Some programs stink. Which ones make you cringe?
 

This one does--for ME:

Points.com.

I do not use them anymore and so I do not really care anymore, but this email I've pasted in below came to me today. Note that it tells me my membership has just expired. I mean, did I get a note or a warning saying it was ABOUT TO expire--with any teaser asking me to stay on or do some special promo and be able to stay on at a reduced renewal rate or something?

NO.

It tells me instead that it just plain expired. Sorry!

It's kinda stupid, I think--just like they are. I am not surprised and am glad to be done with them, but the fact they EXIST bugs me. They are kinda like when you walk in a store and ask for a certain item and the clerk tells you, "oh, no, sorry... we JUST sold the last one a minute ago!"

What's the freakin point of that? Are they trying to somehow make you feel GOOD that you just missed it? Are they trying to tell you you are a loser by missing it? Are they trying to simply cover their OWN asses by giving a reason why they cannot service YOU? What's up with that!?!

Hate that.

Hate Points.com.

For me, its chemistry is just OFF.

Maybe you have something that bugs you too about a certain loyalty program that you are or have been a member of. I would love to see 'em all...

Here's my email form Points.com and I would love to see other stuff like it:


Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 11:56:24 -0400
To: ME
From: "Points.com News" <[email protected]>
Subject: Your VIP Access Has Expired


Dear Jeffrey:
We're sorry to have to tell you that your Points.com Gold membership has just expired. While you retain a Basic membership, you have lost the privileges that come with being a Points.com Gold member.

Being a Gold member gives you VIP access to Points.com. You get to make unlimited Swaps between your reward programs and to swap miles or points for gift certificates at hundreds of retailers. You also get exclusive access to unlimited Toll-free and IM support, double entries into all Points.com Sweepstakes and much more.

This loss can be temporary, though. For a limited time Gold membership can cost as little as $9.95. PLUS, if you renew on the Points.com Gold Annual plan you'll save 15 percent* and get to choose a massive bonus from your favorite reward program.

This offer won't last for long. A return to Points.com Gold status is just a couple of clicks away. Save your VIP status and renew today.

Sincerely,
Customer Support
Points.com


(I actually only use the Points.com service indirectly--to consider doing that once-in-a-million NWA or DL member to member mileage transfer where Points.com is the "engine" that runs that service. I do not use the site or my now defunct account ney more! They suck.)

That should be abundantly obvious: they're trying to get you to pay to regain your status.

indeed it is, but they aint pushing the right motivators with me! That actually sends me running the opposite direction and frankly, I think their's is a huge marketing blunder on that way of doing things.

But I already knew this.
;)MM

"Some programs stink. Which ones make you cringe?"

Points.com isn't really a loyalty program.

But as far as which ones truly stink, nothing can possibly top GlobalPass.

A notch below that there's always Goldpoints.

What is more incredible is that Points.Com not only drops you as a so called gold member but takes away your basic right to speak to an agent by phone :rolleyes: :td: !!Thats up there in rotten egg in the face award.
Unless you agree to pay them enough to get customer service

They don't stink they just smell very bad :D
Another company shooting themselves in the foot.
I wish them luck

Survivor, American Idol, and all the other similar game shows they've spawned.

Oh, that's not what you meant?

Click Rewards stinks. Points never post and no response from customer service. I gave up before I ever reached a reward level I could redeem.

Continental OnePass is the single most useless FF program that's operating today. You have better odds of winning Powerball while getting struck by lightning than you do of being able to redeem OnePass miles for an actual award ticket.

Hey, that happened to me!

Unfortunately, the lottery ticket was burned up by the lightning.

1. GlobalPass
2. GoldPoints
3. CO OnePass

I "third" the vote for the worst program being Continental's "Nonepass". If there were laws governing affinity programs....nonepass would surely be a fraud.

e-Rewards stinks. I somehow allowed myself to get sucked into this about two years ago, thinking it'd be the easiest way to collect "free" HH points and AA miles. Figuring the value of my time, they were the most expensive points/miles I ever bought! The other "rewards" you can get from the site are worthless - Hertz offers that are worse than what you can get just by browsing Hertz.com, heavily-restricted discounts to online merchants that charge way over best-available prices for various goods, etc. I suppose the heavily-restricted Blockbuster rentals have theoretical value...if you live next to a Blockbuster and enjoy visiting a physical video store.

