Last year Best Buy made negative changes to its rewards program targeting Apple products. But, apparently, those changes extend to reward portals too. So, do not buy Apple products at Best Buy!
Best Buy Rewards Changes
In a shady move, Best Buy made a significant change to its My Best Buy Rewards program last year. Specifically, on October 21, 2019, members no longer earned points on Apple or Beats purchases. The only exception to this rule is that members that use their Best Buy credit card will continue to earn points on these purchases.
That’s an awful change that makes me question their strategies. After all, that kind of discourages customers from caring about My Best Buy. What’s even worse, though, is that they didn’t really provide any notification of the change. In fact, you had to log in to your account and go into your account homepage to even see the change alert. Then, of course, you had to read through the damn terms and conditions to find the change. It wasn’t called out or anything!
What’s more, Apple purchases no longer count towards My Best Buy elite status either. So, I’m not requalifying for My Best Buy status this year. Not that it matters… Elite Plus members are supposed to get 2-day free shipping on all orders. But, guess what? I ordered a soundbar as a gift on December 1 and the thing vanished from shipper tracking. So, on December 20, I reached back out to Best Buy to inquire about the order. Yeah, they had no idea what was happening, didn’t acknowledge my inquiries about the fact that I should’ve had two-day shipping, and eventually rushed a new one to me. Then, the original order arrived on Christmas Eve 🙄.
Rewards Portal Changes
During the holidays, I made an Apple purchase with Best Buy via the Alaska MileagePlan portal. As usual, the purchase didn’t post to my account automatically. My Best Buy purchases never do. So, I filed a missing purchase inquiry with MileagePlan. They came back telling me that Apple products no longer qualify for miles per Best Buy’s policy.
So, yup. Double whammy! No Best Buy Rewards points, no Best Buy elite qualification points, and no Alaska Miles on that purchase. And, if you’re wondering, it’s the same story at other portals, including Rakuten.
Do Not Buy Apple Products at Best Buy, Final Thoughts
Again, while this change sucks, the thing that upsets me most is probably the fact that Best Buy didn’t proactively inform members of the change. They tried to burry the change as much as possible. But, I shouldn’t be surprised, huh? After all, programs like Marriott Bonvoy have been behaving like this too.