Today, I have a great question from a reader.

Thomas Writes:

I have a continuing problem with the Continental Chase Business card. This card offers 2 $100 coupons and 2 presidents club passes at the time of yearly renewal. At the time of renewal there is a yearly fee.

I renewed in August 2008 and have received nothing from them. They still offer the same deal and have offered it continuously but when I call to claim my coupons I am either told that I am not entitled to them , or that they will arrive soon, or that I will receive correspondence regarding the issue but they don’t send me anything. I call monthly since September and get no action only promises of followup.

Do I have some recourse? I have spent close to 3 hours on the phone dealing with this problem and have made no progress. Is there a possibility of filing a small claims court action to retrieve the value of the premiums if they fail or refuse to send them? Any advice would be appreciated.

What Should He Be Getting?

Based on what you told me, I was able to conclude that you must have the “Continental Airlines World Mastercard for Business”. According to the description of the card, you are indeed entitled to “Two Presidents Club Passes ($90 value) every year after your cardmember anniversary”, and “Two Travel Discount Certificates (up to $200 in savings) every year after your cardmember anniversary”.

It seems fairly straight forward, but there are a few minor pieces of small print. Specifically, they say that:

“You will receive your anniversary bonus if you make a qualifying transaction during each year of enrollment. Qualifying transactions include purchases, balance transfers, and any checks that are used to access your account, and exclude cash advances. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks from your account anniversary date each year for delivery. Bonus awards cannot be shipped to PO Boxes or addresses outside the 50 United States and Washington D.C. To qualify for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment. This bonus offer is valid only for first-time Continental Airlines personal cardmembers with new accounts. Existing Continental Airlines personal cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer.”

What Is Going On?

First, be sure that you are meeting the terms. I will presume that 1, you have made a purchase with your card, 2, you do have a valid street address in the 50 United States or Washington D.C., and 3, that you are not in default. Having a late payment would clearly put you in default, and I imagine if that were the case, that the bank would be calling you and not the other way around.

It would be easy to look at this situation and assume that this problem is the result of an evil corporation out to get you. That may well be the case. More likely is the possibility that they are merely incompetent, have a broken system, and are ambivalent to your dissatisfaction.

What Should Thomas Do?

First, you need to stop speaking to the first person you talk to. Immediately explain that you need to speak with a supervisor about an issue that you have a already spent several hours trying to resolved. When you speak to a supervisor, first ask them the spelling of their name, and write it down. That will immediately alert them that you are not going to let this matter drop. Also, you need to be logging the date and time of the call. If you can record the call, even better.

Explain briefly and politely what has occurred. Your goal is to win an ally, not make an enemy. At the same time, you need to make clear that this is unacceptable, and that you insist that this matter be resolved immediately. I would request that the correct vouchers be mailed to you in an overnight envelope and that you be given a tracking number. While it is unlikely that they will actually be able to overnight them to you, you should not hang up until you have a firm commitment and request that they call you to follow up with you when they are sent. At the very least, you should have the extension of the supervisor you spoke to. Don’t be afraid to tell them that if they cannot mail you the vouchers immediately that you will need to cancel your card and receive a refund for your annual fee.

Don’t cancel just yet. If that doesn’t work, your next step is executive customer service. These are the people that actually make things happen. The Consumerist has posted their contact information here. Again, be polite, be brief, but tell them exactly what you want. Feel free to quote their agreement to them if they dispute your claim.

Should You Take Them To Court?

I don’t think that you will need to. In the event that both the supervisors and their executive customer service refuse to provide you your certificates, court would be your last resort. One thing that you can try is preparing the papers for small claims court, but don’t file them. Then, mail a copy of them to Chase’s legal department with a brief letter describing your problem. Indicate that you intent to file them within two weeks if you do not hear from them. Their legal department would doubtlessly rather mail you the certificates than appear in court, especially if you do not live in the same city as they do.

Good Luck Thomas!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 23:49 and is filed under Maximize your Credit Card Rewards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.