Don't redeem Microsoft Rewards points right now: you may get banned
Microsoft customers who plan to redeem Microsoft Reward points should not do so right now, as redeeming points may result in a ban of the associated Microsoft account.
Microsoft Rewards gives customers the opportunity to earn points, which may later be redeemed for gift cards, sweepstake entries and other rewards. Points are earned when customers use select Microsoft products, including Bing Search, Microsoft games, or the Microsoft Store.
Update: Microsoft has fixed the issue. The issue has not been resolved for users who were affected by it in the past couple of days. Microsoft plans to address the issue for these users on Monday. End
A search on Bing nets customers 5 reward points, provided that they are signed-in with their Microsoft account. Using Microsoft Edge, the company's web browser, improves the earning of points further. Points may also be earned when searching from the search box of the Windows operating system.
Microsoft customers get 1 point per Dollar they spend on the Microsoft Store, and may also get points by playing certain Microsoft games.
Additionally, there may be tasks that customers may complete to get extra points. You may get 30 points for setting up a PIN on Windows, or load specific web pages or search pages that Microsoft recommends.
Accumulated points may be spend in various ways. Microsoft customers may donate the points to select non-profit organizations. Other options include buying gift cards with points, e.g., a Microsoft gift card starts at $5 for 5000 points, but other gift cards are available.
Problems with point redemptions and the banning of accounts
A thread on Reddit suggests that Microsoft customers may be banned if they redeem points currently. The issue has been confirmed by Microsoft employee Daniel Martins, who is the Xbox Loyalty Marketing Lead.
Dear Microsoft Rewards members,
We're aware some members are being impacted by a a technical issue where some accounts are incorrectly being suspended while trying to redeem.
Our team is actively working to solve it, we appreciate your patience.
?If you believe your account has been incorrectly suspended, please log a support ticket at https://support.microsoft.com/supportrequestform/cf50b787-a987-a7ff-133c-6c4e3f638013
Microsoft customers who were banned after redeeming points are asked to log a support ticket to get the account unbanned. Microsoft has not fixed the issue at the time of writing. Keep an eye on the Reddit thread, as the fix announcement is likely to be posted there.
Now You: do you use Microsoft Rewards? (via Deskmodder)
I have had trouble with getting the full amount of Bing and Edge points for searches. I contacted Microsoft Support many times and have tried their solutions to solve the problem but no luck or resolution. afterwords they just cancel my problem number as if it was resolved! VERY FRUSTRATED!!!!
Time to go back to google. Bing sucks anyway I just liked the points. Cashed mine out and will make google my default again
DO NOT REDEEM!!
WHY YOU REDEEM?!
That’s an unexpected Kitboga reference in the comments, lol
I’d say now’s a good time to redeem your Microsoft Rewards points.
@seeprime That’s all? I do the same and earn/redeem a lot more than that per year.
Go to your rewards dashboard and make sure you’re not leaving points on the table.
Amazon Prime?
At least I know what not to waste my time doing anymore. By Bing “rewards.”
I search in Bing. I also do their daily trivia game. As a result I’ve received $30 per year in Amazon gift cards.Why not get something back, when I’m going to search anyway?
As a non US residents, how to learn this power?
I get 30 dollars in less than an hour. I have no need to use the mediocre Bing for a whole year for a less than an hour of work. It’s so sad you have to tolerate Bing results for a whole year for 30 dollars :(
“We’re aware some members are being impacted by a a technical issue where some accounts are incorrectly being suspended while trying to redeem.”
Is piracy/hacking an issue with MS rewards?
If not why is there even an option for MS to suspend accounts when customers attempt to redeem points?
“Points are earned when customers use select Microsoft products, including Bing Search, Microsoft games, or the Microsoft Store.”
An incentive? The best incentive I know is quality, but indeed when it lacks the two alternative is the carrot and stick approach. The stick to upgrade to Win10 back then, now the carrot to the company’s low-level applications.
good info
I can assure youngsters that there was a golden time when Microsoft was synonymous with reliability. If it had the Microsoft name attached, you could close your eyes and use it, it was guaranteed to work.
Sure, Microsoft products were expensive, sure their anti-piracy systems were a pain, but they worked.
The new normal is that nothing works. Then they issue corrective updates which break things further, new “features” which prevent you from using your computer, etc.
Now we have the double bind : be extra faithful to Microsoft and use their reward points, and they will ban you.
Not that Microsoft products have become cheaper. On the contrary. Instead of paying through the nose once, you must pay through the nose every year.
The work ethic has gone through the window. Making things that work seems to have become thoroughly unfashionable.
Its really showing with Windows 10 and 11. What a horrible mess and joke of an operating system. Everyone single person involved with these two operating systems should be fired.
They had it almost right with Windows 8.1. It was optimized and fast. All they had to do is throw all the tablet junk into tablet mode and leave the desktop side alone.
> I can assure youngsters that there was a golden time when Microsoft was synonymous with reliability. If it had the Microsoft name attached, you could close your eyes and use it, it was guaranteed to work.
When was that? In the MS-DOS era? It was definitely not the case since the late ’80s.
You may be thinking of IBM.
Microsoft rewards: thank you very much for testing our disgraceful software and for writing such good ideas and so other things that cross your mind, stuff that we won’t read at all (we don’t care, really), and we will give you useless rewards in the real world for such great soulles effort. They should pay for this. Really, they should pay us for using W11. Thanks for the article!
Typical.. microsofties at work :)
Am I the only one who tried to open that “log a support ticket” link in a private window, only to be greeted with Microsofts usual sign-in page? How is that supposed to work with a banned account?
Only the reward accounts got banned, not any other Microsoft accounts.
It’s mentioned in the reddit thread.
I only have one Microsoft account. Why would you have a separate reward account?
I only have one Microsoft account. Why would you have a separate reward account?