I got my 1k as well. Transactions seem to be applying more reliably now. I've also used Cartera portals for some UA and AS transactions in the past few months and those have posted in a timely manner as well.

New bonus offer. Targeted only. Spending threshold and bonus varies, the offer is personalized.

I figure we're about 3 weeks away from the deluge of winter portal bonuses that will be similar to these offers...and will be paid out with uneven results, if previous years are any indicator.

Any one want to hazard a guess as to if and when we might see a Holiday promo for 2014? Been saving up my shopping waiting for one.

Made a gc purchse at NM on 11/28 (12x) for $1000. Still waiting.

Personalized email promo today "Earn 525 miles for every $275 spent, up to 1,575 miles." However when I click through the pop up reads: "Your bonus has been activated! Earn 500 bonus miles when you spend $75." :confused:

Family members who never use the portal received emails for 500 miles for $75 spend.

It's been 2 weeks since my purchase. I usually don't have to wait so long for AA portal. NM says no payout on gift card purchases, but I didn't have a problem last year and all reports on FrequentMiler's Lab (except 1) got the miles. I'm wondering if the reason I haven't gotten the miles is because of the amount I bought ($1000). Larger purchases typically take longer, and I'm wondering if that's because they have to be manually reviewed by a person. If that's the case, perhaps he/she caught that this was a gift card purchases and didn't give me the miles. Maybe $900 would be OK? Last year I did $750 and it went through relatively quickly. If I lose out on 12,000 miles (12x), I'll be really disappointed.

I purchased a $750 in physical gift cards from Saks when AA was 15x on 12/11 and already got the miles. Still nothing from 11–28 for NM.

This seems like a pretty dead topic/thread but just in case...

I only found the portal in November of last year, and as I was looking for luggage immediately joined, clicked through and bought two bags from eBags.com. About a $200 purchase, 5x miles IIRC, so pretty sweet.

Early this month (Feb) I noticed the miles had never posted, so I wrote in. I got a reply back a few days later from 'Hermes,' who said he could see that I made the purchase through the portal, but I needed to send in my order confirmation. What I had was an email from eBags, so I sent that in.

Two weeks later, nothing, so I wrote again, and heard, again from 'Hermes,' that he could see the purchase was more than 30 days ago (obviously!) and he would have to be in touch with the merchant, and I should expect the miles to post in 8-10 weeks. This completely contradicts what I'd been told earlier.

I suspect they are doing nothing, that they hope in 8-10 weeks I'll have forgotten about the whole thing. In the meantime I have made another purchase through the portal, from Lowe's, but I don't really expect to see much there.

BTW the screenname 'Hermes' is a wry joke as their service is anything but speedy.

Do people really find that the portal works reliably?

No, but it seems better than previously. I still use it sometimes and I always set Outlook reminders to check up on the miles. I'd say 1/5 of the time I have to contact Cartera to get the miles to post. I'm very persistent and I've been successful in all recent cases. I also use the Alaska Mileage Plan Cartera portal sometimes and have a similar success ratio.

I have been using Ebates and Mr. Rebates more lately. They have cash back rewards. If you figure the value of the miles and the % cash back it's often not hugely different. I've had 100% success with both of those sites and so has my wife and she uses them more than I do. The other thing I like is that even when I use coupon codes I get the cash rebates. That rarely happens when I go through Cartera. Ebates is more convenient since they will deposit rebates to PayPal. Mr. Rebates will only cut you a check once you've reached $10 in cash back. Big Crumbs is out there too, but I don't have much experience with them.

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Hound them!
 

Sometimes with Cartera you have to hound them relentlessly! Never give up! Hold their feet to the fire!

I shop there frequently, and it is rare that I have a problem anymore. Many stores, however, exclude gift card purchases. Makes no sense to me.

"We will take your money that you may or may not spend in our store, but we aren't going to pay you miles for it. If we have to actually ship you a product, however, we'll give you the miles." :confused:

The only logic I can figure is that there are some stores which do give miles for card purchases, and while I won't name any names, spending those cards through AAdvantage Shopping earns miles once again.

As a business owner, I would see that as the customer sometimes getting the better end of the deal. That's good for customer relations, and there would still be enough who would never spend their cards to make up for it. Assuming they price their products profitably, that is.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

To the barricades, comrades!

I heard from someone else at cartera yesterday, noting that:

"The merchant recently alerted us that this eBags.com order was approved. Please allow a few weeks for the posting of your reward."

So...we'll see. What's another few weeks after 2 1/2 months?

:- \

It seems to either work great, or the points fall into a black hole void. There is no obvious reason for the glitches, but they are very slow to resolve any issues.

Suggestions: Escalate your Cartera claim, post a complaint on Twitter or Facebook, or file a claim with the BBB.