clarkef

You are a licensed US attorney? Assuming that you are, then you know that the beginning of the discussion must be the rights and remedies of the various contracting parties, as outlined in the contract. You cannot meaningfully discuss remedies for any purported violation until we understand which contract provision Marriott is supposed to have violated. Moreover, from an admittedly cursory glance of the Terms and Conditions, you contention has serious vulnerabilities, to wit Section 1.7a and 1.7b.

************************************************** *********************
1.7.a. Cancelling or Suspending Membership Accounts

ii. Cancelling or Suspending by the Company. The Company may cancel a Member’s accumulated Points, suspend Loyalty Program benefits, suspend Elite Membership Status, suspend Lifetime Elite Membership Status (which will subsequently also remove protection against the forfeiture of Points should the member become inactive as described in Section 1.6.d.), or cancel a Member’s Account at any time with immediate effect and without written notice, for any reason and in the Company's sole discretion including, without limitation, if the Company believes the Member has:

F. Engaged in any misconduct or wrongdoing in connection with the Loyalty Program including, without limitation, with respect to Points, Elite Night Credit, Award usage, or any other Loyalty Program Member benefits.

************************************************** *******************

The short answer is that Marriott believes that certain behaviors, which apparently include high point accumulation, warrant investigation. Whether you or I concur with that assessment, is irrelevant. With regards to your monetary damages assertion, that claim will have to survive Section 1.7b "Awards and other related benefits and services have no cash value and the Company will not compensate or pay cash for any forfeited or unused Points."

Admittedly, my review is cursory at best, certainly not with the rigor that I would apply to a client's matter. Accordingly, if you know of a contractual provision, or law, which Marriott's actions in freezing your account, have violated which would support legal action, I am certainly all ears.

SuchThrill

The quote you cite is unenforceable, as you surely know. The Company cannot cancel or suspend "for any reason." Can the Company do so on the basis of, say, racial discrimination? Or sexual discrimination? Of course not. To wit, "for any reason" is nonbinding. You surely know that. Merely asserting it can, in any provision of the contract, does not supercede other law, and does not permit arbitrary and capricious withholding of earned value. My "arbitrary and capricious" burden of proof is easily met and demonstrated by the acknowledgements Marriott reps have already conceded to me in this matter.

Oxon Flyer

Just curious : does this "creative transfers" thread indicate that Marriott Audit may have reasons other than "high earning" to take an interest in this account ?

AmEx Rewards Points upon death - Page 2 - FlyerTalk Forums

Dr. HFH

Then you know that you have all sorts of problems should you litigate.

* You know that you need to establish both liability and damages. Even assuming that you can get around the contractual terms regarding liability (a big if, IMO), what are your damages? You need to stay in a hotel for a family emergency and cannot afford to pay for a room while Marriott sorts this out? You're not going to be able to care for your family member as a result of this points freeze?

* And what might you be awarded in the unlikely event that you prevail? I could see a court refunding the cash amount you paid, but not more. Will that have been worth it? What's your hourly billing rate?

* Generally, the defendant in a small claims action can opt to remove it to the regular civil list. I would guess that the Marriott investigation will be completed months before discovery is completed.

* How are you going to answer questions in your deposition about why you couldn't/wouldn't just pay cash so that you could attend the family emergency?

* And, of course, one of Marriott's defenses will undoubtedly be that when they see a large volume of activity in an account, they want to ensure that there is no fraud involved, lest a Bonvoy program member sue them for not taking appropriate precautions to prevent fraud in the face of unusually large activity.

And being a contracts lawyer, you can probably think of more potential problems for yourself than I, a lowly domestic relations litigator.


Interesting, a year ago OP needed the transfer done quickly, too.Is this the same family member who was in medical decline a year ago? If so, I'm glad to hear that you had another year with him/her. That said, you haven't been able to figure this out during the past 11 months? That might tell you something about the feasibility of what you're seeking to do.
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Xero

I'm not a lawyer here so this is my own personal opinion and not legal advice. I am going to assume you live in the USA.

I can only argue from the USA. Typically, USA seems to be very pro TOS. This includes how to perform a dispute with Marriott. Yes, a company is legally allowed to make you sign a contract as well as state that you cannot sue them if you disagree. They may force small claims court or arbitration. Also, note that in the USA, points are not considered income nor property. They are owned by the company.