I got a couple of Blockbuster rentals (I didn't realize how heavily-restricted they were until after I redeemed them) and a few thousand HH points out of the deal and added e-Rewards to my spam filter. I'm done with it.

I have the same problem
 

A year ago I tried to transfer my Alaska Miles into my Aeroplan account and for a year the status was still "pending", I called them for 20 times and they said they'll get back to me tommorow, and there's a tommrow everyday. Until recently they put my Alaska Miles back to my account, and my points was never transfer to my aeroplan account. And now they raise the price to 99.95 per year, I am not even going to renew my membership anymore. I am so disappointed at points.com.

I got the e-mail 3 months after my "status" expired
 

Here's my e-mail:

Dear Jacky,

Pointsplus Expiry

Thank you for using Points.com - we hope you have been satisfied with our
services over the past year. Your PointsPlus membership has expired, and as youdid not renew, we have adjusted your account status to a regular Points.com membership. We also paused any Auto-Exchanges you might have had set up.

With over 3,600 exchange options, Points.com allows you to give or receive that perfect gift, holiday getaway, and so much more!

Points.com has introduced a number of new partners in the last year including
Starbucks, Reserve America, Gold Points Reward Network, US Airways(R), HawaiianAirlines, and Hollywood Movie Money(TM). Visit Points.com and check out the latest and greatest in our News section at http://points.com/news.jsp or browse
our full list of exchange options at http://points.com/CategoriesList.jsp

As a Points.com member, each exchange is $9.95, but there is still time to renew
your annual membership and take advantage of our renewal bonuses! Here are some
of the bonuses available:

* 1,500 American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
* 1,500 US Airways(R) Dividend Miles(R)
* 2,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles
* 1,050 Air Canada Aeroplan(R) miles
* 5,000 S&H greenpoints

For more details on bonus miles log in at https://points.com/login and click on
the renewal message on "My Account", or select "Renewal" under "My Account" on the main menu.

If you have any questions about the content of this email, visit our online help
pages at http://points.com/help or contact our Customer Service Center by
replying to this e-mail (please include your Username), or by phoning 1 866 340 3717. Our Customer Service Representatives are available Monday to Friday between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm EST.

Thank you for using Points.com.

Sincerely,

Your Points.com Team
http://points.com

I disagree.
Jan. 2004: Standard BF Mainland-OGG (for 2)
Nov. 2004: Standard BF Mainland-HNL (for 2)
April 2005: Standard BF U.S.-U.K. (for 2)
Dec. 2005: Standard BF Mainland-HNL (for 2)
BTW, all of the above included all domestic segments in F.

I got the same Points.com e-mail as many did just recently. What I can't figure out is how a company can go from charging $19.95 a year to $99.95. A five-fold markup smacks of a company that is on the ropes and making a last ditch effort to stay viable.

Well, you probably planned ahead or something like that. That's cheating.

We're FlyerTalkers, fer cryin' out loud! Don't they know how important we are? We want availability right now.

Upgrademe, you apparently disagree, but given the relative "weight" of the two previous posters before me (mileking and gleff), who I hold in very high regard w/ respect to opinions on ff programs, you are fighting a fight that's long been over. When these two posted agree and make the comment they both do about Continental's program, its a slam-dunk.

Nonepass is known to be what it is. A super, award-winning (Randy can't stop awarding them Freddys it seems) program FOR TOP-TIER elites only...they do, clearly, take care of their own.

This said - they also treat the non-elite would-be award traveler like a dog. Any travelers/credit card user who collects Nonepass miles, and has no TOP TIER ONLY elite status w/ them, is making a B I G mistake.

