grlnextdoor

So Marriott clawed back the points "purchased" from my account. I don't even see the deposit anywhere. I have not seen a refund yet either..

This whole thing is very messy and I am sure a lot of people aren't paying attention to their lost points or charges on their credit cards.

Schnit

Hopefully you see the refund in a few days!

margarita girl

What is inexcusable, is the lack of communication on Marriott’s part. Someone should have contacted you to offer a sincere apology and tell you that they are processing your refund (which might take up to a week) but they were going to pull the points from your account at this time. I would expect no less from a classy hotel chain bearing the Marriott name!

Oops did I just use “classy” and “Marriott” in the same sentence? 🫢

charlesonmission

My wife did get an automated email when Marriott took back the points. Of course, within this context it actually had some incorrect information. She never got any sort of apology or recognition that Marriott IT made a huge mistake.

Ghoulish

No, a classy operation would have left a portion of the points as a sign of sincere contrition.

They could easily fund them with the interest on the undoubted millions upon millions of dollars they "accidentally" stole from their customers over the many, many months they were happy to see this continue.

Thats what you call a company helping itself to your money right, theft? Just what IS the penalty for doing that? Nothing?

As for Marriott's social media team, simply directing people to file complaints, as if they were idiots, while confirming the fact that nothing of substance will be coming from your "representation" of the company only makes things worse.

Tell your boss it's best if your team simply keeps quiet if they're not able to take action. It's a bad look to acknowledge a problem at corporate that continues without resolution for months, ending in Marriot doing the bare minimum required by law.

Not even an apology.

echino

Not just lack of apology or lack of any communication, but also Marriott refuses to acknowledge it was their IT error, and insists that I willingly purchased points, agreed it was non-refundable and then tried to get a refund. The Marriott Bonvoy supervisor on the phone told me they will let it slide one time, but there is a note on my account that if this happens again, my Bonvoy account will be closed, all reservations cancelled and all points and certificates forfeited.

grlnextdoor

This is beyond unacceptable. I am now out points since 7/20/22, and they have not refundable me. I reached out 2 days ago and they responded if I disputed this with my credit card. Which I have not, and if I did, I would've obviously gotten my $ back.

charlesonmission

So, they asked you if disputed with a credit card? Just answer no. I think they are trying to ascertain which path to take. Do not dispute with the credit card is my advice.

The whole thing is wild, but not sure what else we can do as customers.

grlnextdoor

Yeah that is what I responded.

Tajador

Apparently, the same thing just happened to me charged on my Bonvoy Business a few days ago. Unauthorized 45k points purchase for $562.50. I already disputed with Amex though with no prior knowledge about this. Did I make the right move?

The unauthorized points purchase shows up as "RESERVATION PATH POINTS PURCHA" on my Marriott activity, but the points aren't reflected on my account (yet).

charlesonmission

See if you can cancel the dispute and work directly with Marriott. I can't get my head around that they haven't fixed this yet.

In the future,. temporary freeze the credit card on the reservation for point or cert bookings to be certain this doesn't happen.

Tajador

Talked to Marriott rep, and FNA's didn't have anything to do with it but my 5-night Ritz Kyoto reservation for next July (only had enough for 3 nights). I didn't have enough points for the reservation but I also didn't go through Points.com to buy points. Rep said points purchases can't be reversed :/. I also cancelled my dispute with Amex.

Hours later did some more digging around the forum and found this thread where people had the same issues I have. This comment basically sums it up: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29746216-post28.html

Someone in early 2022 also made a similar thread: Unauthorized points purchase with default CC

TIL there's a bug where you can get auto-billed if you try to make a reservation without enough points. Very new to me since I thought ALL properties would allow you to do Points Advance if you don't have enough points considering how far away until check-in my reservation is.

Not sure if I should call Marriott again or take the L and move on. It could've been me who was careless, but still, it feels crappy since I never was directed to Points.com to warn that I didn't have enough points.

charlesonmission

Your experience is actually a different issue. Not really sure what to say. It's seems odd to me that there is any scenario where Marriott can charge people for buying points without their specific authorization, regardless, here we are.