83,000 American Airlines Miles for $5?

by Gary Leff

The AAdvantage shopping mall currently shows 83,871 American Airlines miles for buying a $59.99 MOTOROKR S305 Bluetooth Stereo Headphones from the Verizon Wireless store.

It’s the fourth item in this list.

I think the offer is supposed to be 2 miles per dollar spent, and I don’t have an interest in these headphones at $60, but I’ve gone ahead and purchased one anyway. If they’re offering almost 84,000 American Airlines miles at $60, I’m certainly in.

I’ve made screen shots and .pdfs of the offer for myself. I’ve made the purchase via American Express, which I’ve had good luck in purchase disputes when needed in the past. I recognize that the Verizon Wireless store has a tough return policy (14 day, I believe there’s also a $35 re-stocking fee).

In the end, I’m not being greedy on this one, I’ll go for it once and hope it gets honored but my guess is that the chance is less than 20%. Your mileage may vary.

(HT: >Rick)

Update: I’ve changed the title to be ‘83,000 American Airlines Miles for $5?’ because Nabeel in the comments points to this item with the same mileage offer, free shipping, but that costs only $4.97. (They do make you select your phone device to make sure this item is compatible, I picked a PalmOS device and that worked.) Of course given the $35 re-stocking charge, I wouldn’t plan on returning it…

Update: And… gone. Update: Back…???? Seems to be working again indeed, at least for the charger/paper weight at 5:30pm Eastern.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  3. Order was cancelled; I called and asked why. After a brief wait to investigate, they released the order and are now shipping it. So if you want to maintain hope for some compensation in not getting 83k miles, call them and tell them you did not cancel the order and want it reinstated.

  6. Both my paperweight chargers are on their way, with Fedex tracking numbers and all!

    @Diane – come on. It’s *always* possible to take the moral outrage high road on miles and points deals, some deals more than others. But sheeshs…do you really think we’re talking about bringing about the fall of the Western Emprie here? This is FUN! Gary never painted it any other way.

    And I will sleep like a swaddling baby at the Vendome in Paris if I actually do win a lottery ticket on this one. 🙂

    In fact, if you can manage to lighten up just a little, it occurs to me that the second charger I ordered means I’ll have an extra first class seat next to me for the trip. For 5 bucks it’s all yours!

  11. This was just posted on MilePoint from Cartera Commerce:

    Attention AAdvantage eShopping(SM) customers:

    Cartera Commerce, Inc., operator of the AAdvantage eShopping mall, displayed an incorrect offer for certain products available through Verizon Wireless on the AAdvantage eShopping mall website on Tuesday, August 10, 2011. The incorrect offer of 83,871 AAdvantage® miles for online purchases of certain Verizon wireless accessories was the result of a Cartera system error. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

    Due to Verizon’s Terms & Conditions, which reward American Airlines AAdvantage miles on service plans only, Cartera is relieved of awarding AAdvantage miles for shoppers who clicked on the offer and purchased Verizon Wireless accessories online. The specific Verizon Wireless AAdvantage eShopping mall offer Terms & Conditions – which were available on the offer details page – are as follows:

    “Reward eligible for reward plans only (new service, family share, add a line, upgrade and prepay). Reward is not eligible on accessories.”

    Those who purchased one of these incorrectly displayed products will receive an email from Cartera with further explanation, including instructions on how to return the product(s), if desired.

    Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to your continued use of the AAdvantage eShopping mall to maximize your mileage earning.

  13. I just got this email from AA. Thoughts on next steps?

    We are writing to notify you that an incorrect offer was displayed for certain products available through Verizon Wireless on the AAdvantage eShoppingTM mall on Tuesday, August 10, 2011. The incorrect offer of 83,871 American Airlines AAdvantage® miles for online purchases of certain Verizon wireless accessories was the result of a Cartera Commerce, Inc. system error. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. This email explains the details of what happened, what it means for you as an
    AAdvantage eShopping member, and what Cartera would like to offer you in exchange for any inconvenience or unmet expectations we may have caused.

    Our records indicate you visited the AAdvantage eShopping mall yesterday, viewed the incorrect offer, clicked on one or more Verizon accessories, linked to Verizon’s online store and purchased a product. While the offer featured on the AAdvantage eShopping mall website gave a visual indication that online purchases of certain Verizon Wireless accessories would award 83,871 AAdvantage miles, Verizon’s Terms & Conditions for the offer clearly state that miles can be earned on new wireless service plans only, not accessories. The specific Terms & Conditions language – which was available on the offer details page – is as follows:

    “Reward eligible for reward plans only (new service, family share, add a line, upgrade and prepay). Reward is not eligible on accessories.”
    While these Terms & Conditions relieve Cartera from awarding AAdvantage miles for accessory purchases which were incorrectly advertised as including a miles feature, we realize our error may have prompted you to buy an accessory you didn’t need or intend on keeping. As a result, we will be offering you the following AAdvantage bonus miles as a gesture of goodwill as a valued AAdvantage eShopping member:

    We will automatically post 2,500 AAdvantage bonus miles to your AAdvantage account within the next 10 business days.
    We will earn an additional 2,500 AAdvantage bonus miles if you make a new purchase through the AAdvantage eShopping mall in the next 30 days*. AAdvantage bonus miles will be posted to your AAdvantage account within 45 days after the date the merchant notifies Cartera of a qualifying purchase.
    In addition to these rewards, we would like to make it as easy as possible for you to return the Verizon Wireless accessory, if it was not a product you intended on using or keeping. To return the accessory, please follow the instructions stated in Verizon Wireless’ return policy. Even if you decide to return the accessory, you are still eligible for the AAdvantage bonus miles reward as described above.

    If you have any additional questions about this matter, please contact us. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to your continued use of the
    AAdvantage eShopping mall to maximize your mileage earning.

  15. The item was shipped to me on Thursday and it is going to be delivered to me on Monday. However I did not receive any email from AA yet like the ones mentioned above. What should I expect?

  16. haven’t received the above email yet either, the charger was shipped and received last week.

  18. Unfortunaely, I did not receive the correspondence from AAdvantage eShopping or Cartera and am still going around with them about this. Would ayone have a suggestion on how to get someone’s attention as this issue is now almost a year old?

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