iDine problems, bugs, faults and fiascos
 

Hello:

Two meals at the same restaurant (a couple of weeks apart) have failed to post and plenty of time has elapsed. Anyone out there have any luck - or lack of luck - handling this situation via an email to [email protected]? The restaurant IS on the list....

This has happened to me several times...in fact - I just faxed some credit card statements to them to clear up six (6) dines that haven't posted. This is the "Contact us" info from the AA.rewardsnetwork.com site:

# Email: [email protected]
(Please include your full name and AAdvantage® membership number in your message.
For security purposes, please do not include your credit card information in your email.)

# Phone: 1 (800) 479-5981
(8 a.m. to midnight ET, 7 days a week)

# Mailing Address:
The AAdvantage Dining and The AAdvantage Hotel programs by Rewards Network
P.O.Box 619400
Miami, Fl 33261-9400

I have both called and emailed when I've had a problem and have always (thus far) had them resolved. Give it a try.....just be prepared to send receipts or statements to back up your claim.

This is an especially important time to make sure all dines gets credited as the 10k mile mega bonus just ended.

Good luck!:)

Thank you-- I certainly have no problem with sending statements if that's what they need to validate my claim.

Just found one of the form email replies I received from them regarding what needed to be done on my part to begin the inquiry.

"Thank you for writing The AAdvantage Dining Program & AAdvantage Hotel
Program!

Although the AAdvantage Dining program is automated, occasionally we may
not catch the transactions due to technical difficulties and may request
that you mail in a receipt for a particular dining experience for
review.

Before mailing or faxing a copy of the restaurant receipt or credit card
statement, please verify the credit card used at the time of the visit
is registered to your account. Our system is designed to issue rewards
based on the registration of the credit card number. If the credit card
was not registered, please feel free to contact us at 1.800.479.5981 to
update the information.

You can mail to:
AAdvantage Dining program and AAdvantage Hotel program Member Services
11900 Biscayne Blvd Suite 400
North Miami, Fl 33181
Attn: Christopher

Or fax to:
305-892-3364
Attn: Christopher

For verification purposes, it is very important that the first and last
four digits of the credit card number is visible, as well as the date
and amount spent at the time of dining. Please be advised if a debit
card was used, you must send a photo copy of the debit card showing the
first and last 4 digits of the card number.

We appreciate your continued patience and apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause. Should you have any questions or concerns
please feel free to contact me. "

First, you need to check online that the restaurant accepts (for AAdvantage Dining purposes) the credit card you are using - in my home area, there are several local restaurants that accept AMEX, but do not include AMEX as an acceptable card to earn miles with (as indicated by lack of the AMEX logo in their details page.) This is most likely your problem, and it has been mentioned previously in the iDine Forum.

Secondly, since this is related to AAdvantage Dining by Rewards Network ('iDine,") this thread will be reolcated to the iDine Forum.

Thank you, JDiver. :) I learned something new about acceptable credit cards from your post. I never read anything like that on the aarewardsnetwork/idine site (that I can remember, at least). Knowledge is power! ^

Dining miles not posted
 

I did have the same issues this year. I found it easier to call, talk to a person that validated the card and restaurant combination for the day was valid. then got that person's fax (or email once) and sent them a copy of the receipt. They forward it to a department to take care of the credit. Sometimes good to call in a few days and see if the record shows the receipt received.

Call first
 

Sometimes they don't need the receipt to address the problem.

Usually, they will ask you to send one. In that case, you're better off with a specific rep to whom to address the note, as well as having the details of your problem written up in the computer under your account number as per your conversation.

New account problems -- any advice?
 

The cards that you have now deleted from the Delta account will now be able to be input into an AA account. My experience has been that it is instaneous once the card is deleted.

Cal them on the phone using the toll-free number specified on their AA site. The reps all work for the same outfit, but you're not supposed to use a different number than the one for partner about which you're calling - one of their pet peeves.

Could you possibly have a UPromise (college savings) account that has your credit card listed? Upromise now has a Rewards Network dining component that they automatically put you into if you give them a credit card. You can opt out of the Dining savings if the card is already listed on another Rewards Network dining program. You could then add the card to AA's IDINE program.

(Upromise says they give you 4-8% cash back, but since I don't have any cards listed in their dining program, I can't see what savings amount would be for a particular restaurant. Does anyone have any experience with UPromise Dining? Do they have bonus promotions?)

One more thing
 

Remember that some joints appearing under Delta "elite" might not work for "engaged" AA diners. Here is Seattle, there are roughly 10 places where you'd get full DL credit, but no AA at all (without achieving status). For that matter, even elite lists can vary slightly between partners (rare though that can be).

