pipelon

Just got off the phone with Starwood Preferred customer service. That was probably the most aggravating experiences that I have ever been through when it comes to dealing with a company. Our problem involved something that to them I am sure is very minimal but to me it is very important. I know a lot of people tend to threaten that they will not use a company again, but I am not one of those. But this time I have to say I will never use this company again. I can prove they gave us bad information about our account based on an email they sent to us to confirm the said information, but they said "it would not be good business sense" to fix our problem. So here is to "good business sense" by losing me as a customer for life.

SeeTheLights

Sorry you had a bad experience, but not sure what the point of your post is except to vent. You do not provide any detail about what happened to you with Starwood Customer service to allow us to help either steer you in the right direction or point out that what you experienced is abnormal or not.

I thought the whole point of this forum is to seek and provide advice about SPG. Anyways, my 2 cents

LovetoTravel83

What's the reason for your post if you're not giving us any information. Would've been better if you kept it to yourself.

pipelon

It probably was more to vent than anything. Customer service has already stated that they will not do anything. In short, last year we had about 35,000 points and we were concerned they were going to expire and were going to use them, but when talking to customer service we were told they would expire on 2/28/13 but if we had any activity they would renew for another year. We asked for an email to confirm, and they sent an email to confirm. So we instead used cash and points for the stays since we thought that was a better deal and we again later used points and cash for a stay 9/25/12, meaning we thought our points would then expire 9/25/13. We were hoping to use cash and points for another stay coming up and our remaining 25,000 points were gone. They expired 12/11/12. Customer service says that our "type of points" were not the kind that would renew. But they are the only kind of points we had. So even if the points were not the right kind, they made the mistake in telling us we had more time to use them. So their mistake ended up being our loss. Once again, we know it is not a lot to most, but to us it is.

BenSenise

how did you earn those starpoints? was it by any chance through Starwood Vacation Ownership? if so, those "type of points" expire after 6 years regardless of activity. see section 9.1.f of starwood's terms and conditions.
if you earned those points in any other way such as stays or credit card activity, then those points do not expire from what i understand in the above mentioned T&C. the only way to lose points is to have a dormant account (one year without activity.) Since you had activity in your account, it wasn't dormant and the points would not be forfeited. if they were erroneously deducted from your account then i'm sure that contacting corporate would get the problem solved. venting here won't.

Dr. HFH

After reading your description of the problem, I admit that I'm confused. If you have an e-mail from customer service, why not just copy it back to them and ask for reinstatement of your points? Are you sure that they are SPG points? You mention that "we" had about 35K points, and also reference "our" account. Who are "we" and "our"? Was this some type of special deal negotiated with a (your?) company which included a use 'em or lose 'em provision?

tfong007

Dont hate the playa, hate the game.

YoungSinema

Sounds like you earned points through a timeshare. Are you an owner? If so, a previous post was correct in saying that those points expire. Any other points obtained from hotel stays, or points purchased, never expire as long as you have activity on your account within an 18 month period.

diggitydog

I think what we need to key in on is he was told by CS that the points were safe when they really weren't. In a circumstance like this I would say Starwood owes him some points.

Sure they could take the view that it is his responsibility to manage his points regardless what he is told...However, he not only called but requested a follow up email to confirm the status--that gave Starwood two chances to verify what kind of points they were. Starwood failed two times, I think restoring his points is a small price to pay.

I'm pretty sure corporate would agree.

recadna

It sounds like he got the points from timeshare since "these are the only kind of points he had". These points like cash rebates. You lose if you forget.

Given OP only used starwood twice ever (both cash +points), I doubt Starwood care this much losing his business.

Often1

A common problem with CS advice. It only answers the specific question asked. Nobody is going to go and research each customer's account and the source of each point. If you ask the general question, "how can I extend points" you get the general answer. But, the t&c always control and the t&c make clear, individual employees have no authority to change them.

OP's best approach is to quit calling and create a short -- and I mean short -- note which encloses the email. Presuming that OP did earn the points from a timeshare as noted, OP needs to admit that he misread the t&c and relied on the email. He is then not entitled to reinstatement but is asking as a CS gesture.

Use of venting and threats to leave is a big mistake. As others note, if all you've got is 6-year old points, you are by definition not a "loyal" customer and you've already jumped ship.

Flews

Unless the OP specified they were (one-time) timeshare (or some other kind of fixed expiry) points when he asked about expiry, I think the OP is equally or even more responsible for any misunderstanding. Especially for TS, when the OP would have been expressly advised at the time of receiving TS points that they would, in fact, have a fixed expiry date. A generic response to a question about 'points' doesn't change that.

Cheers,

DSI

"All interpretations of these SPG Program Terms and the rules of SPG Program membership will be at Starwood's sole discretion, and Starwood's decisions will be final."

PointWeasel

Very helpful to the discussion.

pipelon

A few responses to the posts:

Yes they are vacation ownership points and yes I was very well aware they would expire after 6 years. That is why we were going to use them before the expiration date until we were told by CS that although there was an expiration date if we had activity they would extend the expiration date. We confirmed with the CS that these were points we had purchased through a vacation ownership program (Explorer Package). We asked for email confirmation because we were hesitant because we had a contract that had an expiration date on it. This would never have been a problem if we had not been given bad information.

And as to the "loyal" customer with points unused for 6 years, my wife and I traveled a lot more when we bought the package. This was before having three kids. We used the points each year on our anniversary but with infants long trips away from home were not in our plans. Now that the kids are at an age where travel would not be unbearable, we are starting to travel again.