Consumer complaint received 2019-03-22
Company: DISCOVER BANK
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems
Sub-issue: Problem with rewards from credit card

Complaint:
In XX/XX/XXXX/XX/XX/XXXX, my husband and I received promotions for Discover credit cards that offered " 5 % cash back on everything ''. We quickly applied and were approved. ( I believe I even called Discover to confirm it was 5 % cash back on everything ). In XX/XX/XXXX, we began using our Discover cards for ALL our purchases, expecting 5 % cash back, but I called Discover today and we are only getting 5 % on certain categories of products, with a ceiling on how much cash back we can receive, and only for this XX/XX/XXXX, and were getting 1 % cash back on everything else. 

On XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, I received emails telling me to " activate 5 % cash back '', which was a quarterly program on certain categories of products ( groceries, gas, etc. ). We should've already had 5 % cash back on everything, so I thought this was an additional bonus and I activated it. I suspect that when I activated this, the original cashback reward program we were enrolled in changed, because nothing in the original offer ( a ) put any limitations on cash back purchase categories or ( b ) put a timeframe ( quarterly ) on the offer or ( c ) mentioned we would receive 1 % cashback on everything else. 

A Supervisor named XXXX at Discover in OH ( XXXX ) told me today " if I had the original offer they could adjust my account. '' Unfortunately, I don't have the original offer code, but I've asked them to have their " applications team '' look up our original applications with the specific " offer code '' they gave us, which would prove the details of their original offer. Unfortunately, they are in complete control of the outcome of this investigation -- because they ( a ) are the only ones who have the offer code ( I mean, who saves those? ) and ( b ) they can say whatever they want about what the details of the original offer were. 

Until we got our Discover cards, we had been using a credit card that offered 3 % on everything. We would never have knowingly switched to a card that only offered 1 % on everything and 5 % just on certain categories of purchases, only for one quarter, and with a limit on how much cash back we could receive. 

In the first 5 months that weve been Discover cardholders, weve spent at least {$13000.00} on one of the cards, so we were expecting about {$650.00} ( 5 % ) cash back. Weve received {$160.00} so far. Thats about {$500.00} that we were expecting but wont get. 

I was misled, and Im not sure how to prove it to you now. Who saves credit card offers they receive in the mail? I believe that Discover assumes that people do not receive those mailed promotional offers and takes advantage of peoples innocence to later bait and switch the rewards program they offer you when they see just how much cashback youd be eligible for under the original offer. 

Well see the outcome of their investigation, but I dont trust them anymore.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation