FlyerTalk Forums - WARNING: MyPoints account(s?) disabled when "detrimental" to them because of "abuse"

FlyerTalk Forums (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/index.php)

- S.P.A.M. (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m-2/)

- - WARNING: MyPoints account(s?) disabled when "detrimental" to them because of "abuse" (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m/269786-warning-mypoints-account-s-disabled-when-detrimental-them-because-abuse.html)

WARNING: MyPoints account(s?) disabled when "detrimental" to them because of "abuse"

This is a new development that I thought should get it's own thread, even though it has been brought up in the thread on account disabling. I, and likely others, had been ignoring that thread because account disabling, at least in the recent past, had always been a routine/random security check or technical glitch.

fscher reports an account disabled for no other reason than because MyPoints wanted to. Of course this is in their T&C, as was mentioned in the e-mail received by fscher, but has this happened before to anyone?

Quote:

We are writing in regards to recent activity on your account. Please note that per our Terms of Service, which you agreed to upon registration:

- Member agrees not to abuse MyPoints® privileges by conduct which is detrimental to the interests of MyPoints.com.

- MyPoints.com reserves the right to terminate or disable, at MyPoints.com's sole discretion, any MyPoints® membership if MyPoints.com
believes such Member has violated or acted inconsistently with the rules of MyPoints® or intent of this Agreement. Member understands and agrees disabling of membership will result in Member's inability to redeem and/or earn Points. Member understands and agrees termination of membership will result in the cancellation of all of Member's Points.

- AT ANY TIME EITHER MEMBER OR MYPOINTS.COM MAY TERMINATE MEMBER'S MEMBERSHIP WITH OR WITHOUT CAUSE. MEMBER'S RIGHT TO USE MEMBER'S MEMBERSHIP IMMEDIATELY CEASES UPON TERMINATION AND MEMBER'S UNREDEEMED POINTS SHALL BE CANCELLED.

Attempting to earn Points in a way that abuses our offers may lead to your account becoming disabled. If you have questions regarding your account, please contact us at [email protected].

Have a nice day.

Best regards,

"Have a nice day." Boy, someone missed the irony of that one!

In any case, the "good" news is that Bkniaz reports...

Quote:

...I had put in for a transfer of 4K points to Hilton points, 2 weeks ago.

My account was dissabled sometime early last week, and the transfer still went through last Friday. Even with my account dissabled.

Of course, we don't know if Bkniaz's account was disabled for the same reason or not (please let us know if you know, Bkniaz, and if you are able to get reinstated).

So, if UAL bankruptcy wasn't enough to get your attention, this just might prod you to start transferring or redeeming now. HHonors points transfer on Thursday night.

Good luck,
Rut Dog

P.S. If you want to know about account disabling in general, read the linked thread above from the beginning.

In general, if your account has been disabled you can try

And if you have questions about Hilton HHonors transfers, just search the S.P.A.M. forum using the terms "Hilton HHonors MyPoints" and you will find lots of info in those threads.

[This message has been edited by Rut Dog (edited 03-26-2003).]

I called them today, they told me my account would be reactivated in 4 hours and since then I received this letter:

"We are writing in response to your phone call.Your account has been disabled because you participated in a type of purchase fraud."

I'll skip the next 3 long sentences which talk about terms of service agreement. They go on to say:

"Additionally,if one attempts to earn Shopping awards via the shopping area of the Mypoints site by buying gift certificates, they are not fulfilling the terms of our offersand are therefor violating our terms of service. Our shopiing guidelines state: NOTE:Points are not awarded on purchase of gift cards or gift certificates from mypoints shopping merchants."

They go on to say my account will not be reactivated but I can join again if I want as long as I follow the terms of service. So it appears I've lost 4000 points. I have responded with a terse letter indicating they induced me to purchase with an offer of points, charged my credit card which I believe forms a contract and I expect them to deliver my unused Mypoints to my Hilton Honors account. I will keep you advised.

The thing about it is this: For example, you click on Walmart and Taget it clearly states no points will be given for Certs and then it continues on to the sites. This happens in a few other instances, too. With Tupperware (and some others) there is no disclaimer and that would lead one to believe differently. However, when we shop there, if there are no points awared for certs, why did they award them?? Certainly we "can" BUY certificates from these affiliates as gifts and not expect points, etc. If they award them with the disclaimer, then it is THEIR problem.

Quote:

NOTE:Points are not awarded on purchase of gift cards or gift certificates from mypoints shopping merchants."

Yes they are. I got 4,300 of them a few days ago. They are already in my HHonors account.

Anyone care to speculate on whether mypoints could or would attempt to work with Hilton to remove the points from HHonors from those people who successfully transferred them in time?

Quote:

Originally posted by jmartin:
Anyone care to speculate on whether mypoints could or would attempt to work with Hilton to remove the points from HHonors from those people who successfully transferred them in time?

As you said, this is speculation, but wouldn't it seem highly unlikely? If nothing else, would MyPoints want to appear so incompetant to Hilton: "Uh, sorry to bother you, but that money we gave you to buy HHonors points, we'd like it back. Why? Because we screwed up. What were we planning on paying you to compensate you for our error? Gee... I hadn't thought about that. Can I get back to you?"