Diners-ropey start

[andye]

Similar story albyd. Called SPG last night-said received no points from DC. DC say order went through OK. Another conference call-SPG have taken email/phone contacts for DC while they investigate

 

[albyd]

My December SPG transfer arrived this morning. Still no sign of November points.

 

[TonyHancock]

For reference I made my transfer to SPG on the 22nd December and the points turned up today. Let's hope for a bit of consistency in 2016.

 

[kooky]

Wow mine turned up this morning too! Weren't there yesterday!

 

[Newk]

My November points have yet to post. Again the usual more than polite customer service....but again totally incompetent-no record of my previous calls, plus an attempt to tell me that SPG were no longer cooperating with Diners (corrected after checking)

 

[TonyHancock]

My November points have yet to post. Again the usual more than polite customer service....but again totally incompetent-no record of my previous calls, plus an attempt to tell me that SPG were no longer cooperating with Diners (corrected after checking)

it is all a little surreal. The customer service reps are utterly charming but are absolutely clueless and have no authority to do anything. Frustration by charm appears to be the Citibank tactic.

 

[andye]

My November points are still in limbo. 1000 points offered today for inconvenience

 

[kooky]

Totally charming. I'm sure they would be happy to wait on the phone for hours with you. Reminds me of a friend who worked in an insurance firm said that the pensioner-insurance call centre operators are trained to have a good chat with the old folks and spend as long on the phone as the pensioner wants.

 

[andye]

The November transfer has finally come through to my SPG account.
I received a survey yesterday regarding DC customer service-good to get a few things of my chest

 

[albyd]

Mine came through this morning too. One more transfer initiated this morning hopefully can make my award booking soon.

No request for feedback yet. Generally tend to ignore them - everyone wants feedback now - not necessarily a bad thing).

 

[Newk]

yay! my transfer from November came through yesterday. Two months and five days after the Amex transfer made on the same day. Is it all worth it?

 

[TonyHancock]

yay! my transfer from November came through yesterday. Two months and five days after the Amex transfer made on the same day. Is it all worth it?

Sadly it is still the best means of laundering points to BA. I did have a laugh at your comment though, your experiences are exactly the same as mine. Amex is normally a couple of days.

 

[albyd]

I think it's worth it to earn SPG as Diners MC earns 0.625 SPG everywhere. Amex earns 0.5 SPG everywhere except special categories depending on your Amex product (Amex has plenty of exceptions like insurance, and reduced earn on any govt spend even parking meters) at up to 1.5 SPG. Earning from the DC are a bonus at 1.5 SPG.
Obviously, for other points currencies, Amex will be better accepted than DC (except for MC) & may be marginal gain in going the DC combo for the pain associated with dealing with DC.

 

[andye]

Received a follow-up apology call this morning and another 500 points compo

 

[albyd]

Just as an FYI I tried to make a booking on SPG today and they've usually given me one month's grace where I didn't have enough points but they were coming from DC. They have had a policy change. No more than 7 days.

 

[andye]

Jan points have transferred in 8 days

 

[digpomi]

6 days for me

 

[albyd]

My Jan transfer just showed up - 7 days. Looks like it's still pretty variable but I'm happy with 7 days. Hopefully a sign of things to come.

 

[TonyHancock]

Having got the points transfer kinda sorted out I was faced with a new challenge this month. I, well when I say I, I actually mean Griselda, was a day, she says 11 hours, late with the monthly payment. I take the liquidated damages squarely on Griselda's chin, but what really annoyed me was that no points posted at all for the month. I was told that this is in the terms and conditions and late payments mean forfeited points for the previous month.

mmmm I thought. I asked for the section in the terms and conditions where this was stated and nobody at diners could point me to it initially. After a bit of harrumphing and some solid DYKWIA work the supervisor agreed to my suggested amount of points as a gesture of goodwill. (I wish I had gone for more to be honest but I didn't think they'd cave in so easily.) I still registered my dissatisfaction and requested confirmation of the section in the terms and conditions. (Quite why I have no idea!)

I am now on to the third person in the chain, although I fear they just pass the call around the call centre, and we are quibbling about the definition of "The time of allocation" for points under section 3 para (b) of the terms and conditions. I suspect it is a little tenuous and of course completely pointless, but I enjoyed it.

......to get to the point. Keep your eye on your points, I know this is already difficult with the lack of transparency, but I trust their systems and processes about as much as I trust investment bankers.

 

[andye]

Systems certainly still flakey though the last error was in my favour.
I'm also a bit embarrassed as I got onto my high horse accusing them of making an unsolicited credit check when it was actually for the Virgin card I had opened and forgotten about