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Old Jan 4, 2012, 10:14 pm
  #2356  
 
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Originally Posted by jasonvr
I can also attest to this. All of our MoM transactions were done via my wife's account because she got the 2/1000 offer and I got the 4/500 offer. However, I made a single Groupon purchase in my account in the same time period and am still hounding them for the miles.



Transaction date is the one that matters. Since you said that you have 340 positive and 117 negative transactions on 9/9, that should still be under the UA MP limit of 500 (adds up to 457) and you should be able to see them all as long as you set the start and end date as 9/9.
Oh, I also had 200 Staples transactions that day. Didn't mention them because they all posted right away with no problems. But that puts the total over 500.
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Old Jan 4, 2012, 10:56 pm
  #2357  
 
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Originally Posted by penner42
Oh, I also had 200 Staples transactions that day. Didn't mention them because they all posted right away with no problems. But that puts the total over 500.
Yep, that'd do it. I have a mere 568 transactions on a single day (9/9), so you beat me (32 cancelled HD transactions otherwise it would have been 600 even)
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Old Jan 5, 2012, 12:56 am
  #2358  
 
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WELL SAID -BRAVO!!!!, you have helped all of us with your insisting ,listen to yourself not others ,change does not come about with out effort

Originally Posted by Marathon Man
I would bug them for that one missing one.
I would also bug them to make sure the TRANSACTION date is correct. I assume it is, and that when you speak of POST date you just mean the date which appears in MP Shopping.



People who had 1 purchase with Cartera malls such as UA's MP Shopping, or 1,000 purchases ran into the same problems here. I for one can attest to many many cases with more than one mall run by them of single purchases done over time (let's just go back a year for the sake of it) that failed to post without extra intervention or were delayed even if no intervention was to take place. For example, every BestBuy transaction I ever made with the AA mall always took longer and involved many back and forths with AA or related entities to get the miles. I eventually STOPPED buying through them. (not good if you are BestBuy or the AA mall, eh?)

My argument all along has circled around the FACT that Cartera is either inept or they are scammers (or both):

If they are inept, it is because they cannot--even if they want to--post miles on time. If a thing says 6-8 weeks, then by gosh it should post within that 6-8 week period. Not 10-12. And not wait 2 then email and email and email and wait 4-6 more, whereas customers are forced to have kept files and notes and be able to produce these things as if they were in court doing so. As well, in these late/hate cases, something by the way of customer service compensation miles should be offered in lieu of one's having to wait and worry about miles they may have counted on BASED on the very marketing that Cartera's malls put forth!

If they are scammers, then that's because they are well aware of this entire conundrum and do not give a crap to fix it.

Either way they need to fix it. Period. Hands down. No question. If they do not, then I for one can almost give the green light to anyone who has successfully found any little known holes that may lead to mega mile earnings, or to anyone (like me) who plans to take them to court on the issues herein).

My current goal, as many know, is to use my own horridly handled Cartera experience, and reference that of others to FORCE them to fix it. Period, hands down. Done.

In fact, some could argue that we should all partake in some version of forcing this, if only for the betterment of such programs. For if they exist the way they are, we are not the only ones who get nailed when trying to buy 1 widget or 1,000 at such online malls. If we do not help force these people to address their problems, then it could be argued that in a way, we have helped foster the FACT that Cartera will simply get away with doing it again and again! It is therefore our responsibility to expose their ways and hold them accountable for their gross errors.

EVEN IF ALL MY MILES POST to UA right now or in a month, I am still upset about how much I had to go through to get them. There is NO doubt in my mind that if it weren't for all the push pull, we would all be nowhere. And yes, there WILL be problems when UA tries to tally our transactions. No doubt. Who will we blame? As said before, I almost do not blame UA itself on that right now. I would have to blame Cartera again because they were the ones that caused the delay--a delay, mind you, that probably will affect the way your miles tally at UA in the MoM schema.

Yup, back on day one, we had the option to purchase or not, but the ads put forth BY UA and the marketing put forth BY the mall that UA supports were clear in their intent: To get customers to buy through them and go for it. We did. We did what they sold us. Now it's their turn to do their part, which is to simply post the freakin' miles that go with said sales, no matter how many were legitimately earned. Since they are failing to do that part, we must fight them.

IF in the future they wish to stave off these problems, then their T&Cs must state something like: Limit 100 transactions, Limit 8 merchants, etc etc etc. ORRRRR they just have to invest in the proper and robust software, IT systems, personnel and customer service tools to better handle all things. Again, they are a company that handles some of the country's--no, world's largest retailers, supplying and buying miles with some of the world's largest airlines. Don't tell me they cant do this! THEY have to come up with this stuff or pay us or possibly even people WITH our mindset to help them do so for them.

