Why do I do this?
I usually have good sense about internet stuff. Don't do it! It consumes vast quantities of time and the returns are pitiful against the time invested and frequently just don't appear anyway.
I have so far managed to eschew the Marriott pollute-your-facebook-by-liking-stuff-you-don't-really-know-whether-you-like which promises 2000 points per month in tranches of 25 points each time. That's a lot of "liking" a lot of stuff I'm not sure I like anyway! And I'm not sure my friends here in England will find my posts indicating that I really do like the Fairfield Inn at the side of some freeway in Idaho that useful, or honest!
My friends are obviously of a similar ilk as I've not received any posts from them indicating how much they adore the Courtyard at some convenient intersection of the Interstate.
SO how come I didn't manage to resist the double your Marriott elite for 1000 points? Well I guess I thought one day I might actually fly United... And it seemed an easy 1000 points. All I needed to do for the points was click on a link and "double my elite" or some such advertising nonsense.I clicked and...
No 1000 points. Fool me once, shame on you Marriott...
Just a webpage telling me that as a Marriott plat I'd get 1000 points and silver united membership by clicking here.... Oh deary me... I'm being sucked in... So I click again.... This time I end up at United Airlines fanfaring their membership scheme. Now so far I've never travelled on united Airlines and have no plans to do so, but, you never know, and I'd get 1000 points, right??? And of course I've wasted quite a bit of time so far so am feeling committed to this by now.
So I fill in the form, it's lengthy and none-to-UK oriented, making it awkward and lengthy to complete. But at last it's done, send, and I'll get my 1000MR points now, right?
Nope. No 1000 points. Fool me twice Marriott, shame on me
Now I have to link my Marriott account with my UA account, and at long last those (by now) hard earned 1000MR points will be mine. They have to be, I've now invested over half an hour of my time in this pursuit... Surely just one more step.... NO AGAIN!!! Just a webpage telling me my MR account couldn't link to my United account...
Fool me thrice. Well only the internet could do that, and it seems United Airlines, and Marriott. Remember, this was meant to be a one-click action...
So the moral of the story? Don't be a fool for free MR points. Even if you do get them they're a real drag on your time, and when relying on companies talking to each other to get the points... Hmmmm, how often can they fool me?
And to both Marriott and UA, I'm not sure such "bait and switch" tactics actually benefit either of you here even though its obviously considered the norm in the internet world of con-artists and shysters, I will be very much more cautious about Marriott bearing gifts of points for just sharing....