Previously I’d written about how I picked up 20,000 additional miles from American Airlines Advantage Card by Citibank, just by asking. When a better promotion came along, I called in, asked to be matched to the higher bonus and they did it. It never hurts to ask.
To follow up 0n that post, I had another situation with the same thing. In addition to personal cards, I have a few business cards as well. Specifically two of them are the Chase Ink Bold and Chase Ink Plus. Both of these cards offered a 50,000 point bonus for hitting the minimum spend in 3 months. But two months after I picked up the cards, Chase began offering 60,000 bonus points. Same spend, same amount of time, but at 10,000 extra points. And since I had both cards, this meant 20,000 additional points… EASILY worth $200 in free traveling.
I called up the chase customer service number on the back of my card and asked to be matched for the offer. Like with the Citibank American Airlines card, I offered to up my spending if they’d match the offer. I made it clear I’d be happy to work with them, and I knew they sometimes offered bonus matches for their customers.
There’s a running joke in the points and miles world, that if the bank or issuer won’t give you what you want, hang up and call back. Apparently there are massive variations from one customer service rep to the next. Whether it be closing an account, reversing a charge or even knowing different parts of the program. Case in points, the woman I reached first was very kind, but told me, “I’ve never heard of that and never done something like that.” She even went the extra mile, putting me on hold several times to, “go and check,” so only positive things and respect to her and to Chase.
Finally though she reiterated that Chase didn’t do that, but that “You can still get lots of benefits from spending like normal!” Very nice of here but not the answer I was looking for. Especially as I knew that Chase did in fact offer bonus matches from time to time.
I thanked her for her time, hung up, and called right back. I reached a different person, a younger guy and went through the process with him. He said he didn’t have the ability to approve this but that he’d make a note and submit it for consideration. He told me wait 7-10 days and I’d receive something in the mail. Not the news I wanted to hear, but it was a start. I thanked him and left it at that.
Four days later I logged into my account and asked myself, “That’s strange, where did those 20,000 miles come from?”
I had totally forgotten. But there they were. 10,000 points added to my account, just as I had asked. Just 25-30 minutes on the phone, talking with two different reps, had gotten me 20,000 more miles, even valued at a penny each, (very conservative for Chase Ultimate Reward Miles) and I’d picked up another $200 in free travel.
It’s easy to think, “Ahh I missed out,” when you see a better offer come along on a credit card, but it costs you nothing other than a few minutes of your day to find out for sure. Depending on your relationship with the bank, your credit history, and how kind you are to the service rep, you could pickup tens of thousands of extra points, simply by asking. If you don’t get the answer you want, try hanging up and calling back. There really is nothing to be lost by asking.
