So I see a great deal on a 50" 4k Ultra HD TV at Sams Club through Slickdeals, $300 on their Sunday 11/27 pre-cyber Monday promo. I'm not a member, their nearest club is over an hour away on the other side of town. So I could pay a 10% non-member surcharge ($30), or pay $45 for an annual membership. While I won't likely shop their club, they do have great online prices w/free shipping. And then I notice a promo on SamsClub.com: App for the store card or MC and get a $45 statement credit for charging $100+ the same day. So I'm thinking "Ok, basically free 1 yr. memberhship". And I'm good with Synchrony - Wallmart $6k CL & Lowes $5k CL, I should get approved for the MC w/nice CL. Wrong! I get the store card with only $737 CL! Bit it updated my Sams Club online account with the new store card account within minutes, so I went ahead & bought the TV on the card.
I decide ti wait until the card arrives to try recon. The card arrives and I access my account online and don't see the $45 statement credit, so I call the 800#, The rep tells me that promo is only for app'ing in store & making the purchase in store. I control my temper and tell her nicely that's misleading and bait & switch - the promo was advertised online, and it didn't say that to qualify for it you actually had to go offline, bundle up, get in the car & drive for an hour to the nearest club, and then find something else to buy for $100 since they didn't stock the TV I wanted to buy. Rep is firm, no go. I wait 5 minutes, call again, get different rep who tells me the same story.
At this point I'm so PO'd I'm considering returning the TV & closing the account when the return credit posts.Then I remember the backdoor #s here and look it up & call. She is more sympathetic to the promo story & gives me the $45 credit, but balks at my request to upgrade to the MC and increse the CL. I offer to move some of the CL from Lowes or Walmart; she says she can't do that. That was the other day, the $45 credit has now posted so I've scheduled to PIF (23.65% APR? I don't think I'll carry a balance). I'm keeping the TV, I realy like it, but not so sure I'll keep this crappy card, I really expected better from Synchrony. My other choice was to use my Discover It card & get 5% rewards to offset half of the non-member 10% surcharge, I wish I had gone that route. 
Oh boy that sucks, are the store cards for Sams usually a good CL?
Gardening until September 2025
We have to remember that just because you have credit with same bank on other accounts it doesnt necessarily mean you will be approved for credit or given a visa/mc because your limits are high. Its my understanding that the approval for Synchrony visa/ mcs are a bit more stringent to get.
As for the $737 sl, lol, i feel you, thats where i started. Only thing is i had no concept of Credit Solutions when i got my account so i had to do it the ol fashion way by waiting for auto increases or attempting the luv button. Good thing is ive had this card for maybe a year and a half and am now up to 8500. Not bad for a store card started at 737
. Do I wish i had the mc, sure but it is what it is so ill just march on. Discover rescued me from having temptation of any kind of upgrade and making me restart my aaol lol. Glad you liked your tv and sorry about your early trouble. Happy holidays
As for the $737 sl, lol, i feel you, thats where i started. Only thing is i had no concept of Credit Solutions when i got my account so i had to do it the ol fashion way by waiting for auto increases or attempting the luv button. Good thing is ive had this card for maybe a year and a half and am now up to 8500. Not bad for a store card started at 737
. Do I wish i had the mc, sure but it is what it is so ill just march on. Discover rescued me from having temptation of any kind of upgrade and making me restart my aaol lol. Glad you liked your tv and sorry about your early trouble. Happy holidays
I'm sorry to hear you had so many problems. 
I also had a problem with the statement credit; in my case it was supposed to be for $20, and the deal was you had to make a $50 purchase (or higher) on the day the card was approved.
I got approved early in the AM (online), and I immediately bought myself some Nexium... enough to pass the $50 threshold (it's cheaper at Wal-Mart or Target if I use coupons, but the free $20 made it worth it).
A couple of months later, still no credit. I send a SM and they told me my purchase had to be on the same date the account was opened to qualify. I checked the statement, and sure enough it had my initial charge taking place a couple of days after I really made it. The weird thing was, I still had the tracking number for the order, and luckily for me it was shipped the same day I bought it. I sent them another SM explaining that they could still look up the tracking number and see that the package was shipped two days before the charge (which makes no sense) so they gave me my $20.
I'm still not sure if they just got tired of me or if they actually checked what I sent them, but either way I ended up 'whole'. It did let me know, though, that their systems aren't the smoothest around and if anything 'out of the box' comes up it's YMMV how easy it will be to resolve.
Edited to add: My problem was with the Sam's Club MasterCard, but it was the same issue with the statement credit you're describing.
@UncleB wrote:I'm sorry to hear you had so many problems.
I also had a problem with the statement credit; in my case it was supposed to be for $20, and the deal was you had to make a $50 purchase (or higher) on the day the card was approved.
I got approved early in the AM (online), and I immediately bought myself some Nexium... enough to pass the $50 threshold (it's cheaper at Wal-Mart or Target if I use coupons, but the free $20 made it worth it).
A couple of months later, still no credit. I send a SM and they told me my purchase had to be on the same date the account was opened to qualify. I checked the statement, and sure enough it had my initial charge taking place a couple of days after I really made it. The weird thing was, I still had the tracking number for the order, and luckily for me it was shipped the same day I bought it. I sent them another SM explaining that they could still look up the tracking number and see that the package was shipped two days before the charge (which makes no sense) so they gave me my $20.
I'm still not sure if they just got tired of me or if they actually checked what I sent them, but either way I ended up 'whole'. It did let me know, though, that their systems aren't the smoothest around and if anything 'out of the box' comes up it's YMMV how easy it will be to resolve.
Edited to add: My problem was with the Sam's Club MasterCard, but it was the same issue with the statement credit you're describing.
Yeah, I had the same problem - opened the account & made the purchase on 11/27, but the charge didn't post on the statement until 11/30. I was prepared to fight them on that as the order on SamsClub.com showed the 11/27 purchase, but it never made it that far, they denied it claiming the promo on the website was for in store app & purchase only. But your story convices me they seem to try to deny statement credit promos whenever they can.