Originally Posted by
kizlo
SPG customer service went from being one of the best in the business (imo) to complete garbage after the merger. Is it just me? I've seen others post issues in various threads, but i'm not sure how widespread it is.
I'm a lifetime gold (and soon to be platinum member) - I used to get things resolved so easily and quickly via the online chat. Now, I send multiple mails within a span of 3-4 months that never get returned. Calling them on the phone results in a much longer wait time, and whenever I get through the agents are not helpful - or worse, they tell you what you want to hear, but don't actually do anything about it. For example - I had a cheque SPG was supposed to send me, and after speaking with 3 agents (who all confirmed it had been approved, and my cheque is on the way), the 4th agent tells me the cheque is actually stuck in 'pending' mode and he needed to manually move it to the next stage for accounting to approve. It took 3 months to get the cheque, and they didn't even send the right amount.
Every time I ran into issues previously, they were so easily resolved either by mail, or online chat. Now if anything happens, I grudgingly have to call them, waste >30 minutes, and most often need to call back 3-4 times before something actually gets fixed.
I hope SPG / Marriott reps are taking all of our feedback into consideration. It's such a shame how SPG went from exceptional customer service to now being horrendous.
I entirely agree with you, your experience is my experience, as well: many Starwood departments, most notably reservations, and customer service, and the back of the house/once Starwood infrastructure, have totally deteriorated, never mind the profound deterioration of the SPG program (orchestrated by, none other, than a former architect of the SPG program (it's amazing what people will do, when you bait them with money)).
My gut sense is that things will eventually normalize, but it will take much longer than Marriott ever anticipated, and if Marriott has more people like their brand loyalty leader, Mr. Flueck, there will be plenty of people to attempt to put a positive spin on garbage, and attempt to pull the wool over the heads of Marriott and Starwood's, once, most loyal guests. I don't doubt that there are significant strengths at Marriott International, but if M.I. continues to turn a blind eye to the once institutional and organizational strengths of Starwood, Marriott will end up with garbage.
Seriously, instant oatmeal? So goes McMarriott's homogenous, illogical, adverse (negative) agenda.
My confidence in Marriott is at the lowest that it's been in 50 years. That is a very strong statement., as I was a (Marriott) believe for 50 years.