There are times when I’m forced to use Points.com – like when I want to purchase US Airways Miles – I don’t have a choice in the matter, I must use Points.com. I dread the days when I have to log onto Points.com – it’s like a modern form of torture. Am I alone here? I had an issue with my US Airways points purchase (they’re running a 100% bonus right now) and so I began the dreadful process of trying to track down the problem. Here’s what actually happened:
1) Oh look, the log-in page has fully loaded and it’s blank- can’t log in! (Tried Chrome and IE)
2.) Closed and Opened Browser twice, refreshed 5 times and finally the log-in part loaded, but no images!
3. ) I’m in, finally! But oh, wait, it says there’s 94 opportunities, but nothings loading and again, what’s with the images?
4.) I wonder if they support Thai Airways? Let’s see…oops, something went wrong with this page!
5.) Oh, forget it…let me just try to figure out why my US Airways points purchase hasn’t posted yet. Oops, now the whole the page is blank!
6.) Oy! I’ll just call for help. Oh, well, maybe not tonight. Who offers customer support between 10am – 4pm EST? Those are the worst customer support hours I’ve ever heard of! It’s called customer support because you’re there to support customers…they have problems outside of 10am – 4pm EST (and I guess no one in LA has problems after 1pm EST – are they even awake then?)
7.) No way to get help now, let me try searching. Hmmm…not exactly the results I was looking for (pretty much just as bad as US Airways Automated Phone System – I’ll tell you that story later)
8.) I wonder if I can use some of my unused points? Unexpected error…guess not
9.) I’ll send them some feedback about the site’s issues…oh, wait…dead link, forget it
10) I better check to see who runs this company before I blog…how ironic, the CEOs photo doesn’t load!
I experience these types of problems with Points.com 9 out of 10 times that I use the site. I stopped using them ages ago to actually track my points balances – TripIt Pro solved that problem. I really have no use for Points.com other than purchasing miles and what an effort that is!
What do you think? Do you experience Points.com problems?
I agree with you. Points.com is terrible. Earlier this year I had issues with my AA miles and when I looked up what I could get for my mileage… was disgraceful. I ended up spending all but 18 points on magazine subscriptions! Otherwise, I would have only gotten one $25 gift card for 10,818 points?????
Wendy
Ps. I am going to use the 13 subscriptions for my clients to create therapeutic collages, so I guess it’s a wash. 🙂
Awesome post! Point.com is a complete waste of bandwidth!
@Wendy, that sounds like a great use of miles!
I believe that Randy Peterson is an owner of this site. Perhaps you can send your complainants to him!
I made a US Airways mileage purchase several hours ago and they did not post instantly as expected/reported on FT. Didn’t even get an acknowledgement email from points.com confirming the transaction.
Now am going to have to wait until midnight here in Australia for their live chat customer service to open…
Great post (especially with the screenshots)!
@ Gene – I don’t think that Randy owns Points.com, they’re a publicly traded (NASDAQ) company (PCOM).
Only use it since AA has a partnership with them and will not provide the same cooperation to Award Wallet.
@Aadvantageek – thank you!
@gene – Aadvantagegeek is correct, Ponts.com is not owned or affiliated with Randy Peterson, Boarding Area or any of the companies Randy owns/operates. I did my research.
I also received an email this morning from the Points.com Director of Consumer Products. I certainly never blog to get direct responses from companies, though it’s nice to see that Points.com is reading the web and paying attention! After I see what happens from that interaction I will update my blog post.
They are a start-up. I imagine with this level of site issues they are probably going bust.