Two sides of Chase

21

I called the Chase Sapphire customer service desk twice this week.  The first call was a disaster.  The second was awesome.  Read on.

Background:

Recently I posted how to get huge savings at Kohl’s by buying discount gift cards, going through Ultimate Rewards Mall, and applying a 20% off coupon.  There was some speculation in the comments of that post that you won’t get Ultimate Rewards points unless you pay at least part of the transaction with your Chase card.  So, I made 4 Kohl’s purchases in March.  Two were exclusively paid for with gift cards and two were paid partially with my Chase Sapphire card.  3 out of 4 purchases posted to my UR account correctly, but the one that didn’t post was one in which I had used my Sapphire Preferred.  So I called Chase to inquire about the missing transaction.  The transaction was for about $150, but only 80 cents was on my credit card.

Call 1:

After I explained the situation 3 or 4 times, the Chase rep told me that there was nothing she could do.  I pointed out that she could see that I made a transaction, but she told me that I must not have gone through the Ultimate Rewards Mall to make that purchase.  I told her that I use the mall frequently and I was 100% sure I had done everything correctly.  She replied that she had never seen the mall lose a transaction.  What?!!  Now paraphrasing:

Me: Could you give me a courtesy adjustment?

Rep: No, there is no way I can do that.

Me: Can I talk to your manager?

Rep: He can’t help you either.

Me: Really, let me talk to your manager.

Rep: Sir, he can’t help you, I can do more than he can.  He just manages people.  I work with your account.

Me: Really, you won’t let me speak to your manager?

Rep: He can’t help you sir.

Argggg!!!!  I hung up.

Call 2:

Paraphrasing:

Rep: Oh, wow, you’ve earned a lot of points

Me: Yep, I love the Ultimate Rewards Mall.  This is the first time I haven’t received points when buying something.

Rep: This is strange.  I see more Kohl’s transactions from the mall than I see on your credit card.

Me: Yep, the mall gives points even when you pay with gift cards.  So some of those transactions were paid entirely with gift cards and don’t show up on my credit card

Rep: Wow, I didn’t know that, that’s great!  I like to shop at Kohl’s too!  Hey did you know that you can get a 10% off coupon at Kohl’s and get points too?  I discovered that recently and I like to tell everyone.

Me: You can do even better!  I’ve blogged about this.  Go to cardpool.com to buy Kohl’s gift cards for 15% off, then google for a 20% off Kohls coupon AND go through the UR mall.

Rep: But then you won’t get points for the part of the order you made with gift cards.

Me: No, actually you do.  That’s what’s going on with all of the transactions that did post to my account.

Rep: Wow, that’s great!  Cardpool.com?  I’m writing that down.  How much was the total for the missing transaction?

Me: $148.29, but we should subtract taxes…

Rep: No, that’s fine.  I’ll credit your account for $150 X 10.  1500 points.

Me: That’s great!  Thanks!

I know some readers have struggled with points not showing up when they should.  My only advice: keep calling until you get rep #2 🙂

 

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