Cant be sure how much clearer I have to be.

MM
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Old Jan 5, 2012, 4:43 pm
  #2359  
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Originally Posted by Marathon Man
People who had 1 purchase with Cartera malls such as UA's MP Shopping, or 1,000 purchases ran into the same problems here. I for one can attest to many many cases with more than one mall run by them of single purchases done over time (let's just go back a year for the sake of it) that failed to post without extra intervention or were delayed even if no intervention was to take place. For example, every BestBuy transaction I ever made with the AA mall always took longer and involved many back and forths with AA or related entities to get the miles. I eventually STOPPED buying through them. (not good if you are BestBuy or the AA mall, eh?)

My argument all along has circled around the FACT that Cartera is either inept or they are scammers (or both):
Oh, I don't disagree about the shopping/Cartera issue. It's just that to me that's separate from United's Months of Miles.

In fact, perhaps because I read about the AA Shopping 87k miles for Verizon accessories mistake fiasco shortly before Months of Miles started, plus having had some merchants never post in other airline shopping malls (mostly, if not all, Cartera run), I didn't feel like using Months of Miles for that. True to my "risk averse nature", I only used it on two things that I've found to be reliable: Mileage Plus Dining and Marriott Rewards hotel stays.

My whole problem with shopping malls is that there's some sort of behind-the-scenes magic necessary to make it register as a shopping mall purchase, so there's no screen shot you can make or code from a checkout that you can quote (or look for) to see if your purchase will really earn miles.

For that reason, I simply don't trust these shopping malls, and only use them when it's something I was planning to buy anyway and the merchant involved is one that's either the one I was planning to use anyway or no worse than one I would have used anyway (had there not been a shopping mall involved).

Likewise, I never recommend someone use airline shopping malls to extend their miles expiration that's coming, again because of the unreliability issues. I recommend the dining program, because it's both reliable and fast (which means that in the cases where it doesn't work, you find out soon enough to usually be able to try again).

You're obviously not as "risk averse" as I, because you knew the UA shopping mall worked like crap going in, and yet tried to use it to maximize Months of Miles. Again, I don't see anything wrong with that for you, I'm just saying I approach airline shopping malls as "don't expect anything, and be happy if your expectations are exceeded".

If one bigger promo requires a shopping mall purchase, I might make two or three from different retailers, hoping at least one will "stick". But in a promo where you have to do an action repeatedly, like Months of Miles, that would just drive me too crazy (as it seems to have driven you! ).
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Old Jan 5, 2012, 5:06 pm
  #2360  
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It has driven me crazy. And you speak 100% exact correct truth!!

It's like, that's what I now say word for word about these very promos!

So that's my point in my suit to come... They are crap and we should know what you and I I (and most here) now know before going in.

They could and very well SHOULD fix this issue because as long as they fail to post correctly they are effectively scamming people.

Want your miles to post by X date? Use dining and a few other avenues.

Want them to maybe post and probably not post by X date? use Shopping.

And so, Shopping should be outed as a legitimate way of doing business, or we/everybody should tell the entire universe about these known truths, or the mall entities should be forced to shut down or change.

yup, I dove in. And I knew... my first post IN this thread says I knew what was about to happen. I had also said that I was at least partly ok with it all because even if the miles never post, this promo will be the catalyst for me to get going on finishing my basement with my home depot GCs in play. It has.

but I do want my miles.


Originally Posted by sdsearch
Oh, I don't disagree about the shopping/Cartera issue. It's just that to me that's separate from United's Months of Miles.

In fact, perhaps because I read about the AA Shopping 87k miles for Verizon accessories mistake fiasco shortly before Months of Miles started, plus having had some merchants never post in other airline shopping malls (mostly, if not all, Cartera run), I didn't feel like using Months of Miles for that. True to my "risk averse nature", I only used it on two things that I've found to be reliable: Mileage Plus Dining and Marriott Rewards hotel stays.

My whole problem with shopping malls is that there's some sort of behind-the-scenes magic necessary to make it register as a shopping mall purchase, so there's no screen shot you can make or code from a checkout that you can quote (or look for) to see if your purchase will really earn miles.

For that reason, I simply don't trust these shopping malls, and only use them when it's something I was planning to buy anyway and the merchant involved is one that's either the one I was planning to use anyway or no worse than one I would have used anyway (had there not been a shopping mall involved).

