TL;DR: Effectively I deleted 90k Marriott points from my account during the merger, but received 320k more M points to make up the additional 120k miles that waiting twelve weeks to book tickets cost. I guess we get to see the Inlaws over Christmas break finally, but this is a very unsatisfactory resolution to my problem. I spent 12 weeks on 17 different phone calls lasting more than 10 hours, with 21 different SPG / Marriott Customer Service representatives trying to transfer enough points into my mileage program to buy 4 cattle a trip to see the inlaws.
In detail:
So mid-July, My wife and I decide to book Christmas vacation for the kids to see the Inlaws. We confirm with her work and the first moment I have available, I sit down to get tickets. We need 200k miles, but I only had 90k in my account, and my wife had about 20k. Thankfully, my wife had about 130k Starwood points in her account.
Here is my call log as I try to figure out what happened, and ultimately find a way to get my family vacation booked.
August 16th:
I transfer 60k Starpoints to my airline account. Unfortunately, I transferred my wifes Starpoints to my mileage account. I get a confirmation email. I think no more about it, but wait a couple days for the 2nd transfer. Unbeknownst to me, I get (what reports, post-merger) as two 45k Airline Transfer Bonuses.
August 22nd: Call Time 5:08
Reach Dominic in Reservations. Called because I was confused about why I had 250k points in my account instead of 130k. Transferred to Talisa in Preferred Guests. Told points tripled.
August 26th: Call Time 19:53
Reach Laurence in Reservations. Transferred to loyalty member Sue? Joe? Told transfers work now and to try it. I transfer 60k Marriott points (again, to my account) as a test. Told to wait 2-4 business days. Never see this transfer in my account, nor a confirmation email.
August 31st: Call Time 41:41
Reach Miguel in Reservations. Transferred to SPG department, Sherry in Reservations answered. She pulled up my wife’s account using the new Marriott account number, but belonged to John Nelson. Pulling up the SPG account accessed my wife’s account. Indicated it will take up to six weeks for a transfer.
Sept 16th: Call Time 14:12
Reach Jonathan in Reservations. Transferred to Lisa at SPG department. Provided number to SPG Flight for further assistance.
Sept 16th: Call Time 31:26
Reach Nathan at Corporate Service. Looked into everything, opened a case for the back end team. Never received a response.
Sept 25th: Call Time 28:30
Sixteen minute hold time. Reach Mary-Ann at Corporate Service. She said I just need to make another transfer. She asks me to verify with the Airline that the miles haven’t posted. Says it will take up to six weeks.
Oct 3rd: Call Time 2:09
‘Customer Service’ answered. Stated computers are down.
Oct 5th: Call Time 53:08
Forty One minutes on Hold. Reach Izzy at Corporate Customer Service. Got put on hold, and disconnected before anyone came back.
Oct 5th: Call Time 1:54:14
On hold for seventy five minutes. Reach Amanda at Corporate Customer Service. Identified my faux pas, and helped to resolve some of those issues from Marriotts’ end. Could not identify where the points went, but doesn’t think the points transferred. Said transfers are taking six to eight weeks. Committed to finding a resolution and responding to me via email. Never received a response.
Oct 15th: Call Time 12:58
Called Airline, and verified that they had no record of any mileage transfers from SPG or Marriott. Furthermore, they helped resolve the name issue from their end.
Oct 22nd: Call Time 33:16
Reach Kaylin with Reservations. She sounds tired, and offered my home address unsolicited. Tried to transfer to tech support, but failed and opened another case instead. Provided case number and indicated a response would be forthcoming. Never received a response.
Oct 24th: Call Time 18:16
Six minute hold time. Reach Enis in Reservations. It’s obviously her first day, and I was unduly impatient with her after another ten minutes on hold. (Sorry!) Was transferred to another department who seemed to hang up by accident.
