Steve—If your post was directed toward me, I didn’t even take part of that Verizon error.

My purchase was a bonafide purchase of $4,000 in home furnishings.

+1

Sorry, I thought I was on FT not a site run by Ralph Nader.

Knowing legitimate offers from illegitimate ones is a value of FT. Don't you benefit from FT? That's all we're saying. No one wishes to lose money/miles where preventable. PS: Who's Ralph? Is he that classmate of Bart on "The Simpsons"?

I agree with everything you said but this seems like it has turned into a one person’s crusade against a certain company. His crusade would carry more weight if he didn’t have this problem with every company he deals with.

Right, but it's not one person's crusade — it's hundreds of FTers — and it's not every company, but one company.

No, he trolls FT. Every post is either a "I know stuff but won't tell anyone" or "Cartera is a great company and anyone who doesn't love them is immoral and makes baby Jeebus cry."

Cartera is a poorly-run company with no customer focus. Their software is user-unfriendly and full of the kinds of errors you see in this thread and others. With the AA MM race nearly at a close, and certainly no hope of getting any earned points out of these clowns in the next two weeks, there is really no reason to ever use any of their shopping portals. There are plenty of places to get miles and plenty of shopping portals that provide reliable value. Why waste the time and effort on Cartera?

Care to back up your claims or you going to just keep flapping your gums?

Hmmm, now let's break this down, shall we:

ordered an $8 cable that they otherwise didn't want
Ok, well, if doing so brought your mileage account to some award level or it enabled you to make a spend requirement and get something out of it, then why is that wrong? If anything it should be GREAT for the stores, right?

didn't need, and couldn't use
As above, they may not even care. They just got it to get the miles. Again, why is THAT wrong? And btw how do YOU know they did not need it or could not use it? But even if they could not use it, why is it wrong to JUST do something for the miles?

Let's take this off, but FT name-related example, shall we? I once ran a 8 mile road race. I had NO plans on testing out my time, as in how fast I was running a mile, etc, and no plans to win or even place. I did it for enjoyment, but I also joked that I did for the free beer and ice cream they give at the end of such road races in the summer. I had entered, got a runner's bib and started the job just like everyone else. I got to the end, met friends, stretched and did drink a beer and have free ice cream. Now, because my intent was to NOT 'race' against anyone, am I somehow disqualified? And who knew this other than me and now you? I did, after all, complete the run, did I not? I suppose had they actually run out of the eats by the time I finished I would not get anything, but these small road races are a lot different than company promotions that promise monetary or mile-valued offerings for purchasing goods online. My entering and running the race and then completing it is in fact just like completing online sale and paying with a CC for ANY personal reason, right? Right.

expecting to get $1500+ worth of AA miles because of what an obvious typo said

Yup! It said buy this get that, we read the T&Cs and we did everything they asked. now they change it and fail to both deliver or answer with any clarity anything about the issue. We are supposed to what, just take it?

How about this: I shall go to one of the finest colleges in the land, study hard and ace all things related to both the English language and web design. Then I shall complete grad school and even later obtain my PhD. I will then be hired by one of the country's top paying most respected law firms and when I see this 'typo' you speak of on the Cartera website, I shall craft a letter to the CEO before any other customer happens to buy from the ad with the typo in it, and using my vast cache of knowledge and known expertise, I shall point out that they may wish to change that. They will thank me--all before any other customer sees it and buys from the ad, and I shall send them a bill for my services... how about $20,000?

Or, they could have just paid the web dude a couple bucks more an hour to like, check that sh*t before FTPing the XML code. And his manager could have proofread it first too, eh? Probably could have saved a few bucks had they done that. Or they could field hundreds of calls from frustrated customers about the issue and hired a legal team to cushion the blow (their top guy now works at Cartera as we read above, and I already knew that too) and pay them even more money!

And in your example, the $8 cable yielding 1,500 miles is NOT outlandish or obvious at all! not only have there been many high-yield mileage offerings per $1 spent, but also, there is no real way to properly gauge for every single person and every mind set what is 'obvious' or 'normal' now is there? Who are you or anyone to say there is?

We can go on about this but the fact remains that in the opinions of many it all comes down to the company needing to do a much better job at designing and vetting their own offers. Then they need to double check what they put out into the public domain and at the very least, they need to be extra willing to field all calls and concerns about errors or issues that may result from their own website ads. If they are not, I feel they are screwing people and so yes, to answer the final one:

and now feel that they are the victims.
Absolutely. You should too. If you do not, you are being foolish and letting them get away with a lot and that will one day affect you too. I hope it does not.

Look mang, Cartera effed up. You know it as well as the rest of us. It's a freakin' joke. All they are doing now is spinning the wheels and delaying things even more because--get this--so many of us have filed complaints against their OBVIOUS blunders that WE are what is slowing them down from posting the freakin' miles we originally complained about! Point is, you should be with us, trying to stop this mess. Don't fight it. Help fix it. Don't fight us. And just don't 'go there' with me.