Oh yeah ... Bon appetit! :cool:

"Engaged" is the Rewards Network term for accounts with fewer than 12 dines, but containing a dining profile. Those diners earn 3 miles-per-dollar. My point was that you shouldn't go solely by the list of local restaurants appearing as available for DL elite diners (such as yourself) as a guide to which local establishments will award AA miles for diners with fewer than 12 "credits" (such as yourself).

The list for "engaged" (3/$) diners may be different than the list for "elite" (10/$) diners. For a particular program, the "engaged" list may show 5 locations, but the "elite" list may show 8 locations!

I am currently "elite" with UA but "engaged" with CO. 2 locations are listed on my UA list, but they are not on my CO list! (1 of those is a soda joint where I could get a "dine" for $1.50! :()

Last year, I was "engaged" with US and "elite" with UA. A certain location was on the UA list, but not on the US list. As soon as I became "elite" with US, it appeared on the US list also!

changing cards
 

About 45 million CC accounts are being closed starting last week because of the TJ Maxx/Marshalls debacle (including a heckuva lot of Citi cards). Perhaps idine is experiencing a high volume of people deleting and adding cards.
I had to make such changes today and the online system behaved much as the OP describes. I ended up calling CS to make the changes.

Another thing to re-verify if possible is whether the restaurant is unlimited or one/month. I don't know if that can vary been "engaged" and "elite" or between AA and DL, but it can vary with some establishments from week to week!!! (I've seen several establishments near my house go from one to the other in the middle of some month, and in more than one case go back and forth, a few months apart, each time in the middle of some month.) I'm not a DL member so I don't know about DL, but I do know that at AA you can see this for each restaurant on a list (that you get from a search), but at UA you can't see it for each restaurant without clicking through!

iDine problems, faults and fiascos
 

"..you can't count on one being there unless you check." :D

And sometimes, "you can't count on one being there even when you DO"

About a year ago, I printed off a list of participants in Miami/South Beach; flew down the next morning, and dined that evening at a lovely sidewalk bistro on Ocean.
When the miles didn't post, I got on the phone ~ and was told the place had dropped off the week before .. the website error "wasn't their responsibility", and I "really should have phoned in" before dining. :speechless:

...and you thought only DHS was capable of such idiocy ??
/.

They told you you "really should have phoned in" who? You can't call the restaurant to find out if they participate, because often no one there except the owner knows! That's the whole point of this program, it's supposed to keep who gets the earnings secret from the staff serving you, etc.

So did they tell you you're supposed to call Rewards Network customer service prior to every dine to verify that their website is correct???

Or did they claim some automated phone service of theirs is more accurate than the website? (Bah humbug, I bet if you'd used an automated phone service of theirs, you would have had just as much of a chance of the same error, except unless you recorded it you wouldn't have any proof in that case!)

This sounds like you were given a bogus answer, and you should have called back and spoken to someone else (or asked to be kicked up to a supervisor). They should have accepted a printout from the previous day fased to them as proof that you should have goten the miles, and I'm pretty sure other people have documented that happening in other threads here in the past.

"So .. call Rewards Network customer service prior to every dine to verify that their website is correct???"

Yup, that's the gist of the message. ;)
Can't you just imagine the chaos if a few dozen FTers got on the horn to Miami before buying their daily soda ?? ^

/.

You got a bad rep, who wanted to blow you off ... and succeeded. Your recourse was to follow up in writing, which would've stooid at least a 50% chance of their giving you the points, likely without directly acknowledging their mistake.

Thought I'd start a new thread for troubles, problems etc. and keep it separate from the "Tips and tricks to maximize earnings" thread... so here it is, with the related posts formerly on Tips and Tricks. Just FYI.

thank you!
 

JDiver, you are always looking out for us!

Watch for Cdn$/US$ conversion for promos thresholds
 

I have been noticing various bonus miles not posting to my accounts. More precisely some AA RN spring Bon Appetit promo 250 Bonus Miles for dines of $15 and over and some Delta RN (early 2007) Bon Appetit promo giving 1000 Bonus Miles for each $100 in cumulative dines.
In the first case the missing miles are all for dines of $15 CDN or slightly higher (less than $19) and in the 2nd case I got 6,000 bonus miles for $702.51 CDN in cumulative spendings.

After numerous follow-ups with them, I have been told verbally by RN that they apply a conversion rate for the bonus thresholds while they don't for the "regular" payment of 10 Miles (for Elite) per Cdn$ spent at the restaurant.

