WARNING: Bank of America/Royal Caribbean Points

Thanks to Patty's (cruisenfever) post, I learned that we can now redeem our Visa points online. GREAT news!

However, as a head's up, I'd like to tell you about my experience so you don't get the run around...

When I tried to redeem my points online, I noticed a point discrepancy (NOT in my favor). I called Bank of America to clear this up and was told that effective August 12, 2011 Bank of America no longer handles the points and to call Royal Caribbean to clear up the matter.

I politely explained that it made no sense to call Royal Caribbean as they would have no record of my transaction history, nor would I be giving RCCL private Bank of America account details.

Made sense to me, but not to the Bank of America rep.

He proceeded to give me Royal's phone number so I could clear up the issue with RCCL. I explained (again) that Royal wouldn't have my BofA account info and I'd be wasting my time calling RCCL. He agreed to do a conference call with RCCL. While on the conference call, the Royal Caribbean rep agreed with me and said they only handle POINT REDEMPTION and they have no way to research the credit card activity (DUH!) :rolleyes:.

After 20-25 minutes of this back and forth banter, my BofA guy had a light bulb moment. He was able to straighten out my account without the help of RCCL.

Now you know... Bank of America continues to have their head... well, never mind. You already know. :p

:eek:I have had a terrible time with BOA, trying to redeem my RCCL points. I actually told this one girl she needed to be re-trained!! This was after she told me I couldn't redeem 13,000 points. Then she told me she could not/would not give me my certificate #'s. When I insisted on speaking with her Supervisor, she rattled the numbers right off!! Good Grief-I was so stressed after that phone call! Grrrrrrr I really struggled to be half-way nice....

I found this online, which is interesting. It is saying the card is no longer available through Bank of America. Anyone hear about this:

http://www.financeglobe.com/Finance/card146.php

I found this online, which is interesting. It is saying the card is no longer available through Bank of America. Anyone hear about this:

 

http://www.financeglobe.com/Finance/card146.php

Did you even read the "important notice" at that website?

Who even knows what that site is, looks pretty meaningless to me.

BOA has a long and storied history of poor customer service.

There are much better point cards for travel out there other than a RCI card.

I found this online, which is interesting. It is saying the card is no longer available through Bank of America. Anyone hear about this:

 

http://www.financeglobe.com/Finance/card146.php

Important Notice: This Bank of America credit card is no longer available, or we are no longer authorized by the bank to provide information about this card. We are displaying limited archived data. Some information may be incomplete, inaccurate or missing. We apologize for the inconvenience.

You need to read and comprehend the whole statement.

Sorry guys. Since the OP had said that the rep said they were no longer handling points, I thought this might be related.

<off to head for another cup of coffee to enhance reading comprehension>

I am sure this is going to happen to other folks when they have a point total that is not correct. And if/when it happens, you can not avoid calling BofA and speaking to a rep to get it corrected. Unfortunately, like at RCI, not all reps were given the same training manual. And if they were, they didn't read it from start to finish.:p

I keep track every month on my calendar. When the bill comes I mark down our monthly total and running total underneath.

. . .

 

After 20-25 minutes of this back and forth banter, my BofA guy had a light bulb moment. He was able to straighten out my account without the help of RCCL. . . :p

Light bulb moment = Boss walked by cubicle while he was on conference call :D;):rolleyes:

We usually see discrepencies whenever we make a transaction within a day or so of the statement closing date. Apparently they close the point calculations, then clear the transactions, then close the statement month. Sometimes we've been off by hundreds of points, and sometimes it's just a dozen or so. Usually the following statement picks up the missing points, so over time we seem to be even, but it does drive me a bit nuts when those points would have given me a certificate level that I'd been anticipating.

Sorry guys. Since the OP had said that the rep said they were no longer handling points, I thought this might be related.

 

<off to head for another cup of coffee to enhance reading comprehension>

LOL I think the rep was having a brain f*rt and misunderstood what Michele was really inquiring about. :) The rep was correct in that BofA does not handle points anymore when it comes to redeeming them. However, Michele was calling about missing points, and that is something that BofA does handle because they are the ones that issue the points according to your purchases.

LOL I think the rep was having a brain f*rt and misunderstood what Michele was really inquiring about. :) The rep was correct in that BofA does not handle points anymore when it comes to redeeming them. However, Michele was calling about missing points, and that is something that BofA does handle because they are the ones that issue the points according to your purchases.

Oh, it was more than a brain fart. LOL He kept telling me - AND READING from their "training manual" - that they NO LONGER HANDLE POINTS. He kept telling me over and over again that I'd have to call RCCL for the point discrepancy. He was very aware that I was missing 5000 points and continued to insist that RCCL handled ALL point activity/inquiries/redemption/etc. (When the RCCL rep told him the same things I had said, he didn't seem to believe her, but he wasn't getting anywhere.)

For the record, my points are still MIA, but they are researching them and will get back to me tomorrow. I guess I should have said they are in the process of reconciling my account, but it's not fixed. Yet.

CURTIS - he said his manager was off today, so who knows why the light bulb finally went off?!

. . .CURTIS - he said his manager was off today, so who knows why the light bulb finally went off?!