Oct 24th: Call Time 24:12
Ten minute hold time. Reach Toni in Reservations. Asked to speak to a supervisor. Another ten minute hold time. Transferred to Rose in SPG Reservations. She did not look into the case at all, and simply said transfers take ten to twelve weeks, and hung up on me before I could get a word in edgewise.
Oct 24th: Call Time 1:38:48
Seventeen minute hold time. Reach ‘Reservations’. Asked if it was corporate policy to hang up on customers, and transferred immediately to Corporate Customer Service. On hold for eleven minutes before being connected to Hugo. He created a case for the hang-ups per my request. Looked into my mileage case, and he could not understand the issue at all, and didn’t know that all Marriot and SPG accounts had been combined already. After arguing with me for twenty seven minutes, and another ten minutes on hold, he finally transferred me to Marsha at the elite desk. She was awesome, and identified my faux pas immediately. She recognized that things in my account didn’t add up, seemed to identify a couple possible issues, but could not reach someone who could resolve the problem, and instead emailed the airline department. Never received a response.
Oct 29th: Call Time 8:16
Reach Eric at Reservations. Ask to be transferred to the Elite desk. Accidentally hang up the phone.
Oct 29th: Call Time 1:22:29
Reach Brody at Reservations, and transferred to Charlie at Corporate Customer Care rather than the Elite desk as requested. She indicated the case was closed because the points were never transferred. She also indicated that my wife’s email preferences kept Customer Service emails from reaching my wife’s email account. She tries three times to contact someone to help resolve the problem, and cannot get anyone. After arguing with her for an hour over whether the points are in fact missing, she finally decides to comp me 320k points so that I can purchase Christmas tickets. Exasperated, I acquiesce, and didn’t realize that I can’t create 320k miles from the comped points. Effectively I deleted 90k M points from my account, but received 320k more M points to make up the additional 120k miles that waiting twelve weeks to book tickets cost. I basically lost two plane tickets for my trouble (or one Christmas ticket, booked almost last minute).
My takeaway is five-fold:
- Whoever in charge decided that changing point values during a merger is an idiot. Most people can’t balance a checkbook; why would you expect Customer Service to be able to keep point conversions straight with no training *and* be able to communicate that clearly to their customers?
- Trying to resolve issues should not be the responsibility of the Reservations desk. In fact, they seem to be pretty bad at even understanding their system at all.
- Customer Service should be focused on trying to resolve issues, not identifying the cause of a glitch in the system, especially when confronted with an issue that seems peculiar to the norm.
- SPG email preferences indicate “You can always count on receiving messages related to account security, reservations details, and changes to the program terms and conditions”, but obviously Marriott doesn’t understand that Customer Service emails should be sent to the customer regardless.
- There are quite a few effective solutions to prevent points being lost into the ether when a mismatch occurs between loyalty programs, and none are in place. Even asking the name on the mileage account would be sufficient to spark an ‘ah-hah!’ moment for most.
In my mind, for none of these policies to be in effect clearly shows how horribly mis-managed Marriott is, and why I’ll be shopping for another loyalty program in the future. Although the SPG and Marriott brand have nice hotels, nothing is worth this amount of hassle. Marriott obviously thinks they can deliver increased shareholder value by delivering sub-par service. Sadly, the majority of the agents I spoke with were pretty good. They just have no power to solve problems, and cannot get ahold of anyone who *is* capable of solving problems. There really seems to be a middle-manager revolt here someplace, and I can’t see that ending up well long-term.
Honestly, I expect that during the merger, my wife’s account and John Nelsons account got mixed up somehow, and he received the mileage transfer instead. Once it went to the airline and got rejected, he probably got his points back and thought no more about it. I'd love to know what exactly happened, but I don't have another dozen hours to wait on hold, and they don't return emails.
Anyhow, sorry for the fifteen hundred word essay, but I needed to vent. Anyone have good suggestions for excellent Hotel loyalty brands in Vancouver, Seattle, Kentucky, Alaska, Florida, and DC? Seems I may be in the market.