Chase's Response to Them Punking Me

Last month, I wrote how Chase and United Punk'd me by sending me my anniversary pack sans the 2 club passes.

On my call to Chase, I was told I would receive a letter in the mail letting me know the outcome of their investigation. On August 3rd, I received this letter:

The letter reads:

Dear JD Teitelman

          Thank you for contacting Chase regarding your United MileagePlus credit card account.
         
          We have submitted a request to have two United Club passes sent to you. Please allow up to 
          30 days for receipt.

          If you have additional questions, please call us at the number on the back of your card. 
         We're here to assist you anytime. 

          Thank you for being our customer. We appreciate your business.

          Sincerely,


          Customer Service Specialist


It's nice that I received the letter within the promised week. Also, I am happy that they are sending me two new club passes. I think 30 days is a little to long, but I am not in desperate need of them. What bugs me about this letter is what is missing. Did anyone else catch it?

The letter is missing an apology. I get that this is a form letter, but it still could have been created with some humility. Chase is writing to let me know that they are fixing an error on their part. The letter should have included an apology. Something like this:

       We are sorry that your anniversary package did not include the 2 club passes. We have submitted
       a request to have two United Club passes sent to you.

As someone who led a customer service department for a bank, form letters can be changed to particular situations. This one was changed to add the "two United Club passes" Therefore, adding an apology would not have been difficult or time consuming.

Yes, on a scale of 1 to 10 in the points game this is a 1.5. Its not that important. However, as I was taught, its the little things that make big differences to customers.

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Building The Best Credit Card

Credit cards are valuable tools in "winning"  in the points & miles game. To often, people focus only on the sign-up bonus when choosing whether to sign-up for a credit card; overlooking the other benefits the card may provide.

One of the questions that has been swirling in my head is, "what makes a great credit card?"

Image taken from random Google search

All of my favorite credit cards tend to have similar secondary benefits:

1.     No foreign transaction fees
2.     Status of some kind
3.     Anniversary Bonus (free night, extra points)
4.     Bonus for spending x dollars in a year (status, extra points, free night)
5.     Primary rental car coverage (I don't have car or car insurance)

Lately, my favorite two credit cards is the Chase Hyatt and Priority Club. Both offer a no foreign transaction fees, anniversary bonus, and hotel status. In addition, the Hyatt credit card offers the ability to earn night credits towards higher status after spending specific amount of money within a year.

No single card will have all of your wants on it. However, put two or three credit cards in your wallet and one can check all of their wants off their list.

If you could build your perfect credit card, what benefits would your card have?

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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com