Oct 10, 2018, 6:18 pm
Last edit by: username
Lessons Learned
- Don't assume members whose accounts are locked did something bad
- UA agents seem to be unable or unwilling to help when accounts are locked
- In post #21, OP said: "The situation has been resolved after escalating to the [email protected] , funny how one email to the right address is more useful than over 30 CS agents at the elite desk."
MP locked my account due to "Fraud", Help {caused by UA error, access restored}
Oct 6, 2018, 11:51 am
#31
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The real key here is that this is not a customer service issue and dealing with customer service is wasted time. As OP notes, there is a specific email account and that is the sole channel which is empowered to deal with the issue.
Oct 6, 2018, 11:56 am
#32
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Oct 6, 2018, 10:51 pm
#33
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Reading through this reminds me of a credit card experience (not airline affiliated but the same bank that UA partners with). Charge comes through against an account # that THE BANK had cancelled due to fraudulent charges, but they call us anyway, even though the charge should have been rejected outright because the CC# had been invalidated several months earlier.
Bank agent recommends to Mrs. Garkster that the account be frozen, of course without specifying which CC# (terminated vs. current). Mrs. Garkster consents. That led to bank bureaucracy hell....there was only one person in the fraud department at said bank with the power to move this forward, which took forever, not to mention the repeated phone calls and pleading, with automatic payments failing, etc. The statement for the new CC# was a comedy of errors, and extraordinary long with all of the cancels and rebills. All because of the ineptitude of the financial institution's systems.
So, in the case of UA, fortunately it's only miles, and not your financial life that was being held hostage.
Bank agent recommends to Mrs. Garkster that the account be frozen, of course without specifying which CC# (terminated vs. current). Mrs. Garkster consents. That led to bank bureaucracy hell....there was only one person in the fraud department at said bank with the power to move this forward, which took forever, not to mention the repeated phone calls and pleading, with automatic payments failing, etc. The statement for the new CC# was a comedy of errors, and extraordinary long with all of the cancels and rebills. All because of the ineptitude of the financial institution's systems.
So, in the case of UA, fortunately it's only miles, and not your financial life that was being held hostage.
Oct 6, 2018, 11:59 pm
#34
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Oct 7, 2018, 3:44 pm
#35
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But how ridiculous CS couldn’t give him that email to begin with
Oct 7, 2018, 4:41 pm
#36
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Originally Posted by often1
The real key here is that this is not a customer service issue and dealing with customer service is wasted time. As OP notes, there is a specific email account and that is the sole channel which is empowered to deal with the issue
Suspect if the OP had been advised to write in when first reporting the issue, or at least upon following up, a fair amount of frustration might have been avoided.
Oct 8, 2018, 10:56 am
#37
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A couple of years ago, I encountered a similar issue and took UA to small claims court after repeated inaction by the security department. This resulted in my being directed to a different UA claims resolution channel... everything worked out completely to my satisfaction at the end of the day, with minimal further effort on my part (other than a couple of phone calls). The department I ended up working with interfaced with the security department and got everything straightened out.
Oct 8, 2018, 4:45 pm
#38
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Once you sue, you are dealing with the general counsel ("legal"). It may be very low-level people in Legal, but nonetheless people who are trained to look at cost-benefit.
While there are matters where a carrier will fight tooth and nail because they want to discourage other lawsuits, if your facts are discrete and don't open the flood gates, there are few cases in SCC worth UA's effort.
While there are matters where a carrier will fight tooth and nail because they want to discourage other lawsuits, if your facts are discrete and don't open the flood gates, there are few cases in SCC worth UA's effort.
Oct 9, 2018, 6:08 am
#39
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OP is the one that caught the unauthorized activity. OP requested it be frozen. This is what everybody accusing him seemed to be conveniently overlooking to accuse OP of fraud.
Oct 9, 2018, 7:53 am
#40
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Oct 9, 2018, 12:34 pm
#41
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Perhaps, but again, OP never answered the question posed in post #3 . I think that reasonable people could hypothesize that someone who sold or bartered instruments could report that as fraud in order to cover their tracks (or at least attempt to).
Last edited by l etoile; Oct 10, 2018 at 7:00 am Reason: Removed animated images
Oct 9, 2018, 2:53 pm
#42
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A reasonable person would hypothesize that someone would sell miles for an upgrade, call untied to report suspicious activity, have it locked until it was resolved, spend the next 30 days calling to have it unlocked...................................and then post a thread about it on flyertalk. All to commit fraud?
Oct 9, 2018, 3:16 pm
#43
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Just wondering why the OP never responded to the question posed in post #3 .
But wasn't that accusation (you see it as a question, I saw it otherwise) put to bed in post #21 . You know, the one where UA acknowledged it was exactly as he presumed, an error on their part, and restored his account.
Or do you still think he's masterminded a successful scam on UA's Fraud Dept.?
Oct 9, 2018, 3:43 pm
#44
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A reasonable person would hypothesize that someone would sell miles for an upgrade, call untied to report suspicious activity, have it locked until it was resolved, spend the next 30 days calling to have it unlocked...................................and then post a thread about it on flyertalk. All to commit fraud?
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MP Accounts Closed by UA Alleging Fraud/Misuse
there are plenty of examples of people posting on FT, saying something's wrong, but obscuring or minimising their fraudulent behaviour in describing their situations.
This case didn't quite fit the pattern, as the account was locked rather than cancelled, but it seems reasonable to ask for more detail when attempting to advise. Granted, it's possible to ask in an accusatory manner and to ask in a non-accusatory manner.
Oct 9, 2018, 5:32 pm
#45
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Over in this thread
MP Accounts Closed by UA Alleging Fraud/Misuse
there are plenty of examples of people posting on FT, saying something's wrong, but obscuring or minimising their fraudulent behaviour in describing their situations.
This case didn't quite fit the pattern, as the account was locked rather than cancelled, but it seems reasonable to ask for more detail when attempting to advise. Granted, it's possible to ask in an accusatory manner and to ask in a non-accusatory manner.
MP Accounts Closed by UA Alleging Fraud/Misuse
there are plenty of examples of people posting on FT, saying something's wrong, but obscuring or minimising their fraudulent behaviour in describing their situations.
This case didn't quite fit the pattern, as the account was locked rather than cancelled, but it seems reasonable to ask for more detail when attempting to advise. Granted, it's possible to ask in an accusatory manner and to ask in a non-accusatory manner.