BOA employee's working without supervision :eek: You're really scaring me now :D;)

Guess I have been lucky. I have never had an issue redeeming points or getting certs from BofA. Always been a piece of cake. Now that we can do them online, I will go that route, but I certainly have nothing but good experiences getting the certs directly through BofA.

Oh, it was more than a brain fart. LOL He kept telling me - AND READING from their "training manual" - that they NO LONGER HANDLE POINTS. He kept telling me over and over again that I'd have to call RCCL for the point discrepancy. He was very aware that I was missing 5000 points and continued to insist that RCCL handled ALL point activity/inquiries/redemption/etc. (When the RCCL rep told him the same things I had said, he didn't seem to believe her, but he wasn't getting anywhere.)

 

For the record, my points are still MIA, but they are researching them and will get back to me tomorrow. I guess I should have said they are in the process of reconciling my account, but it's not fixed. Yet.

 

CURTIS - he said his manager was off today, so who knows why the light bulb finally went off?!

ROFL LOL I'm sorry to be laughing, but your description above of your conversation is priceless. Looks like the "training manual" was proofread by the same people that proofread for RCI.:D

:eek:I have had a terrible time with BOA, trying to redeem my RCCL points. I actually told this one girl she needed to be re-trained!! This was after she told me I couldn't redeem 13,000 points. Then she told me she could not/would not give me my certificate #'s. When I insisted on speaking with her Supervisor, she rattled the numbers right off!! Good Grief-I was so stressed after that phone call! Grrrrrrr I really struggled to be half-way nice....

OK, I'll bite.

How do you redeem 13,000 points?

:eek:I have had a terrible time with BOA, trying to redeem my RCCL points. I actually told this one girl she needed to be re-trained!! This was after she told me I couldn't redeem 13,000 points. Then she told me she could not/would not give me my certificate #'s. When I insisted on speaking with her Supervisor, she rattled the numbers right off!! Good Grief-I was so stressed after that phone call! Grrrrrrr I really struggled to be half-way nice....

OK, I'll bite.

How do you redeem 13,000 points?

Yes, I'd also like to know also since the lowest you can redeem for your own personal use is 5000 points.

Did you donate 3000 points to The Haitian Relief Project?

I called 2 weeks ago to see if my points were applied .. they said nope, so I called today, and they divided my OBC between me and my roomie who Im not related to.

They suggested calling back in to see if the request to put them on my OBC was processed a week before the cruise.

Yikes .. why would they give half my points to someone without asking me?

I called 2 weeks ago to see if my points were applied .. they said nope, so I called today, and they divided my OBC between me and my roomie who Im not related to.

 

They suggested calling back in to see if the request to put them on my OBC was processed a week before the cruise.

 

Yikes .. why would they give half my points to someone without asking me?

How did you fill out the back of the Certificate? Did you check the box for single or double occupancy?

I was trying to get two $50.00 Certificates. I still have the rest of the points on my acct. To be used towards next RCCL cruise plus the rest of the ones I rack up between now and then.

You know-this gal acturally transferred me to RCCL, C&A people, all the time I'm telling her NO, NO, I want to CASH IN MY POINTS....she rudely transferrd me anyway and I had to hang up and call back and I was NOT happy. Dear God, I already dread going thru this again (this was 2 wks ago) so hopefully, I can do it on-line!! :confused:

BOA employee's working without supervision :eek: You're really scaring me now :D;)

Hilarious!!! :D

Guess I have been lucky. I have never had an issue redeeming points or getting certs from BofA. Always been a piece of cake. Now that we can do them online, I will go that route, but I certainly have nothing but good experiences getting the certs directly through BofA.

I've never had a problem reediming points either - it's always been super easy - but this is the first time they've lost my points. :rolleyes:

ROFL LOL I'm sorry to be laughing, but your description above of your conversation is priceless. Looks like the "training manual" was proofread by the same people that proofread for RCI.:D

Laugh away! I do... makes life happier. Agree with the proofers theory. LOL

i've never had a problem with either the calculation or redeeming of my BofA points. I like being able to redeem online. I hope the system works.

:eek:I have had a terrible time with BOA, trying to redeem my RCCL points. I actually told this one girl she needed to be re-trained!! This was after she told me I couldn't redeem 13,000 points. Then she told me she could not/would not give me my certificate #'s. When I insisted on speaking with her Supervisor, she rattled the numbers right off!! Good Grief-I was so stressed after that phone call! Grrrrrrr I really struggled to be half-way nice....

I recently redeemed 20,000. I had hoped to have 25,000 but ended up only having approx 24,755.

From past experience I knew that point redemption was in blocks of 5,000.

I had no problem redeeming for a 5,000 cert and a 15,000 cert. I did request the cert #'s and the BOA rep was a little thrown by my request but came back after a few minutes and gave them to me.

This was one week before it was posted that one can now redeem on-line.

Where did the idea of redeeming 13,000 points come from? I think that is just wrong.

There are much better point cards for travel out there other than a RCI card.

Maybe so, and we have other cards for airline miles and cash back. But we will be taking our 5th free ($2,500 off) cruise in the last 5 years so it's good enough for me.