blitzen

Hi,

IHG just closed my account claiming “fraudulent” actions against the T&C without giving any details. No clue what they are referring to.....
what can I do? Is there someone who can give me more details? Do I need to sue just to get more details?

Thx

Jon Maiman

Have you tried calling and/or emailing them to discuss? Typically they suspend an account and do an audit first. Have to ask, is there anything you may have done that could be interpreted as fraudulent even if that wasn't your intention? Good luck with your investigation and getting your account restored.

--Jon

blitzen

I asked for “what have I done ?” And got section 7 of the T&C which includes everything including “we don’t like you”

LondonElite

Any transfers, bookings for other family members, credit card bonuses?

writerguyfl

How did you find out your account was closed? What was the exact language of that notification? As Jon Maiman notes, a company will typically do an audit first. Finally, who did you speak to that told you to refer to that section of the Terms and Conditions?

blitzen

I could not log in > account locked please call customer service
did so and they said it was under review
emailed and got back it was under review
i asked them why. My first thought was hacked account
they answers it was closed due to actions against the T&C they consider fraudulent
so I asked for specific
they just said it was permanent and gave me no info beside article 7

blitzen

They don’t even tell me what they think I did .... 1.8m points gone.
enough to get a lawyer involved

Finkface

No thoughts at all on what they COULD think you did? As someone asked above, anything at all they they could interpret as dodgy even if you think it was fine? Anything you did that was even remotely out of the ordinary?

blitzen

I tried to book points and cash > threw an error so I tried again > same error
so I booked a hotline > next day I noticed they processed both attempts so I cancelled (and didn’t complain)
but that was a year or two ago and to my disadvantage
sighed up for ever special deal that appeared in my account but rarely used one
bought points left and right but that was all in official offers I got in emails and always hit the official limit
used points normal. paid my yearly cc fees. renewed my ambassador.
reserved point breaks and used 3/4 of them and cancelled the others weeks in advance
planned a japan trip and had bookings (and $ upgrade agreements) but had to cancel due to covid
Asked about a free night extension due to covid
looked into my account a few weeks back and there was a "get 25k points or gift platinum" due to being Spire and chose the 25k points (earned spire a few years back and the Ambassador renewal kept it on my account). So if that was the problem then it is their fault it was given to me as a choice and I used it.

Finkface

Did you sign up for (or try to sign up for) any offers you weren’t targeted for? I remember a few years ago, they were aggressively shutting accounts down for this but I know they fixed their systems to prevent anyone from doing this so I doubt this is the problem. It was just a thought. i found an old thread about it and it doesn’t seem to apply but just in case.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inte...ion-codes.html

Often1

The chances that you will get more information or change anyone's mind are close to zero. You have pretty much been fired as a customer. Best thing is to pick another program and use that going forward.

BrightlyBob

I well remember that period about 5 years ago. I think there were 3 or 4 threads like this running at the same time where OP was joined by other FTers saying the same thing. I think they all admitted (to FT, not IHG) that they’d signed up for multiple promos they weren’t approached for, some were even typing random 4-digit promo numbers into the IHG Promo page to see what happened. Indeed, there was even a lengthy FT sticky of 4-digit IHG Promo Codes. I think like almost every regular IHG FTer at the time I’d entered every code, most were a bust but a very sizeable minority worked. I was very nervous of those closure threads as my winnings from those practices were in the hundreds of thousands of points, it could easily have been me...

Today those opportunities have been sealed off but nowadays the most likely activity to lead to this would be booking redemption rooms for resale which is frequently part of a common-ish scam. Here a scammer runs a load of legitimate looking social media accounts offering last minute rooms atunbelievabledeals. The punter requests say the Beijing IC and pays say $50 for the night receiving a confirmation for the night. The con is that the scammer has purchased dozens of verified hacked IHG accounts and uses your points to book the stay along with any others he can sell that day. Of course if you’re online regularly to your account you’ll see that your points total is virtually zero’d and report it, IHG will treat you as the victim and you’ll be somewhat inconvenienced but it will be rectified. If you don’t regularly go online all the punters will have their stays but the chances are one of them will come to the hotels attention and your account will be identified as selling stays using points which will lead to instant closure and forfeiture of the (probably by that time very few) points left unredeemed. Now you’re struggling against account closure where IHG can demonstrate that the points in the account has been used to book lots of stays which were then sold for cash and since you’re the “owner” of the account... say no more!

Phone and email. Stay calm but be insistent. If that doesn’t work request your data rights file which they have to provide you and should give you the info you need to move forward. Those points are worth about $9,000 so in the final analysis point that out and state you’ll sue in the small claims court. It could be a lengthy struggle I’m afraid...

scubaccr

Once any of IHG/HH/MR programs close your account for "perceived" fraudulent activity against programs t+c's none of the programs frontline deks can talk to you to inform you why they think you abused/defrauded their program. All correspondence needs to be via their fraud team. and as reported not much joy

Normal advice would be simply walk away , and not to waste time uselessly fighting , but with 1.8M points, with a fair nominal value even at us$3/1k of us$5400 you obviously need to at least find out why IHG think you abused t+c's so you can dispute if they are incorrect.

Whilst rank+file members (even RA's like me) won't get far, some of the larger bloggers do have corporate contacts they can reach out to and sometimes get the background reason(s) (if not specifics) behind account closure. I'd suggest reaching out in the first instance to John at Loyaltylobby blog asking John for help to find out why your account was closed.

writerguyfl

If I were in your shoes, I'd try calling the Corporate Office. Over the years, I've had two major issues with companies where I felt my issues were being ignored by the "regular" customer service folks. In one case, the company (Toshiba) did nothing. But in the other case, the Office of the CEO of AT&T fixed my issue.

It may not work, but it's probably worth a try. I'm certain that the people at the Corporate Office would be able to contact the fraud team, which isn't something the "regular" customer service people would be able to accomplish.

https://www.ihgplc.com/en/contact-us...l-headquarters

Be careful not to mention lawyers. Once you do that, you'll almost certainly get stonewalled.

blitzen

Not a single transfer
I booked stays for me and my wife (wife 2nd guest) and she usually checked in a day before me (4th night free and she can fly out earlier than me). And one time years back I did so but couldn't join her due to illness.
No credit card bonus for the last few years.
And every time I stayed on points I needed to contact Ambassador to get my 10% points back

They just send me the T&C, didn't give me any details on what they think I've done and just said "it is final we won't answer any further questions"
So they can just close my account an steal $10k worth of points > I know the hotel industry is not doing well but this is too much
Anyone has an idea on how to get them to at least talk?