Originally Posted by
thebackcourse
That's the majority of escalations. I worked in their escalations dept aka elite. The vast majority of escalations are people who can't read the rules or refuse to accept them. That's not to say Marriott doesn't pull some shifty stuff. But the rules are published for all to see, including the line that says they can change anything they want with or without notification at any time. So its not like its a big secret. The rules are long and can be hard to read, but they do in most cases adhere.
Originally Posted by
thebackcourse
What used to crack me up was the people that thought they were gonna sue over some perceived violation of the rules. No, you are not. First, lawyers wrote the terms and conditions. They have protected themselves forwards backwards and inside out. Second, the cost to sue anyone for anything makes it mostly cost prohibitive for trivial .... like being butthurt over not getting your way. Lastly, the second you start talking lawyers we we're trained to end the call. We will not talk to you if you're talkin like that. Marriott has lots and lots of lawyers, they do the lawyer talking.
Your best bet to get a good result in your favor is just be a human being talking to another human being. I routinely did things for people merely for not being jerks.
I'm aware of the rules & nothing in my post leads towards an escalation or even remotely close to that. I'm a lawyer myself & have a number of big airline & hotel brands that are my clients so the T&C of a loyalty program are nothing new to me. But once again that doesn't stop me from showing my disappointment on a public forum for a rule that I don't like or feel is not in the best interest of the loyalty guest.
I agree with the part about being a good human being when dealing with customer service. Just earlier this week I had a situation where an airline changed its flight timing to 50 minutes earlier which is making it difficult for me to reach the airport on time. Their rules say that they won't make any changes without penalty unless the schedule change is more than an hour. I explained my situation politely & requested that I would be grateful if they could make a one time exception for me, even though it is going above their policy. I wasn't expecting any help but the agent was kind enough to discuss with a supervisor & they allowed me to move to a later flight. It always helps to be polite.