skimthetrees

My saga continues...

I attempted to get my TP cert issue fixed again today in a 2+ hour call with Marriott and I am pretty close now.

Previously on "My TP Cert Saga":

1) Agent cancelled my OC8 cert by mistake not realizing that it would be auto-cancelled when the attached res was cancelled.
2) Got to a supervisor who re-ordered me a new cert but he ordered a NC6 (QP99) instead of a NC5 and the NC6 cost me an extra 30k points which would have been great if I could use an NC6 but only need an NC5 so I would rather have NC5 plus 30k refund.

Today:

1) Agent tried to help fix. She could not fix it herself but rather than transfer me to her "team", as she put it, who could fix the problem she put me on hold and contacted her team herself and asked them to fix it which ended up taking a bit longer and she botched the first attempt by giving my a NC1-4 (QP84) with a 105k points value. Oops, 1 hour wasted.

2) I caught her mistake and asked her to fix. I wanted a NC5 for 105k points but she did not have that in her information. She evidently was given a chart from the "team" that only showed the high side partial package redemption of a NC5 for 135k points so I told her to book that because I needed the NC5 and I would request a 30k refund through the web link posted earlier. Ended up with NC5 cert for 135k (QP88). Another hour gone but I am getting closer to being whole. Just missing the 30k points refund.

Here is the information on the packages from today:

You do not want this one:

Reward Details

• Description: PARTIAL PACKAGE - 7 NIGHTS CATEGORY 1-4
• Reward code: QP84
• Valid through: Friday, August 23, 2019
• Total points redeemed: 105,000
• Confirmed on: Thursday, August 23, 2018

Description:Total points redeemed:PARTIAL PACKAGE - 7 NIGHTS CATEGORY 1-4
Reward certificate number: XXXXnnnn
Total points redeemed:105,000

And, you probably don't want this one either as it is 30k too expensive:

Reward Details

• Description: PARTIAL PACKAGE - 7 NIGHTS CATEGORY 5
• Reward code: QP88
• Valid through: Friday, August 23, 2019
• Total points redeemed: 135,000
• Confirmed on: Thursday, August 23, 2018

Description:Total points redeemed:PARTIAL PACKAGE - 7 NIGHTS CATEGORY 5
Reward certificate number: XXXXnnnn
Total points redeemed:135,000

jrey

Looks like the mile portion of the TP is about the same but the night certificates are more expensive.

Happy

Now we have yet another Code for the NC1-4
The 45K straight conversion from a OC5 is QP83.
The 75K straight conversion from a OC6 is QP80.

Now we see a NC1-4 QP84 with 105K!

Did they cancel the QP84 and refund the 105K then rebook the QP88 NC1-5? i.e, the NC CAN BE CANCELED and the points refund is based on the attached value?

The sequence of number is totally confusing because it is not from low to high, based on the different value of the points attached to it?

Why the table becomes SO COMPLICATED. No wonder the reps are making mistakes after mistakes.

What you should have been given is a Cat 5 with 105K value, that is how I believe anyway. So it is the 30K refund you are owed.

Someone has better understanding on how these codes indicate, please help!

imverge

This is now beyond ridiculous that we have to feed the agents with codes to get things done correctly.

Happy

Many, incl myself, is CHEATED on the Platinum Challenge as well.

I honestly cannot believe there are still people defending Marriott's tactics. It has been lies after lies after lies, on every front, not just the TP fiasco.

crimsona

Fairly sure those were cat 7 in the past, so you're coming out ahead. Take it and run

zachary

I think it's actually singular -- one person.

Happy

Actually 56K is cheaper than it would have been because your old cert was a Cat 1-5, which is only valued at 45k. The new Cat 5 hotel is at 135K. So the difference to pay up is 135K - 45K = 90K. I know this because a supervisor on Sunday told me my Old Cat 6 converted to a new Cat 1-4 has 75K value, and if I want to book a new Cat 5 hotel, the difference to pay up is 135K - 75K = 60K to pay.

Consider you have gotten a "bargain" with 56K pay up versus the 90K that should have been!

In other words, the conversion tables and mechanism are SO NEEDLESSLY COMPLICATED that even the supervisor's supervisor could not figure it out correctly, but at least this time the screw up is in your favor - a very rare happening!

Happy

He saved far more than that. I think your math is off.

New Cat 5 partial is at 135K. Hence the supervisor kept telling me my converted NC 1-4 has 75K value so if I upgrade to NC5, I "only" need to pay 60K extra. You can also see the email confirmation information posted by Skimthetrees post on the follow up of his saga. Skimthetrees received the Partial Cat 5 with 135K cost.

The poster has an OC1-5, NOT an OC6 like mine, so I assume the value is only 45K. He would have to pay 90K to get up to 135K! He now only is charged 56K, he has saved 34K in the process!

OssianBlue

That almost seems like they have coding for a variety of different packages based on several different transition plans.

Happy

The percentage of the 85 million members that can amass enough points to redeem travel packages, in many cases multiple packages, is indeed very small. But the other side of the coin is, just HOW these folks can amass such sizable points to begin with?

