Are CapitalOne Shopping Rewards Too Good To Be True?

Almost daily MrConsumer has been receiving seemingly too-good-to-be-true offers from CapitalOne Shopping. Here are four recent ones.

Since TurboTax Deluxe was on sale at Sam’s Club for $44.99, getting $30 back on that purchase would make the net price only $14.99. That’s an unheard of deal.

Are they really going to give me $20 of free merchandise at Walgreens? Or is the offer just 20% off?

Can you really get a $20 rebate on a $20+ purchase at Dollar Tree? Is it only for these cookies, or on any products?

Is CapitalOne Shopping really offering $50 off a $50 grocery purchase at Shaw’s supermarkets? The only stated exclusions are subscriptions and gift cards.

To some, CapitalOne Shopping makes it seem like you will get these dollars off on your purchases at these stores. Not so. What they do is let you accumulate “rewards” and then cash them in for e-gift cards (see list) from major retailers. They are not cash rebates nor credits that can be applied to your purchase or credit card balance.

There is absolutely no explanation of these offers in the emails or when you clickthrough to the retailers’ website to take advantage of them. There are some exclusions listed like for tobacco, pharmacy, and gift cards depending on the offer. The only relevant detailed disclosures are in their long terms statement and this link in the emails, but it does not explain specific offers:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Each offer says “Limit 1 email bonus per user.” Does that mean I can only use each offer once, or that of all the emailed offers I receive, I can only use one of them? Can I use any credit card or do I have to use a CapitalOne card? We asked the PR folks some pointed questions including why there is no explanation of how to participate in these offers in each email and what the real terms are. We got no answer to our multiple requests.

If you like the idea of getting savings in the form of gift cards from their limited selection, then this could be a great deal even if you are only allowed one of their super-duper email offers. (They offer an $80 bonus for new sign-ups with lots of strings, and there are some additional high-value offers on their homepage.)