PanGalactic - you are correct, it's run by a 3rd party company, and are the same one that Virgin Atlantic use whom I had the same troubles with when I was collecting their miles for a while.
It would be nice if they fixed it (I'm an IT guy myself so also find it frustrating), but it's been that way for so long it's untrue. I end up doing the same as you and noting things in my calendar, keeping receipts in a dedicated folder etc