when buying items from one of the airline malls we ran into a snag and a manager is now claiming that our miles just won't credit properly...

Going thru the UAL mall (my first mistake) I bought ink from OfficeMax on Jan 11 and it took til Mar 21 for the 200+ miles to post for this including 4x$ bonuses. That's like 9-10 weeks, not the 6-8 they market to us about. Well, we all know how bad the UA mall is but whatever... It made me wait but the miles came thru.

Using my credit card, my ship to address and my officemax account, which you do not even really have to have in order to buy anything from the store, I helped a friend of mine do this same exact thing on Jan 24:

On that date, my friend Fran registered his United info with the UA mall just like I had done, then he went through its proper sequence of Mall links to get to the office max site, and he even printed out every single step of this entire sign up and ordering process... He then found the store items he wanted and we paid for it with my card and shipped to my home address. Sure, he could have made his own officemax account if he really wanted one, but why not use mine--a thing that really has nothing to do with the use of links of the mall to begin with??

Well, he should also be receiving a few hundred miles but like mine, his are late, so we wanted to find out why.

We emailed and faxed into both OfficeMax and to UA's department that handles this stuff, and we even called. When we reached a certain manager, mine finally posted that same day (2 weeks late) and then the manager asked Fran to fax all his order info into her directly.

He did that, and just got this reply by email:

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 7:05 PM
To: FRAN's email
Subject: Mileage Plus Customer Relations

Hello Mr. (FRAN), United account XXXXXXXXXX

Thank you for the fax you sent regarding missing Office Max credit. I apologize for any confusion about using the Mileage Plus Mall.

Mr. (FRAN), I see that both purchases (on January 11, 2005, and January 24, 2005) were made by Jeffrey (Marathon Man). He has received mileage for both purchases from Office Max. Although you may have used your account to access the Mileage Plus Mall, when you went to Office Max and Mr. (MM's) entered his account, that ended your Mall session. I must decline your request to have miles added to your account for either purchase.

Sincerely,

Sharron Sprague
Mileage Plus Customer Relations

Interestingly, there are NO terms anywhere on the mall, in United or at OfficeMax that says someone else cannot purchase something for you like we did. I have done it before--much like when you set your credit card up to give idine miles to someone els'es airline account. As long as you enter the proper person's United info in the shopping thing and go thru the links correctly, when you buy, that person should get the credit.

BUT now they balk... Now they look for a reason to not give Fran the miles he is due and that is weird.

Anyone know of any rules on this?

I asked her this though, and I wonder (this is most of my recent email to the manager who, by the way, is actually a third party servgice for united. United itself stays out of this stuff, conveniently):...

...I have one more miles-related mall question that has a bit to do with the known terms for purchasing through sites like OfficeMax, which Fran and I had done on two separate dates:

If no one ever knew my mileage plus number--or if I never even had one to begin with, and only had an OfficeMax account, then where would Fran's would-be miles go to then?

The fact that you said you think they should go to my United account makes me wonder whether it is a matter of ease of processing on your side to just get rid of this issue, or if it is something else.

Maybe they would have gone nowhere, if what you said is honestly the direction you intend to promote, but as I said before, I saw nothing in the terms and conditions of any part of the entire mall site or any store offer that says someone else cannot buy for a person--do what we did.

I paid for items with my credit card, which should be ok, and it was shipped to my address, which should be also ok (it could have gone to Fran's card or his wife's card, or to their work address). Therefore if the only issue has to do with whose office max account was used, then I am still at a loss as to where to find that rule in anything coming from the Mall or from OfficeMax--or even the airline. No where does it say you even have to open one to place an order, as far as I can tell. One just has to register with the online United mall, which Fran did separately from me, have a valid United mileage plus number, which he has, and be sure to go thru the links at the mall in order to shop. He did all of this correctly, as had I on Jan 11, and he said he faxed you printouts showing all these steps anyway. He also knew--because I was with him (he and I do business together and are constantly going back and forth for this) Believe me when I tell you that Fran knew that in order to get TO the office max web site (or whatever store is used) he would have to be sure to enter his United information thru the mall in a correct procession of click thru's, and then keep all receipts, etc.

Fran did everything correctly. He faxed you so much info that your marketing teams will find as very valuable, informative material, that there should be no question as to how in tune both of us were to the ways and means of these promotions. In other words, we know the rules as best as we can. I know I do, and so unless someone is trying NOT to give him the miles he should receive, then I cannot see what the problem is.

Hopefully there is none and he can get his few hundred planned on and expected miles. Otherwise, I have to agree with some of what he said in his letter. What's the point of doing business with this type of service? If you are willing to re-review this, we would really appreciate it. I find problems with such services but try to keep on top of things and have shown Fran that this is sometimes necessary in order to keep track of things. Too bad it has to be that way--maybe if things went more seamlessly, there'd be less of an issue with guys like me, but I have had customer issues with other missing miles on other airlines in similar ways and I think the problem lies beyond my control. But if you cannot or will not help him, then kindly forward everything to someone who can. Surely the miles he needs can credit and then, yes, he will be back to try again. So will I if I also know my planned purchases involving hoped for miles will result in well-timed rewards of such.

Thanks, and have a good weekend, and a happy Easter if you celebrate it.

Thoughts??

Sure, we may be involved here, but when you plan for miles, you want the freakin' miles! And these people provide a great smoke screen, don't they?

MM