Likewise, I never recommend someone use airline shopping malls to extend their miles expiration that's coming, again because of the unreliability issues. I recommend the dining program, because it's both reliable and fast (which means that in the cases where it doesn't work, you find out soon enough to usually be able to try again).

You're obviously not as "risk averse" as I, because you knew the UA shopping mall worked like crap going in, and yet tried to use it to maximize Months of Miles. Again, I don't see anything wrong with that for you, I'm just saying I approach airline shopping malls as "don't expect anything, and be happy if your expectations are exceeded".

If one bigger promo requires a shopping mall purchase, I might make two or three from different retailers, hoping at least one will "stick". But in a promo where you have to do an action repeatedly, like Months of Miles, that would just drive me too crazy (as it seems to have driven you! ).
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 7:05 am
  #2361  
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I got the shopping bonus last night of "MP SHOPPING SPEND 125 GET 1500" - my wife got it also, both on the United side (not the shopping side).

Of course, on the shopping site, we each had about 30 of those at one point, but those are gone. The terms never said you'd get it only once. But our guess was that this would happen.

I won't complain as long as I get all of the related shopping items to post also . . .
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Old Jan 6, 2012, 2:44 pm
  #2362  
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Originally Posted by josephstern
I got the shopping bonus last night of "MP SHOPPING SPEND 125 GET 1500" - my wife got it also, both on the United side (not the shopping side).

Of course, on the shopping site, we each had about 30 of those at one point, but those are gone. The terms never said you'd get it only once. But our guess was that this would happen.

I won't complain as long as I get all of the related shopping items to post also . . .
I have only received the 500 part so far. Not the spend part.

I THINK they moved to UA but UA aint displaying stuff, just changing my mileage amounts. but since I have no idea is making it change, I cannot be sure.

In your case, I kinda think they ought to give you all the hits for your doings. After all, they didnt say you couldnt!

Anyway, I have formally filed suit. It's in the mail to the court now.

To type up my sheet I simply used Word and some measuring to print my name and info and Cartera's, and then, in 6.5 point (but easily readable) text, I typed the following out and sent each page of the form through my laser printer to have it land exactly where needed...

They may be watching here, but soon they will see this same notice from the courts. Let's hope for the best mates! I'm goin' in! (Should be in April according to the clerk there)

Cartera Commerce, Inc.
One Cranberry Hill
Lexington, Massachusetts 02421

(781) 541-6800



Date range for my claim involves ongoing business transactions from 09/01/2011 to present.

Cartera claims to enable one to easily earn frequent flier miles when purchasing online at many usual chain retailers via shopping portals they run. One such portal, on which my claim focuses, is the United Airline's MileagePlus Shopping Mall. Cartera services the online shopping malls of several of the world’s major retailers, airlines and hotel chains as well and claims to be able to handle this well.

Taken from their own "How it Works" section on the UA MP mall,
• Step 1: Find Online Offers — Find and compare the prices and miles on just about anything you want to buy from more than 600 online retailers.
• Step 2: Shop — Shopping is simple and rewarding no matter where you live and how you want to earn miles:
• Step 3: Earn — You'll never have to guess if you've earned miles! Every time you shop with a participating retailer - whether online or in-store - we'll send you an email confirming your purchase and the miles earned. Miles typically post within 5 business days, but can take up to 45 days.


My claim against Cartera is that they have failed miserably at this statement. Particularly, the delays for which miles have posted to my united Airlines account have been well over 3 months in some cases, and some have yet to post as of the time of this filing. Their accounting and tracking is a mess, their Customer Service team is overwhelmed and inept, and I believe the company is working like a classic bait & switch rebate scammer. I have spent countless hours and effort both trying to deal with them and I have documented my experiences as well as those of many others I converse with regularly on an online travel forum open to the public known as FlyerTalk.com, where I post regularly and openly as "Marathon Man." I could show costs from mailings, emails, faxes, time spent, phone calls, research and the valuation of airline miles as compared with dollar value. For reasons I can further illustrate, the company needs to change their way of doing business and it owes me reimbursement equal to $7,000.

In my United MP shopping mall activity, where I have done nothing but follow the rules, I have had to fight to get whatever miles I do have, and the company has appeared to have just sat back and watched people suffer. Because my multitude of shopping activity was done to satisfy the requirements of a united Airlines promotion that ran from August until mid December, I shopped very heavily. Now I am blamed by them as the reason why things went wrong, and yet many others are claiming the same poor level of service and results. I am therefore convinced that Cartera's lack of service will impact the outcome of my airline promotion bonus results that I could later have to pull teeth for because of them. I stand to gain or lose hundreds of thousands of miles that I set out to obtain through shopping, and I did so believing in what Cartera was marketing and selling to me. But since I have nothing to hide and they seemingly do, I think they’ve lied to many people—self included.

