I posted my RA saga on this thread about a month ago. I basically had to escalate my stay history (61-62 IHG nights with 8 different ICs) to a supervisor after I had been downgraded since 7 of my Amb year qualified nights didn't post to my acct until after I had been downgraded to Amb.
Anyways, the supervisor upgraded me after I was rejected by 1 (or 2) front line CSRs in the Amb Service Center.
Well guess what. My RA kit arrives and there's freaking RA referral cert in there nor is there a BOGO. ...?!?!?!??!?
So I e-mail Amb Services. Of course I wasn't one bit surprised that the incompetant front line CSRs can't do anything to help, all they can do is send half-canned rejection letters out, I honestly think IHG trains them to just send out rejection letters without even reading the letters that are sent to them.
Anyways, yet again I had to demand they escalate my issue. And yet again I was only able to refer somebody else to RA due to the Supervisor.
Front-line Amb Service CSRs = USELESS!!!!!!!
Here's my e-mail chain in case you're curious (
EdV, I expect to see you plagerizing this in 2 months time when you run into the same problem as I did):
My initial e-mail to them:
I just received my renewel/requalification Royal Ambassador kit in the mail a few days ago. For some reason it contained neither of the following items:
1. Royal Ambassador Associate Referral Card
nor
2. Complimentary Weekend night certificate
The kit did contain two Ambassador luggage tags, a new June 2010 extended Royal Ambassador card, as well as a welcome letter, however the letter seemed to say I was "invited to become a Royal Ambassador" and "we are delighted to provide you with an upgrade to Royal Ambassador status".
I want to make it perfectly clear that this was not an "upgrade" to Royal Ambassador status. Rather it was a continuation of my Royal Ambassador status which I have earned by virtue of my 61 paid IHG nights (35 of them at Intercontinental Hotels) during the 12 months of my Ambassador year.
It is my understanding that I should be receiving both an Associate Referral Card as well as a Free Weekend Night Certificate for requalifying for Royal Ambassador status. This much is also mentioned word for word in the accompanying literature provided in the kit. The kit was wrapped in plastic, so these 2 certificates did not fall out in the mail. Therefore I am wondering where they are and requesting that you please resend a new replacement kit. I also want to mention that the letter in my kit contained a 5000 bonus pt voucher code. I did not redeem it and the Voucher # is XXXXXXXXXXXXXX. So you can either void that and send me a new voucher with the replacement kit. Or else just not include a new 5000 pt voucher code nor luggage tags in the new Royal Ambassador replacement kit that you send me. Can you please verify that everything is in the new kit before you send it? I appreciate your assistance.
And Useless CSR reply #1:
Thank you for taking the time to contact the InterContinental Ambassador Service Center.
Our records show that your Royal Ambassador status was transitioned to Platinum Ambassador on 27 June 2009, and was reinstated to Royal Ambassador status on 08 July 2009.
May we take this opportunity to explain that the Royal Ambassador status is systematically awarded to the top one percent tier of our most frequent guests, based on hotel nights. There are no specific number of nights that determine how a member may maintain Royal Ambassador status, as it depends entirely on the total number of nights acquired by the top one percent tier of Ambassador guests.
Our records show that the number of nights recorded on your account was close to the number of nights stayed by the top one percent tier of our most frequent guests, as such, since we value your business, we considered reinstating your Royal Ambassador status as an exception. Hence, the Royal Ambassador portfolio no longer contain the nomination form.
In addition, your Platinum Ambassador portfolio, which was dispatched on 01 July 2009, already includes one complimentary weekend night certificate, thus, the certificate was no longer included in the Royal Ambassador portfolio.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to explain this situation, and trust these details will be of assistance to you.
Should you have further questions, please contact us at +44 870 400 9099 / 1 888 211 7996 or via e-mail at
[email protected].
Sincerely,
Ms. XXXX XXXXXX
Ambassador Services
And my request to escalate this to somebody who actually has some authority to do something other than spew out rejections:
Can you please escalate this issue to an Ambassador Services Supervisor ASAP!
I find the below e-mail response unacceptable. First, I was prematurely dropped from Royal Ambassador down to regular Ambassador 4 days before my status was set to expire. Due to this (and the fact that I had a fairly long end-of-the-Ambassador-year stay), I had SEVEN more nights post to my account which all still took place during my Ambassador year but didn't post until after I had been dropped in status. Obviously these 7 nights were not counted when initially considering my Royal Ambassador Qualification and were the reason why my status was reinstated when I contacted you. So in fact I DID requalify for Royal Ambassador status, and I would like the full perks (including the Associate Referral card that was missing).
Second, I know of more than one other Royal Ambassador member who requalified (during May 2009 and June 2009) with slightly less stays than my 61-62 stays during my Ambassador year. Just because I stayed 7 of my 61-62 nights at the end of my Ambassador year (and they did not post until a couple days after my Ambassador year finished), I should not be penalized and be treated like a second-class citizen.
Therefore I would kindly ask that you send me the Associate Referral card that was missing in my package. I try hard to stay loyal to Intercontinental, however shortchanging me of items in my Royal Ambassador renewel package does not make me want to keep bringing my business to Intercontintal. I do not need a 5000 pt bonus voucher, nor do I need a Complimentary Weekend Night certificate since those items were already included in my Ambassador package I received, however I most certainly need the Associate Referral certificate as I have promised a work colleague that I would refer him to Royal Ambassador status for him to try out your hotels. So can you please re-send me this missing Associate Referral certificate? If for any reason not, will you please either e-mail me or else call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX so we can discuss this matter further. Thank you for your time.
And finally the response from a competant supervisor who can actually think about something before just e-mailing rejection letter after rejection letter:
Greetings from InterContinental Ambassador!
We appreciate your taking the time to bring this matter to our attention and apologize for any inconvenience this situation may have caused you.
In reference to your e-mail below, we wish to reiterate that Royal Ambassador status is extended to the top one percent tier of InterContinental Ambassador guests only, with the exception of nominated members. Also, the number of InterContinental properties and qualifying nights required to reach the top one percent tier may change at any time.
Furthermore, since Royal Ambassador referral forms are automatically packed with the other membership materials, we do no have the option to order individual forms and have them shipped separately.
However, in an effort to assist you, we would be happy to process the referral upgrade for your colleague if you could provide us with his/her full name, preferred mailing addres, phone number and credit card details (card type, number and expiry date). If your colleague is already a Priority Club Rewards member, we would appreciate it if you could also send us his/her Priority Club number.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be of service to you. Should you need further assistance, please feel free to contact us directly.
Sincerely,
XXXX XXXXXXXX
Senior Representative
Ambassador Services
In my dealings with IC Ambassador Services, it's just been pathetic how useless the front-level CSRs have been. Frankly, all this teaches us to do is escalate issues further up the chain since the first level is just there to reject. Piss poor.............
: td: