One feature of credit card is award points which could be used to redeem vouchers, airline points, hotel points… and some credit cards issuers also claim that the points will never expires..
I have a few credit cards from the same issuer and I accumulated quite significant amount points on a few cards – my purpose is to transfer the points to my frequent flyer program and claim reward tickets – this has been delayed due to current covid-19 situation.
I thought the points would never expires as the issuer mentioned in their advertisement. And that was caught me by surprise when I check my account a few days back – a significant drop of award points -> more than 90% of my reward points in one credit card were gone. What happened?
I picked the phone and contacted their customer service center, and I was told the following:
- the points in this credit card would be expired (5 years)
- they have put remark in the monthly statement as reminder.
but the customer agent was agree to request reinstate the award points, but it would take one or two days. finger crossed, I will update you the outcome later.
But, did I miss anything? I start to dig what were the exact statements from the issuer.
first, whether the points expires? actually, there are different terms attached to different cards issued by the same issuers. some do not expire at all, some will expire in 5 years, some will expire in just one year (luckily none of my card is under this category). but the confusion comes as “Point-never-expire” was highlighted in their advertisement and that confuse card members.
second, do they notify me? Yes, they mentioned in their monthly statement that certain amount would be expired in 60 days and advised me to check the web site. Now the issues:
- I had to check the statement which come in their app as e-copy. and in the statement they did not provide exact amount and expiration date.
- in order to check the expiration date, I have to login twice – first to their online portal and then access to so called reward sites – why make it so complicated?
- they claim that the life span of the points is 5 years, but in reality, they expire the points earned in the whole 5 years block.. even the points you earned last year…
I was thinking to cut all my connection with the issuers. but probably not immediately now. as I still have award points in other card. But on the hand, the practice they adopted does not seem that they have the customer interests in their mind, probably not, why?
of course, it could be their oversight in the customer journey experience design.
- why there is no single portal / app for all the customer contact points?
- why there is no clear statement about customer award points status?
- why confuse customer or potential customer with the life span of the award point.
yes, they can claim that all these are so called “Term & Conditions” – a multi page document that hide somewhere in their web site..