Cartera has stated elsewhere that they value their miles at a certain ‘cpm’ or cents per mile amount but miles are hard to value on all sides. Thus, the entire system is easily corruptible but I want my miles and/or monetary value for what has been lost/spent to retrieve them. I have evidence to support this and suggestions on how Cartera should proceed as a business after fixing the damages done to me.

Last edited by Marathon Man; Jan 6, 2012 at 4:46 pm
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Old Jan 7, 2012, 10:06 pm
  #2363  
 
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I had to laugh today. I was browsing another forum and a little ad pops up inline reading:

Cartera Commerce
Drive loyalty with world-class online and in-store merchant networks
World Class.....hmmmmmm.....
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Old Jan 8, 2012, 12:36 am
  #2364  
 
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Looked at my M.O.M. shopping on the mall -- saw ALL POSTED !!-- yes even SEPT purchases

next step move it to United and collect miles --soon I hope

wish you all the same good fortune
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Old Jan 8, 2012, 3:33 am
  #2365  
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Originally Posted by jasonvr
I had to laugh today. I was browsing another forum and a little ad pops up inline reading:



World Class.....hmmmmmm.....
Well, if you consider the unfortunate current state of affairs in places like Syria, Egypt, that part of Japan that suffered the tsunami, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan... shall I go on?

Or maybe they meant the economic down turns, huge world-wide corporate scams, high unemployment, global warming, the pending doom of Dec 21, 2012 and the Mayan calendar?


Originally Posted by SPLP007
Looked at my M.O.M. shopping on the mall -- saw ALL POSTED !!-- yes even SEPT purchases

next step move it to United and collect miles --soon I hope

wish you all the same good fortune
Been waiting to see if that actually happens for a couple rounds of "within two weeks--please be patient" and then I gave up waiting and you know what I did next. Alls I can say is that since UA cannot properly display all miles coming in, but I have a good idea of what is what and one can always call to find out, it could be a long time if we ever see the miles move from MP Shopping over to UA, and then, as we know, this WILL affect the MoM tally machine. Sadly.

MM
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Old Jan 8, 2012, 8:51 am
  #2366  
 
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I just caught up with the activity in this thread since my last visit a few months ago.

After numerous emails to Cartera went unanswered I started sending emails to UA as well. Someone at UA was able to correct my negative MP balance caused by about ~350 negative HD transactions. I don't know if this will have a negative impact on my bonus miles if/when they post.

If everything goes correctly (haha ) we should see our bonus miles in a few weeks.
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Old Jan 9, 2012, 5:06 pm
  #2367  
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BOS mini Do idea

FYI I expect my SC court date to be in April, probably on a Tuesday, the court clerk said.

I think I will try and set up a Bos mini Do around then... if anyone here wants to come hang out and see how things go, and then get out for drinks and laughs, we can tie it all together when the time comes!

Cartera is in Lexington, which is a few miles from where the court is in Concord, MA. Both are historic areas for Americana, and I can show you around there and then we can head to BOS, which is about 25 minutes east.

Keep that in mind for the spring, mates, and maybe we will all meet these cats and get things straightened out the old fashioned way.

MM
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Old Jan 11, 2012, 4:58 pm
  #2368  
 
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How do I call these guys? Do you have phone #?

I'm getting no response to any e-mails. I keep replying to the same thread every 3 weeks since October, and outside of the initial acknowledgement, silence.
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Old Jan 11, 2012, 5:01 pm
  #2369  
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Originally Posted by BryanIAH
I just caught up with the activity in this thread since my last visit a few months ago.

After numerous emails to Cartera went unanswered I started sending emails to UA as well. Someone at UA was able to correct my negative MP balance caused by about ~350 negative HD transactions. I don't know if this will have a negative impact on my bonus miles if/when they post.

If everything goes correctly (haha ) we should see our bonus miles in a few weeks.
bolding mine

I've got an ocean-front property for sale in Kansas. Care to purchase it from me?
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Old Jan 12, 2012, 9:38 am
  #2370  
 
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Originally Posted by FriendlySkies
bolding mine

I've got an ocean-front property for sale in Kansas. Care to purchase it from me?
Sure! Do you accept UA miles futures?
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