One of Canada’s largest and most popular loyalty programs, Loblaw’s PC Optimum, continues to draw the ire of many Canadians. From frozen accounts, to lower points earning to not deleting accounts on request, the program that was once raved about is starting a rapid descent into one star rating territory.
Since appearing in a Global BC consumer alert piece in late May, RWRDS Canada has continued to receive messages every week (the latest was just received last night!) from PC Optimum members whose accounts have been frozen. None of these members were made aware their accounts were frozen until they go to try to redeem their points at the till. Some of these people were even banking on using points to help pay for their grocery or drug store purchases due to having limited budgets.
One of the members who reached out has told us one store went so far as to have instruction cards printed up to give to members who try to redeem their points at the till and find out they can’t.
Outside of the investigation of Loblaws and PC Optimum by the Federal Privacy Commissioner for not deleting members accounts and Global BC’s coverage in May, RWRDS Canada has been the only resource advocating on the behalf of Canadians in regards to the frozen account issue. On July 15, 2024, we sent a list of recommendations to PC Optimum on how best to resolve the ongoing issues.
PC Optimum has acknowledged awareness of an issue and told RWRDS Canada they are working on rectifying the situation. However, based on the continued receipt of messages at RWRDS Canada from PC Optimum members having their accounts frozen, we can only assume at this point that PC Optimum has not implemented any of our recommendations nor have any visible steps been made by the program in rectifying the situation.
If you want to catch yourself up on the entire situation, here are links to our past coverage of this issue:
- Has your PC Optimum account been frozen? Let us know!
- PC Optimum account frozen without explanation? Here’s how you can find out why it has been suspended
And until this issue is resolved, we have the following tips that consumers should follow:
- As PC Optimum does not let members know beforehand that their accounts are frozen for redemption, make sure you have budgeted enough cash or left enough space on your credit card for your purchase just in case you find out at the till your account is frozen and are unable to use your points. In layman’s terms, if you have a budget of $60 for your purchase don’t go to the store assuming you can pay $40 cash/credit and use $20 of points. Assume you’re going to have to spend at least $60 cash and if your account isn’t frozen, by all means use your points.
- Don’t go hog wild if there is a great points promotion for buying gift cards. Even though PC Optimum rarely ever puts a limit on the number of points you can earn from buying gift cards, it does appear that big purchases trigger their security algorithm as PC Optimum has set limits internally of what they think a single family household should spend. Just this past weekend they were offering 7,500 bonus points for every $50 of DoorDash gift cards purchased and I searched the T&C’s for any possible limitations on purchases and there were none, which means you could have bought as many as you liked!
- If your account is frozen, PC Optimum’s response times of 10 business days or more to have a look at accounts or provide possible resolution are unacceptable. Therefore, keep pushing PC Optimum customer service to have it un-frozen and/or to have your case escalated. Phone them, email them, whatever it takes. If required, speak to supervisors and managers.
- If your account has been frozen and PC Optimum customer service won’t tell you why it is frozen or they tell you it is due to breaking terms and conditions you can reach out to the Loblaw’s Privacy Commissioner for more details. Email them at loblawprivacy@loblaw.ca and make a freedom of information request as to why your account has been suspended. We recommend you title the subject of your email with “Personal Information Request – PC Optimum account details & reason for suspension”
- If your account has been frozen, notify RWRDS Canada of your situation. While Rewards Canada cannot help directly in having accounts un-frozen, it does help us better understand the breadth of the issue and the more information we have, the more we have to push PC Optimum for an expedited resolution to this matter.
- If you feel you are getting nowhere and have tried the steps up above, our final recommendation is to reach out to the media. The more public coverage this issue receives, the more likely we’ll see a speedier resolve to it.
Title image via Loblaw/PC Optimum