When did Marriott decide that Plats (and presumably everyone else) no longer could speak with customer service representatives without going several rounds with the automated system that boasts that it "can understand full sentences" - although it seems to have a great deal of difficulty with the sentence "I would like to speak with a representative"?

In the past, I remember calling the number and entering my MR number and immediately getting a human.

Not today. I had to speak my MR number, my full name and my zip code before even having a chance to state what I wanted. After I said I wanted a representative, the response acknowledged my request, but was nosy and asked about what. My response was that I wanted to speak about the Summer Bonus. At that point, the automated voice read back to me that last 5 (FIVE!) credit card bonus point amounts that had been posed to my account. It took a couple of minutes. When I finally reached a human (a caring, competent, friendly, knowledgeable human), I asked her about the change in the system and she just replied in a funny voice that "they decided to revamp it."

Argh.

The rep was great - I was calling to change my bonus since I had the 15 nights/20K offer and had only had 3 stays/7 nights. She was kind enough to go ahead and deposit a one-night cert in my account.

I did get an opportunity to answer a survey at the end of the call in which I gave the rep high marks all-around and the automated system the lowest possible rating.

Am I the only one who has noticed this? Or complained about it? BTW, I had to call Hilton Honors about an issue earlier today and got a human right after entering my HH number...

Are you referring to the Marriott Rewards line or the Platninum reservation line?
It appears you are referring to the Rewards line, as an automated "assistant" has been there for a long time. I find that just by saying the word "operator" or "agent" gets me to a human quickly enough so that this is not an issue.

Is there not enough to be thankful for that we must constantly find new things that are not to our particular likings?

I have found both the Platinum Reservations and the MR lines to have long wait times, unlike phone wait times for other hotel programs.

It's not just the Plat line. I called the Plat Premier line today for the same reason as the OP, and after waiting a few minutes on hold, the first agent told me that the Summer Bonus promotions cannot be changed. I asked why others were able to do it, and he said that they were not allowed to make changes anymore. It was very clear he was in a hurry to take more calls. (I really wanted to say "But I'm a diamond guest.... ")

I called right back, and the second agent was amazing and switched me right over.

What I don't understand is why Marriott doesn't just offer everyone a one-time opportunity online to pick the promotion that works best for them (no changes after the initial selection). It could work just like Delta's Platinum/Diamond Chioce Benefits (minus the ability to gift your spouse elite status for doing absolutely nothing).

JMHO

no, you should have told them "But I'm a diamond guest.... " as I suspect their reply would be you have the wrong number, this is not Hyatt/Hilton.....

I love the "But I'm a Diamond Guest" Video and use it quite often

I called the Platinum reservations line yesterday, got right through to a live agent, who solved my problem quickly.

My guess is that the OP's reference to "MR" means he was calling Marriott Rewards (aka Guest Services). While it asks you for all kinds of stuff, including your Marriott Rewards number, it puts you in a general queue now and has since fall of 2011.

The best method to get to the front of the queue is to call Plat reservations and have them connect you to Marriott Rewards (aka Guest Services).

As previously discussed in the threads provided below:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...ne-stinks.html June 28, 2012

Phone menu HELL Feb 3, 2012

See posts 5-8 in this thread for details and Marriott Concierge response: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...mily-rate.html Nov 19, 2011

[Sarcasm]Another wonderful enhancement brought to you by the geniuses at Marriott.[/Sarcasm]

It really is amazing what people will complain about. Just say "operator" or "representative" and you will get an actual person in a few seconds.

I think it's fair to complain about a phone system that is a PITA to utilize.

I do what aaupgrade does - call the Marriott Plat ressie line & ask to be switched to MR CS.

PS - the automated line isn't that good w/ operator or representative or agent either, which is when I switched to calling the Plat ressie line.

Cheers.

Doesn't this take a long time? I find that the Plat CS line is annoying in that it asks a bunch of questions, but I would think that in the time it takes to call reservations and then ask to be transferred to CS, the time would be the same.

Not really. The dialing is the same for either call. Inputting the elite # is the same. After that, agent comes on. Hi, can you transfer me to CS - sure. Done.

Cheers.

Also it is evident from your post that you did not read any of the posts at the links I provided. As a result you are missing a salient point; on the Marriott Rewards (customer service) phone line, there is no priority queuing based on your MR #/your status as confirmed by Marriott Concierge.

OP here, thank you aaupgrade for the links to the previous posts - I must have missed reading them them in real time and now fully up to speed. In the future, I will take the advice to call the Plat Res line and get transferred when I am looking for customer service.

polecat, although I left this out of my original post in the interest of brevity, I did say the word "representative" at least 5 times during my call. Thank you, though, for proving your own point by complaining about my complaint.

Sharon, thanks for your helpful comments!

You're welcome. As you can see from reading those threads, you are not alone in your feelings about the changes to the Marriott Rewards phone line and probably won't be the last.