Discover reward rip off

bigbang91 · ‎01-31-2015

I guys, any of you has your reward rip off and Discover refused to honor your purchases? I open the card in Nov 2014, max the cap 1500, and yet did not receive the full amount of 5% bonus, and then i called 3 times, each time i have to state everything from the start and go over step by step with them, all said it will show up 8 weeks/they made manual adjustment,yet i still havent received the correct bonus. Im very frustrated and consider closing the account for good. i dont care much about the bonus but if they want my business, they need to serve me right. The one purchase that i think is the cause of the missing bonus is from Newegg for 1300 in Nov. So, to my suprise, call in today, the rep said the merchant did not register as online store, and therefore they refuse to honor that purchase, xtreme angry rightnow. Does anyone know how to escalate this problem. Im seriously considering redeem the award and close the account.Thanks!

NRB525 · ‎01-31-2015

Sorry to hear about your situation.

It says in the T&C for all these 5% and similar bonus categories, for all CCC, the card company doesn't control how the merchant reports their activity. It's one of those YMMV situations, in this case a large amount of potential bonus, but hopefully you were wanting to buy from NewEgg anyway.

What type of merchant did NewEgg report the transaction under? What category were you trying to align for the Discover Spend?

(and as an aside, one thread for these kinds of issue is best)

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bigbang91 · ‎01-31-2015

ironically, Discover list that transaction's purchase method as online,and when i mention that,still they said "yes but the merchan didnt register as online",seriously!!Well last year Q4 bonus is for online shopping and Amazon, so that purchase fall under online shopping. And first 2 times i called,they said they will make manuall adjustment, and now they went back on their word and refuse. If i know i wont be receive my 5%, i would have used Amex everyday to pay for it,at least i receive 1.5 MR points.

mongstradamus · ‎01-31-2015

@bigbang91 wrote:
ironically, Discover list that transaction's purchase method as online,and when i mention that,still they said "yes but the merchan didnt register as online",seriously!!Well last year Q4 bonus is for online shopping and Amazon, so that purchase fall under online shopping. And first 2 times i called,they said they will make manuall adjustment, and now they went back on their word and refuse. If i know i wont be receive my 5%, i would have used Amex everyday to pay for it,at least i receive 1.5 MR points.

I would call back again , and try to talk to them calmly. I had an issue when i bought my note 4 via best buy, i got 5% for online shopping for 4th quarter 2014, but didn't receive the 5% from shopdiscover. Explain your situation to them , they are going to give me the additional 5% on my next statement, so you can try similar thing.

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Anonymous · ‎02-01-2015

@mongstradamus wrote:
@bigbang91 wrote:
ironically, Discover list that transaction's purchase method as online,and when i mention that,still they said "yes but the merchan didnt register as online",seriously!!Well last year Q4 bonus is for online shopping and Amazon, so that purchase fall under online shopping. And first 2 times i called,they said they will make manuall adjustment, and now they went back on their word and refuse. If i know i wont be receive my 5%, i would have used Amex everyday to pay for it,at least i receive 1.5 MR points.
I would call back again , and try to talk to them calmly. I had an issue when i bought my note 4 via best buy, i got 5% for online shopping for 4th quarter 2014, but didn't receive the 5% from shopdiscover. Explain your situation to them , they are going to give me the additional 5% on my next statement, so you can try similar thing.

^This.

Fourth quarter every year I have online purchases that don't get the 5%. This year among the four Discover cards between DW and I, I think I had to call on three statements. I have a 100% success rate in getting customer service to retroactively grant the 5% cashback on those purchases. I typically use the online chat option for customer service because I just find it easier than waiting on the phone. A typical conversation goes something like this:

Discover: Hi, my name is Katherine, how can I help you with your Discover card?

Me: Hi, Katherine. My statement just cut yesterday, and I notice that several of my online purchases on which I expected to get 5% cashback, it looks like they didn't, and I was hoping to get that adjusted.

Discover: I'd be happy to look at that. May I have permission to view your statement?

Me: Yes, of course.

Discover: And what purchases in particular were you concerned about?

Me: Well, my 11/4 purchase at pet360.com (which show up on the statement as PFD*PET360), and my wife's purchases on 11/1 and 11/7 at planttherapy.com (which show up as PLANT THERAPY).

Discover: Thank you. I'll just need a moment to look into these.

...

Discover: OK, I am glad to adjust the cashback on your account for these purchases. You'll get the difference between the 1% cashback you received and the 5%, so you should see an extra $13.45 in cashback on your next statement.

Me: Great! I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Discover: You're quite welcome. Is there anything else I can help you with today?

Me: No, you've been quite helpful. Thanks and good bye.

Discover: Goodbye.

That's almost an exact transcript of a conversation from a few weeks back. The funny thing in this case is that there was a Discover Deal for a 15% statement credit on a purchase at pet360.com, valid online only. I got the 15% statement credit, but not the 5% for online purchases (until I called). So at some level, they should obviously know that this is an online purchase, since they gave me the 15% statement credit. But obviously, their system just isn't that sophisticated. So it needs a touch to customer service to get it righted.

I don't know if it applies in your case, but it's helpful to know that often with purchases which should qualify for the 5% but which post in the few days right before your statement is cut, may get no cashback at all, but then you'll see that cashback reflected on the next statement. Also be aware of the $1,500 per quarter spending cap for the 5%. Complaining or arguing about these limitations is pointless and counterproductive.

In short, make the call (or chat), be nice, be specific and you'll get your cashback.

Chris.

juggalo9er · ‎02-01-2015

and this is why i am glad discover is gone!

op gl, they never gave me the cb when this happened

Gunnar419 · ‎02-01-2015

I've had the opposite experience with Discover. The one and only time I didn't get 5% cashback when I was expecting it, they investigated and eventually gave me 10% instead, apparently to make up for the trouble.

It's likely true that this has more to do with merchant coding than with Discover itself. It certainly isn't fraud. In any case I agree with the advice to try again calmly with a different CSR or send a secure message.

Anonymous · ‎02-01-2015

More reasons why I have no desire to have one of their cards.

Anonymous · ‎02-01-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
More reasons why I have no desire to have one of their cards.

@Anonymous,

You know, I got mine because of the rave reviews from people from here. Never cared for them and the funny part is I used it to do a small balance transfer without actually buying anything and I am told I earned reward for the transfer... Ummm, I didn't know you get rewards for a balance transfer.

Anonymous · ‎02-01-2015

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
More reasons why I have no desire to have one of their cards.
@Anonymous,

You know, I got mine because of the rave reviews from people from here. Never cared for them and the funny part is I used it to do a small balance transfer without actually buying anything and I am told I earned reward for the transfer... Ummm, I didn't know you get rewards for a balance transfer.

That's pretty funny. I've just seen a lot of these reports of people having to fight to get earned rewards. No time for that