Extra Points for Shopping Awarded - will they take them away?

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oregon pioneer

oregon pioneer

Engineer
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2011
Messages
2,821
Location
near Seneca, Oregon
Well, I placed an order in December with the Tire Rack, for shocks for Hubby's classic 1970 VW Beetle. I followed all the advice I'd received on this forum, and the pending points posted within a few days.

The rear shocks were in-stock, but the front pair was backordered. We had them split the order, so they could ship the in-stock pair right away. Meanwhile, Hubby found a different source for front shocks, received, and installed them. We cancelled the order for the rear shocks in early January. Points were still "pending" and I figured I'd only get the points for the order that was completed.

Well guess what? On Feb 2nd, all the points were awarded! So, now what? Will they take those extra points away again? Does anyone have experience with this? The reason I am asking is: as soon as I have enough points, I want to make reservations for the return leg of my Dreamy Trip next December. I guess I could just wait till have enough points even without those (I can do it in a couple months), but I'm just so excited about the trip I'm not sure if I can stand holding off when I see the point total go over 35,000.

What would you do?
 
I'd call AGR and explain the situation! IINM they can adjust your Account on the spot to reflect the correct amount of points!

Honesty is the best policy and based on your concern in your post, I get the feeling you're honestly concerned and want to do the right thing!
 
Thanks Jim. I called AGR, and Becky said "Well, I don't really deal with Points for Shopping..." so I told her I'd fill out the online contact form through the Points for Shopping site. I did fill out the form with all the required information. I'll bet they have quite a laugh when they get a request to refund points to the seller, instead of a request for missing ones!
 
oregon pioneer said:
Thanks Jim. I called AGR, and Becky said "Well, I don't really deal with Points for Shopping..." so I told her I'd fill out the online contact form through the Points for Shopping site. I did fill out the form with all the required information. I'll bet they have quite a laugh when they get a request to refund points to the seller, instead of a request for missing ones!
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Reminds me of my habit when I receive too much change from a store clerk. I never say "you gave me too much". I simply say "You did not give me the right amount". They huff and puff about the fact that they don't short change their customers and they don't make mistakes. Then they recount and realize they gave me too much and become very embarrassed. I know it's mean in a way but if I am going to be nice, I at least should get rewarded with a little fun.
 
me_little_me said:
oregon pioneer said:
Thanks Jim. I called AGR, and Becky said "Well, I don't really deal with Points for Shopping..." so I told her I'd fill out the online contact form through the Points for Shopping site. I did fill out the form with all the required information. I'll bet they have quite a laugh when they get a request to refund points to the seller, instead of a request for missing ones!
Click to expand...
Reminds me of my habit when I receive too much change from a store clerk. I never say "you gave me too much". I simply say "You did not give me the right amount". They huff and puff about the fact that they don't short change their customers and they don't make mistakes. Then they recount and realize they gave me too much and become very embarrassed. I know it's mean in a way but if I am going to be nice, I at least should get rewarded with a little fun.
Click to expand...
Ha, ha, a little fun while doing the right thing, I like it! I do prefer to do the right thing. It makes it so much easier to live with myself later. Jim's right: it felt better to call them than to just wait for someone to discover the error. When the rep couldn't deal with it, it was easy to make the decision to keep trying, by contacting through the website.

Still have not heard back from them. Stay tuned, and I will let you know what the response turns out to be!
 
So, here's the resolution from AGR. It took them a week for the initial reply. Then I sent along my documentation with a step-by-step explanation of how the order was split and the split-off part cancelled. Just a day after the initial reply, I receive this wonderful reply:

Dear *****,

Thank you for sending through your invoices.

Please note that all points are reported to us by the retailer. Since the transaction has been approved at full transaction value, and not reported as only part of the order was fulfilled, therefore we are unable to remove the points as that was the amount being confirmed by the retailer.

Thank you for being honest raising this to us. You are more than welcome to treat the extra points being a bonus to you.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Clara *****

Amtrak Guest Rewards Points for Shopping Support

[email protected]

https://shop.amtrakguestrewards.com
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So, the upshot is, the retailer confirmed the points as earned at full value. AGR has no power to take them away, therefore I do get to keep them. I get to treat the extra points as a "bonus."

I will be grateful as I enjoy my next AGR trip!
 
Interesting thread. On several occasions I've had Marriott Rewards points added to my account by error. I each case Marriott Rewards told me that they never take away points once they have been credited to an account. "Enjoy!" they say. Good customer service.
 
On a couple of occasions, I've had part of an order cancelled because of a back order situation with no end in sight. The points awarded from the merchant remained as originally posted as "pending" and eventually awarded.

As commented above, it's the retailer who causes the points to be posted, not Amtrak or AGR. Probably not worth the "cost" to adjust points unless its some massive error.
 
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So when points are cashed in for free or upgraded travel, who actually is paying? Like the saying, nothing in life is free. How does this or any other points program work? How does retailer, third party points program or Amtrak gain financially? How does a Guest Rewards program pass the Congressional smell test? I'm glad it exists and hope it continues successfully, just curious how it works.
 
PupfosterG said:
So when points are cashed in for free or upgraded travel, who actually is paying? Like the saying, nothing in life is free. How does this or any other points program work? How does retailer, third party points program or Amtrak gain financially? How does a Guest Rewards program pass the Congressional smell test? I'm glad it exists and hope it continues successfully, just curious how it works.
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Its one of the mysteries of the universe. Most of my points come from my use of the Chase AGR MasterCard. I'm guessing Chase is paying for the points in anticipation of me (and other users) incurring interest charges.
 
FrensicPic said:
PupfosterG said:
So when points are cashed in for free or upgraded travel, who actually is paying? Like the saying, nothing in life is free. How does this or any other points program work? How does retailer, third party points program or Amtrak gain financially? How does a Guest Rewards program pass the Congressional smell test? I'm glad it exists and hope it continues successfully, just curious how it works.
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Its one of the mysteries of the universe. Most of my points come from my use of the Chase AGR MasterCard. I'm guessing Chase is paying for the points in anticipation of me (and other users) incurring interest charges.
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I suspect that when you get "points for shopping" the merchant pays (that's why there are different amounts from different merchants -- it's their level of support for this particular loyalty program, they probably participate in more than one). When you get your "point per dollar spent", it's Chase. Points for travel $$ spent is from Amtrak, and it's just part of the cost of encouraging repeat business, just like airline loyalty programs.
 
The merchant "buys" ### of points from AGR for $xxx, and then pays for all those points (say in 2014). When you make a purchase from that merchant in 2015, they authorize AGR to award ## points. AGR doesn't care if it's the wrong amount because they received the money in 2014. (Just like when you buy points in 2013 to use on your 2016 trip.)

Thus Amtrak already had received money for your "free" trip. That's how it passes the smell test.
 
the_traveler said:
The merchant "buys" ### of points from AGR for $xxx, and then pays for all those points (say in 2014). When you make a purchase from that merchant in 2015, they authorize AGR to award ## points. AGR doesn't care if it's the wrong amount because they received the money in 2014. (Just like when you buy points in 2013 to use on your 2016 trip.)

Thus Amtrak already had received money for your "free" trip. That's how it passes the smell test.
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Thank you for letting us know how it works!
 

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