Well, I guess I hate to admit but given up...Summary of the last case (started last Mon, i.e. 7 days ago):
-- Lower rate found, verified & accepted 3 times independently over the phone (on Mon on one page, Wed & Sat on another one) -> none of the 3 agent however managed to finalize the match due to the current technical restrictions.
Looking at their T&C (above all:
"The same accommodations must be available for booking at a qualifying lower price in the currency of the hotel when we validate your claim."), not providing the match is actually a violation. Is not my fault their systems do not work the way they should, and the T&C do not mention anything (and will not be updated as per above) and keep suggesting to claim over the phone as one of the options. Only in it, I see another violation when the agents over the phone cannot perform the match.
(Btw. one agent wrongly claimed the price difference must be at least 5% (and it was 8% ;-)), so I referred him to the very own T&C (
"We may deny a claim if the percentage difference between the price booked through the official Hilton booking channel and the qualifying lower price is 1% or less."). Just a "Hm." followed. Apparently, some "Sorry, I was wrong." would have been too much.)
-- Claimed over the online form at least 6 times in parallel -> after some wrong arguments however always a final rejection "we do not see the price".
Just adding, a friend of mine living abroad did see the same price as I did.
And now the most amazing thing: When I called on Sat to claim and barely finished the first sentence "Hello I would like to do PMG over the phone...", without mentioning my name, HH number or whatsoever, the agent absolutely annoyed nearly yelled: "YES, you are calling VERY VERY OFTEN!". I was a kind of shocked and kindly asked: "Ah... did I talk to you on the open case from last Mon?". He - even more annoyed like I REALLY bother him / them (which I apparently do
): "NO! Not with me personally but we see here everything! Not only the case from last Mon!"... hmmm...
Not sure what they can / cannot track / store (and may / may not). The agent must have recognized me by my phone number; no idea whether their system immediately displays all my credentials, history, data…