Update on Verizon Shopping Mall Mistakes

Last month there were two major shopping mall mishaps:

First the American Airlines AAdvantage shopping site advertised a Verizon headset that would score 83,871 which Gary at View from the Wing covered.

Then there was the Delta Skymiles Shopping chargers for 2,300 Delta miles. Not so bad for a $5 purchase.

Well, both of them ended up being mistakes, but you can still get some miles out of them if you purchased either.

First, for AA all you need to do is submit an inquiry/missing miles request on this page and include the following information:
"I ordered the Verizon headset. I now understand that was a mistake, but here is my information. Can you please credit my account with 2,500 AA miles with the option to get another 2,500 with my next purchase? Thanks!
- AAdvantage number XXXXXXX
- Name Brian Kelly
- Email address xxx@gmail.com
- Verizon Order ID 1234567"

My reply several days later (there's no information about restocking/sending it back but you should email them for return information if you want the restocking fee to be waived):
"As you may be aware, certain Verizon Wireless accessories were displaying on the AAdvantage eShoppingTM mall with an incorrect offer of 83,871 American Airlines AAdvantage® miles on Wednesday, August 10, 2011. This was the result of a Cartera Commerce, Inc. system error. We apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused you, and will describe below the steps we are taking to remedy the situation

While the offer featured on the AAdvantage eShopping mall website gave a visual indication that online purchases of certain Verizon Wireless accessories would award 83,871 AAdvantage miles, this clearly was a mistake given the price of the item and the terms of the mileage offer for the purchase of new wireless service plans. Verizon’s Terms and Conditions for the offer clearly state that miles only can be earned on new wireless service plans, and not for accessories purchases. The specific Terms & Conditions language – which was available on the offer details page – is as follows:

“Reward eligible for reward plans only (new service, family share, add a line, upgrade and prepay). Reward is not eligible on accessories.”

In addition, the Terms and Conditions for the AAdvantage eShopping program, which apply to all purchases, also state that the conditions and restrictions imposed by the merchant define the requirements for a qualifying purchase and control your eligibility for AAdvantage miles.

While each of these Terms & Conditions relieve Cartera from an obligation to award AAdvantage miles for any accessory purchases which were incorrectly advertised as including a miles offer, we nevertheless realize this error may have encouraged you to buy an accessory you didn’t need or intend to keep. We therefore would like to offer you the following AAdvantage bonus miles:

· We will automatically post 2,500 AAdvantage bonus miles to your AAdvantage account within the next 10 business days.
· You will earn an additional 2,500 AAdvantage bonus miles if you make a new purchase through the AAdvantage eShopping mall in the next 30 days* (in addition to any other mileage offer associated with that qualifying purchase). AAdvantage bonus miles will be posted to your AAdvantage account within 45 days after the date the merchant notifies Cartera of a qualifying purchase.

If you have any additional questions about this matter, please contact us. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to your continued use of the AAdvantage eShopping mall to maximize your mileage earning."

With the Verizon Delta mistake, you can get 500 miles. Just submit a similar request here.
Contact: Brian Kelly
Reason for Inquiry: Miles have not posted within 45 days (transaction prior to 9/30/2009)
Date of Inquiry: 9/15/2011

Details: I ordered an item from Verizon and was supposed to get 2,300 miles. The order number is 1234567

Can you look into this? Thanks!

About a week later I got the following response:

"Recently certain Verizon Wireless accessories were displaying on the Delta SkyMiles® Shopping Mall with an incorrect offer of 2,300 Delta Skymiles. This was the result of a Cartera Commerce, Inc. system error. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, and would like to remedy the situation.

While the offer featured on the Delta SkyMiles Shopping Mall gave a visual indication that online purchases of certain Verizon Wireless accessories would award 2,300 miles, this clearly was a mistake given the price of the item and the terms of the mileage offer limiting miles earning to the purchase of new wireless service plans. Verizon’s Terms and Conditions for the offer clearly state that miles can only be earned on new wireless service plans, and not for accessories purchases. The specific Terms & Conditions language – which was available on the offer details page – is as follows:

“Reward eligible for reward plans only (new service, family share, add a line, upgrade and prepay). Reward is not eligible on accessories.”

In addition, the Terms and Conditions for the Delta SkyMiles Shopping Mall, which apply to all purchases, also state that the conditions and restrictions imposed by the merchant define the requirements for a qualifying purchase, control your eligibility for miles and limit liability for inaccuracies on the Delta SkyMiles Shopping Mall.

While each of these Terms & Conditions relieve Cartera from an obligation to award miles for any accessory purchases which were incorrectly displayed as including a miles offer, we nevertheless realize this error was an inconvenience to you and may have encouraged you to buy an accessory you did not need or intend to keep. For your inconvenience, we therefore would like to offer you the following one time courtesy bonus:

· We will automatically post 500 bonus miles to your Delta SkyMiles account within the next 10 business days.

In addition to the bonus miles, we would like to make it as easy as possible for you to return the Verizon Wireless accessory if it was not a product you intended to use or keep. To return the accessory, please send a copy of your receipt and the accessory to: Cartera Commerce, Inc., One Cranberry Hill, Lexington, MA 02421, Attn: Delta SkyMiles Customer Support. Please note that even if you decide to return the accessory, you are still eligible for the one time courtesy bonus miles described above.

If you have any additional questions about this matter, please contact us. Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to your continued use of the Delta SkyMiles Shopping Mall to maximize your mileage earning."
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