GrizShel

I'm desperate. I first called Marriott Customer Care on Dec. 26. Now, 14 days later absolutely nothing has been done to help me. It all started when I called to get my points posted from a stay paid for with 300,000 points that I canceled. At the end of that conversation I got 310,000 points added to my account (I don't know where the extra 10k came from) but the representative had somehow messed up another stay (or it mysteriously just happened?) for 6 nights which I had paid for with 145,000 points plus a free night certificate good for 35,000 points. That certificate mysteriously was detached that evening so that the reservation says that I now owe 250,000 points for it. Furthermore, it's not as if I got those points added back into my account (but to be perfectly clear I did not ask to have that reservation changed in any way). After an hour+ conversation the Marriott Customer Care representative submitted a case for me, but I found out later that he did not include any of the information I provided him over the phone (!!).

On Dec. 30 I called Marriott again because I found that I had had 330,000 points deducted from my account (So they took back the 300,000 points + the 10k extra they gave me + 20k extra points were deducted). Again I was on the phone for over an hour, but like the last representative they had no idea how to help. She promised to send over all of the details to their Customer Care team that is supposed to resolve the issues that the telephone agents don't know how to. I have heard nothing back from them.

I really don't know what to do. I am so upset about this. Marriott has ruined one of my upcoming vacation stays and taken away a huge amount of points from my account. None of the telephone people can even see what I paid for any reservation nor any of this points activity (neither can I). It seems the system is so screwed up that Marriott can't even see what is happening themselves. The only documentation i have is screen shots that I made myself at the time of the reservations, but that doesn't seem to mean anything to them.

Any ideas anyone?

UA-NYC

Ping the Lurker. If you don't have an Ambassador that’s sadly your only recourse these days. Good luck.

UKTraveller4Fun

It occured to me several times last year that without Ambassador status and an amazing Ambassador I would have stopped staying with them last year as without that dedicated contact to sort out their ever failing IT issues and experiences of calling the standard Titanium line by accident a couple of times it would simply have been far to much wasted time and effort on my part to justify things!

I do feel for anyone who has "status" but no actual point of contact! Agree Lurker is def the best hope for the Op!

JBord

I'm having a little trouble following your story and numbers. Is this the correct sequence of events:
1) - 300,000 points for booking (then canceled)
2) + 310,000 points (Marriott redeposited)
3) - 35,000 free night cert (for different stay, that you did in fact complete)
4) - 250,000 points related to the free night cert (this is the part I really don't follow)
5) - 330,000 points (alleged take-back of the 310,000 posted in #2 )

By my math, you are missing the original 300,000, and then another 250,000 that it says you owe as part of a past stay that was already paid with points. Plus another 20,000 that was taken with no explanation (#5 - #3 ).

Are you down 570,000 points? Or are you down 300k (stay 1), 145k (stay 2), free night cert (stay 2)?

As annoying as this would be, I think it's probably easier to address each of these separately. Have Marriott look at the 300,000 missing redeposit for the first stay, and then have them look at the second stay, stating you paid for it with 145k+cert, and that it was retroactively rescinded. If they restore those all to your account, you'll be back where you should be, right?

jtwiz

Wow, I lost 40K points this week and was upset about that! I would be livid in your shoes.

I was lucky enough to get an agent who could take care of my issue with in about 15 minutes.

It's so odd, I redeemed 40K points for a 2-night stay in Philadelphia on 12/30. While I was at the hotel on 1/5, two additional sets of 40K points were also redeemed (at 4:37 AM - and I can assure you I was asleep), one of which was refunded. So 120K points on one stay, 40K refunded (with no assistance from me) and 40K outstanding. The agent refunded them and they showed up in my account as " Good Will Adjustment" which is kind of annoying since the IT issue was on Marriott's side. However, I was happy to see it resolved no matter how they want to label it!

I certainly hope you get this resolved!