Give Marriott 30 days to resolve the issue. Assuming you cooperate with the audit, there is a good chance that your account will be restored. In fact, email them and ask them what you can do to expedite the process. Be sure to be polite in your emails. Also, DO NOT threaten to sue. Threatening to sue will basically cause a company to cease all communication with you.

Elliott.org has a great article on self-advocacy as well as published executive contacts from Marriott if you need to go up the ladder. Only go up the ladder once you have exhausted standard customer service. Here are some helpful articles:
https://www.elliott.org/advocacy/how...lliott-method/
https://www.elliott.org/advocacy/wan...e-five-things/
https://www.elliott.org/problem-solv...ull-ever-make/
https://www.elliott.org/company-cont...ntact-details/

And if all this fails, then consider reaching out to a consumer advocate or media. A lot of stations have consumer advocacy divisions. For example, "7 By Your Side*.

scubadu

So... your an attorney that practices contract law and are adamant that you are right and will be successful, but you've come onto a public internet forum to ask a bunch of completely anonymous, non-law expert travel enthusiasts what you should do? Ummm, ok...

I'm also guessing that a successful contract attorney would be able to cover the cost of "urgent" travel, as necessary, while this plays out (as inconvenient or annoying as that might be)

Regards

Schnit

I cannot imagine they cut off an account for just earning too many points. Did you book multiple hotels for the same night? Redeem multiple hotels for the same night? Anything else strange like that?

margarita girl

This. They aren’t your points.

Same is true for airline miles. They belong to the airline that granted them to you.

MarkCron

I wonder if the OP has even read the T&Cs of the program?
short blunt answer ... No, do not sue over this.

ofj

And yet there have been divorce cases where one party was required to transfer significant miles/points to the other. How is that possible, if those points don't even belong to the individuals in question? So, yeah, not to argue with you or the others here, but - the American legal justice system = a joke.

ofj

Not really. Accounts in this space (FlyerTalk) are not under real names. Furthermore, it's not a sworn statement or similar - anything anyone says or writes here, can be construed as a joke or sarcasm, if nothing else. The context and environment in which statements are made is important.

Kacee

The details concerning subject transaction(s) are strangely lacking here, which is often the case in these sorts of threads.
Good luck with that strategy.

If you're really an attorney, you should already know that Marriott holds all the cards here, for example Section 9.4 of T&C:

KingCanute

An Ambassador with no Bonvoy CCs, who never registers for promotions, and who never chooses points as a welcome gift, would earn 402,500 points a year just by spending exactly $23k to qualify. In reality many will earn a lot more than that, and some over 1 million a year, seemingly without audit at that level if the lack of reports here are anything to go by.

If a Titanium is earning that sort of number that's some impressively fancy hotel stays. Not impossible of course but there may well be some transfers or other activity that has flagged the account, whether the OP is aware of it or not.

Being told there's an arbitrary earning limit may just be part of a policy to make an excuse in such cases, or an ad-lib in an attempt to end the call. Sharing the apparent threshold figure would still be useful though.

Dr. HFH

No, the American legal system isn't a joke. Having litigated this very issue, the points can sometimes be transferred between family members, so in those cases they are transferred before the divorce decree becomes final.

When they cannot be transferred, if they are to be divided in whole or part, the spouse who has them is required to keep them in trust for the other spouse. S/he is not allowed to use them, except on request of the other spouse. If the owning spouse misuses the points, the court will usually make him/her buy the tickets for the other spouse up to as many tickets as the points would have provided.

See? Works just fine!

PLeblond

You agreed to there terms and conditions when you signed up. It clearly states: "for any reason and in the Company's sole discretion including, without limitation, if the Company believes the Member has:" This is not innocent until proven guilty, its shoot first and ask questions later, just like a bank or government freezing assets while they make their case.

Also, I can't speak for Marriott points, but a few airline points I looked up specifically state that points never belong to the member, so in essence you most likely don't own the points, but rather Marriott allows you access to points it assigned to your account.

You may, of course, take legal action, but I'm pretty sure you will end up spending a lot of money and end up SOL and probably cause even further delay to their investigation.