You have not discussed: a) number of seats you obtained an award for (try a family of 4-5 on Nonepass, again as a non-top-tier elite, then post your experiences), or b) your own elite level w/ Continental.

Until these full details are divulged, your post has no standing with me.

Again, this fight has long since been over - Nonepass is known to be the worst affinity program for anyone *except* top-tier Onepass elites, who have special inventory, waivers and favors. You know - this is where AA apparently is headed w/ their milesaaver program.

In general, I see most of the legacy airline's affinity programs as loading up w/ gotchas and fine print rules, etc, and massive inflation of miles sold versus awards allocated. It only gets worse year by year as the airlines' whore out their affinity program scrounging for real today-dollars, knowing there is no federal oversight of their programs. They do *just enough* to get by and keep the hounds at bay.

So...no small wonder why Capital One's "generic" points programs, and other similar programs, are make strong inroads these days, and, I note with chagrin, I get Citibank solicitations DAILY for cash-back cards and their own internally-designed affinity program...seems to be the Citibank/AAdvantage *trendlines* for new cards issued, as well for, I suspect, total charges per day, is on the decline. IOW - the dirty secret of the legacy airline's affinity programs is slowly seeping out.

Question about CO: it's the most universally-bashed program here on FT, unless you've reached top-tier. But...doesn't the NW/DL partnership provide a good outlet for your miles?

Seems like you have the greatest raw number of award seats to choose from (even if the CO seats are near-nonexistent). Don't DL and NW give you a bunch of alternate flights/routes to pick from?

CO is the one major US airline on which I've never even had an FF account simply because business has never taken me to Houston or Cleveland. But I do have a few NW and DL miles, and they seem similar to the other three majors that I'm most familiar with. Sometimes tough to get exactly what you want, but not that tough to get something, if you have some flexibility.

My most recent FF redemptions have been several MCI-DTW tickets for 25k each and tickets to Belize on DL over New Year's for 35k each. 3 seats, same flights. MCI-DTW is a brutally expensive route, so it's a good place to burn 25k a ticket. None of UA, US, or AA had tickets to BZE for less than 70k each.

In my purely-anecdotal experience, AA has always been the "loosest" to Hawaii, with UA being rather tight. But I've found that to be flip-flopped to Europe, getting J award tix through Chicago to Paris and London on dates I've wanted. (AA would frequently have awards with 2 stops through the East Coast, but ORD would be unavailable.)

Bingo. I'm sorry, but I don't particularly enjoy being treated like a hobo begging for change just because I'm not Triple Ultra Platinum Status in a program. This is the way that CO, DL, UA, and some other programs tend to operate. Worse than that is the fact that their service operates on the same principles. You pay $500-$800 for a coach seat somewhere overseas and they treat you like a vagrant for whom they're doing a favor just because you didn't shell out $2500 to sit up front.

This problem - with both their service and their FF programs - is the best argument as to why the legacy carriers are struggling. Yes, you get fantastic service if you're 1K or Premier or whatever and are buying 1st Class tickets. Those folks are always kept happy, as they should be. But they honestly turn around and treat their other customers like a burden. That's how OnePass operates, and surely they're not the only guilty ones. LCCs, on the other hand, don't do anything to treat FFs better than the other passengers - which stinks if you're a "Premier 1K" person but much nicer if you're not.

I'm not a big fan of points.com, but they did send me a reminder email about a week before my paid membership was about to expire. I agree, though, that the new prices are a complete joke...

In my opinion, "long been over" strikes me as cavalier, given the Freddy award ranking and the loyalty of the fliers. When I booked two standard BF awards in May for travel over the Christmas / New Year period I made a point to look at availabilty without enterring my Platinum account and there were dates from both EWR and IAH to AMS that I considered prime. As the one poster wrote, and you discounted completely, there is award availability. Additionally, isn't the idea of reaching the highest level of elite to be rewarded?

Actually, your a) is addressed in my initial post. As for your b), I am presently Gold, formerly Plat.

But in addition to the trips cited above we also used my wife's NW miles (no status at the time) for another Hawaii trip in 2002 in BF. So there goes your theory that you can't score BF without being top tier on CO.

