They are really that incompetent and Plats have a better number to call but may still need help from a supervisor to fix the new problems Marriott has created with the merger.

It is unbelievable. Is it true that you can not attach TP's to reservations until the 19th? After two hours on hold this is the gem I have received.

Not correct. Reservations have been allowed since about Aug 20-21. Just read many of the posts on this thread.

Aside from Marriott Reward auditing accounts that have 5 nights cert redemption, properties now perform same auditing as well.

In case you miss my post that copied and pasted DPs from a Chinese site - Hotel GMs are auditing 5 certs owners eligibility. You may want to go back to read the post with Google Translate and understand what potential backlash may happen - it is not at the redemption level but at the property level.
The DPs were from a WeChat group based in US, but no more details whether the properties are in China or incl elsewhere in the world.
You would need to try your luck and hope it holds.

I just attached a certificate less than an hour ago. The entire call, including wait time, only took a few minutes.

While on the call, I was told that employees are no longer allowed to upgrade certificates.

Yes, especially the North America based reps.

No. See margarita girl's reply below.

Exactly. If people spend some time actually read thru the thread, they should have much better idea on how to get things done.

There is even a methodological 1-2-3 steps posted and multiple successes reported when people followed the easy to followed steps.

Far better luck calling the UK number and Asia number but keep in mind the international call centers do not work 24/7. They do have business hours and you need to pay attention not to call at their closing time as one poster did yesterday. Far less wait on hold time and most reps took care of stuff within 10 min.

The best results have so far coming from calling the UK number which is provided here again just a day or 2 ago. Someone even got an upgrade with Zero net cost due to the rep credited the extra pts needed to upgrade... Dont think this can be repeated but at least it shows the willingness to help and the competence to get things done, is there - versus the SAD state of the North America phone agents.

I am not sure if the international centers are all actual centers versus North America many are work-at-home agents. That may explain why there are such big disparity in competence.

The work-at-home agents have to make calls to their help desks when they dont know what to do. Learned about this from several work-at-home agents over the past few weeks. That explains the frequent disconnection / prolong wait until agents come back and still not able to do anything. Those work-at-home agents dont always get the support / help they need to properly do their jobs.

In other words Marriott not only fails its customers but also fails their own employees who are doing the grunt work. :td:

DP - Thanks to all here who laid the groundwork. I have just managed to change my OC6 870T to a NC5 QP91 using the UK call center. Only took about 15mins and cost 30k
Now at least I have a usable cert.

Do they need to convert the OC cert to a NC cert in order to attach it to a hotel, or can they just attach the OC cert directly ?

I ask because that would mean attaching a OC would reset the expiry due how MRR IT works

JW Marriott Phu Quoc, Vietnam - we had a truly wonderful stay there last month.

Which # did you call?

Platinum number, (800) 399-4229. One of the prompts was combine accounts, or something similar, which I selected. About two minutes later, I was speaking to a pleasant agent who handled the conversion and attached the new certificate to an existing reservation. The process was so simple and painless that I called back to confirm everything was done properly.

Another 40 minutes later and was able to finally attach a pretty boring OC1-5 to a NC4 property. Almost 3 hours and I think 5 or 6 agents spoken to. Quite unbelievable experience from Marriott. :td:

I wouldn't refund. I have always been able to extend my certificates for another year when I call closer to the time of expiry. Also, the rules aren't clear as yet whether you will be able to upgrade. I would wait for another few weeks until the dust settles.

Looks like someone just succeeded to upgrade via UK office after you were told the "no more" by the North America reps.

Door is closing. That is why the early birds catch the worm. Now let's see if the hoped for cheese would still be there for the late comers. :)

Conversion does the same trick.