Not just these customers have stayed at Marriott much more often than those who hardly have enough points in their accounts to redeem even a single free night at 25K, they also spend a whole lot more on their cobranded cards considering the pts earned from stay are not great. So the other ways of earning the points, primarily credit card spend become an important factor.

Dont forget these days, credit cards are hugely profitable business both for the banks and for the sponsors. Marriott share the spoils from Chase on the credit card spends.

That is why one can "earn" eligible night via spend X amount on the co-branded card, and the new AMEX card that comes out today definitely encourage the high spenders.

That is why the cobrand cards are major profit centers for the banks and the cobrands themselves. Use the rewards as the carrots so you would spend to earn enough points for that carrots - now it turns out the carrots are either not there or are rotten, imagine people's reaction and how their spend pattern would be affected... The impact would not be trivial. All you need is to read some 10Q or 10K to see the $ involved and the profits that generated.

Happy

Agree. He got a bargain for just paying extra 56K. It should have been 90K because his OC 1-5 only worth 45K when the NC5 is at 135K. That is exactly what Skimthetrees is charged in his attempts to get back his cert that was automatically canceled by the system when only the underlying reservation should be canceled. He eventually got the NC5 he needed, and the details he posted, shows a Partial NC5 is at 135K.

tonywush

Alright, I'd like to share my final story to others. Thanks to all who shared the code above.

Before 8/18, I upgraded my OC1-5 to OC8, paid 90k hoping to get a better mapping, but I lost the gambling as you all know. My original goal is to cash the OC8 back to 135k, but later I thought may better go with the new NC1-4 and 90k back, which makes more sense to me. I've tried calling few times but as soon as I mentioned "Travel Package" the agent just said no, or we can't touch it until next month, etc those kind of nonsense.

Based on recent posts, I decided to roll the dice again using a slightly different way:
- Platinum elite line, waited 15 mins (not too bad), got a rep whose voice is not sleepy (Good sign). She said this is Marriott Reservation. I asked her "I have a question about the certificate, if you can help or need to transfer me to the rewards team"
- She said she can help.
- I specifically said "I have a P950 Partial Pkg Cat 8, I'd like to cancel it and re-order a new Partial Pkg Cat 1-4. Code is QP83"
- She then looked up system, asked me again about the spelling of QP83. I confirmed twice, and mention this is should only costs 45k points as it is a lower cat cert.
- She asked me to hold on one sec. Not very long silence, assuming she is just pulling the code to verify. Then she confirmed me that I'd like to cancel the P950 to get 135k back, I said yes.
- I have the mobile app, refreshed in real time, and boom, 135k points showed up.
- She asked if I'd like to proceed ordering the new QP83 - Partial Pkg Cat 1-4 using 45k points. I said yes.
- Refreshed app again, 45k paid, got the shiny new cert back.

Hope this helps someone. I believe the keys are:
1) Find a helpful agent. Most of the time you can tell it right away on the first sentence he/she speaks.
2) Mention the Code, which is the key than anything like "Travel Package Cert". Agents' goal is to help customer, if you can just give the clear item they need to locate in the system, then it will be much better off than just explaining your situation and let them to guess what they need to do. Especially to the post-merger Marriott.

rny321

Tonywush went from an old Cat 8 to a new Cat 1-4 and got back 90K. In his example, the cost of an old Cat 1-5 would need to equal the cost of a new Cat 1-4 for the differential to be 90K. Old Cat 8 = Old Cat 1-5 + 90K = New Cat 1-4 + 90K. Alternatively, he was refunded 135K for the old Cat 8 and charged 45K for the new Cat 1-4. - old Cat 8 + new Cat 1-4 = -135K +45K = -90K.

I used the difference in price between a new Cat 5 and a new Cat 1-4 which is 10K/night or 60K for 7 nights. I knew that you were charged more than that.

skimthetrees

Yes, they cancelled the QP99 (points refunded) and issued the new QP84 then cancelled the QP84 (points refunded) and issued the new QP88. So, yes, it has been proven multiple times to me that they can cancel one of the QP packages (partial package NC certs based on the old pre 8/18 chart?) and once cancelled the points automatically refund.

What I am not sure of is whether the actual new travel package certs, that is to say the certs obtained when purchasing a new travel package after 8/18, are refundable. It is possible the new NC certs carry a different code and are handled differently. I would be surprised if they were because that would remove the points audit trail. The way they have it set up for the QP packages is every package has a points cost that gets deducted when you purchase the package and when the package is cancelled the points value associated with the package is refunded. Every step in the process has a logged activity in my account and the reps can use that audit trail to verify that everything was done properly. If you were able to cancel and there was no points refund then in order to fix a Marriott caused problem related to that they would have to allows reps to credit points to your account to fix the problem. Once reps have the authority to issue points there is a large possibility that points will be mistakenly awarded which would be bad for Marriott which is why I feel they have setup the system the way they have. All certs have a points value and when the cert is cancelled you get the points value refunded. The only other way I could see them playing it is to not allow cancellations at all. They may decide to do that for certs issued to the new post 8/18 packages and I think there has been some posts claiming that is they way they will handle the certs from new full packages purchased post 8/18 but we have no data points on those yet. For the pre 8/18 certs converted to new partial package NC certs it is clear that they can be cancelled and when they are cancelled the points value attached to the cert will be refunded.