Marriott Bonvoy Lurker

Hi GrizShel,

We'd be happy to take a closer look into this situation for you.
Please kindly connect with us via email at: [email protected] and provide your Marriott Bonvoy account details along with any additional information you can share about this experience.

We look forward to hearing from you and to assisting you further with this case.

GrizShel

No that's not what I mean. My post did say there are two different stays with issues. One stay was canceled (at my direction) the other was not and I still want that stay. The problem with the second stay is that my certs were mysteriously detached by someone.

Feb. stay 300k pts deducted at res., not restored at cancel. then 310k added after cancel, then next day 330k deducted.
Summer stay 145k +35k 1 night certif deducted at time of res., certificates mysteriously detached and points balance remained the same after this mysterious action by marriott.

However the point of the post wasn't to explain every detail, it is to try to find a way to get Marriott to actually pay attention to and fix my issues.

GrizShel

Thank you. I sent you an email. I hope you can help fix this horrible situation.

Dena

GrizShel

Thank you jtwiz. Yes it was a horrible couple of days when all of this happened. The Marriott Customer Service representatives had a great deal of trouble understanding the situation (I'd like to think I was very detailed and clear in my explanation, but then again, they apparently couldn't see ANY of the transactions that took place regarding these reservations. What a horribly broken it system it is.) I had to repeat over and over again what happened because they kept on telling me that what happened likely couldn't have happened, that I must not have paid for these reservations with points since they couldn't see it (well, my screenshots show otherwise!).

Often1

OP - Please make certain that you come back with the result. It's important to know whether it is even worth dealing with Marriott CS rather than a lurker on FT.

Cathay Dragon 666

9 out of 10 I find the CS to be pretty helpless on anything I've asked, and I've given up. I have found one CS that is exceptional. It was a complicated case and she helped me solved it in ONE call and within 30 minutes. She simply patiently heard what I have to say, repeat them to me to make sure she understood me correctly, and solved it all right on the spot. I regret not asking her name and simply asking for her in any and all CS calls (is that allowed?) Anyway, I know your pain dealing with CS. Hopefully the Lurkers can help you out.

GrizShel

I agree Often1. Frankly I have been shocked by how poor customer service has been (not mean, just not knowledgeable, sometimes not native English speakers and having difficulty understanding, and not empowered to fix things). Yes I've heard some "Bonvoyed" stories, but it was always hard for me to believe that the level of service could have declined as much as it has. They always had some insufficiently trained and insufficiently empowered representatives, but this seems worse. Before, if need be, I could elevate things and eventually get some real help. With this case I just felt a sense of despair it seemed so hopeless. I almost felt the reps have been trained to just delay, delay the resolution until the customer gives up. I can't believe that's really the case, but it sure has felt like it.

MSPeconomist

I had a case a couple months ago where I was double charged for an award stay. I think part of the problem is that sometimes points are taken when the reservation is made and sometimes not until close to the stay, even if one is not doing points advance. For points advance (and maybe anytime points aren't deducted immediately) the new variable award pricing and award price increases could be part of the problem too.

Happy

All these recent messes in getting the points refunded correctly on cancelled reservations makes me very weary to cancel a 5th night free booking at Sydney that we most likely would not use given the current situation especially there is still no sight at end of the bush fires being fully under controlled. Since now Marriott obviously is aware of the IT issues, it needs to spend some resources to get those glitches fixed.

There are obviously many other mysteriously disappeared points / reservations canceled and rebooked without any customer's involvement, according to this report by a blog

https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.c...t-naughtiness/

Whoever designed the updates to accommodate off peak / peak pricing obviously have messed up big time.

It fails in at least 2 areas -

Point reservations have long been paid for, got changed to reflect the new pricing.

Upgrade by the property which went in to change the room type, and therefore causes a repricing.

There are other inexplicable happenings on reservations being redone but the above 2 scenarios seem to happen the most.

jtwiz

This was an aha moment for me...I was upgraded on a points reservation, so that is likely how the problem started in my case. In reading that blog, this seems to be a common issue right now. No good deed goes unpunished!