Is AT&T Thanks being discontinued?
AT&T Thanks is a customer appreciation program or customer loyalty program in AT&T Internet Wireless. It offers points to customers and can be utilized to purchase gifts, air tickets, and merchandise, among others. Last week, there were rumors on some forums that the AT&T Thanks program may be closing soon.
To date, there has been no statement from AT&T that indicates that it plans to discontinue on Thanks. The program still looks ongoing – customers can accumulate and use ThankPoints. However, there are a few signs that have sparked rumors of it potentially ending.
No New Enrollments
They have however not been open for new customers to enroll for the Thanks platform for several months now. The existing members of Thanks alone were able to retain the ability to earn and redeem points obtained from shopping. This move of stopping new registrations led some to ponder whether a shutdown is next.
Points Expiration Period Shortened
For many years, points accumulated by members of the ThankPoints would only last for two years in case the account remained inactive. However, as of the beginning of 2022, AT&T decided to decrease the time for points to expire, so now they do it in a year if the user does not use them. Shortening this period raised concerns that the program??s end is near.
Elimination of Some Rewards
Thanks to AT&T, customers get points for their spending and can redeem these points for numerous rewards; however, over the past couple of years, AT&T has slowly narrowed down the choices of available rewards through Thanks. For instance, they previously provided weekend night hotel stays as one of the options but these are no longer available. It is also evident that the choice of gift card rewards has also reduced over time. Although they still present many common incentives like Amazon and Starbucks gift cards, these reductions make some worry about the future trend.
Competition From Other Programs
This year, some of AT&T’s competitors like T-Mobile and Verizon have upped their expenditures on their customer retention schemes and Thanks may no longer seem as valuable to AT&T as other initiatives from competitors. Thus, they expect that AT&T might shift the support to another platform.
Although AT&T has not stated that Thanks will be discontinued or provided a date on which it will be shut down, they are not keen on being actively involved and promoting the program as much as they used to. Some of these warning signs pointing towards phase-out are not wrong, they make customers rightfully suspicious about its future.
If Thanks does get discontinued fully, AT&T would likely give advance notice to allow members time to use their existing points balances. And they would presumably switch their loyalty to their newer AT&T Rewards program which also has incentives to keep the customers loyal. However, the future of the Thanks program depends on AT&T, and until the company reveals the final verdict, the situation remains unclear.
Since AT&T has not responded to the rumors, many Thanks members have found little use in interacting with it or even accumulating more points presently. Many appear to sit idly and wait for its end based on the previous downsizing steps that AT&T has taken lately. New customers may not be as familiar with the fact that, yes, loyal customers would indeed like AT&T to keep it running. Their recent actions point to the fact that they may be willing to let go and find a new partner.
Thus, anyone who is still in the AT&T Thanks program should redeem as many points as he or she accumulated as soon as possible. Due to this, an expiration seems inevitable, and as such it is better not to have earned hard points evaporate in the off chance that the platform is shut down. Nevertheless, until the next time, thank you for the memories, AT&T Thanks!
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