Consumer complaint received 2023-01-07
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.
State: MD
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Confusing or misleading advertising about the credit card

Complaint:
My husband and I went to our scheduled appointment on XX/XX/XXXX at our local Chase bank ( located at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, MD XXXX ) to create a joint checking and savings account as we had just gotten married earlier this year. 

Towards the end of the appointment, the relationship banker we were meeting with essentially upsold us on a credit card, citing an exciting brand new offer of 5 % cash back on groceries and wholesale clubs. We were not really interested in getting a new credit card, but since groceries and wholesale clubs do make up a significant part of our monthly expenses, we asked more about it and ended up applying for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. 

As we were getting ready to sign the disclosures, the banker said something to the effect of " wow, this offer is so new that it does not even appear on this screen, but don't worry, I see it in my system and it should update soon. '' We took her at her word and she pulled up the XXXX page disclosures document on her monitor across the desk from us. We scrolled quickly past all the pages and electronically signed where we needed to sign. I jokingly asked, " does anyone ever sit here and try to read the whole document across the desk from you while you wait? '' and she laughed and said no almost never. 

When the card arrived in the mail on XX/XX/XXXX, we noted that the 5 % cash back on groceries and wholesale clubs was not noted anywhere in the paperwork or other materials that accompanied the card. I reached out to the banker via email that same day ( see attached email chain ) and noted the discrepancy, indicating I also called Chase customer service and the corporate line confirmed that promotional offer was not a benefit of our account. The banker never answered the email but called me and assured me she would escalate the case with the credit card team. 

Chase 's corporate credit card services team concluded their " investigation '' and sent us a response on XX/XX/XXXX, just saying that our account isn't eligible for the offer we requested ( see attached email chain where this response is screenshotted and shared with the banker ). 

After this point, the banker re-escalated the complaint to try to get us the offer she had promised us and it was again rejected at the corporate level with the customer service team ( case # - XXXX ). We became very upset because the bank ran our credit for a card we didn't want unless it came with the benefit we were promised, and now no one at Chase was taking accountability for their mistake. 

I was referred to the branch manager ( XXXX XXXX | XXXX XXXX | XXXX | T : XXXX ) who assured me she was taking this case very seriously and was going to try to get us an equivalent offer or some form of compensation because of the hit to our credit scores, especially since we are saving up to buy a home. 

I don't have a good records ( especially dates ) for the conversations that followed because the branch team refused to put anything in writing ( they would only call me ). They also never answered a request to send us a copy of the disclosures we signed ( see email chain ). XXXX took a long time to get back to me next, but when she did, it was not with good news. Apparently, the offer of the 5 % cash back on groceries was not actually active and available to us until the day after we had gone in to meet with the banker, on XX/XX/XXXX. As a result, we unknowingly applied for the previous promotion which did not include this benefit. Because we signed the disclosures, Chase said there was nothing they could/would do ( even though we acted on the good faith understanding of what the banker had told us, and the disclosures are infeasibly long and awkward to review in those situations ). 

XXXX had evidently talked to her boss several times to either 1. get the original offer put on our card, 2. get an equivalent offer added, 3. get us some form of compensation, and/or 4. waive the hard credit inquiry requirement so that we could cancel and re-apply for the card, which would now have the active grocery promotion, without taking a hit to our credit. BUT if we did this we were not guaranteed to be approved given we would have previously applied for and cancelled the card. 

Each and every attempt was rejected at the corporate level. When I asked her what options we had, she said the only thing we could do was keep the card and not use it, or cancel the card and take yet another hit to our credit. Completely unacceptable. 

She once again put me in touch with the cardmember services team, and the only solution they came up with was for us to apply for ANOTHER card ( Chase freedom Flex ) which has a similar 5 % cash back on groceries ( not wholesale ) benefit. We ended up applying and getting this card, because we still wanted the benefit, only to find out this benefit is only active for the 1st year you have the card ( which the representative did not tell us ). 

All in all, it was a string of misleading benefits and promotional terms, dishonest practices of upselling and making disclosures impossible to review or get copies of, erroneous actions by the bank, and total lack of accountability or common sense customer service by chase at all levels. It amounts to false advertising with an adverse affect to our credit scores.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief