SavingStar: New Premier Saver Status Starts in May
If you are a SavingStar member, you may have received an email today announcing a change in the way SavingStar will work. Starting in May, the day and frequency of the 100% cash-back Freebie offers will change —> instead of appearing every Friday, the freebies can appear at any time and on any day.
If you want to be first to know when the Freebies are coming, you’ll want to earn the new SavingStar Premier Saver status which will give you advance notice of Freebies before they go live and before the limited quantities are gone. In order to achieve and maintain Premier Saver status, you’ll need to redeem 6 qualifying offers each calendar month (qualifying offers do not include Healthy Offer of the Week or Freebies). So if you want to have Premier Saver status in May, you’ll need to redeem 6 or more qualifying offers by April 30th.
What do you think of these upcoming changes? Will it be easy for you to make Premier Saver status?
(Thanks, Hannah, Amanda, Laura, and Donna!)
i think they stink. anytime a company changes something it is always for the worse and never for the better
Great! Needed room on my phone and I’ll be deleting that app!
Ha! My thoughts too!!
Can’t say I’m impressed. :-/ I always looked forward to Friday Freebies. It was a fun excuse to go wander Walmart, Target, etc on a Friday morning with my toddler.
Not happy with the change.
Well.. looks like I’ll be missing out on the freebies then. There is no way I would ever use 6/mo of those offers. They are really limited anyway usually only a handful and if the healthy offers don’t count either then I for sure wouldn’t make the 6 offers needed to “maintain” the premier status. There have been times that I have wanted an offer but the activation limit was reached already(usually the offer is removed from the main screen but not always, the recent clorox/glad one or many offer for example) I foresee this happening with the freebies too… once the “premier” members get it then if there are any spots left there wont be many. Time to cash out and be rid of that app.
I don’t like it but will it impact me much? Probably not. Between blogs like this and the couponing fb group I belong to, even if I don’t get premiere status I’m sure I’ll hear about freebies pretty quickly.
The way I understand it is that unless you have premier status then you probably wont be able to access it right away? I could be wrong but the way it says “before they go live and before limited quantities are gone..” makes me think that.
I don’t like the changes. When I used to be able to use my Kroger card linked to SavingStar it was wonderfull and I could have easily reached 6 offers in a month, but now that I would have to do them myself I usually don’t bother and I end up using less than 6…
Me too. I use to always get the offers when they were linked to the store cards (Kroger, Wagreens) but now that they aren’t linked I only get offers that are linked to my CVS card. Haven’t tried to send in a receipt copy yet.
Same here, I used to redeem quite a bit when my kroger card was linked, but now I don’t even bother.
Same here. I dont own a cell phone or a camera so I can no longer do Fred Meyers. Rite Aid was the only linked one I could still do last time I checked. (Maybe that has changed now too?) But they dont have many of the food items esp produce. I only have 76 cents to go to a payout but I have pretty much given up on them. Same with PinchMe and I think the Pillsbury/BettyCrocker member samples have pretty much ‘jumped the shark’ for me as well. 🙁
I hardly get the freebies.I was so mad I thought I loaded Hershey last week.I purchased one and didn’t have it loaded.
you can load it afterwards and you can still get credit. Not sure the time frame but I added the offer when I got home and it gave me the credit.
Our family will be cashing out and deleting. “limited” offers and not knowing when they are available is not something I signed up for.
I’m sad. But I won’t delete it yet. 6 is a high number for me to get with Saving Star.
Not a fan of this change. I use to love saving star, until they started changing things.
Won’t worry with it. If I get an item I get it but I’m not going to try and buy things throughout the month just to find out whats free.
Same here
Same here.
I don’t like it either. Usually I don’t do 6 a month because it doesn’t work at the Commissary (have to drive to a Kroger) or I don’t use the things offered. Quite often the freebie was the only thing I’d get. Looks like I may not use SS at all anymore.
I don’t like this change either. I can’t/ don’t go shopping every day. I rarely if ever am able to redeem 6 offers a month if they won’t include the healthy offer or the freebie offers. I absolutely loved knowing that every weekend there would be a new offer that I could take advantage of. Looks like my days of using this app are numbered.
I loved Saving Star when it was linked to the cards only even though it limited the places to shop. When they expanded it to allow receipts from other stores I was glad but that turned into a hassle, receipt didn’t print out “good enough” for them to read, refused payment, etc. took too long, offer was no longer there to claim even though you bough it in the right time frame, contact CS almost every time. Took too long to get to the pay out $$$$ I as others have said, will be getting them if it works for me, but not going out of my way to do it any more. Sad day, yet again…couponing is changing all the time and no longer in our favor.
not liking this at all.
