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BOS mini DO ~ Tues, April 24 and more ~ Surrounding the topic of the UA MoM promo

BOS mini DO ~ Tues, April 24 and more ~ Surrounding the topic of the UA MoM promo

Old Mar 6, 2012, 3:34 pm
  #1  
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BOS mini DO ~ Tues, April 24 and more ~ Surrounding the topic of the UA MoM promo

WHEN: Tues, April 24 - and/or surrounding dates.

WHERE: Bos and Concord/Lexington, MA.

WHY:
I am taking Cartera to small claims court in MA, where I reside.

Cartera is the company that handles many of the airline shopping malls where people try and earn miles for purchasing products at websites they already use anyway.

WHO:
Anyone seeking missing miles justice and who wants to meet other FTers.

WHY: In the minds of many, Cartera really botched up the postings of thousands of mileage transactions done by countless FTers who participated in the United Airlines Months of Miles promotion that began last August. I personally have over 300 outstanding mileage transactions with them and they just aint movin to my United account, where the airline is tallying mileage transactions for a bonus that should have already awarded me over 250,000 UA miles. Instead, things have been stalled and Cartera is, in my mind, to be blamed for this. They are either scammers or they are inept--or both. I am suing them for the max allowed in my state--$7,000 plus expenses.

I filed with the Concord, MA court and my case is to be heard Tuesday, April 24 at 9:00am

Many in the area, or who already expressed interest in coming to the area, may wish to come sit in the court room, and then later go out to chat about the case, the struggle and miles in general. Of course, win or lose or postpone, there will also later be eats and brews. Being from the area, I have some suggestions on where that could be and we could go over those in here too.

Concord is a town located less than 20 miles from Boston.
The historic town borders Lexington, MA, which is also famous for Revolutionary War beginnings and Lexington is also the location of Cartera's head office.

Since I live about 25 miles north and I work from home, all of this is convenient for me, but I do realize many have office jobs and live in other cities. The DO is proposed for the Tuesday but I would not be against altering it or changing it to be the weekend prior or afterward. But even if we kept it on the weekday, some fun can be had by all.

Since Boston is close, people could easily go out to bars and other activities nearby, and there are tons of great places to eat all around.

Nearby airports:
BOS - Logan International
BED - Bedford, MA, a small airport also the home of Hanscom Airbase, which is currently serviced by a small airline called Streamline Air, which can fly in from TTN for about $100.
MHT - Manchester, NH is less than an hour north on major highways nearby.
PVD - Providence, RI is about an hour+ south and can be used to get here as well.


Commuter trains run from BOS to Concord
and nearby towns and of course there are the ideas of carpooling and the like.

Not far from the court and Cartera's offices is an Aloft Hotel in Lexington, and all the major chains have something nearby too.

I can/will post other links here as we update, along with further info.

I think like the last fall Bos mini Do, this could be a great way to meet people who happen to be in the area, and who wish to chat about the world of points and miles when some of them happen to be in the balance as we speak.

Win or lose, the court case should be interesting (I do hope to win of course) because it will be a way to see how the rest of the public views and understands what we do. As well, it could help put to rest many issues people may have with all things concerning exactly how miles are given when you pay for something online!

I hope this thread produces some interesting (and supportive) responses and since it is open to everyone so far, that we see a number of people willing to show up. maybe it's all about power in numbers... maybe it's all about the beers and eats afterwards somewhere. But either way, it's about miles.

MM

Thanks to all those who have continually helped with information, links and general uplift!
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Old Mar 6, 2012, 5:52 pm
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Good luck. Too bad I'll be at work such that I can't spectate.
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Old Mar 6, 2012, 7:18 pm
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Any ideas for specific restaurants/bars/eateries?
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 11:50 am
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Originally Posted by FlyerChrisK
Good luck. Too bad I'll be at work such that I can't spectate.
thanks!


Originally Posted by BostonFlyer1624
Any ideas for specific restaurants/bars/eateries?
I will post some soonly. I have a good list, having grown up right near all this.
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Old Mar 7, 2012, 11:54 am
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Originally Posted by BostonFlyer1624
Any ideas for specific restaurants/bars/eateries?
actually, I just found the Nov 30 email I had sent TO Cartera's head CS guy suggesting back then that we meet and suss it all out in person and get things done. He declined (for reasons that still evade me) but here's the list I gave him... we can pick one or try something else:
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Old Mar 13, 2012, 10:06 pm
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Updates.

Many MINUS postings of mall transactions in my UA acct have yet to ever change, go away, or have a PLUS that should go with them. Due to this I am still very short of my UA goal from the MoM promo. I still only have 10% of what is due. I have spent far more of that in working on this stuff, frustration and waiting.

If anyone following any of this is interested in attending the court case and meeting up for eats after, I estimate a lunch in and around town. One of the restaurants listed above is Chang An Restaurant - http://www.changan-rest.com/ and I think that's where I might go... so far.

MM
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Old Mar 14, 2012, 5:47 am
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I can't be there, but good luck!

