Everyone knows about Duffy's, and most people who live in or near Fort Lauderdale have an "MVP" card, which is a pretty standard points/rewards program that many businesses now use. One difference is that Duffy's will cancel your rewards if you don't use the card for 24 months. This is no biggie, as we all stop in to watch a game over a period of 2 years.
Except when there's a pandemic. We're now 19 months into a pandemic where the government is still encouraging us to stay away from crowds and to wear masks, even if you're vaccinated. So sports bars are pretty low on the list of places to go. Surely Duffy's wouldn't be cancelling rewards of their most important customers, right?
WRONG
I get emails from them occasionally and it tells you what your rewards are; in my case about $45. Ok, so next time I review them I'll use it up and try out some of their new items. Except the other day I got an email touting their Oktoberfest and it showed my rewards were $0.00. So why keep sending me emails if you don't want my business anymore, I thought.
So I go to the website to see when the last time I used the card, and my transaction history shows this and nothing else.
Cryptic stuff. No notation that my rewards were removed on Oct 1st, 2021. Or any indication when my last visit was (note there is never a notation ANYWHERE warning you that your rewards will expire if not used by a specific date). My emails indicate that I had a 45.44 balance on Sept 30, 2021. So this "history" is totally useless.
Time flies during a pandemic, who knows when I was there last. In July 2020 I got a birthday reward that I couldn't use because nobody was going to restaurants in July 2020; why isn't that in the History? I didn't get a birthday reward in 2021; did they suspend the birthday program?
They have the "Rules of the Game" for the MVP program which doesnt say the rewards expire. I pointed that out to them a few years ago. But they apparently don't care.
I found a contact for where you can contact the President, Joe Webb. I figured I'd give them a heads up, because it's not very good publicity to be punishing your customers during a pandemic.
This is the message I sent, identifying myself as being associated with this web site:
I notice that my $45 in earned rewards has disappeared, likely because I've chosen not to go to sports bars while the government is telling us it's dangerous to go out. Is cancelling rewards during a pandemic the kind of publicity you want? This happened once before; I think the fact that you don't even provide a friendly reminder that points would expire is pretty bad customer service. On Sept 30, I received an email indicating I had 45.44 in rewards and an ad for your Octoberfest promotion. On Oct 1 the rewards were gone. How about a "Dear valued customers, you must use your reward by Oct 1 or we'll no longer value your business" I think it's bad policy to cancel earned rewards in general (do you think you're an airline?). But cancelling when people simply don't want to go to crowded restaurants (particularly sports bars) because of health risks is downright greedy (or stupid if its just automated that nobody bothered to change). Frankly I stopped going frequently to Fort Lauderdale because the blurry, outdated and often broken projectors don't provide a positive experience. I haven't received an email indicating you've modernized the "sports theatre" yet. I'll give you a chance to respond.
So you think you're at least getting to the President's assistant, right? Someone who filters out the minutia so he only has to read the important stuff from web sites with 60K readers, right? Fat chance.
I got an email from a junior marketing person, who clearly doesn't know much about marketing.
I’m so sorry we have disappointed you. Yes, unfortunately it is true that when MVPs have not had activity for 24 months, we move them into a dormant state. Don’t worry! When you visit next time and swipe your MVP card or check in using the Duffy’s App, your account will automatically move out of the dormant state. If you want to send me a quick note after your visit, I would be happy to add these Reward Dollars back on for you as a courtesy.
Thanks, but no thanks. I've had it with this amateur hour operation.