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Refer a Friend link not working for new credit card - now Southwest will not honor it

jrhoads23
Explorer C

I am a new Southwest credit card owner, mainly because I was referred to by my mother. I signed up the last day they were doing the latest sign up bonus promotion, but before I did, I made sure to have her refer me so she could get the referral bonus.

I was with her and we went on the website to generate a link to refer someone. She emailed it to me and when I clicked that link, it says the referral had expired - which was very odd because the link was generated 3 minutes earlier. We tried it again and same thing.

My mother called up customer support and asked what we were doing wrong. They tried the link and also saw that it wasn't working. Knowing I only had until the end of the day to sign up (if I wanted the latest sign up bonus) they told her they would create a case in their system and if the referral bonus doesn't come, call up and they should be able to fix it on the back end (seeing that a case was opened prior to me signing up)

 

Well you guessed it... no referral bonus and when my mother called to have them reference the case and award it after the fact, she was given the canned customer support answer that "I am sorry, there is nothing we can do now"

 

Did anyone else experience this when signing up recently (Dec 2021)? I would not have signed up if she did not get the referral bonus. Pretty disappointing that Southwest will not honor it - especially knowing my mother opened a case prior to me signing up as proof.

 

I guess the lesson to be learned here is NEVER take customer service word for anything. If they say "Oh it's ok... we should be able to fix it after the fact" - that is not true

2 REPLIES 2

Re: Refer a Friend link not working for new credit card - now Southwest will not honor it

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A

Since the credit cards are issued by Chase I hope you opened a case with Chase and not Southwest. Furthermore, your disappointment should be with Chase, not with Southwest who has no role in the situation you are describing. 

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: Refer a Friend link not working for new credit card - now Southwest will not honor it

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Just FYI: The referral bonus and the latest sign-up bonus are two different things, and they do not stack. You get one or the other. If you received the sign-up bonus it's much better than the referral one (except that the referring person receives nothing in this case).