So does CO systematically change award availability based on status levels? Do any of the Big Six do this?

I think we've all heard anecdotal evidence of busting a phone call to a helpful agent at the top-tier desk and getting awards when the website showed no availability. But that's different from what's being suggested here: that CO uses different parameters (if not fare buckets) to allocate elite award seats.

the common thread thus far...
 

seems to me that the common thread is that some companies love to do an ultra twist on marketing whereas the thing they are offering requires so much time or money, it ends up costing you more in the end, but you are already stuck in with them in ways that make it hard to get out without some sort of hostage-held loss!

keep it going... I am thinking of writing a book, offering it at a discount if you do this and that, and then not following thru on your promotional offer code unless and until you call my CSRs about 200 times a day!
;)MM

Best Western Rewards. I'm a Diamond Member (spent 50+ nights in a Best Western last year). Got a laundry bag and a new Diamond card. That's it!

Radisson goldpoints is CRAP!
 

Amongst all my memberships, the one that makes me cringe is Radisson Goldpoints. I stayed for two years at a Radisson (when 4 goldpoints = 1 mile) and they suddenly changed the ration to 8:1. :rolleyes: (wasn't on flyertalk then, otherwise could've still salvaged some miles at 4:1) There was a Marriott closer to my place of work, but I still went and stayed at the Radisson. That makes me cringe!

Until recently, there was no redemption available globally. and now that it is, all the hotels outside the Americas seem to be ridiculously priced (for goldpoint awards, that is).

I hate it - just want to finish off my balance by redeeming some nights in the US and then throw the card away!!! :td:

Just venting...

-RG

mypoints
 

UGH I can not STAND mypoints, what a utter and complete waste of time!! I only earned about 25 points a week, so it took me about a year to get enough miles to cash out and be rid of the program(1,000 Hilton Points) I will stick with e-rewards, where I get $25-75 dollar surveys regularly and my points don't expire(they like me :))

But your points do expire on ERewards? Dont they? Erewards has a terrible selection for redemption. Hey that Omaha Steak off is a really sweet deal :rolleyes:

Ken

I do not understand Omaha Steaks at all. If there is some reason why I would pay 2x-3x the cost of USDA Prime beef from my local butcher to have frozen meat shipped to me via mail, their website doesn't explain it at all.

I get the fact that Omaha Steaks are probably really, really good. But their prices are absolutely hilarious.

Are they claiming that their steaks are "uber-prime" or something? I think they should, if for no other reason than to use the word "uber" on their website. ;)

Let me stand up in defense of Latinpass/Globalpass. While they have not exactly given the most advance notice on major changes to their program (ex: cancelling xfers to Hilton and Marriott, the recent change to miles for money only) I think we should all keep a few things in mind when passing judgment:

1. There are few of us who actually do/did alot of traveling on the GP airlines who also post to GP. (I could be wrong, but don't think so.)

2. Many if not most of the miles we have been burning were earned in the Million Mile promotion, so they were bonus miles, not earned miles. (think revenue earned by GP here)

3. LP did not anticipate the dramatic numbers of us who would go on mileage runs just to get the miles.

4. The loss of many of their non-Taca partners was not their doing (TW and US Bankruptcies, KL's acquisition by AF, MX leaving to join *A.)

5. Many of us were originally worried that they would just welch on the whole deal as seems to be the case with other similar travel and points providers (see pricing mistakes for south seas hotels or click rewards' Bankruptcy as examples).

6. Most of us have had very pleasant experiences with all of the LP/GP staff who booked my tickets, gave me advice on how best to ask for KL awards or double checked for the last posting needed for my million miles originally.

7. All in all, I have had great results from a program that is not owned by an airline. By way of contrast, CO really controls capacity on OP and I have really noticed it after losing my status. I think getting awards on TACA was much easier for the exact dates I wanted than I have ever encountered on most domestics particularly DL.

