Need to use e-cert by 8/18 but no way to
 

Hello! LifeTime Plat. I booked a reward stay about a month ago but did not have enough points yet. Finally got enough but the website won't let me process it. Then I get an email from Marriott saying that I have to use it by 8/18 or there will be issues due to the cut over. I've tried to call them 3 times now, having to hang up at the 90+ min mark. The Twitter team has not responded in 4 days. How exactly do they want me to process this? What happens if I don't get it completed? Thanks!An unexpected error has occurred

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EDIT: Today when I call I don't even get hold music anymore. Just silence. Nice!

Just called in again and the system simply hung up on me. Literally no way to reach Marriott right now!

Even though I am not in the same bind, I feel your pain. My suggestion is document all of your attempts to reach out to them and to use the certificate before it expired. Then if you are unsuccessful at reaching Marriott to get it extended or attached to a reservation in time, give it a little bit of time and try reaching out to them after the integration is completed this coming weekend. Hopefully they will be reasonable and retroactively extend your certificate for you since the problem was created by the pre-integration issues and their glacial response time. No guarantees of course, but if you ask politely and firmly after the integration, I think there is a good chance they will grant an exception since the problem was mainly on their end and they should be aware of that. Hope you get through to them beforehand. Regardless good luck and hoping for a good outcome for you!

--Jon

I had better luck calling after 6PM PST , they typically can't resurrect expired certs, it would be better to extend it before deadline.

True, but they can an issue a replacement one with the same value. For the first time, this year I needed to get my Chase annual free night certificate extended. Got lucky when I called a couple of weeks ago and didn't have to wait more than a couple of minutes for an agent. The agent cancelled my old, about to expire certificate and issued a new one of the same value as a replacement with an expiration date one year out from the day I called. My point is the process appears to be to issue a replacement certificate rather than extending an existing one even when calling before the expiration date. So they could certainly issue a replacement certificate after the fact for the now recently expired certificate if they chose to do so.

All of that said, I would agree it is better to take care of it before the cert. expires; however, lucycan may not have that option. So good to have a plan B just in case...

--Jon

Given the bolded language, why does everyone seem to think that there is a certificate expiring on August 18?

I'm on the east coast and get through around 11pm-12am best time to call! Do not try to call during the day! You will not get through! I talked to a agent and they are having their time wasted by people calling in and asking "What happens on August 18"

I'm in the same boat, although my certificate doesn't expire until October 10. It says it's attaching the certificate to the reservation, but it doesn't actually attach it! So annoying! I've had persistent issues with rewards reservations for months now!

I was finally able to get thru on the Plat Line. I spent nearly 3 hours (2 different calls as I was hung up on) on hold but did get through to someone that was able to help. All of this hassle really wants me to start staying at more Hyatts.

While I feel your frustration (and you desire a BIG bottle of wine if you drink :D), once we get past 8/18 for a while (note, not right way) it should also get sorted. And in fairness to MAR/SPG, Hyatt hasn't done a major merger ;)

Cheers.

Spent my entire night trying to get resolution. Was put on hold after working with one agent for 45 minutes to get transferred to MEXICO CITY with no explanation. Person in MC had NO clue what my call was about.

Called another time and it just hung up.

Called another time and spoke to a someone who said she was working from HOME and there was NOTHING she could do. My wife and I's jaw dropped. I have never seen a merger handled so poorly.

100% agree! Having to call in to get my platinum points posted for all my stays because according to them, there is a glitch in the system. Can't imagine how many of those calls they get with the thousands of platinum elite members. You would of thought that Marriott would of hired 50 contract workers from April till end of 2018 and had a dedicated Marriott line that those contract workers could of answered. All those contract workers would of been experts in the merger. Upfront cost for them but I think it would of provided better customer service!

OK! Have y'all seen this? Apparently you cannot use certificates AT ALL between August 18 and September 18. (Which I call BS on, as I couldn't use one back on August 14, as I posted above.) See https://thepointsguy.com/news/month-...-certificates/ - this is concerning for me, because I'm trying to book for the night of September 22, and I'm worried that it will all fall apart and the system won't be a "go" by 9/18. Ugh!!!!

Yes, Flyertalk is aware of this.

I've long felt that Marriott's intent and desire to create a fair merged program has been admirable. But wow, they are absolutely butchering the execution of it. The call centers were falling apart at the seams even before any kind of system integration was an issue, and now it seems like even basic things like points posting are not working.

I'm redirecting my next 3 business trips to Hilton and probably not coming back to Marriott until I feel like the dust has settled and things are back to normal. It's no biggie to me - I'm HH Diamond and Marriott LTPP - but I'm just going to lay entirely out of this until I'm comfortable that coming back won't be a hassle. I already have one past stay that hasn't posted in 2 weeks, meaning at some point in the future I'm going to have to invest my own time in getting the points.