Consumer complaint received 2018-04-10
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: MA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms

Complaint:
I did not receive the waiver of no annual fee for the first year that was advertised on the website ( Please see terms and conditions below ) : Pricing & Terms Please take a moment to carefully review the Pricing & Terms below. 
PRICING INFORMATION INTEREST RATES AND INTEREST CHARGES Purchase Annual Percentage Rate ( APR ) 17.24 % to 24.24 %, based on your creditworthiness. These APRs will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.a Balance Transfer APR 17.24 % to 24.24 %, based on your creditworthiness. These APRs will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.a Cash Advance APR 26.24 %. This APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.b How to Avoid Paying Interest on Purchases Your due date will be a minimum of 21 days after the close of each billing cycle. We will not charge you interest on purchases if you pay your entire balance by the due date each month. We will begin charging interest on balance transfers and cash advances on the transaction date. 

Minimum Interest Charge None Credit Card Tips from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau To learn more about factors to consider when applying for or using a credit card, visit the website of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at http : //www.consumerfinance.gov/XXXX. 

FEES Annual Membership Fee {$0.00} Intro fee for the first year. After that, {$95.00} Transaction Fees Balance Transfers Either {$5.00} or 5 % of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater. 

Cash Advances Either {$10.00} or 5 % of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater. 

Foreign Transactions None Penalty Fees Late Payment Up to {$15.00} if the balance is less than {$100.00} ; up to {$27.00} if the balance is {$100.00} to less than {$250.00} ; up to {$37.00} if the balance is {$250.00} or more. 

Return Payment Up to {$37.00}. 

Return Check None I have contacted Chase mulitple times and sent the terms and conditions and they keep saying that this offer does not apply to me, here is the last correspondence trying to get this resolved : I am writing as requested after speaking to XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) regarding an issue I have with my new XXXX credit card XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I got this credit card recently and when I applied online, the offer was that the yearly maintenance fee would be waived in the first year. After logging on to the website portal, I saw that I had been charged the annual fee. I then sent an email asking why I was charged the annual ee and got the following response from Chase : Upon review, offers for the first year annual fee waiver are randomly selected. We are unable to grant your request since your account do not have the offer for the annual fee waiver. 

I am not sure how fees would randomly be selected, that seems very arbitrary and unfair. There was no mention of this in the terms and conditions. 

I then called Customer service to discuss the issue. The representative was very helpful. She did confirm that she saw on the website that the offer included waiving the annual membership in the first year. She said she would escalate the issue and someone would be getting back to me. I had not heard anything so I sent another email to follow up on its status and received the following response : Upon review, we found that the account indeed has a {$95.00} annual fee. We regret to inform you that there was no offer for a first year annual fee waiver. 

I did notice that your website has changed and Chase no longer offers this but it was there when I ordered this credit card. 
In the meantime, I did get a letter in the mail which stated The first annual fee waiver does not apply to your account but did not give a reason why. 

I then followed with another call to customer service today and was transferred to a manager/supervisor ( XXXX ) and went through all of the history again. She asked if I had a copy of the terms and condition and I told her that I did have a copy. In the Fees section, it states {$0.00} Intro fee for the first year, after that {$95.00}. I have included a copy in this letter and highlighted the area in yellow. 

This has been a frustrating experience for me for the following reasons : Originally I was told that the waiving of the fee was random and I was not selected which seems arbitrary and unfair. 
Subsequent email indicated that there was no offer to waive the first annual fee. I had talked to a customer representative who did confirm that that she saw that offer on the website and escalated the issue. 
Mail sent to my home provided no explanation on why the waiver did not apply to my account. I still was not provided a reason after calling into customer service. No one could explain to me on why it did not apply to me. 
After being transferred to a supervisor, it looked like the burden of proof was going to be shifted to me and she was surprised when I said I had a copy of the Pricing and Terms and asked me to send this letter. 
I am not looking for anything that was not advertised on the web site. I would like the annual fee to be waived as per the highlighted section in the terms and conditions enclosed with this email. As a new customer, this has not been a good initial impression ; I am hoping you will rectify this issue quickly and waive the annual fee.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief