Passenger Trains > He who hesitates...

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,2632046,2632046#msg-2632046

My fellow TO members told me to hurry, get off the dime, time was running out. I got busy with Christmas and other things, and forgot all about the CO/AGR points transfer; my loss!

However, I do have a couple of other points related questions.

I find the "points for store purchases" a little confusing. As I understand it, you have to make your purchase on line, and you have to go through the links at Amtrak Guest Rewards to reach the merchant.

That is where the knowledge base seems to end. I went to Apple through Guest Rewards and bought an iPad on 12/17/11. (Before you start yelling at me that it could take 90 days to get the points, I know!) What I find confusing is, that during my entire purchase experience, there was no link back or mention of AGR. Also, I had an on line chat with an account rep. at Apple about the iPad, and during the chat, I asked about AGR. She had no clue, and even asked around. Nobody had a clue as to what it was or how it worked. It must be some more of all that "good" in house training that businesses are giving their employees these days.

My other question (the above paragraph does have 'implied' questions) is, why doesn't AGR have a page that says "points pending" or similar, or did I miss that?

Thanks, and Happy New Year.

poffcapt

Oh - Roomette on a Heritage Car on The Montrealer.

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poffcapt Wrote:
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> I find the "points for store purchases" a little confusing. As I understand it, you have to make
> your purchase on line, and you have to go through the links at Amtrak Guest Rewards to reach the
> merchant.
>
> That is where the knowledge base seems to end. I went to Apple through Guest Rewards and bought an
> iPad on 12/17/11. (Before you start yelling at me that it could take 90 days to get the points, I
> know!) What I find confusing is, that during my entire purchase experience, there was no link back
> or mention of AGR. Also, I had an on line chat with an account rep. at Apple about the iPad, and
> during the chat, I asked about AGR. She had no clue, and even asked around. Nobody had a clue as
> to what it was or how it worked. It must be some more of all that "good" in house training that
> businesses are giving their employees these days.
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While I do not know specifically how Amtrak Guest Rewards handles this, it's pretty typical of frequent-traveler
programs. The frequent-flyer airline programs in which I participate are no better when it comes to outside-vendor sales that are supposed
to earn miles to your account. You buy your stuff and feel like you are in the dark about the whole affair. The miles show up...eventually.

===================================================

> My other question (the above paragraph does have 'implied' questions) is, why doesn't AGR have a
> page that says "points pending" or similar, or did I miss that?

====================================================

Guest Rewards, if it operates like those airline frequent traveler programs, doesn't know Thing Number One about those outside-vendor
purchases until that outside vendor sends the data to Guest Rewards, so they don't know that ANY points are pending.