5800 points, gone and no email. I’ve been robbed.

[guest123456789]

Just got an email today about this new site.

looking at the old site I now find out the 5800 points I collected over years and had not used yet for swag are now no good

Why was I not notified before now that last week was the end date.

Surely you let people know by email, before cutting it off.

Not send the an email afterwards when it’s already ended ?

I feel totally robbed.

Thanks Cisco insider advocacy.

What happened to community spirit.

Why do I feel I’ve been robbed, by the company I am meant to trust?

With out even an email to notify.

totally and utterly disappointed.

[pp4]

I lost 72k, similar situation but no email since may, so you were lucky that you were informed.

[guest123456789]

This is an extract to the email I got on the 14th May explaining the new site.

As we finalize the work on this new solution, we will keep you updated every step of the way.


The next email I got keeping me updated of every step of the way, 25th June.

But when I check the old site to redeem, it says the opportunity ended 16th June.

Where was the keeping me updated every step of the way?

Via the email like the one I received telling me they were going to keep me updated every step of the way.

More like informing after the event had finished.

Those points was earned over years.
For what is Cisco Merch.
That is free advertising and buying in to the Cisco way.

Which helps sell more for Cisco from people who make vendor selection choices for customer solutions like me.

Taking away that Cisco Merch from those who earned it. That is having the opposite effect. Of loosing sales to other vendors.

They are meant to be a trusted vendor.
But we can’t even trust them to give Merch earned?

I see that having only a negative effect to sales and vendor buy in.


Poor show.

[Gallifrean]

sorry to hear you feel hard done by. BUT if you had checked regularly you would have seen messages that you could spend your points or go into raffles.

here is an extract of one of challenges

• What is the last day to redeem points?
  • Members can redeem points on our current platform until Friday, June 13th, 2025 or until remaining rewards inventory runs out (whichever happens first). 
• Does the gifting cap of $500/year (or $250/year for non-US public sector) still apply to final reward redemptions?
  • Yes. For more information, please refer to our Rewards FAQ. 
• What will happen to my status and badges?
  • All badges will be archived on Saturday, June 14th.
  • Member statuses will be recorded but kept static (i.e. no advancing to new levels) while we move through this program transition phase.

Who can I contact if I have additional questions?

• If you have any questions, please reach out to the Cisco Insider Advocates team at insideradvocates@cisco.com.

[Nic D'Amato]

Hey @guest123456789, I'm sorry to hear that you didn't receive our communications about our program migration and rewards runoff. We published a campaign with challenges along with email notifications and featuring those challenges in our weekly digest emails. It looks like you had unsubscribed from our weekly digest emails, which contained many of our communications and links to challenges with all of the information which is why you may have missed that information. 

We will be offering opportunities to get rewards and incentives in this program as well, but it will not be a points-based system. More to come on those opportunities soon. I'll also make a note that this happened for you and chat to the team to see if there is anything we can do for you. I will keep you posted on that. 

[rendy.rinaldy]

One month before the program ended, I submitted my redemption request, but it was rejected after the migration program deadline without any explanation. As a result, I also lost the opportunity to participate in the swag raffle due to the rejection occurring after the deadline.

[Cristian_T]

the raffle and deadline and rejection after the deadline was not properly thought, lost opportunities to use the points. Probably not a lot of people to support it, that's why they switched to a forum with no redemption or points to gain. 

[guest123456789]

I have no problem in Cisco wanting to change to a forum. Or even stop Merch.


But I have a great objection of being told I will be kept posted along the way, where I will be able to use the points: Then not being informed until too late, in the same method they let me know..

As I say.

The site was a sales and marketing platform offering free merch to keep you buying Cisco.

But ripping it away with out notifying as they said they would. By the same format I was notified.

How do they think that will make people feel? When they are trying to get those same people to buy Cisco?

That is just a poor show.
It’s counter productive.

I expected more and am left disappointed.

I hope they know that disappointment they give to customers, costs in sales.

[DevNate]

No offense intended, but let's not forget that Cisco has been rewarding us for our participation in the program. This is not cash or earnings or compensation: it is a gift to say thank you for participating. 

I'm not judging you, but 5800 points is not a ton, especially spread over several years.  I had 35k points (after years of fully claiming the maximum rewards per year) when the platform first went down.  And since I was a regular user and had made contacts and attended sessions with the showrunners, I knew exactly what to do with those points when it came back up.

Obviously it's a shame that you weren't able to claim them, but please take some personal responsibility for not being aware of what was going on.  If you had reached out to Nic and Pauline, they would have moved heaven and earth to make sure you were satisfied.

[guest123456789]

I don’t think you have read or understood the point and time line. Which is important.

I received an email saying they was going to close down. I checked what was available to redeem at that point. Only XXXL T-shirts, not my size or anywhere near.

There was no new site at that point.

In that same email it said.
They would be keeping me posted.
They never until I received an email there was a new site.
I then checked and there was no further possibility to redeem points.

If I was informed, I would have. But I wasn’t.
That is totally down the Cisco.

Saying you will do something and not doing it. That is not professional. It’s not the behaviour you want from a trusted supplier of your network and security portfolio.

What Cisco is offering here is promotion.
By learn what they want.
Read their updates and they will give you Cisco branded merchandise.

This is exactly the same as what all vendors do. I go to many different vendor lead presentations and they are all giving away their own branded Merch.

I personally, am involved in vendor selections for many customers based on my solutions.

That is what Cisco and all vendors are trying to win by giving away their own branded Merch. It’s not a gift.

It’s trying to get vendor buy in, as all vendors do.

But for me proffesionalism and trust are the most important part of vendor selection.

Both failed here with Cisco.

The whole point of this group is for vendor buy in. It certainly is not to show unprofessional and untrustworthy behaviour.

The point is to win more sales.
Not to loose sales.

[Cristian_T]

Agree, 5800 is nothing, and there were opportunities to get at least 100 voucher if you were more active on the site. Others lost 15000 points (myself) because of other site imperfections, but I got my fair share of rewards. All good.

[zolila]

Mine has 110k points. I visit the Insider advocates twice a day every day, completing every challenge. The rewards points I use is the fruit of being always active taking every challenge at Cisco Insider Advocates. If you don't visit frequently the community, I guess your account may flagged as "inactive" ( not sure about that ). I joined the community not for just the points or rewards, but for engaging other advocates, gathering knowledges from the experts. Quarterly, the community releases the items to be redeemed, so all active members (  including me ) spend the 14,500 points, which is the maximum reward per year by redeeming the available items on the list. No offense by saying this. If I waste my remaining points or not, it's not a big deal for me.