8. Also, remember there is currently a run on the bank mentality among us GP members (I too have fallen prey to this and have 8 tkts to Belize coming) and based on their track record I have no reason to question that they will honor their commitments for these tickets. (I will be steamed if they don't come through, but it will be a first for me.)

9. If my reads of many of the posts are correct, almost all of us are ahead of the game in terms of redemptions vs. original cost. I am way ahead.

I guess I have always had a "expect little and let them suprise me" mentality regarding GP, and they always have.

Yes they have changed the rules on me a few times, but prior to this most recent one, I have always been able to find good values for my miles on GP. (KL always took some work, but the WPAA (RIP) always helped.)

My major regret is the changes will keep me from using the miles to visit Macchu Pichu after having turned around with the plane in CUZ on my MM run. Others may disagree, but I expected less and they always gave me more.

BSL

While we are all beating the stink drums :)
 

What customer service? They never hired a single rep :( :rolleyes:
How could they respond?

Don't disagree with the majority of your post.In fact it seems to be very well stated and accurate
Accept for the above comment.
I certainly don't want to be a nit picker but Randy doesn't award any Freddie Awards except to those that win and are chosen by the traveling public from around the world.
And as far as I know the public has spoken loudly two or three years ago by simply no longer voting Continental Program of the year as it had in past.
As long as Continental chooses to hoard seats and be stingy I am sure many will heed the message and vote with their wallets and feet elsewhere .
As many I know have done for years.
I caught on to the scheme years ago while Gold was still the top tier.
I estimate the potential revenue over the years just from my own pullout to be over 100 K had I stayed with them.

Im miles alone when I pulled the plug I was at 750 K
Had I stayed with them that travel and partner revenue would have all been theirs.
I can just imagine what they lose from disatisfied customers.
To this day I wonder why others were so slow to smell the coffee?
I estimate easily 6 or 7 years of bad availability.
Perhaps like myself many collected them first in trust expecting reasonable success when they went to redeem............
Cheers

For the programs I have accumulated miles on, NonePass is the worst for redemption. Completely useless miles. They are the last of the legacy carriers, I'd choose to do my frequent flying on.

I guess that explains why my emails went unanswered. :mad: Why hire people to help out. After all, the internet makes real people unneccesary. ;)

Exactly :)
I actually tracked their management team down a few years ago (which is out of the country FYI )for an explanation from the higher ups.
At the time they blamed it on a server problem and tens of thousands of emails bringing down their systems.
I can't imagine setting up a company without customer service :confused:

Yet that is exactly what American and AOL also did years ago when they launched their now ill fated partnership for online shopping.
They assume their sites and partnerships can run themselves :rolleyes:
It was astonishing to see two giants assume that the sites and verbiage contained on them alone would handle customer service.

I think it was Flyertalker who asked the legendary question years ago here in the community and I quote
"What is the difference between Executives and laboratory rats"?
The answer:The rats learn from their mistakes :D

MyPoints really has gone in the toilet. I suppose I am just a free point whore b/c I keep doign it, but man it takes forever to get to redemption level now. There was a point where I was flipping Mypoints every month just on emails and free offers on their site.

The big problem with E-rewards is the lack of awards and their 90-day redemption policy. I just redeemed for 3k points for $50 this month, and I already have $73 in my account. In the ideal world you should be able to cash out when you to your money level. I usually get one of the Blockbuster rewards a year simple b/c the $ would diappear, but I agree with other posters that they are really restrictive in how you redeem them at Blockbuster.

I have usually had no problems redeeming my miles for awards. But this lately is with most airlines, it is getting harder and harder to redeem awards.

Lufthansa has to be one of the worst. Miles expire frequently, and we switched to UA because our miles wouldn't expire (well, sort of). Also, you are getting less and less miles depending on booking class. only like 250 for intra-Euro flights in eco!
We are now loyal to UA and CO (depending where we fly). Mainly we fly CO out of CRP, we only use UA to go to Germany (sometimes). I like CO because miles never expire, 500 mile minnimum, easy to collect miles!

You will need miles that don't expire on CO ;) Very difficult to redeem to put it politely.
See the CO forum for further details