I've just squeaked 20K points this past week. Perhaps I need to just resign to cash this award in within a year, and then casually forget I'm even a member.
Well I don't know that I'd go that far as to just forget AGR. Yes the online mall program seems to have lots of problems and I've personally never even bothered to try. But those with the new Chase credit card are reporting very good results with points posting timely, and when it comes to actual travel again things are pretty good. Yes they do miss the occasional ride, but generally it's not too much trouble to get that posted when they do miss it.
And the awards themselves remain very attractive and very easy to get, once you have the requisite number of points.
While I do tend to ride a bit more than you do, I've sent a large portion of my family to Disney on the Auto Train twice, done a round the country trip on points, and even a few short runs on points since the inception of the program. At this point I wouldn't be surprised to find out that I've probably racked up close to $10,000 in free rides thanks to AGR.
A little harsh and resigned sounding I admit, but it largely sums up my sentiment unfortunately.
Overall, I do like AGR, and have managed to do pretty well in just over 2 years of enrollment. I just recently reaped my first "reward" with my upgrade coupon, and do like some of the extras like "Buy Points" and the like.
From what I read here, a good deal of the partner points, such as hotels, post within reason, but others like many of the online mall vendors do not. I've done 6 transactions through it, and 4 have never posted.
That, to me, is a serious problem, which needs to be resolved.
And that's only part of the issue.
When I log on to AGR, there's the tease, right on the front page - "Get Your Double Points!" at the online mall.
That's what lured me in in the first place, and I never got the points.
Even after I was informed that I'd be getting an adjustment, I never got the points.
Most of the times I sent a message, I never got the promised reply. And no I don't have the time nor want to call to try to resolve something that should work in the first place.
I remember reading on here that Amtrak wanted to market the Capitol as the "Builder of the East" but due to poor OTP, did not want to market a very imperfect product. If only AGR had the same philosophy with their online mall.
But no, they promote it wholeheartedly, even though members report a significant occurance of points not automatically posting as they are promised, and as they should.
And that, to me, is a serious problem, which needs to be resolved.
As for AGR and Amtrak's relationship, I do tend to feel there needs to be:
a - more visible disclosure regarding AGR's operation as an outsourcing, and
b - disclosure regarding some visible, reachable liason who works directly for Amtrak who can handle complaints regarding AGR's handling of issues - otherwise you feel like you're at the mercy of the contractor, and that your problems are merely brushed off.