HH, "status," and the elusive fraud dept.
When did Hilton Honors customer service get SO BAD?? Hilton has been my go-to for work travel for the last ten years and it feels like loyalty is no longer a concept to them. Does everyone get this feeling?
Four months ago, someone attempted to drain my honors account, so I called them to report it. They offered to lock it down while I changed passwords and removed it from my Amazon account (the source of the fraud). Diamond Desk ("DD") associate Anna gave me the steps to take to get the HH account unlocked once everything was cleared up, and she confirmed I'd still be able to *earn* points meanwhile. A couple days later I emailed Hilton-- using the email address she gave me-- that I was good for them to unlock the account. Meanwhile I've been able to log on, I continue getting emails, nothing looks amiss.
Yesterday I went to book a vacation stay and the system wouldn't let me book with points. I called and noticed how rough the "customer service" was, but I assumed it was because I was calling near midnight. The DD associate said my account is still locked and there's no way to talk to the fraud department-- I need to send an email and wait. I told her I already emailed them four months ago and asked to escalate the call... "There's no one to escalate the call to." I asked if they could hold the points rate for me while I wait for them to respond... No. I asked if I put the room on my credit card and then convert it to points... No. I asked if being a Diamond member made a difference... No.
Are all of Hilton's operations staff fully remote now? Do they get any training? Have all abilities to problem-solve been taken away from their associates?
And what's the point of loyalty if they tell you to just wait for an email response??
UPDATE: In response to my email to the fraud dept that said, "you still have my account locked. I need you to unlock it immediately so I can book my hotel," they emailed me instructions explaining how to use my HH points to make purchases on Amazon. Can the level of customer service sink any lower? Stay tuned.