FIRE Finance: Beware of TripRewards - Account Closed Silently

Beware of TripRewards - Account Closed Silently

Edit Post Monday, April 9, 2007

We had an account with TripRewards. Over last few years we had diligently accumulated more than 5300 points in that account through various bookings for car rentals and hotel stays. After receiving the points in our account we rested easy on the thought that they'd be good to go till they expire. Now comes the twist to the story.

This week we started planning for our two month long summer trip across the country (USA). It appeared to be a good time to redeem those TripRewards points. So we tried logging into our account. Guess what? A message said that the account did not exist!

Shocked

Perplexed, we called TripReward's customer service. We were shocked to discover that our account was indeed closed! The worst part unfolded when their representative rudely informed us that all our hard earned points were lost and could not be recovered.

Here is the summary of the lesson that we learnt:

A TripRewards account is closed if there is no activity (aka hotel or car bookings) in the account for 18 months.
All accumulated points expire when an account is closed.
According to their terms and conditions no notification (email or snail mail) is sent to the account holder about the account closure either before or after the closure.

We were not only stunned but also felt hurt at the rude behavior of the customer service representative. It was as if salt was being rubbed to our wounds with great (sadist) pleasure!

Upon sincere reflection the following questions arose in our minds:

Was it ethical on part of TripRewards to close the account without informing us?
Did it really make any business sense whatsoever to dupe its own customers?
Does such an act help create a loyal customer base?
Will our next generation learn ethics from this sort of so called "smart" business tactics?
In the short run TripRewards saved a mere 5300 points, but what are the long term effects of this act?

Sadly for TripRewards we have decided to stay away from them forever and take our business elsewhere. This incident has left a sour taste in our mouth. We leave it up to the wisdom of our readers to arrive at their own conclusions.

Action Item: We would request our audience to log on to their TripRewards account to ensure that it is active. If you see yourself not using the account (for booking travel) in the next 12 months or your last account activity has been almost a year ago then please make plans to redeem your rewards at the earliest. Instead of 18 months we have suggested a cut-off period of 12 months so that you have enough time to redeem and use the points.

We hope that our experience will aid our audience from inadvertently falling into this trap laid by TripRewards. It never hurts to be careful and proactive.

Image Source(s): iStockPhoto

Anonymous said...

I understand your frustrations. Just wanted to say that as a TripRewards member of 2 years I have compiled/redeemed over 100,000 points. It takes 6,000 points for a free night. I have redeemed thousands of points for a dozen free nights and even have redeemed for hundreds of dollars worth of certificates with zero issues/problems/complaints. TripRewards has been one of the most rewarding programs for me. As far as the 12 month policy, I just called TripRewards and here is what I was quoted. "After 18 months of NO activity the account is closed/points lost and no notification is sent out, you would need to keep track of your account on our website to ensure your account is not closed." Probably not a good customer friendly policy, but most Airline Mile programs have the same policy.

FIRE Finance said...

Thanks for your feedback :).

Hey, Thanks for insinuating that trip rewards customer service agents sadists. speaking of rubbing salt in wounds. I myself am a trip rewards customer service rep.
Let me tell you we reps at trip rewards ABSOLUTELY HATE telling you that your account has closed.
The reason for this is that being a call center agent you need to accept the truth which is: 1. you will be harrassed/verbally attacked on a regular basis(especially if you are required to give bad news) 2. you have no say what so ever!! as to what happens with the company you work for.

I wish I could just reopen your account for you but I cant.I have to follow the terms and conditions for the program as thought they are law as if I do not I loose my job and being homeless so i can give your points back sound like a bad idea to me.

As far as taking pleasure in telling you your account has closed, are you sure that is what is happening? Personally I will try to keep as possitive a tone as possible, even if i have to give bad news or if I am being cursed at because it is hard to maintain a possitive feeling within myself if I do not.I can not speak for everyone but I know I am not alone in the way we cope with giving bad news.

Sorry to hear your account was closed, Truely.

Hey, I am a trip rewards rep.
We hate giving you bad news but sometimes thats what our job requires us to do. We try to keep a positive attitude even when giving bad news because, personally speaking, it makes it easier to deal with and more often then not will stop people from cursing and swearing at us.
We have to follow the terms and conditions for the program or they fire us.

Truely sorry to hear your account was closed.

On a personal note "We were not only stunned but also felt hurt at the rude behavior of the customer service representative. It was as if salt was being rubbed to our wounds with great (sadist) pleasure!"

seems a little offensive, maybe not intentionally, please keep in mind the voice on the other end of the line is a person too we all have good and bad days which will effect the way we interact with one another. we try to keep you happy because it make our job happier.

Sorry Again
The voice on the other end

@ both Anonymous commenters

First of all please accept our sincere thanks for candidly voicing your thoughts.

This has led us to introspection and deeper reflection. At the time when we wrote the post, we had honestly expressed our hurt feelings. To us, and for that matter to any Triprewards client, the unknown and unseen customer service agent represents Triprewards. Our frustration was against (and due to) Triprewards policies and not to any person in particular.

We have crossed out the strong statement ("It was as if salt was being rubbed to our wounds with great (sadist) pleasure!") expressing our sadness.

Perhaps it was bit of a reaction on our part to Triprewards's bad business policy.

We apologize for unknowingly hurting anyone's feelings. That was never our intention. Rather we'd like our esteemed readers and all Tripreward members to be aware of this policy and take steps to deal with it.

Peace,
FIRE Finance

As would we.

I also lost my account and 10,000+ points. Had problems with them before, their business is pretty tricky.

@ Anonymous
Thanks for sharing your feedback. It will help more people to be careful when they play the Trip Rewards game.

I recently went to check my account and found that it had been closed. I haven't been traveling as much recently as I did a few years back, but still thought I was fine since I stayed at a Ramada for a week in late May '08. Long story short, I lost over 29,000 points. When I called to inquire about the lost points and give info on my May '08 stay, I was told it wasn't qualifying because it was part of a room block. The original customer service rep was polite; however, she forwarded me to a manager due to the high amount of points. The manager was very short and rude. All in all, I can't complain - I should have read the terms and conditions - but still seems like bad business practice. I will make an effort not to stay at their hotels again.

I also have had the frustration of having my points lost. I've been a long time member but had not used the program much. Recently, I had the opportunity to use it again, and when I logged in, I saw that the available accrued points were lost due to the account silently closing and the company recovering the points. When I called into the Customer Service about this, my situation was met with complete in-flexibility and anal-retentiveness, rudeness, and argumentativeness. There were not enough points (even combined with the lost ones) to earn a free night, so this is no huge loss. But the fact remains that Trip Rewards/Wyndham Rewards has a VERY UN-user friendly policy and that their call personnel is totally unwilling/unable to help make it right to retain their customers. One would think that after this many complaints, the Corp. would be willing to do something to help keep their customers. Apparently, they just DO NOT care. Well, neither do I. This frustration and the rudeness with which I was treated has resulted in my points being forever lost, my account being closed, and my remaining a dis-satisfied customer who will talk this up as much as I can in as many places as I can. The policy is intolerable and was NOT explained up front. I will now take any future business to another place where my dollars can and will be appreciated.

Beware of TripRewards - Account Closed Silently

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