Would you explain about it in more detail?

points.com:
1-do you subscribe?
2-do you use it for tracking purposes, only?
3-have you made transactions (purchases, sales or trades)?
4-is is mostly for US travel?
5-is it getting more, or less, popular?
6-are there better services out there?
7-what else can you offer?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...0-9-ratio.html

Replace AAdvantage with Avios and 1.3x/1.25x with 1.5x.

Much appreciated!!

B@stards blocked my email account processing a measly 8k miles for my wife's account. With a name & email between my cc & her FF account mismatch it also suspended the airline account too. Their comments: call the cc company, it's their fault and we did not charge your card. I copied & pasted the posted transaction from Amex: they still say the card was not charged. I told them I'd give them 48 hours for a credit to hit my account or I'll dispute.

MM: http://www.naymz.com/lissaromano2949791

Geeeshg
It doesnt end!
I say sue em
And dont go back

I also cant believe that girl got that job
I suppose if you blow off hundreds of customers and take numerous vacations youll get promoted in life

-off

The good news is she didn't last too much longer at points.com after the debacle. I just wish I read that thread before my mess. I could care less about being blocked, I just want them to admit they blocked me which they won't do. Each time I do chat support the "back office" is in a meeting, or they have to contact the audit department. A company with the ethics of Monica Lewinsky sure as hell does not have an audit department. As long as I can get the Ff account un-suspended easily I'm happy. Then again their redemptions are more beat than a 6th grade ice cream social.

It is sad but true--and i have been involved with my share of this: once you are in the negative cross hairs of one of these entities, youre screwed til youre not. And generally, the entire company thinks you are blacklisted because they got the email or notice or directive from some department you can never talk to and they may even clain they cant or wont talk to either... Then one day if you are to get to "the guy" who has the abilities and willingness to both talk live and explain it all, only then might you learn the real deal.

Ive seen it tons of times in things ive been shut down in and in things ive not been shut down in but almost was, and in things that have let me back.

Usually, "the guy" is just a regular person who, once you get audience with him, is somewhat reasonable and can just flick a switch and youre back in business. Sometimes hes an ... and wont tell you or give you anything but at least he speaks kindly and professionally. The netspend guy was like that.

In the end the keys are:

Avoid getting in the cross hairs
Find "the guy" at all costs once you do, or give up and pound sand

It seems very common that points.com charge the card, before it eventually drops off, as the transaction cant be done for some mysterious reason (acct not old enough, used CC too many times etc).

But didnt get your story. What did you do, and what was blocked?

I suspect my email address was blocked, but only after the card was charged. I purchased points for my wife, but on my card with the receipt sent to my email address (with the points crediting a FF program linked to her email address). The card was charged (pending then posted/settled), I got a receipt, then 4-5 days later I got a cancellation notice with no detail, which came from points.com with an attempted mask as if it came from the airline. Not an issue since I was trying to round up my miles to use for a HH redemption, one of the few things I can use the FF program for with the orphaned points.

A week later I tried to purchase some PC points to my account, using my email. Declined, yet transaction showed as pending on the cc. I changed my email address and the transaction went through with no problem, and the charge posted. A few days later I got a cancellation notice.

Points.com then goes & says to check w/ my cc company since there was not an AVS or address match. My response- if that was true then how was my card charged? If the address did not match, the cc company would have declined the transaction & it would not have posted to my account. They respond with they have no cc info to protect my information & the only thing they can recommend is I talk to my cc company.

All I asked them was if they could tell me if I have some type of block or flag on my email account, which is all I needed then I could not waste my time further. They avoided the question & suggested I talk to my cc company. Needless to say after talking to 3 CSR's, each of which would email me later, none of which emails went through (one even said she definitely sent me one), attempting to get any type of valuable information is pointless.com with them.

Their customer service reminds of Ben Affleck in Mallrats, "The customer is always an @sshole."

Update: Looks like points.com directed Icelandair to close my account:

Ryan: Hi, welcome to Points.com Live Chat, how may I help you?
You: Hey Ryan- About a month ago I bought some Icelandair miles, but using my husband's credit card. The transaction ended up getting cancelled for some reason, and then I couldn't login to my Icelandair account. I contacted them & they told me that points.com instructed icelandair to close the account.
You: I'm trying to understand why and what happened to my miles that I paid for?
Ryan: I would be happy to help you with that.
Ryan: One moment please while I check your account. Do you mind holding?
You: By all means
Ryan: Still checking, I appreciate your patience and holding on.
Ryan: I can only confirm that our auditing team did ask Icelandair to close your account.
You: Ok, why though? I can provide copies of our ID's, marriage license, etc? Why was it closed without notifying me?
You: How do I get my miles or money back?
Ryan: I am afraid that I will have to escalate this issue as it is beyond my authorization level.
You: Please do. Right now I've paid for something I haven't received
You: Is there a contact at points.com I can reach out to?
Ryan: I have escalated the issue to our auditing team as they are ones who would have requested your account closed.
You: Ok, is there someone on your auditing team I can contact directly?
Ryan: I'm afraid not.
You: Ok, thanks for your help.
Ryan: I will contact you if there is any news on this front.
You: Please do, I have done nothing wrong, I don't understand why you would have closed my account after spending over $650 with your company
Ryan: I will. Thanks for chatting today.

Now, what is the best approach to bring these people to small claims court? I seriously doubt they'll respond at all.

I'm not sure why Icelandair is listening to some 3rd party in the first place. What if points.com tells American Express to close the account you used to buy something from them? Are they expected to close it?

So given that you probably ran into the same sort of anomaly I always run into (where they should not have closed your Iceland acct but now that this happened, the pipeline has been driven down and going backwards is nearly impossible), then yes, I would seriously consider court. Just go full bore on em...

1) file for not just the $650 but something else that may cover whatever miles or use you lost in the airline account too.

2) state in your complaint that you demand full and detailed reasoning along with any compensation, which should include your time in dealing with this, any expenses (down to the postage stamp, which you must document) and of course, court costs.

3) do not give up for anything. Consider first trying the AG office but since points.com may be in Canada?? I dunno if that will help. But if you do go with the AGO, do that BEFORE you file in SC court. And pick the AGO of YOUR state. Also consider any regulatory boards--maybe find them in their area... and yes, as it does nothing, even logging with the BBB cant hurt. Hit them from all sides and do it now and hard. When you go to SC court, have all detailed records of everything.

4) If you haven't already, do also file the complaint with whatever CC paid for the points and get your money back at least for now.

5) send this whole story to the news of the area in which Points.com is located. They really stink. I wish they were out of business.

good luck

MM

The points.com website is merely the retail presence of Points International Ltd. They may well provide the infrastructure to operate Icelandair's entire program.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=PCOM

I got an unanticipated reply from the points.com CSR I spoke with yesterday. Apparently they closed my account because I "initiated a charge back, in early November, claiming fraud for a transfer of miles with Icelandair." Um, no. I've been lucky & never had to file a dispute in my life... well, until now. Unfortunately I'll never know the real story as to why they closed my account. What I do know is I'll never trust them again with even a 1 mile transfer. I'd rather burn 300 miles to avoid expiration by having the Oprah magazine show up in my mailbox for a year.

I actually wanted to use the miles, even if for a couple Radisson Blu stays... it was a good excuse for a long weekend in Europe. If we had been trying to "game the system" or be unethical buying miles or transferring miles that would be one thing (which is the sole purpose of points.com for the most part), but I have no clue what we did wrong. As a basis of what I deem ethical I find cutting the TSA line with an expired FF card highly unethical.