Seems many of us don’t like the change and hardly to meet those requirements. Then that means it is not s big effect to us too because there may be still some freebies available to go ‘public’!
I have loved Saving Star so I’m really disappointed by this change. No way I will hit 6 offers a month. I will keep it for the healthy offers – it’s hard to get coupons on produce and for their online shopping savings. They are frequently higher than ShopAtHome and Ebates. Today I shopped at Staples and SS had 5% cash back vs. 2% with the others. Still disappointed though – the Friday Freebie was fun.
6 offers a month? Not including freebies or healthy?
Who actually buys $30 worth of product to receive a lousy $5? Those offers stink!
Most of us redeem for a cake mix here or there.
We the consumer are not loyal to you saving star!
We will go where the deals are.
And it’s looking like it won’t be here anymore!
Josh from saving star – are you reading any of our comments???
haha… I was wondering where he was too!
He may not, but others in the company are probably reading. Sounds like a cost savings measure, hopefully this will be successful. I didn’t like the changes over the last 4 months. The reduction of associated rewards cards and payment only through paypal and personal bank accounts. I accepted those changes because SS suggested they were working on other payment methods.
Yes, and we were told other payment options were coming. And did they? NO. Why can’t they offer Amazon or Target gift cards? No fees associated with those? I’m certainly not going to give them my bank info
I like the idea of changing the day for freebies. Often I miss out because I don’t shop on the weekends – stores are too busy! However, I don’t know how I’ll manage to get 6 offers each month without the freebie counting. Maybe they will start updating and allowing or providing more rebates. It’s a quirky app for me – Kroger takes forever (10 days average for me) to process but Walmart processes within hours. I’ve only had to contact CS once and they were awesome correcting the issue very quickly.
I do not like the looks of this either, I always do the healthy offers and the freebie Friday offers. If they do not count I probably wont be using too much either. I do hope that savingstar does see our comments
Do all of us a favor–log into your Savingstar account and send a message to them that you don’t like the change. Ask them to reconsider. Power to the consumer!
Done!
Meh, these cash back apps don’t ever seem to offer much value for me, anyway. I find it a pain to try to get a $.25 or $.50 offer loaded and then rush out to the store in hopes of cashing in. One less headache to just delete it. This combined with changes to Walmart’s price matching policy is ushering in yet another new chapter of grocery shopping strategies around here. 🙂 One thing that’s guaranteed in life: change.
Honestly, I haven’t been using Saving Star as much lately. I’m not even redeeming the rotating candy and jiffy mix as it is. Its time for me to cash out and forget about Saving Star.
I’m not sure I will continue using this app. I try to stay away from limited quantities offers. I’d hate to buy a ‘Friday Freebie’ type offer, get home to submit the receipt, only to find out it is no longer available. It would not be worth it to buy a $1.19 candy bar, and risk not getting reimbursed, especially when I could have bought it on sale for $.50 at a non-Savings Star approved store. I would consider still using this app if marking it as ‘I Want This’ holds your spot in their limited quantities.
I would think you’d still have to activate the offer prior to shopping.
I understand the activating would still be needed. I’m just wondering if activating is enough. Could the limited quantities end the activated offer before your receipt is submitted?!?
I think the limited qty might mean that instead of everyone being able to activate an offer, it is for the first 10,000. I would hope activating it would reserve the spot for the member. What if you purchase at a loyalty card store? Would upset a lot of people if the purchase was denied reimbursement b/c someone was able to scan their receipt in.
I’m not sure I like this change either, AFA becoming a “premier” member. I very rarely redeem 6 offers in a month. It’s basically the same stale GM offers month in / month out, with a few oddball brands and buy more/save thrown in. Now, I do like the Freebie change, b/c a lot of times I don’t shop Fri-Sun at the stores I can redeem for S*. If it’s still a 3-day window, like M-W or T-Th, chances are I can redeem more of those offers.
I suspect they are moving away from doing the freebies on just Fridays because they probably get swamped with submissions for them on Fri-Sun or whatever. But the premiere status and fluid freebies? Meh, I’m less than impressed. There are other apps that offer good stuff all the time, and I don’t have to do extra to see the benefits…
I stopped redeeming the freebies a while back because they mostly offer junk that I don’t need and I don’t really do much shopping on the weekends. This change really won’t affect me much but I still don’t like it especially with the new premier status. No way will I ever be able to redeem 6 offers a month.
