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On September 22 2020 I was getting ready to purchase my flight when a promotion popped up on my checkout screen. The statement said "Get approved today and get a $200 statement credit on your account if you purchase todays flight with your credit card!" So, because I knew I would get approved for the credit card and thinking "well I could have my flight paid for if I get approved for this credit card" I applied and was approved. I read on the agreement form that it could take several weeks for the $200 to credit my account so I didn't think much of it. Today, 12/7/2020 I realized they still never credited my account the $200 dollars. I thought it was weird so I called southwest customer support - who then redirected me to Chase customer service. They continued to tell me that I in fact did NOT get the offer for the $200 dollar statement offer, but instead I received an offer that required me to spend $1000 in order to get a certain amount of bonus points. I spent over an hour on the phone with customer service, I felt like I was beating a dead horse trying to explain to them that I applied for the "Get $200 dollars credit" offer and not the one they had given me, however they said there is absolutely nothing they can do. I wish I would have read reviews on this card before applying for it because they have already charged my card $80 for my annual fee and now the card is accumulating interest. Bait and switch should be ILLEGAL and Southwest should be ashamed of themselves. I've flown Southwest for years and this is absolutely ridiculous to do this to so many of their customers. I would have never applied for this card if I would of known it was a freakin scam.
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Sounds like this has happened before.
https://community.southwest.com/t5/Rapid-Rewards/200-credit/td-p/79716
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When you applied, did you take screenshots of all of the appropriate forms you had to complete, and confirmation screens that were shown to you?
When you apply for any credit card online you should immediately receive multiple confirmation emails. Did you save those, and if so do they show the terms of the account offer you applied for?
The only way for your flight purchase to have immediately been charged to your newly opened credit card account would be if you had indeed applied for the $200 credit offer as shown on Southwest's website. Are you able to show Chase that this in fact happened?
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I am willing to bet my life savings there was small print somewhere in your offer that said you needed to spend a certain amount to get that $200 credit. Credit card companies aren't going to give you $200 on the spot just for signing up.
--Jessica
Re: Rapid rewards credit card $200 dollar statement SCAM
Re: Rapid rewards credit card $200 dollar statement SCAM
12-12-2020 11:21 PM - edited 12-13-2020 03:19 AM
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@jksobonya wrote:I am willing to bet my life savings there was small print somewhere in your offer that said you needed to spend a certain amount to get that $200 credit. Credit card companies aren't going to give you $200 on the spot just for signing up.
--Jessica
That would not be a smart bet. 😉
The "$200 statement credit" promo has been around, in one form or another, for many years. This is the promo offered by Chase during the flight purchase check-out process on the Southwest website and app. (Basically, a box pops up as you're checking out that shows you the fare savings you'd receive after the credit is applied to your new account.)
There's never been a minimum purchase requirement to receive the $200 statement credit, just that any purchase is made.
Years ago, the promo only included the statement credit. More recently, a points offer was added, presumably to make the promo more competitive with other points-only Southwest credit card offers. (80,000 bonus points, the current points-only promo, are worth at least $1,024.)
Currently, the statement credit promo includes two separate offers:
- $200 statement credit after first purchase
- 10,000 points after $500 spend in the first 3 months
With regards to the OP's situation: Assuming that they kept records (screenshots) of the offer they applied for and all of the confirmation screens, it shouldn't be difficult to straighten out the apparent confusion with Chase.
As I've mentioned many times on this forum, Chase offers multiple different promotional offers for those opening a new Southwest credit card, and the only way to make sure you're getting the offer you want is to verify that this is the case when you are applying for it.
If you click away to research other offers, for example, this could cause a different offer end up attached to the application. Some customers erroneously think that they can somehow obtain multiple offers, or be given the best parts of different offers. And some customers are just confused regarding which offer they applied for in the first place.
So again, it seems simple, but it bears repeating that the only way to make sure you get the offer you want is to make sure it's the one you're applying for. If you do this you shouldn't have issues. But, as with all financial transactions, document everything. That way you'll have references for your own peace of mind, and proof should you ever need it.
Added: Here are the terms and conditions for the current offer. It looks like the offer links are served dynamically, so it's basically impossible to directly link to them.
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Chase is doing the SCAM. When I applied for my card, the offer was $200 statement credit after first purchase and then 40,000 points after spending $1,000 within the first 90 days. I upheld my end by spending 4 times the needed amount but I got scammed by Chase credit card. They charged the $70 annual fee on the first bill. That must have been in the fine print. Every other credit card I have that charges an annual fee charges after the first year. And, I never got the 40,000 miles. Even thought the website advertised this. I did get a statement credit but when I elevated the issue about not getting the 40,000 miles they said "marketing" says I was wrong. Awful way to treat a customer. The Chase execs should get fired for this. After numerous calls they don't care. So I cancelled my card and they said I would get my annual fee credited. Be very careful. This is a bait and switch. SWA has been great and the rapid rewards is great. If I had more time I'd escalate it to the BBB.
Re: Rapid rewards credit card $200 dollar statement SCAM
Re: Rapid rewards credit card $200 dollar statement SCAM
05-27-2021 08:33 PM - edited 05-27-2021 08:49 PM
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@Strandcity wrote:Chase is doing the SCAM. When I applied for my card, the offer was $200 statement credit after first purchase and then 40,000 points after spending $1,000 within the first 90 days. I upheld my end by spending 4 times the needed amount but I got scammed by Chase credit card. They charged the $70 annual fee on the first bill. That must have been in the fine print. Every other credit card I have that charges an annual fee charges after the first year. And, I never got the 40,000 miles. Even thought the website advertised this. I did get a statement credit but when I elevated the issue about not getting the 40,000 miles they said "marketing" says I was wrong. Awful way to treat a customer. The Chase execs should get fired for this. After numerous calls they don't care. So I cancelled my card and they said I would get my annual fee credited. Be very careful. This is a bait and switch. SWA has been great and the rapid rewards is great. If I had more time I'd escalate it to the BBB.
People get confused about Chase's
offers all the time because there are always 2 or more in play at the same time.
See the post immediately above yours.
The bank typically has two kinds of offers:
1 As above a $200 statement credit and 10,000 RR points after the spend requirement is met
.or.
2) 40,000 or more RR points and NO statement credit after the spend requirement is met
I've never seen Chase offer a deal of the type you said you signed up for.
As far as the fee goes, some companies offer 1 year free, and a fee after that. Chase does not. That was disclosed in the Chase Terms and Conditions you agree to when you signed up for the card.
It was not secret.
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Mine said the same thing as yours, they tell me since i booked my vacation at the same time that i signed up they gave me $ 200 statement credit instead of the 40,000 bonus points. It is a scam.
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SWA should be ashamed. They got me on this too! Makes no sense why they would do something like that.
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SW does not control RR credit card offers -- Chase does.