Earning points via loophole - risk?

[Hamhock]

So, uh, for argument's sake...if one were to notice a glaring loophole in one of the many offerings on the AGR site, and use it as specified to earn a significant sum of points...could AGR take away the earned points? I'm not talking about transferring anything out to another program; this is purely for use on future train travel.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

 

[chuljin]

So, uh, for argument's sake...if one were to notice a glaring loophole in one of the many offerings on the AGR site, and use it as specified to earn a significant sum of points...could AGR take away the earned points? I'm not talking about transferring anything out to another program; this is purely for use on future train travel.
Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Hypothetically, someone else found that, but then was afraid of AGR and called them right away, whereupon they hypothetically adjusted away the extra points, and hypothetically thanked him. YHMMV.

I expect they audit such things. You might get away with it, but could your conscience?

 

[the_traveler]

Hypothetically, if there was a loophole found and you used it to earn points, until they discovered that loophole and closed it, I'd say that if your conscience lets you keep them, I'd say (hypothetically) earn them. True, once they discover the loophole, they may audit you, but I think they will not do anything unless you clearly tried to use the loophole to get some large amount (like 1 million points)!

I used the "per segment (for the same train)" loophole that was closed a couple of years ago. They never took away any points.

 

[Chessie Hokie]

I tend to think, perhaps reading between the lines a bit here, that the quandary is not so much the moral dilemma of taking advantage of the loophole (hypothetically speaking, of course!), but rather concern about expending resources (money, time, energy, etc.) to reap the AGR points... and then risk having the points stripped away due to a technicality, while still being left holding the bill. Is that really the question? B)

 

[jackal]

Could a possible solution be to temporarily "safeguard" those AGR points in a partner program that allows transfers (Choice or Continental or whoever else offers them), and then transfer them back immediately before booking the trip?

Not that I'm advocating (hypothetically) unethical behavior, of course. Just making a hypothetical observation.

 

[AlanB]

Could a possible solution be to temporarily "safeguard" those AGR points in a partner program that allows transfers (Choice or Continental or whoever else offers them), and then transfer them back immediately before booking the trip?
Not that I'm advocating (hypothetically) unethical behavior, of course. Just making a hypothetical observation.

No, since during a recent attempt by many people to circumvent the rules, many thought that they had won when their points showed up in Choice Rewards, only to find out that the transfers were reversed. Those that after an audit could prove that they hadn't violated the rules, had their transfers reinstated. Those that couldn't either were stuck with their points in AGR or lost them entirely depending on just how severe their violation of the rules was.

 

[Hamhock]

Thanks, all. No, I don't have any moral/ethical concerns; I'm not violating or circumventing any rules. In fact, I'm strictly following them to the letter, after careful reading and accordance with the Terms and Conditions, and a call to Customer Service of the unnamed company who is co-sponsoring this specific offering. And again, I'm not transferring anything in/out of the AGR system. It's a simple "do this, and you get this".

I mean, there's lots of unlimited offerings on the AGR site. For example, if one wanted, one could rent a car every single day from Hertz to earn 50 AGR points each time, without limit to number of purchases. This isn't the deal I'm talking about, though it roughly mirrors the situation I'm considering.

 

[p&sr]

For example, if one wanted, one could rent a car every single day from Hertz to earn 50 AGR points each time, without limit to number of purchases.

Sure, if you need to rent that many cars. At that rate, you could go broke collecting all those Free Points!

But if Points come with something you were going to buy anyway, in what sense is that a "loophole"? Sounds pretty above-board to me...

 

[RRrich]

IMHO Loopholes are sometimes intentionally written to benefit a specific entity - I have no problem with riding on their coattails and also taking advantage.