I was really frustrated recently due to a certain bank's credit card.
The card is known for being good for miles as the miles don't expire and my mum has been holding the card for while.
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She got charged for annual fee for that card and so she called in to enquire about it.
She was told that they would minus her current points for the annual fee and my mum agreed.
My mum had accumulated pretty much points in the card and since she was going to be cancelling it soon, she decided to go online and redeem a few stuff and to leave a certain amount of points inside for the deduction of the annual fee.
Everything went pretty well, until she received a call one day that she will not be able to cancel her card as she had used the points and redeem items, but TBH, the points were build up by her spending and that she should have the capacity to use it.
She called them up another time and the customer support officer told her that as she used up her points, she is not able to cancel her card and instead would need to spend the amount that she redeem, which was about $5000 (not too sure bout the exact amount) according to the officer.
What a SHOCK! She has to spend that amount before the next annual fee deduction and when my mum told her that she is willing to pay the annual fee in cash and not points just so she can cancel the card, it was not allowed.
Of course, maybe we did not check first whether we could redeem that points before we cancel the card but because the points were all earned from her spending, we do feel a bit cheated.
Since only my mum made the call by herself, I will be calling in one more time to understand what it is about and whether are we able to cancel the card.
As my mum resigned recently and all, spending that huge amount before the end of the year seems a bit difficult and she has to spend it before the next annual fee.
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I have been thinking about it and I do feel bothered by it. I will be calling them up to enquire more.
I'm not sure what the full story is, but everything you mentioned that the CSO did doesn't make sense.
ReplyDeleteCall in again and ask them to pull the previous phone record and repeat exactly what was being communicated over the phone and who the CSO was.
There's a lot of people who can help you to make a lot of noise if that was true. Just shout for help ;)
Deserve it for trying to be a cheapo. LMAO
ReplyDeletedoesn't make sense at all. instead of spending time to even post it on your blog (without knowing the facts), what's the point ? isn't time better spent speaking with the bank and posting the right facts thereafter?
ReplyDeleteby the way all calls with the bank are recorded. there will be a trail to verify what was truly communicated if an investigation is needed by the bank .
don't be greedy about points and miles and all the nonsense banks threw at us. there is a price to pay later. lesson learnt.
ReplyDeleteDid the card company credit points into your account automatically during renewal? if you have spent those amount before they could reverse it, they might ask for some kind of claw back.
ReplyDeleteI doubt you really understand what happened here. Sounds to me your mum redeem points/miles on either of those miles cards that will credit 10000 miles for annual fee payment.
ReplyDeleteThere is no obligation to pay annual fee for the card, anyone can just cancel to avoid the fee payment. However sounds like from the above case she redeem the bonus points, making her liable for the annual fee. But even so that does not make her liable to repay the fee with points even if she had agreed to do so it will still not b binding as it is not reasonable to go the trouble do so. Insist on paying off the annual fee and close the case. If they insist otherwise, escalate to MAS feedback, you'll get a fast response for this.
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ReplyDeleteI dont think you understand what you are talking? First you said your mom planned to use points to offset the fees, then you said your mom now offered to pay the annual fees in cash, after which your mom wished to cancel. But then you cant cancel???
ReplyDeleteDid you check if your mom bought anything using installment? The $5000 could well be the balances in your mom installment purchases. Please check the facts properly before posting and screaming for help, or unjust where in the first place the facts maybe not be correct, and waste other people resources!
Is it C* bank?
ReplyDeleteI have bad experience with them too. Always refuse to cancel my card, at the end, I wrote very ugly words to them and threaten to post everywhere and complain to CASE, then they did cancel my card immediately.