Hello. Almost exactly one year ago, I transferred 20k HP miles into a newly created US account for the sole purpose of redeeming an award flight between China to Japan (last year, you could use HP miles in this manner).

The only place I kept a record of my new account number was in points.com because.... well, points.com is supposed to be good at storing that sort of info.

Fast forward 11 months; I want to use those miles to go to Seoul next week. I have a record of the transfer, but the account with the miles no longer shows up on points.com.

So, I emailed them yesterday and have yet to hear back. I also called usair, whose reps were unable to locate my new account (I have no idea which address I used).

Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice you guys might have to offer, especially a means to contact points.com that doesn't entail me forking over $50 for the priviledge, because I was hoping to get my ticket squared away today (at the 7 day mark).

helpful thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=630185

be sure to see (and save) post #3

MM

good luck

Wow! I had no idea that you were such the expert with respect to points.com. Thus far, apart from scratching out my US account info and being difficult to contact, they've done me no wrong... so I guess I will: 1) forget about using those US points for my trip next week; and 2) keep plugging along in civilized manner.

Thanks for your info.

well, let's just say I was burned a lot before.

I would use their "services" only for the feature they are in control of that handles transfers of miles between members when on an airline site such as UA or NW. Those two airlines allow people to pay a fee to move blocks of miles between one anotoher. The fee is hefty but it can be beneficial in rare cases. Otherwise, I would totally avoid the company and your situation is further proof as to why that is so.

You may not be wrong to have assumed they would store your info, but I have found that many marketing promos--especially those that involve miles and points--are subject to error at any time, and so it is very important to do two things:

1) keep your own records, just as you would if you sent in that box top rebate from something you bought for your computer

2) pursue with vigor. I would write a long, detailed letter to each and every person on that email list I gave you--noting that it comes from files I have that are a couple years old, but at least some may be workable to this day.

Explain you are in fear of losing X miles for your important trip, and get someone--anyone to answer you like ASAP. Giving up would only further their inability or unwillingness to fix whatever it is within their own 'should-not-be-trusted' systems that made all this happen in the first place!

The idea is that until they--like many other promo-related points and mile services that can make gross errors such as yours--get their systems to more confidently handle your valued miles, we will all be suffering because a company exists that can essentially just keep on making money, thumbing its nose at you and me but still being allowed to crash and burn at will.

hey, just my opinion though. And oh, maybe you should ramp up a bit beyond civil if they continue to blow you off.
good luck
MM

Both MM and I had the "pleasure" to take part in the Points.com chaos back in 2004. They were very "difficult" to deal with then. (If you like, you may read those pointer threads MM had kindly provided at your spare time and own risk. ) So if we ever sound "uncivil" at some point on Points.com issues, you would know where we are coming from after reading those like-horror-story-threads.

I am not an "active" gold/VIP member with them no more after the 2004-2005fiasco. While I had the chance, I did have some close encounter and pleasant phone conversations with their CSR in Canada while pursuing my swap points. I learned quite a few inside scoop from her in terms of the management turnover (or company buyout). What can I say, I really had the charm that opened her up and allowed her to share more than what she's supposed to.

Fast forward to 2007. What I do know is Points.com went through at least 4 management since 2004. The nightmare team MM and I had to deal with is no longer with the company. Points.com has a new face-lift (website-wise) and a different business model now. What remains the same is the surreal (read as ripoff ) exchange/swap rates between FFPs.

According to my last encounter with Points.com, their customer service may not be as bad though. I signed my parents up last December in order to use their 100 bonus miles offer that would prevent their Skymiles from expiring. I sent an email on my parents' behalves, asking about the timeframe to post the bonus miles. To my surprise, I got an email reply in 2-3 days! THAT is really an improvement on Points.com's part!

moondog, your issue is the swap between HP and US. Good news is that you still have a record of the transfer/swap. Sorry to say that might be the only good news since you can't see your US account/record no more. There are a couple of issues you have to bear in mind.

First, if US is still a partner with Points.com, you should be able to see your US account. I had one hotel account disappear during my membership year with Points.com when I was about to initiate a swap. When I emailed them and was told that program was no longer a partner so they just took out the info for that account. Were you ever able to see your new US account at some point?

Secondly, the issue of swap itself. Did you confirm your transfer/swap and see the miles posted to your US account? A transfer/swap record doesn't mean the swap is completed. I had some swap issues with them before. One was wrong swap rate, the other incomplete swap. Luckily I kept all the screen shots and hard copies of every step of my swap transactions. After numerous email, fax, and phone calls, they finally got them right for me in 2005. That took months though. Don't know if Points.com upgraded their programmers/tech support since then. If your problem fell into this ballpark, well, better keep your fingers cross.

Thirdly, better make sure your US miles were not expired. I am not underestimating your FF intelligence. It's just I don't have a US account and am not familiar with of their policy. I do know some FFPs implemented new expiration policy last year, such as UA and Delta. If US had done the same thing as Delta Skymiles, i.e. swipe out your account on 12/31/06 w/ inactivity, your account could be zero out. Not sure if this would be a problem for your account info with Points.com either.

Sorry if I made it sound much more complicated. I understand you want to make your reservation very very soon. If your problem is not the simple one, well, your probably will have to hang on to your new US miles for a while.

Hope your luck is much better than Jimster's!