Consumer complaint received 2017-05-02
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers — Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION (CA)

I received an offer via e-mail from  USAA  suggesting that I use my  USAA  Preferred Cash Rewards  XXXX  and, as a result, that I would be given a {$200.00} Reward Bonus. This e-mail stated, "  XXXX , if you have n't already, you can earn a {$200.00} bonus reward when you make  XXXX  or more qualifying purchases on your new  USAA   XXXX  credit card account ending in # # # # by    XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   . '' Later, in the 'fine print ' it reads, " To receive the {$200.00} Reward Bonus you must ( 1 ) apply for and be approved for the  USAA   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  credit card between  XX/XX/XXXX  and  XX/XX/XXXX , and (  2  ) complete  XXXX  Qualifying purchases between the time the account is opened and  XX/XX/XXXX . A  Qualifying Purchase  is any purchase with a merchant that accepts your card, but excludes any balance transfers, convenience checks, and other cash advances. '' I did everything exactly as it says in the description of the promotion. My application for the credit card was approved on  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  . I kept copies of both the offer and the list of transactions, including each qualifying merchant purchase, all of which occurred between   XXXX   XXXX   and   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  .     I phoned the company to inquire about the  Bonus  Reward Points in  XXXX  and they told me that the points would n't show up until late  XXXX . I called them back on   XXXX   XXXX   and the customer service representative said that the bonus did not apply because I was approved for the card after   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX  . A subsequent customer service representative, to which I was forwarded by the first representative, asked me to scan my documents on my scanner and send in the paperwork showing the terms of the offer and the paper showing all of the qualifying purchases. She kept me on the phone for over an hour and kept saying that she could not see the documents that I scanned and sent in, she needed to put me on hold while she checked on  (  an endless list of ) something  ( s ) . At the end of the conversation the woman promised that she would get to the bottom of the situation and call me back to leave a message. I never got this phone call.     The next day, I called the company back and the customer service representative apparently had no record of my phone call the day before. She said that she reviewed the documents that I had sent but that, because the card was approved after    XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   , the offer did n't apply. This was, of course, despite the fact that the documents that I had sent in very clearly stated that the deadline was    XXXX   XXXX   XXXX        In addition to these fraudulent activities it was readily apparent that the customer service representatives are trained to put people on hold for ridiculously long periods of time in the hope that they will just give up and hang up their phones. When I finally decided that this business was flagrantly committing fraud, I decided that I needed to cancel my credit cards issued through their bank. First the representative continued putting me on hold  ( again ), thi s time for even more ridiculously long periods of time. Then the customer service representative insisted that, before she could cancel my credit cards, she was required to read to me a [ never-ending ] set of documents that must serve as reading material for a filibuster in congress. After listening to her read this material for several minutes it became clear to me that she, and this company, had no intention of allowing me to cancel my credit cards, just as they had no intention of honoring their bogus rewards offer.     There needs to be some sort of recourse for consumers who become the victim of these kinds of fraudulent scams so that the companies perpetrating them are held financially accountable. If a company sends out an advertisement promising rewards then they should be required to honor the offer when a customer complies. Also, repeatedly putting customers on hold for extended periods of time, when they 're simply trying to perform a routine transaction such as canceling a credit card, is more than just rude. This unscrupulous tactic allows these businesses to retain accounts on " customers '' that may later lead to the accounts being misused or billed for service charges. This is somewhat similar to the  XXXX   XXXX  scandal where people were signed up for accounts that they did n't open. Except that, in this case, the company is just refusing to close an account that customers are trying to close. The end result is the same, however : a consumer with some extraneous account that they do n't want and a happy bank representative with another small bonus.