Originally Posted by QL_714 View Post
I agree with everything you said but this seems like it has turned into a one person’s crusade against a certain company. His crusade would carry more weight if he didn’t have this problem with every company he deals with.
Right, but it's not one person's crusade — it's hundreds of FTers — and it's not every company, but one company.

Thanks N-A...
And to the rest of FT, I am sorry if I appear to be trying to take over anything. I am not against every company. Cartera, however, has hog tied every airline mall, and so pretty much every missing mile I have to chase is because of them, one company.

All I am is one guy who happens to have both the time and passion to tackle this without ending til I see both my miles and everyone else's miles post!

Why?
Not to ruin a company, but to get them to stop doing this and start making it right. See, if it's right for you, then it will also work for me. And if it works for me, I can also get miles in the future... hopefully with airlines that work with companies that do not screw up so much.

So yah QL... I am on a crusade to get stuff done. Wanna bust on me or do you wanna help me?
It's your loss one way and all our gain the other. Your call.

MM

As far as help was their ever a time I did not answer any question you asked me? What happened to the MM that believed you should use discretion when posting info? What happened to the MM that believed by posting too much info (funding FI’s, BC/Amex/Mint, CO/WM just to name a few) certain members were ruining it for everyone else? Do you really think posting your SQ history will help someone? It will only give SQ more ammo on what to look for.

As far as my loss I am not sure what I have to lose. Care to explain?

first of all, I have had you on my ignore list. I only posted above because someone quoted you and so when that happens, I can see what you had said.

I just took you off to see what you said.

I have no intention of ruining any deals or offerings, but I will tell you that I think most of the ones you mention are or were on their way out for many of us anyway. My info posted in these threads is there to hopefully help others out of jams I got into. For example, I know one bloke that had Suare cancel on him for far lesser activity than I had who has $5k tied up in Square! Had he felt the need to get out or curb some activity, he would have his money instead of them.

Next is the fact that things about coins and Square and AMEX GCs do not even apply to THIS thread. This is about Cartera and its silly ways, and how we should all find ways to solve things or fight them. It is about the comedy act (sarcastic) that they put forth and how we react to it.


The MM who tries to help others, to post with discretion and to not even post about many things still very much exists. And the MM who lets people treat him like crap or not even directly answer anything with helpful information is not going to tolerate such things. You had begun to exhibit the latter in my eyes. I hope I am wrong about that so I have taken you off my ignore list for now. But this is not supposed to be just about me. I mean, it's supposed to be about dealing with Cartera, not MM.

How can you help me--and anyone here who has any ideas on how to combat Cartera?

Maybe try to come up with stuff, list stuff, suggest things and debate things that are real and get names and numbers, write letters, post ideas, say why existing ideas might be improved, etc. Don't just do what some do, which is to become one of those posters who tell us we are fools for believing we would get miles for buying glitter gate things or something.

How can it hurt you to not do this? How can it hurt you or create a loss for you if you choose to just sit there and tell MMs off?

Well, for one, if we need everybody's input to get something done, the lacking of your positive input will hurt us all. Second, if we need to work hard together to get something done, we need help on every level. Someone who has nothing to offer except criticism of other members is not productive. And third, if by some strange chance some exec at Cartera were to magically contact me and say, Ok sorry, here are 1 million miles, Please split them up amongst all your FT posters. I would do that and give everyone an equal share... except those on my ignore list, that is.

Now, I am BY NO MEANS the best or the only person to come up with any strategies for trying to deal with these idiots. But I would really like to hear other ideas posted right here on this board or else I have no choice but to believe what I am babbling about must be 100% correct. I don't think it is, but that's what this forum is for: To post and hear ideas and hopefully in the end, people either gain miles or stop losing them. In this case--in the case of all things Cartera, I am trying to stop losing them. We need your help to do this.

Will you help us or not?

I have, for example, heard NO feedback--positive or negative, edits or otherwise, on my letter I intend to spend my own time on sending to every single Cartera partner retailer HQ. I would like help getting all the names and addys of those I need to send this to. I need to know if the letter needs work. Otherwise it's going out from me--and hopefully from others--as is and promptly. Why? To get THEM to wake up too and try and make a change at Cartera. maybe this strategy is good. Maybe not.

I ask again:
Will you help us or not?
MM

Actually met the dude 34 years ago. The Ralph dude, not the Bart dude. He was at a rally protesting against my later employer. I was covering the rally as a reporter.

Didn't Ralph write that famous book "Unsafe at Any Spend?"

I have said this many times already but here it is for the last time. They have a flawed system and we all know this. If you want to get back at them use this to your advantage. Look at post #4 in this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ping-mall.html. Was this just a fluke or can it be duplicated over and over? Use the same technique that was used against Costco and Sams. They have hundreds of retailers that I am sure you can find some that it will work against.

I'm buying stock in Cartera. A company this criminal has a real future!

*counts projected profits*

One person? Have you been paying attention at all?

Say, are you short or long Cartera?