Update 04/04/18: Opportunity for refund is no longer available, click here for other Sam’s Club deals/news.
Update 1/17/18: Emails were just sent out stating that the 3-month extension offer will not be honored for those not in targeted area, even those who did this before the terms changed. Refund requests are not being honored for those out of the target area either.
Update 1/12/18: Terms now stated that the offer is “only to members in closing clubs.” 🙁 Not sure if it’s being enforced yet. Let us know if you try.
Sam’s Club is offering a free 3-month extension to your membership. Or you can request a full membership refund.
Direct Link to offer (our affiliate)
By way of background, Sam’s Club just announced 63 of their stores will be closing, that’s more than 10% of all locations. You can see a list of closures here. Apparently, Sam’s Club is aware that people in those areas may no longer need membership, and are thus offering refunds to everyone on their membership fees with the alternative option to get a 3-month extension.
There are three available options:
- 3-month membership extension
- Get a full refund in the form of a Sam’s gift card via email within 10 business days
- Get a full refund via check within 6 weeks
This offer is valid until March 31, 2018. Sounds like you can get a full $45 refund for regular Sam’s membership or $100 refund if you have Plus membership. Just be aware that if you have cash back tied to your Sam’s membership, you may forfeit that by choosing the refund option.
The promotion is a bit startling: someone whose Sam’s membership is nearing the end of it’s year will obviously choose the refund, causing Sam’s to lose out on vast amounts of membership fees. This type of refund offer would make more sense for those who live in the area of the closures or as an option to offer for those who call in. I guess they figure most unaffected people won’t find out about the deal.
The Sam’s e-gift card refund option is a bit odd because if you don’t have Sam’s membership there isn’t much way to use it. Of course we know that it can be used at Walmart and that it can be resold, but from their perspective it’s peculiar.
Ironically, it can actually be profitable to buy a Sam’s membership now due to the Amex Offer deal which offers $25 or 2500 points back on a membership purchase. Seems like you’ll still be able to get a refund anytime before the end of March. (It’s possible they’ll only allow refunds for those who already signed up before today; more likely it’ll all run through the same system and grant a refund.)
If you really want to skin the bear, use one of the gift card signup deals listed here to get a bonus when signing up; also, go through a portal for another few dollars back. The $20 referral gift card bonus has not been working properly (I’ve contacted Sam’s about it, hopefully it’ll get sorted out eventually) – probably smarter to use one of the public offers, like this $15 link.
