PSA: Google has mass "expired" a large chunk of people's Google Play Balance a few days ago

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Dec 6th, 2019 1:35 pm

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Nov 8th, 2019 4:56 pm

RFDealsLurker [OP]: Member; Dec 31, 2013; 300 posts; 286 upvotes; Toronto

Nov 8th, 2019 4:56 pm

PSA: Google has mass "expired" a large chunk of people's Google Play Balance a few days ago

Google has silently updated their terms of service and have wiped out promotional balances that were obtained more than a year ago (all without notice). Before you would be able to extend the expiry date of your whole balance by one year by just taking a survey in the Rewards app or spending some of your credits. Now they got rid of this and changed it to -> specific credits will expire one year after they were credited and the expiry will not extend by any means. As well, balances that you have been saving and extending through the old policy that are more than a year old are being "expired" RIGHT NOW. If you have 1+ year old balances, SPEND THEM NOW or they will be gone within the next few days. If you are already affected, then there is nothing you can do unfortunately. Customer service will not reinstate these "expired" balances because the higher up thief/thieves at Google who decided to suddenly "expire" these credits told them not to.

Check your balance. Spend them QUICK if you haven't been affected yet. If you have been affected, there is nothing you can do unfortunately. I have lost $101 from my balance 3-5 days ago without notice (only noticed when I opened the Google Rewards app).

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/commen ... y_date_63/
https://www.androidpolice.com/2019/11/0 ... -expiring/
https://slickdeals.net/f/11111119-psa-g ... ommentsBox

16 replies

Nov 8th, 2019 7:18 pm

Sorcerer: Deal Addict; Aug 21, 2009; 2486 posts; 1698 upvotes; North Vancouver

Nov 8th, 2019 7:18 pm

Google does evil.

Basil: Well, may I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically -?

+4

Nov 8th, 2019 7:26 pm

redflagdealsguy: Penalty Box; Feb 24, 2018; 24782 posts; 32509 upvotes

Nov 8th, 2019 7:26 pm

This is why you must spend your promo balances within a reasonable timeframe.

Regardless of service provider.

+2

Nov 8th, 2019 11:33 pm

death_hawk: Deal Expert; Aug 22, 2006; 29326 posts; 14834 upvotes

Nov 8th, 2019 11:33 pm

I'm more impressed that you sat on $100 for over a year.

Someone obviously doesn't play p2w games....

Do you not have anything else to do rather than argue with strangers on the internet

Nope. That's why I'm on the internet arguing with strangers. If I had anything better to do I'd probably be doing it.

+1

Nov 9th, 2019 8:09 am

The Canterbury Tail: Deal Addict; Jan 10, 2009; 1585 posts; 976 upvotes; Toronto

Nov 9th, 2019 8:09 am

Um it was always 1 year from earning, it even says that when you're awarded the balance, they just never particularly enforced it.

+1

Nov 9th, 2019 11:07 am

Grimspoon: Sr. Member; Dec 24, 2004; 563 posts; 100 upvotes; Windsor

Nov 9th, 2019 11:07 am

Best ways to spend a large balance?

Nov 9th, 2019 11:17 am

Dave98: Deal Fanatic; Sep 10, 2005; 5369 posts; 3060 upvotes; GTA

Nov 9th, 2019 11:17 am

Grimspoon wrote: ↑ Best ways to spend a large balance?

Movies, music. Google One subscription if you're into that.

Nov 9th, 2019 11:44 am

singhrh: Deal Addict; Nov 3, 2008; 1804 posts; 484 upvotes

Nov 9th, 2019 11:44 am

Crap! I lost about $10. Oh well, I never knew what to spend it on anyway.

Dec 4th, 2019 6:20 pm

Cheesy: Member; Jul 14, 2014; 315 posts; 318 upvotes

Dec 4th, 2019 6:20 pm

There might be a way for you to reclaim some of the lost Google Play credit. This thread is fairly active, you can refer to it for more detail

https://support.google.com/googleplay/t ... d=21341994

Basically, you can open a Google support ticket. For me, they escalated it to their team that deals with these rewards and they gave me a $20 credit for the "inconvenience". Still a bummer compared to the $50 I lost but better than nothing.

Dec 4th, 2019 6:27 pm

coriolis: Deal Expert; May 22, 2005; 20781 posts; 6257 upvotes; GTA

Dec 4th, 2019 6:27 pm

I just got to 28 bucks. Got one year of Google One 100gb storage space. At least I won't lose any credits, couldn't find anything else to get at the time.