Can I ask the Canadian Ft'ers to check their account to see if this happened to them also before I fight this back with RN? I have scanned the T&C and the various promotions T&C and never found that clause.
Thanks to all.

See posts 41 and 49 in this thread. It certainly has been the case in this latest promo.

I am having a headache getting some credits posted to my midwest air account. I went to a local restaurant and it said they took amex. When I went to pay they said they don't so I pay in cash. I call network rewards and they are going to credit my account.

That was Sept 4. Miles never posted to midwest air. I call up and rep says that credit miles go directly to the airline and not in the network rewards account and he will email the airline liason about this. Said to call back in a week if miles don't post. They don't. I call yesterday and the new rep will email the airline liason again to follow up and send me an email to let me know. Either today or monday.......

Anyone else have problems with "credit miles"? Shoudln't the credit miles go through the network rewards account first and get posted to midwest air.? Just curious.

I had 500 courtesy miles posted directly to my AA account. It never showed up in the Network Rewards account.

Perhaps that problem will disappear soon, but not because of RN's doing?

I just heard on the news the other night that, as a result of both US$ devaluation and CDN$ improvement, US$ was on parity with CDN$ for the first time.

As I write this, www.xe.com shows: 1.00 CAD = 0.999151 USD

I having posting problems for AA IDine for the end of August. No response with both email and snail mail, but I have copies of everything and will resend.

Good luck folks! This takes the fun out of IDine.

I tried emailing them a few dines that were missing, figuring it might make it easier for them, but I never received a response, so I ended up just phoning them in the end. The two times I have had missing dines, the phone people were able to resolve them in a few weeks without issue, I would just suggest phoning them instead and not bothering with email or snail mail (though you will have to send them documentation after the phone call, I've emailed it when I've done it).

Based on my experience I'd put RewardNetwork's accuracy rate at about 98% (1 in 50 dines requires me to contact them), given the interactions between all the restaurants, credit card processors, and RewardsNetwork, I don't think that's too bad. Their accuracy rate is 100% after one phone call to fix any that don't go through automatically, I wish other companies I had issues with only required me to call them once to fix things! On top of that, in my limited dealings with their phone reps I think they are very good at what they do compared to other phone reps I have to deal with.

IDine dropping restaurants retroactively! Warning!
 

I posted above about a missing IDine posting. I always check their WEB site prior to going to the restaurants. On this case the restaurant showed active with benefits available on the day and at that time of time.

I finally heard from AA IDine. The restaurant quit the program nearly 2 weeks before this attempt to Dine and was listed as an active restaurant that entire time, even showed on my 'favorites'.

The person sending me the email said (and other people on FT have reported the same) that I should telephone them to verify prior to a major Dine attempt.

Hogwash!

This is false advertising! We would have selected a different restaurant in this case.

Not pleased at all!

Don't accept this answer! I got 500 courtesy points for dining at the wrong restaurant because the map was incorrect on the i-dine website. Their website was wrong. You ate there in good faith. They owe you points!

thanks, I'm still working it.
 

There are pitiful few IDine places in my area. We know them all well.

Another kind of fiasco reared its ugly heard a couple of days ago:

My favorite restaurant in the SMF area is 55 Degrees, in downtown Sacramento. When I checked the beginning of the month listings on Aadvantage RN, it showed a Zagat Survey link. The Zagat review said:

Er, MePa is in NEW YORK CITY, Zak Pelaccio was at 5 Ninth, in a MePa brownstone. Worse, the review is largely negative, and is about 180 degrees out from the 55 Degrees restaurant. They were called, but the link still exists (and another call today also warns of changes coming... ) :p

You should advise the restaurant. They will have things fixed by IDINE lot sooner.

That's what I did first, at the beginning of the week, so they could contact their account representative. I've now called and e-mailed. (I suspect this is one of those diffused responsibility issues wherein RN blames Zagat, Zagat hasn't been contacted, and RN hasn't deleted the link.)

Account totals changed overnight
 

Yesterday, my YTD earnings were listed as 16,730 miles and my program to date miles were 100,935 miles. Today, my YTD earnings are listed as 11,730 miles and my program to date miles are 47,535. :confused: Plus I see that all the bonus miles have been deleted from my account summary. (Glad I'm keeping an excel spreadsheet of miles earned!)

Miles have not been deducted from my AA account, but if they don't fix this, it will make it more difficult to claim missing miles. I have 3 instances where the 250 bonus miles never posted, and I'm waiting the required 6-8 weeks before complaining.