Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
12/11/2012
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
Airline customers complain about the disappearance and the difficulty to exchange points for tickets
RIO - The dream of being a VIP customer of the airlines as part of loyalty programs becomes a nightmare when one realizes that enjoy major advantages - tickets, discounts and reserved areas at airports - not always easy. Points and miles accumulated for a long time may simply disappear as a result of fraud or administrative decisions of companies.
From January to October this year, the database section of Consumer Protection received 205 complaints related to the disappearance of miles or the difficulty to exchange points for tickets. Debora Costa, for example, said her problems began after Itaú Unibanco buy.
"For years I was client Unicard Unibanco and had a credit card Mastercard no annual fee. When Itaú Unibanco bought, in theory, I would still have the same benefits, one being the program Always Present. Earlier this year, I decided to focus purchases on the card and thus take a free passage to the outside, in order to celebrate with my grandmother, her 90th birthday. Last month, I called customer service. It was when I learned that in May, had been off the program, "wrote Debora.
In a statement, Itaucard reported that "recent changes were made in the Ever-Present due to adjustments of politics practiced by airlines. Such changes were communicated through the program website. "
Renata Busch, LAN client, currently Latam after the merger with TAM, intended to spend seven days in Ecuador in October, using accumulated points. But she was surprised by the changing conditions of the loyalty program.
- I found that, with 28,000 miles that I had, could purchase tickets for roundtrip passage in Sao Paulo-Quito. But for the period chosen, the required amount was 32000 miles. I decided to pay the difference, which reached R$ 200. But when I finished filling out the form on the company website and was going to issue the tickets, I learned that the amount of miles required was greater. I was so upset that I gave up the trip. And the worst is that the validity of my card expires in early 2013 - said Renata.
Another serious problem pointed out by several consumers is the unauthorized transfer of accumulated points. A manager of a large company, who declined to have his name published, said that, on at least five occasions, had stolen miles loyalty program of TAM. She said the disappearance of the bonus was only noticed when trying to wait for the flight in the area reserved for special guests at Santos Dumont Airport.
TAM said in a statement, said that "the data access and loyalty program Multiplus - network of companies and loyalty programs which the TAM Loyalty part - are the sole responsibility of the customer and shall not be disclosed to third parties or emails and sites of unknown origin. " The company asked for more time to see what occurred in the case of Latam.
For the lawyer Amable Fonseca, a specialist in civil law and consumer protection in cases of theft of miles it is a criminal action for punitive damages, because the accumulated points are considered assets of the client.
- The companies themselves point out that the miles are personal and not transferable. Disappear if there is a deviation asset. And that is a crime. The injured person must make a record in a police station and send a written complaint to administering the loyalty program. And the repayment should be done in miles, since there is no way to make real equivalence. The court has been favorable to the consumer in these cases - Amable said, adding that changes in the rules of the programs should be communicated in advance to the customer, and not just be informed on the site.
Before you enroll in a program, the consumer loyalty should check the rules of each company to use the miles. But the director's service Procon-SP, the Selma Amaral, warning that the Consumer Protection Code overrides these rules:
- Companies have, yes, responsibility for the miles disappear. And it is appropriate to reverse the burden of proof, ie, it is the consumer who has to prove that the points are gone because they were victims of fraud.
Source: The Globe
Our news are removed entirely from the sites of our partners. For this reason, we can not change their content even in cases of typos.
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.