Elan paid $1,000 bonus

[ptatohed]

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@Curious_George2 wrote:

Last November, Elan sent an email to some holders of their Max Cash Preferred (and other?) cards with a remarkable offer: spend $75 in 4 online purchases and "get 1,000 Cash Back."  I started a thread about it:
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Elan-offer-Spend-75-online-get-1-000-cash-back/td-p/66...

Was it strangely worded? Yes.

Was it too good to be true? Many people said so. 
Did they pay it? ... Yes! 

I got a letter from Elan this week telling me they were going to issue me a $1,000 credit. The credit has now posted, with the description "CRED DUE TO ERR W/ EMAIL SENT 11/10/22." Thanks Elan!

This is pure speculation, but my guess is someone threatened or filed a class action lawsuit and Elan decided it was better -- perhaps even cheaper -- to pay in full rather than litigate. 

Tagging members who got the offer or asked for updates: @-Wright-, @MySunrise271, @TryItAgain, @ptatohed, @yoda42 

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Wow!  Thanks for the update CG2!  Amazing.  Just.... well........ amazing ........ wow. 

[NoMoreE46]

I remember commenting on this post.

Good for you @Curious_George2 .

I am thinking any form of customer communications are vetted by multiple officers at Elan now.

[Lou-natic]

I guess I have to eat crow because I remember that thread and thinking there's no way you'll ever get that $1,000 but here we are... That's a once in a lifetime Bank error in your favor right there. Definitely one for the ages.

[ptatohed]

It definitely was worded incredibly ambiguously.  

Essentially:  'Spend 75 DOLLARS, get 1,000 Cash Back'.  

If I saw an ad stating:  'Buy two sub sandwiches, get one free'; I'd more than assume the default item you get free is the sub sandwich mentioned in the first part.  Unless it clearly stated:  'Buy two subs, get a bag of chips for free'; one has to assume they are receiving another free sub.  So, without the word Dollars or Points after the 1,000, it's not unreasonable to read the 1,000 as Dollars.  Furthermore, they called it "Cash" back which further supports that it could be Dollars.  

Obviously, they did realize that too.  They won't make that mistake again!  

[Anonymous]

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@ptatohed wrote:

It definitely was worded incredibly ambiguously.  

Essentially:  'Spend 75 DOLLARS, get 1,000 Cash Back'.  

If I saw an ad stating:  'Buy two sub sandwiches, get one free'; I'd more than assume the default item you get free is the sub sandwich mentioned in the first part.  Unless it clearly stated:  'Buy two subs, get a bag of chips for free'; one has to assume they are receiving another free sub.  So, without the word Dollars or Points after the 1,000, it's not unreasonable to read the 1,000 as Dollars.  Furthermore, they called it "Cash" back which further supports that it could be Dollars.  

Obviously, they did realize that too.  They won't make that mistake again!  

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I agree from the syntax that's not unreasonable.  But semantically, I think it is!   OK, there are SUB offers, e.g. Barclays, where the first purchase of any amount gives you back a lot of points (which can obviously be worth much more than you spent) but this really didn't make sense as something a business would want to do.

But OP won!    Now if they nerf the Altitude Reserve to make up for these payments, I know one person to blame!

[unsungivy]

Wow. I am also one of those that thought the OP was naive etc. in thinking it could mean anything other than points. 😲😲😲

This crow taste is nasty!

"Bank Error in your Favor" indeed!

Golf-clap for Elan... impressed they paid up! (Yes, likely a suit was involved, but still.)