Anyone else had a nightmare experience with the "new" Chase certificates?
 

I didn't want to put this in the usual Chase Marriott certificate thread, because using those was a pleasure...so simple...you had a cert, you made a res, they asked "do you want to use your cert?" you said "yes"...

These "new" Chase certificates that we got for upgrading to the Boundless Chase card have been a nightmare...

When I've tried to use them I have to call, and then those reps have "no idea" how to attach them to a reservation. They say they are "coded differently". So what they do is CALL the hotel to make the res and attach the cert. Then 3 days (or so) later I look in my account and it says "you need so many more points for this reservation, if you don't have them you can purchase them blah blah"...

NOT TRUE!!!!

These are full value 35,000 pt certificates. But they have NO idea how to not only attach them, but keep them attached.

This has been a few months now since we were upgraded to the Boundless card and got two of them as the rewards. The one I booked two months ago and the one I booked today have had the SAME issues. Two months and no one seems to have a clue what to do with them, and even when they "Manually Attach" them, and "Call the Hotel to attach them", in just a matter of days the certificates disappear from the res and I'm told I need to "earn or purchase more points".

I have no hair left on my head, so if anyone (Christina? Are you still here?) has any idea how to reserve and make them stick, please let me know.

Is it not allowing you to attach them when booking online? Your post only mentions trying to book on the phone.

You never get the prompt that asks "you have a certificate. do you want to use it?".

You must call.

And the agents have a terrible time figuring out what to do with them. They say "I can see it in your account, I just can't attach it. Let me call the hotel and attach the number manually".

But it doesn't work.

Could you please PM us your account number and confirmation number so we can check for you?

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

Best Regards,

Abbey Liu

Specialist, Social Media
Marriott International
[email protected]

Will do, thanks.

I'm on a desktop, not an app.

Unless you are also dealing with these NEW Chase Certificates, not the old ones, you do not know what I am dealing with. Every agent says (and this is after several months) "oh, these new ones are coded differently. We have to attach them manually. We can "see" them available in your account but can't attach them".

How new is “new”? Those issued in 2019?

I've been attaching the "new" ones without a problem (including cancelling and reattaching for another reservation) without a problem*.

* Sometimes they do not come back automatically. But never had a problem attaching them.

Please tell me how!

When I have a certificate in the account, and I make a points reservation and need more points, my only option is to buy or earn more points. I do not get the "you have a certificate. do you want to use it?" prompt.

So to be clear - the new Chase visa offers a 35K cert with each anniversary. But that's not what you have. There was (is?) an offer from Chase awarding two 35K free night certs as a bonus for upgrading the old card, and these are what you have?

And it seems these certs are not the same as the anniversary certs, as far as the method of applying them? Ugh.

I've had no issues as well, as long as the points per night required are less than or equal to the cert value. Some screenshots or specific examples may help diagnose your issues.

Yes, that is correct. They are NOT the anniversary certs, they came as an offer to upgrade an existing Chase Visa Marriott card that he had for years to the upgraded version that gave you a 35K cert on your anniversary and not 25K, and 2x points on anything. The bonus offer was two of these 35K certs, as opposed to, say, 50,000 or whatever bonus points.

Marriott reps all say the same words - Chase coded these differently from the old certificates, and we can't apply them automatically.

But it seems that some here do have these same certs, and are using them without issue. I have no idea why.

Does that mean that you have successfully spent down and currently have less than 35000 points available in your account? I wonder if that is the difference between your situation and those of us for whom it is working? Perhaps the programmers didn't consider that combination of factors = (not enough actual points) yet (certificate available) however ("newly-coded" certificate). As a test, even if you don't have enough for the property in question but have at least 7500 available points, you could attempt a booking for a lesser property and see if it presents the option of attaching the cert. Example I saw = Fairfield Inn & Suites McPherson (KS) for Sept 28.
Doesn't fully explain why it would disappear once attached, however, unless the same flawed coding logic was used in some nightly/weekly "sweep" of reservations.
In my case, I have [more points than I should probably be carrying], plus an anniversary max-25000 cert from old Visa, and two max-35000 certs from upgrading. When I attempt a points booking for a property at 25000 or below, it tells me that I have certificates available and suggests using the 25000 cert. (which is also the one with the earliest expiration date) When I attempt a points booking for a property requiring 35000, it tells me that I have certificates available and suggests using a 35000 cert.

My husband has 6,000 Marriott points. He got his 35K cert roughly 2 months ago. I had no issues at all applying it to a property in Greece for an upcoming stay.