New PC Optimum Points Program Off to Rocky Start

The union of Canada’s two most popular rewards cards – PC Plus Points and Shoppers Optimum – got off to a rocky start today with much confusion over how the new program works, how to transfer existing points.

It seems every time a loyalty program (Sears, Air Miles, Aeroplan, to name a few) makes changes to its rewards offerings, all hell breaks lose.

Starting on Feb. 1, the new program, now known as PC Optimum points, unites the rewards of both programs into one account. Loblaws, which owns President’s Choice, bought Shoppers in 2014.

Existing customers are worried, that their old Optimum or PC points will be lost in the transfer to the new program.

Loblaws admitted they did run into a “couple of bumps” in the merger process but that they were working on resolving them quickly.

Not only have the the programs merged, but the terms of service has changed and so have the rewards.

Users complained that when they visited the PC Optimum site they were unable to set up a new account or convert their old Shoppers points to the new program. Plus they complained about customer service being slow or unavailable.

When we checked in today, the “couple of bumps” hadn’t been smoothed out yet – the site had crashed and was, for some reason, displaying two delicious-looking popsicles.

So, if you visit the site and it looks like the picture above, don’t worry. Loblaws promises that if you visit the store in person, they’ll walk you through the conversion process.

Click here for a corporate overview on how the new program will work.