I usually don’t get a chance to buy the Friday Freebies because- like a previous poster said- I don’t have time to battle the crowds on the weekends. I do my shopping during the week while my children are at school so that I can enjoy time with them on the weekends. I dislike that the new system will only allow a limited quantity though! My big complaint about Savingstar is that you can’t submit a receipt in the event that your loyalty card doesn’t ring in properly. I have had this happen before, where the cashier thought it swiped- and I did too- but apparently it didn’t and then the store fixed my savings on their end right away but it wasn’t until I got home that I realized Savingstar wasn’t going to work. It would have been a lot easier to just submit a receipt than return the (frozen) grocery items to the store to have them rerang!
Well…pending when the dates for the 6 are I may already qualify…was lucky this month!
Way to mess things up SavingStar………
To me, SavingStar is just a little bonus here and there. The deals are rarely for products I buy, so I will absolutely not get to premier status. If I don’t get the freebies anymore, I guess I’ll use SavingStar even less. No biggie. However, if you recall, when SS began, the deals reached their limits more quickly than they do now. I’m sure the same will happen when fewer people overall use it based on this change, so maybe I’ll get the freebies again when the competition dies down. That’s the difference between being a “marathon” couponer and a sprinter. 😉
will be deleting this app now…..that’s all right i use ibotta way more than this app anyways.
I use the app a lot, but don’t like the changes at all.
It’s no big deal to me.I used to really like SavingStar until I stopped getting credit for some of the the offers I bought at Kroger. I stopped buying the Friday Freebies after I did not get reimbursed for a couple. I’ve never had a problem with CVS. I don’t use it much any more, only if I would buy the item regardless.
Same here. My Kroger-affiliate receipt was denied even though I bought the correct Friday Freebie item. Not going to chance it anymore.
A question for regular users….how long do online shopping rewards take to post to saving star?
I’ve used the “mall” when I first started SS but not sure how long it took. The last two times was never rewarded.
Same thing happened to me – never got rewarded
Surprisingly, I have gotten better cash back from SSH, more than ebates, and never had problem redeeming them.
However, the last time, I booked a hotel through them, I have yet to get my cash back for my stay over a month ago. It does say that travel rewards take a bit longer to post. Sent an email and waiting for the response.
I just want the website to stop asking me if I want to link with facebook every time I log in with my email/password! Annoying. You would think one “no thanks” would suffice. I’ll keep the app for now. I don’t get the freebies often so it really doesn’t bother me much. I have noticed that there is less on the site for me to redeem lately.
All good things must come to an end. 🙁 I like the Friday freebies and the healthy offers. My teenage son enjoys all the candy bars because I don’t normally buy candy for him. I rarely get the other rebates, so I wouldn’t qualify for the 6x/month. Too bad!
I’m with you all that this will be a pain. I’m half way to the cash out minimum and now it seems I won’t make it there at all…
Hopefully Someone from SavingStar is viewing the comments.
I currently have 34 offers available, including the multi purchase offers that span over a longer period of time than a single month. It’s highly unlikely I will need 6 items out of the 34. If you are going to require purchase of 6 items, you need to have many more than 34 choices available. Also, as stated many times above, “limited offers” that may be there when you enter the store, but gone by the time you checkout and drive home, will prevent purchases, not encourage them.
Stinks
I
Oops sorry I hit submit by accident before writing anything …
I like saving star but I don’t like this change at all. I love the Friday freebies. There is no way I will be able to redeem 6 offers in a month. I guess I won’t be using saving star that much in May.
If the FREEBIE offers fall on a day other than Friday (like Wednesday), would we still have 2 or 3 days to attempt to redeem that offer? With Freebie Friday, it would be available all weekend.
As far as Savingstar in general, I found that when purchasing an item at Kmart, it usually shows up in your account in about 16-24 hours. The other stores take a few days.
Time to delete this app too
Ugh, this is why I will probably be deleting the app.
Cash out…delete app. Some other neat and fun opportunity will take it’s place. 🙂
When these companies make changes like this, it’s rarely because it’s not working for consumers but because it’s not working for them. I use SS as a kind of Christmas savings plan. I activate what I think I would possibly use on the first of the month and then forget about it. Surprisingly, it usually adds up to about $20.00 a year and I cash it out once a year for a little extra Christmas money. Personally, I’m more upset about the “new” Coke Rewards. It takes a lot more time to enter all those codes and it’s been worth while for the free 12 packs they have been offering for thirty points in December. I’m just hoping they will continue that.
I’m hooing the change is for the good, I love the Friday freebies, and the items that start on Tuesday , like a veggie, but I cna t wait to see the new change and I’m excited!