I have had my points taken twice from Air Canada. First, I discovered that my points had been taken the day before I had travelled. I was livid and attempted to contact them. The problem was that I had moved to the Middle East and couldn't phone them. Unfortunately, even though the rest of the world uses internet correspondance, Aeroplan doesn't. I did call them to ask why my points had been taken, put back on two weeks later (after I had already flown) and then removed again two weeks later but nobody answered the phone. I had never received any correspondance from them stating that my 62000 points would disappear and never got any response.
So I decided to give them another chance, especially since Air Canada seems to have a monopoly on international travel. What a mistake. I flew three times round trip England to Van. The last time I flew was December 2008 but, having had bad expereiences in the past, I was careful to only book through Avis when renting a car and used my card for approved hotels between Dec 2008 and the present. Turns out that I went to check my point balance the other day only to discover that they were gone again - 28000, this time. I was livid.
I waited a few days to call and have just gotten off of the phone. I was informed that only a few of the Avis locations are affiliated with Aeroplan (although Avis stated that all of their locations are affiliated) and that it was my problem. The woman on the phone was excessively rude (my husband was truly shocked by how rude the "customer service" rep was) and then put me on long distance hold for 20mins to "check on something". In the end, I was told there was nothing that could be done and that it was too bad. I couldn't believe it!
We've now decided we will never fly with Air Canada again. I am ashamed to say that such a substandard airline carries Canada on it's planes. I have been more than responsible in this matter but have decided, since Aeroplan and Air Canada are not held accountable for bad business practice and consumer affairs, that I can not endorse nor recommend this company or its affiliates to anyone. What a shame to have to boycott so many Canadian companies - and what does all of this say to non Canadians about Canadian business?
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