+1

Dec 4th, 2019 7:27 pm

stanleylai: Deal Addict; Sep 11, 2009; 1889 posts; 434 upvotes; Toronto

Dec 4th, 2019 7:27 pm

I remember you could purchase digital things like books and then refund it right away. It'll reset the expiration date of your Google Play balance, but this was >5 years

+1

Dec 5th, 2019 10:14 am

redsfan: Deal Addict; Nov 16, 2008; 3019 posts; 1085 upvotes

Dec 5th, 2019 10:14 am

Still have my $8 LOL

Dec 5th, 2019 10:37 pm

killoverme: Deal Fanatic; Oct 8, 2006; 5639 posts; 645 upvotes; Toronto

Dec 5th, 2019 10:37 pm

Cheesy wrote: ↑ There might be a way for you to reclaim some of the lost Google Play credit. This thread is fairly active, you can refer to it for more detail

https://support.google.com/googleplay/t ... d=21341994

Basically, you can open a Google support ticket. For me, they escalated it to their team that deals with these rewards and they gave me a $20 credit for the "inconvenience". Still a bummer compared to the $50 I lost but better than nothing.

Thanks I am going to try... Didn't lose as much as you though

Dec 6th, 2019 8:46 am

Kevinck: Deal Addict; Jul 15, 2003; 3518 posts; 999 upvotes; Ontario, Canada

Dec 6th, 2019 8:46 am

I've been doing the surveys for over a year. i spend $2-$5 every so often on an app or something. i currently have a balance of $33.

I always knew there was a 1 year expiry but i assumed that meant any single reward transaction would expire in 1 year. so if i kept spending in small bit regularly it should spend those oldest rewards first.

In google play menu->payment methods it shows i have a balance of $33.24 and "Expiring: $33.25 promotion. Deduction on 2019-12-18"

So they're going to expire my whole balance? i know for a fact i've earned some of it last night.

So what usefull things can i buy with my $33 before it expires? Are there one time paid apps that everyone says are useful. i'll have to go research.

Dec 6th, 2019 10:52 am

ds2chan: Deal Addict; Dec 11, 2003; 2787 posts; 1338 upvotes; Toronto

Dec 6th, 2019 10:52 am

Kevinck wrote: ↑ I've been doing the surveys for over a year. i spend $2-$5 every so often on an app or something. i currently have a balance of $33.

I always knew there was a 1 year expiry but i assumed that meant any single reward transaction would expire in 1 year. so if i kept spending in small bit regularly it should spend those oldest rewards first.

In google play menu->payment methods it shows i have a balance of $33.24 and "Expiring: $33.25 promotion. Deduction on 2019-12-18"

So they're going to expire my whole balance? i know for a fact i've earned some of it last night.

So what usefull things can i buy with my $33 before it expires? Are there one time paid apps that everyone says are useful. i'll have to go research.

I've bought a white noise app (not very useful for me but I needed to spend some of my Google Play money), Root Explorer (like Explorer on Windows), BS Player (media player app), Moon+ Reader (to read comic books; cbr files), and some games (7th Guest, some racing car game, etc).

I think if you have spare credits maybe just buy a few games if you can't find any apps.

P10 2.4 THz CPU || 8 TB Ram || WD 300 TB HD || Nvidia w/ 32 TB Memory

"You're only as dumb as you look"

+1

Dec 6th, 2019 11:03 am

killoverme: Deal Fanatic; Oct 8, 2006; 5639 posts; 645 upvotes; Toronto

Dec 6th, 2019 11:03 am

Kevinck wrote: ↑ I've been doing the surveys for over a year. i spend $2-$5 every so often on an app or something. i currently have a balance of $33.

I always knew there was a 1 year expiry but i assumed that meant any single reward transaction would expire in 1 year. so if i kept spending in small bit regularly it should spend those oldest rewards first.

In google play menu->payment methods it shows i have a balance of $33.24 and "Expiring: $33.25 promotion. Deduction on 2019-12-18"

So they're going to expire my whole balance? i know for a fact i've earned some of it last night.

So what usefull things can i buy with my $33 before it expires? Are there one time paid apps that everyone says are useful. i'll have to go research.

It will slowly expire now by individual credit expiry dates. Thats what I was told when I chatted last night. I did get all my 'lost' money back though.

Dec 6th, 2019 1:35 pm

Kevinck: Deal Addict; Jul 15, 2003; 3518 posts; 999 upvotes; Ontario, Canada

Dec 6th, 2019 1:35 pm

killoverme wrote: ↑ It will slowly expire now by individual credit expiry dates. Thats what I was told when I chatted last night. I did get all my 'lost' money back though.

So i went ahead and purchased an app for $5. now when i check my balance it says
Google Play Balance: $28.24
Expiring: $28.24 promotion
Deduction on 2020-05-05

So i would say i'm not affected by this mass expiry, just the normal terms of service. it is just really bad wording. Seems like it is trying to tell me that *some* portion of my $25.37 will expire on that date, but it doesn't tell me the portion. Assuming i spend that bit it will update the dat to show when the next bit would expire.

Geuss i don't need to spend it all now. thanks.

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