I have to agree with lajntx, it is a bad business model.
If they allowed even small increases to accounts they would have to staff the call with less people. This would reduce costs. They wouldn't need such a large EO either, which makes more money than the normal call centers. And basically all they do is take information which could be given online and hand it over to an analyst.
Opening and closing accounts does affect their profit margin. It takes money to open an account, so they need to have customers who stay with them to offset this cost. If the person PIF the only money they make is through the transaction with the discount. If they carry a balance and they pay it off to close the account, they are losing interest rate income. Either way it is a lose-lose situation for them. Even in the worst case scenario and the person simply SDs the card, it costs money to keep it open, especially if they ever mail anything to the customer. (I think anyone who SDs the card should then switch to paper statements!)
When you hear the same script over and over you are probably more inclined to either call more often of talk more to the agents, which raises the costs. Some may simply stop calling and those that do are less likely to use the card unless they cannot get other credit. I would even say that some of them should not get anything. I have seen people on this board who don't deserve anything and in some of those situations they still have gotten nothing.
One thing this board has done is increase the costs they have incurred with all the new attention the EO has gotten. This has been going on for about a year now where it has been more publically known. How have they responded? Well now apparently it is easier to get CLIs online. This does indicate that they do not properly respond to customer issues properly, as it took a year! Did it really need to take a year to respond to this? Did they think it was going to go away? All it really did was make these people have to respond more to people. Some of them did deserve what they had gotten. I deserved what I got from them! It took me multiple contacts with the EO to get it. This meant that they had to field multiple calls from me alone which really didn't need to happen. I can honestly say that I have all the accounts that I do now because of their lack of treating me like a real customer. I would have been happy with CLIs and a longer AAoA. After I started getting better accounts I realized that I could get even nicer ones later. I got them over time, but it all happened sooner that it would have, because of their lack of good service. They would have gotten much more money from me had they responded properly. I would have put a lot more money through their cards, instead of others. Those that have simply abandoned them have not provided them with as much income as they could have. A business model is supposed to get the shareholders the best results, so no their business model is flawed. If I were a stockholder I might be upset.
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.....
Always follow these rules: Only take a HP for a new account. Always use the best rewards card for that reward category. Don't close a card unless you know you really should. Never use more than 35% of a credit limit. Recon as much and as best you can. Use the introductory period to the best advantage. Get the signup bonus. Whenever possible PIF or balance transfer so you pay less in interest. Never give an excellent rating when it is actually the norm. Always look for a discount as more is always better.
Always accept candy from strangers because they have the best candy or from people you know have good candy.
