Consumer complaint received 2021-02-10
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: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (VT)

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email offer for 4 % cash back on all non-Amazon purchases with my card. I forwarded the offer to my husband and suggested we begin using the Chase card to take advantage of this offer through the holidays. We discussed it and agreed to do just that. I immediately sat back down at my computer and followed the ACTIVATE NOW button in the email. 

While I can not say exactly what happened when I did that, I am certain that I was confident that the offer was activated. If I had been prompted to wait until receiving an activation confirmation or anything of the sort, I would have waited before using the card. 

My statements clearly reflect that prior to XX/XX/XXXX all of the purchases on this card were from Amazon ONLY. Beginning on XX/XX/XXXX - the day after I activated this offer - I began using this card for all household shopping, believing we were accumulating 4 % as promised in the email solicitation. In fact, we made several large purchases with this card for this very reason. 

In late XXXX, my husband asked when we would be awarded the extra points. Since its not unheard of for credit card companies to award the bonus points on a scheduled basis ( quarterly, end of promotional period, etc. ), we thought we would be awarded a lump sum. When I went investigating on the Chase site, I discovered that the 4 % was not being applied. 

I called on XXXX and spoke with someone, clearly explaining the situation. We would not have given up the rewards on our typically-used XXXX  XXXX XXXX card to earn LESS with Chase and we would NOT have paid a 3 % surcharge on auto repairs. I can also show that we stopped using the Chase card on XXXX, when it was confirmed that we were not receiving the promised bonus rewards. 

Despite a promise to review the case, we were denied a correction of this error by Chase. I simply do not understand how it can be the customers responsibility to be sure there wasnt a problem on THEIR end. One customer service representative actually told me that we shouldnt have used the card if we didnt receive a confirmation email and how would I know that there would be a confirmation email sent? I would think the last thing they would want would be for customers having to second-guess their dependability. 

I wrote to Chase on XX/XX/XXXX and was denied a correction of this error. They responded saying that they were denying my request because I didn't activate the offer using the " ONE-CLICK '' opt-in. I did, but if their website wasn't working properly, why should I be penalized??? 

I wrote a second time to Chase on XX/XX/XXXX, again asking for a review of the account and was again denied in a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX. 

As a consumer, this feels - at the very least like horrible customer service and perhaps as bad as a bait-and-switch. Not only did we lose the bonus point values by not receiving the 4 % from Chase, we actually got LESS back from Chase than we would have if we'd just used the card we always used.