Cheers.
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Old Mar 24, 2012, 7:25 pm
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Marathon Man, If I were in your area I would certainly attend your court date! I want to wish you all the best in this endeavor. I hope you get a decision in your favor. Cartera has inconvenienced so many flyertalkers. I do hope you will give us a full report. I am still contending with them and don't intend to give up. Good luck!
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Old Mar 24, 2012, 8:54 pm
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Originally Posted by paradocs
Marathon Man, If I were in your area I would certainly attend your court date! I want to wish you all the best in this endeavor. I hope you get a decision in your favor. Cartera has inconvenienced so many flyertalkers. I do hope you will give us a full report. I am still contending with them and don't intend to give up. Good luck!
thanks to you and to all who hope for the best in this.

My main point of this, as many know, has to do with my own missing miles from all things 'malls,' and mostly from the UA mall during the MoM promo. Cartera posted shopping miles to their side of my MileagePlus Shopping mall but they never moved to the airline side, and that's messed up due to other Cartera mishaps that were never fixed. (As we speak, UA still cannot give me any of its bonus from the shopping I did during the MoM promo because Cartera failed to post to my UA mileage account all the shopping miles due to me. It's a mess! But not mine to have to fix)

However, my biggest concern above even my own hopeful mileage gain in court is that this case helps to explain and expose the mishaps that Cartera creates for so many here.


Indeed my plan is to try and expose a company that, for whatever reason, makes it hard to shop on the malls because we cannot trust the outcome of our shopping experience. We are forced to go elsewhere and no longer trust the airline mall portals. In fact, like me, many make it their duty to inform others to NOT shop on those malls at all! They do not work.

Cartera's marketing is good, as is that of the airlines who promote their shopping section, and the idea is good in itself, but the delivery is horrid. Has been for a while! For every one person who can tell you they have never had a single problem with anything on an airline mall, I can assure you there would be at least 100 that have. Big or small issues, big or small transactions.

Of course what I think would really help--given that this "Micro DO" is on a Tuesday and in only one town outside one city, so not many people might show up-- is if we could gather the stories of as many people as possible to state that they too have had problems with Cartera...

I was thinking that I could submit to the court some thick printout with names or FT handles a list of people and what was owed, and dates and use, that this form of evidence could help illustrate that Cartera pretty much cannot do its job.

So I created THIS: http://www.change.org/petitions/cart...-missing-miles and I hope people find it and sign it. People from the CO One pass threads, any UA thread, any other airline thread, any toolbar thread. To sign it, one needs to create a free account at Change.org but it's simple. Real names do not have to be used unless so desired.

In my case, Cartera has even told me in so many words at one point that my patterns of shopping big during the UA MoM promo were strange or that something I did must be why my miles have not yet posted. This is not true. I did everything correctly and I have printouts of all activity and steps taken.

And the FACT that there are reports ON the MoM thread of people we would call 'big guns' who actually got all their miles is actually a form of proof that the activities I performed are by no means any different than many people.

Many give up. They figure it's not even worth their time to fight for their missing miles. Some believe the company even banks on this - like some rebate scam organization might! Either way, it's a pain but it needs to be addressed.

With toolbars, I know many Fters are having problems getting download and sign up bonuses, miles from searches, and the like. Some is due to the changes of types of toolbars and some is due to other unknown Cartera problems, but the amount of people out there with these problems is mind boggling.

Miles or other rebates, how can a company go on like this without seeing the need to change? Surely they get a ton of our calls! IT all may sound trivial - a few miles missing here or there... but seriously, when you add things up, it could come to hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses for us, and gains for that company! I think that's very wrong indeed.

Please sign the petition, everyone. I am not sure what it will do or how many is enough, but anything I can use in court to tell the whole story while also explaining my own has the potential to help everybody going forward!


MM

Last edited by Marathon Man; Mar 24, 2012 at 9:06 pm
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Old Mar 24, 2012, 9:24 pm
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The Cartera problem affects everybody...

Here is a good list of many Cartera-related threads from the past 9 months or so:

United Mileage Plus Shopping Toolbar
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...g-toolbar.html

OnePass shopping scams. Have you been a victim of it too?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/conti...ictim-too.html

Groupon (Master Thread)
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m...-thread-7.html

The Cartera Comedy Club
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...medy-club.html

AA Miles for $0.00072 per mile (AA Shopping) - NOT HONORED
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...t-honored.html

Verizon/PriorityClub (IHG): $5 for 5300 PC -- 0.094 CPM
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...0-094-cpm.html

Verizon/DL: $5 for 2300 SkyPesos - 0.22 CPM
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-0-22-cpm.html

While the Verizon ones could be argued as mistakes that people may have tried to capitalize on, they helped expose the fact that Cartera does not have good solid systems in place, proofreading skills and proper organization.

I do question myself sometimes as to why I then decided to go forward with the UA promo. Either I had not yet realized they are also Cartera, or I figured the company couldn't be THAT bad. I was very wrong.
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Old Mar 25, 2012, 6:21 pm
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Good luck, MM ^
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Old Mar 25, 2012, 9:29 pm
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Good luck, Marathon Man. I'd love to watch the drama unfold. Might consider a press release
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Old Mar 25, 2012, 9:36 pm
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Can't make it, but wish you the best! Let us know how it goes.
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Old Mar 25, 2012, 11:09 pm
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I wish I could be there, but am unable to attend.

I will be rooting you on in spirit!

Please share with us the verdict when you win!
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Old Mar 26, 2012, 5:29 am
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thanks everyone!!

Please do consider signing the petition from link provided if you cannot attend, and pass it on to ANYONE who has this situation in any miles or non miles issue

thanks again!...

http://www.change.org/petitions/cart...-missing-miles
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