do the survey thing, and have earned a lot of AGR points, but I get quite a chuckle when I don't qualify for a survey after I have already answered what I feel was the survey!



This has been my experience as well. So many "pre-qualifying" questions, only to end up being told you're not eligible. It's the main reason I stopped doing those surveys. I prefer to just earns points for shopping now and waiting patiently for the points to show up.


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## me_little_me (Sep 4, 2019)

D E K E R said:


> This has been my experience as well. So many "pre-qualifying" questions, only to end up being told you're not eligible. It's the main reason I stopped doing those surveys. I prefer to just earns points for shopping now and waiting patiently for the points to show up.


I skip that type of survey completely as well as any that offer just a "chance to win ...".
Others I skip are any surveys from profit companies that offer me nothing. Only if offered a specific benefit that I see as worthwhile or if I want to vent (I make the latter sarcastic). So, offer me points in a program I care about or $ credit and no "qualifying" and I'll do it. Else, it's the trashcan.


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## the_traveler (Sep 18, 2019)

Just as a follow-up:

On September 16, I made a purchase of flowers on the AA portal. The 1,000 miles posted today, September 18! Now if this was done via AGR, it would not post until January 2020!


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## the_traveler (Sep 23, 2019)

Update:

My purchases from Apple was just “approved”! So I will be getting 5,557 AGR points!

The purchases were on 6/25. So it “only” took 90 days!l


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## the_traveler (Jan 21, 2020)

Showing how “the real world does it” (unlike AGR), I took 4 Lyft rides last Friday. These earn HHonor (Hilton) points, and they all 4 posted the next morning! And I bought a printer from Office Depot (thru the AA portal) on Sunday. The miles posted today (Tuesday)!

So why does AGR take 120 days (if you’re lucky)?


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## jebr (Jan 21, 2020)

AGR takes longer to post because they don't want to take the risk of being unable to claw back the points if a return happens. Most retailers will either wait until the return window has expired before giving the negotiated amount to the cash/points portals, or will remove the reward if a return happens after the purchase. When the cash/points portals post rewards quicker than that, they're basically willing to eat the loss if for some reason they can't claw back the points/cash from your account. There's a couple of websites I use that have those longer periods, but they usually offer higher cash back in return for the wait (and not having to worry about the loss from returns.)

The Lyft/Hilton partnership is quite different than the portals - since it's a direct link (no click-through needed before each purchase/ride) and there's no refund to really worry about, the points can post basically as quickly as Lyft pushes the points to Hilton.


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## willem (Jan 22, 2020)

Does anyone know how the Lyft-Hilton partnership would interface with the Lyft Pink benefit of Chase credit cards? Could one sign up for Lyft Pink through Chase and then associate the Lyft account with Hilton?


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## Devil's Advocate (Jan 22, 2020)

jebr said:


> AGR takes longer to post because they don't want to take the risk of being unable to claw back the points if a return happens.


That still doesn't explain why would AGR be an order of magnitude slower than other points programs. In my experience AGR has a problem with points simply never showing up rather than being handed out too quickly.


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## jebr (Jan 22, 2020)

Devil's Advocate said:


> That still doesn't explain why would AGR be an order of magnitude slower than other points programs. In my experience AGR has a problem with points simply never showing up rather than being handed out too quickly.



Other points programs could be willing to take the risk of being unable to claw back points from an account (say, the points are used for a redemption and no more points are earned on that account.) In my experience, AGR will show the transaction at the same speed as other portals, but the quicker portals give the points/cash immediately, instead of holding them in a "pending" state for a few months (presumably to insure against retailers taking back their payment due to a returned item.) It doesn't explain why points don't show at all with AGR (even from the pending state) but, to me, it seems like the most logical reason why the difference in the speed of the transaction showing up exists.


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## the_traveler (Jan 22, 2020)

willem said:


> Does anyone know how the Lyft-Hilton partnership would interface with the Lyft Pink benefit of Chase credit cards? Could one sign up for Lyft Pink through Chase and then associate the Lyft account with Hilton?


I can’t say for certain, but I have Lyft associated with both my Hilton and Delta accounts - and I earn points/miles on BOTH accounts!


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## willem (Jan 23, 2020)

Thanks, Dave; that's great! And how do you like Lyft? Would you prefer it to Uber if neither had the side benefits?


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## the_traveler (Jan 23, 2020)

I like them both, but usually chose Lyft to get the points/miles.

Unless Uber is significantly less (such as $20 for Uber and $25 for Lyft), but most times they are sImilar in cost. Also, many drivers will drive for both companies.


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