I would like to begin with, I like shopping at Dillons. I also understand that a businesses first priority is to make a profit. While making a profit, they provide many different services and gimmicks to entice consumers to shop at their stores. One of the biggest gimmicks are their fuel points. The more you buy, the more fuel points you can earn. They even run other deals where these points can be doubled and even quadrupled, depending on the product.
How these points work.
1. Spend money and earn points. EASY!
You can earn unlimited points during the month.
2. Using your points.
Here is where fuel points get tricky.
They only allow you to spend 1000 points maximum at a time. ($1.00/gallon) This makes sense.
You have until the end of the month after you earn the points to use them. This too appears to make sense.
The points you earn in July expire in August. This means that they keep track of two months of fuel points.
Example
July you earn 1000 fuel points. One Aug 1 you should have 1000 fuel points and then you start accruing points from August for September. This however is not always true. You might get to August and have no points. You are confused. Many customers get mad at your kids or husband/wife for using all your points. You might actully be the reason, there are no points.
Dillons doesn't necessarily use the current month points that expire soon. When you scan your card and points appear, their system brings up the month with the most points.
July you earned 1000 fuel points
As of Aug 25th you have spent 600 July fuel points - this leaves you 400 fuel points.
August 25th you have already earned 500 fuel points for Sept.
On Aug 25th, you get gas and it shows that you have 500 fuel points. You choose to use them all and go on with your day. You take a trip and when you come back you go to get gas, on Sept 3rd, and you have no fuel points. On August 25th you had 400 fuel points and 500 fuel points. That totals 900 fuel points. You used 500 so you should still have 400?
Here is why you don't.
Dillons does not combine months. However when you go to the pump, the computer brings up the month with the most points. If you use more points then the current month, those points are deducted from the next month and NOT the month that will expire. Some people won't have a problem with this. I however do have a BIG problem with this.
I earn my points to use throughout the month. I try to earn as many as I can, by only shopping at Dillons and taking advantage of the options to double and quadruple my points. I don't go so I can spend money and them can take my points.
Why are they not spending the most current points first? If you have a smart phone, you can use their app to see how many points you have but not everyone has a smart phone. Some have smart phones but don't really know how to use them for these types of things. Some have smart phones that require WIFI.
If I have 400 fuel points left in July, I believe my first option should be to use those points. If I want to see August points, there should be an option that says, see next months points. I don't believe that as a consumer, I should have to continually know my points balance for each month. I find this customer UNfriendly.
My Story
On July 25th, I went to Dillons to get gas. I knew that it was the final time in July that I would be getting gas so when it asked me if I wanted to use 500 points, I selected yes. I wanted to use all the points left in July that I has earned in June.
July 26th, I went to purchase a Regal Gift card to buy movie tickets and I was told I had 400 points to use by Monday. This can't be right, I just got gas and used all my points and I know that I have spent more than $198 in July. Heck, I had just purchased an $80 gift card which gave me 160 of the 198 points that they show for August. I called the store and they informed me that when I selected 500 points the day before that those points came from my soon to be August points and that I still had 400 points in July. Now, I get that businesses are sometimes sneaky when they use their "Gimmicks." This however is something I felt that everyone needs to be aware of. I guess Dillons expects their customers to not only pick their stores and buy their products to earn points, they also expect us to do more work to use the points. If I had only spent 400 of the 500 points they offered me, they would have taken those from July and not August. I picked 500 so they took them all from August.
I can't Imagine:
I can't imagine how many people, who don't have or can't afford cell phones, have lost points. They are probably the ones that could really use the savings. I know that in the month of August, I don't have to get my gas at Dillons, since they took my points. I should have had about 700 points to spend and after I do the survey, I will now only have 200. I spent time trying to earn as many points as I could, just for them to be taken away. Fuel points are not free, I make my list, I scan through their coupons, I drive to the store, I shop, I spend money and now in all my extra free time, I need to keep track of my fuel points.
So before you use your fuel points, know the balance and make sure they don't have the chance to expire. You have earned those points and deserve to use them all. If you don't have the app or a smart phone, make sure to keep your Dillon reciepts because they will show you the balance for each month. This can be a good/quick reference for some.
Earning the most fuel points:
Always fill out the survey, that gives you 50 points.
When you go shopping at the end of the month, review your points. If you have 798 points, you should buy something for $2 so you don't loose the 98 points. They do not round the points. If you are at 745 points, do your survey in the next month since it won't get you to 800. They offer us these deals, we need to know how to benefit from them as best as possible.
Behind the scenes:
Just like any gimmick stores keep track of how many fuel points they issue but they don't care about how many are actually used. This once again goes back to sales at each store. The corporate level recieves tax write offs to help the bottom line. So we all benefit from fuel points.
Even more helpful information:
Fraud is big when it comes to anything fun! This also is true with a Dillons rewards card. Help keep your card safe. You can either use your card or an alternate number. When I signed up, they suggested that this number be my phone number. This means that anyone that knows my phone number, can go to Dillons and use my points. This alternate number can be changed online just like a password. I suggest that if you used your cell phone number and other have that number, you might want to change your alternate number to something else. You can change this number as often as you want on your online account.
Address: Did you know that they will link the same address to your account? If you move, make sure to change your Dillons profile to the new address because the people who move into your old address might get attached to your card and they could use your points or you use their points.
This is not the first time Dillons has heard about this complaint, yet they still keep their system the same and customers keep loosing their points.
I will not stop shopping at Dillons, I will however make sure to not loose any more fuel points in the future.
This is not the first time Dillons has heard about this complaint, yet they still keep their system the same and customers keep loosing their points.
Always keeping you connected!
Kim
PS. If you find that you have lost your points you can call the customer service at your local Dillons or call 1-800-362-2813 and see if they can help you!
I want to thank Chad Schmitz for his help with this blog, he worked at Dillons for 13 years and 5 of those were spent in the fuel center. His insight was quite educational. Chad is an aspiring writer/copywriter. You can follow Chad on Facebook and LinkedIn
Update: 7/30/17
I made a call to the 800 number and was disconnected. A friend of mine that works in customer service told me to call her and she would help fix the problem. I called and she reveiwed my account and was able to give me 400 points back to my August account. They can only add 200 points a day. The 800 number could have given more, but it makes you listen to many notices and changes before you can speak to someone. I hope that this page helps other understand how these points work and do not loose any in the future!!