Yes, you read right. I’ve found a call centre that has managed to mess things up *MORE* than BMI ever could (btw, I’m in FULL rant mood).
Who is it today? Step forward InterContinental Hotels Group and your Ambassador programme.
Those of you who have hung around GhettoIFE.com a bit will remember I was swayed with a Suite Upgrade when I did Toronto in Multi-Modal Mayhem, and I plumped for Ambassador Status.
Well a few days ago I was wondering where Ambassador pack was. Surely it doesn’t take 5 MONTHS to deliver a pack?
Anyway – here’s a numbered list of what went wrong as I prepare to enter battle with Ambassador services/Priority Club Customer Services tomorrow
- I paid for Ambassador Membership in September at the Hotel. Never had the pack.
- It seems they created in a NEW account. And deposited the points from the stay there. Joy.
- In December, after a bit of investigation, I managed to track down the paperwork from the stay and contacted Priority Club who managed to they managed to track down the points, and merge it in my account, I also asked them to make sure my Ambassador pack was sent with my status.
- Guess what happened with the pack. You’re correct. Didn’t turn up.
- Rung up today, and they merged the PC and AMB account. Whilst doing this they managed:
- Killed my old PC Account.
- Moved the points over to the Ambassador account
- As Result the move has resulted that I can’t see my reservations (of which I printed and screenshooted thankfully)
And as a final insult to the day.
- Downgraded me from Priority Club Platinum to Priority Club Gold.
Oh. I’ve been promised an Ambassador kit. We’ll see if it turns up on that front, because I have zero confidence in Priority Club at the moment.
Come on ICHG. Making messups like this isn’t cricket at all. In fact it’s annoying as hell
It’s one of the reason why I moved on to Hyatt where I got my own private line agent:)
Sadly Andy, I’ve also had problems with Hyatt too. Lost 5 qualifying nights a couple of years ago. Cost me Platinum
I’ve cut back staying at Hyatt down to the bare 8 nights a year now that I have to for convention purposes.
Just had an interesting conversation with a ‘travel agent’ rep at Castle Resorts and Hotels. They have properties all around Hawaii and in Micronesia as well as New Zealand. I asked about a flight and hotel package from Honolulu to Hilo. The rep needed me to spell both of cities, then insisted there are no flights between those cities. I told him I saw a page full of flights on Hawaiian airlines at the moment-he said I should book through them, he shows nothing. I wonder if Castle outsources to the same call centers you all have talked to…?
I spent the day with United. I was working on reservations and had a question for a representative as I was about to purchase. He said he could ticket the reservation if I wanted. I asked if there was a charge as there is usually the $25 charge. No, he replied, no fee for ticketing. Wrong. 3x$25 showed up on my card. Now I called United customer service. They researched it and said I needed to speak with reservations. Reservations kindly said I needed international reservations. International reservations said use the refund tab. After trying the refund tab I saw that is only for flights and add ons – nothing else. Back to customer service – they said send an e-mail to refunds. So – what is customer service for?? I don’t hold out much hope but at least I can try. I could have just booked the flights myself!!! Seems like its a ranting day.
Well there’s an update to this later. Suffice to day I need to invest in a brick wall when dealing with ICHG…