Cartera didn't send me any confirmation emails with tracking numbers - Verizon did. Verizon may have received lots of orders, but there was probably 10x as much traffic on Cartera's servers: people searching for new 80k products for multiple FF programs, people checking out the deal even if they decided not to buy, etc.

My impression is that Cartera got slammed and they are still trying to figure out what hit them. I know that these shopping portals are flaky at the best of times. That could be partly because it's inherently difficult to serve as a middleman and integrate with multiple vendor websites, or it could be that they don't GAF, or it could be some sinister plot where the entire web portal is a scam, and there are procedures in place to ensure maximum profits from vendors while denying as many customer claims as possible.

I guess the only way to tell if there was ill intent would be if there was significant discrepancy between what they bill to the vendor versus what they award to the customer - i.e. Cartera makes absolutely certain that they bill the vendors for every click-through, but is less-than-diligent in posting miles to customers. If there are regularly purchases that slip through the cracks - i.e. Cartera doesn't receive credit and the customer doesn't receive credit, that would strike me as incompetence but not necessarily malfeasance.

FWIW, I think it's incompetence - I have seen discrepancies both in my favor and against me when using the AA shopping portal.