Question
When I signed up for my card over the phone a couple of months ago, the man said that they waive the $60 fee for the first year, but that there would be a fee every year after that. I just received a bill for the $60 fee and First USA is claiming that I have to pay it. They say they are not responsible for what the salesman told me and that the sign-up process is outsourced.
Obviously I have the option of canceling the card and am seriously considering doing that. I will also follow through with a complaint to First USA, but may not get anywhere.
So, a warning to anyone signing up for a credit card over the phone: This could happen to you.
Answer
Sign up phone conversation is usually recorded as private personal information was given. It also serves as a proof that an application was initiated. So the bank will definitely find out what was said in that call...
The problem is to get them to do that for you. Try to claim that you never apply for this card with fee. You specified no fee and ask them to prove that by pulling the phone recording for verification.
Maybe this might work?
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Thanks, MoreMiles. I did ask about this when they refused to remove the fee and they said that only some of the conversations are recorded. And they also said that no matter what the guy said, they wouldn't remove the fee. Apparently they don't believe that the verbal application process creates any obligation on their part to provide what was offered.
I will ask about this again when I contact their Office of the President. Since there is no way to force them to check whether my call was recorded, I suspect that my only way of standing up for myself will be to cancel the card.
I have not been all that happy with First USA's service on another card I've had with them, so it may be time to give someone else my business. I just signed up for the UA Visa because it sounded like a good deal.
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First USA is a terrible bank to do business with. I've had my fair share of INTENSE problems with this company concerning my rewards cards. Ultimately they lost all my business.
In any manner, their UA card, though stamped platinum, has GOLD BENEFITS! What a scam.
Go with the AA World card 10k promo, or the NW 10k promo (found on these boards). Both have an annual fee of approx $50.
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No scam. There is no difference between VISA Gold and VISA Platinum; Platinum is just a marketing ploy.
http://www.visa.com/pd/consumer/us/chart.html
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Better deal for the fee sensitive - get a 1 mile per 2 dollar WP card.
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It's usually very hard of to get your Annual Fee waived. With FUSA, it is even harder.
I would log on to www.planetfeedback.com (http://www.planetfeedback.com) and issue an complaint.
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Al
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Originally posted by Dinosaur Hunter:
First USA is a terrible bank to do business with. I've had my fair share of INTENSE problems with this company concerning my rewards cards. Ultimately they lost all my business.
In any manner, their UA card, though stamped platinum, has GOLD BENEFITS! What a scam.
Go with the AA World card 10k promo, or the NW 10k promo (found on these boards). Both have an annual fee of approx $50.
I second that, I still carry the Priority Club Visa with FirstUSA, when I signed up, the promised 5k bonus were never there and I had to make at least 3 calls to get it straighten out. CITI's AAdvantage card is nice, I got the 10k bonus within 3-4 weeks, even though i know some of the members here had problems getting the 10k bonus.
I don't know about the US Bank's NW WP card, i heard that bank is hard to do business with as well...
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Al
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I Use to have the card when it was with the prior bank... me too, have once given up on having to deal with them....
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Let me add my voice of warning...stay away from BankOne/First USA at all costs. You CAN do much better than them. If your airline only issues a card through them, either switch airlines or earn miles another way. It's just not worth it.......
[This message has been edited by pointman (edited 03-16-2001).]
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If MILES are what you want, and SERVICE is what you want, then go with Diners Club.
You can use the Club Rewards points you accumulate to pay for the annual fee.
http://www.citibank.com/dinersus/
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First USA MilesPlus did not mention an annual fee, when I applied on the phone. I got that info from this BBS. Based on First USA and Marriott's Customer disService, I will cancel and continue with the AMEX card from the Delta Bonus offer, then switch to the Platinum Amex.
Chase/Continental will be the VISA backkup card.
DinerClub is NOT accepted enough in the U.S. to bother with anymore. Their domestic CLUB access is practically nonexistent to be considered an asset.
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It is never too late to have a HAPPY CHILDHOOD!
BEEP! BEEP!
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Originally posted by Harold Bahls:
If MILES are what you want, and SERVICE is what you want, then go with Diners Club.
What are you talking about? If miles are what you want... then do NOT go with Diners as you will find nobody to accept it!
Try to pay grocery, utility, traffic tickets, membership dues, magazine subscription, parking fees with a Diners... yeah right! Try that again with a MC or Visa... no problem, simple as 123.
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Originally posted by MoreMiles:
What are you talking about? If miles are what you want... then do NOT go with Diners as you will find nobody to accept it!
Try to pay grocery, utility, traffic tickets, membership dues, magazine subscription, parking fees with a Diners... yeah right! Try that again with a MC or Visa... no problem, simple as 123.
i'll second that statement!
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In my opinion, the key to a Diners Club being a useful product is how much a person travels. Since it is accepted by every airline, car rental, and virtually every hotel (I've run into only 1 hotel in the past 8 years that didn't accept it), it is a very useful card for anyone that travels a lot (especially if you travel on business and have expenses that are reimbursed by your employer). A MasterCard or Visa makes an excellent companion card to a Diners Club card. Although I find that the vast majority of charges I make go on the Visa, by dollar amount I spend about twice as much on the Diners Club card than I do on the Visa, because the average charge is so much higher. Although it means using more than one card, I find the flexibility of the Diners Club mileage program to make it well worth it.
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And now for a different opinion: I like the card. I have had a few issues which they addressed well. I also like their web site.
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I'll throw in with the other posters in warning everyone away from First USA Bank.
I too had a horrible experience with them and will never patronize them again.
A few years ago I had a Southwest Platinum Visa that was supposed to have no annual fee and they did the same thing with me -- billed immediately for the fee and then threatened to ruin my credit if it wasn't paid. To make a long story short, they wound up waiving the fee but I cut up the card. Trying to close the account was a separate horror story in itself. Every couple of months after I closed it, the account would reopen itself and a new
bill for the annual fee would arrive in the mail, requiring another go-'round with FirstUSA's customer service nightmare.
Stay away!
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Since I started this topic, I thought I should finish the story so that anyone reading in the future will know what happened.
I waited for several days for callbacks from 2 high level management people before deciding that FirstUSA just didn't want my business. I called to cancel the card and told the CSR (a nice man) what had happened. He offered to credit my account with $60 to offset the annual fee. He acted like it was no big deal and assured me that the credit would show up on my next statement. (This was after one manager had told me several days before that they NEVER waive the fee for ANYONE.)
By this time I needed to send in my check for the balance due, as I had some real charges to pay for in addition to the incorrect annual fee. So I took the proverbial leap of faith and paid the entire bill.
I just received my next statement and the $60 credit is right there in black and white. I had confirmed the credit over the phone previously, but wanted to see it on my statement before posting here.
I am keeping the card for this year because I want the sign-up goodies and now have what was originally promised -- i.e. the first annual fee has been waived (well only sort of, since I paid it and then it was credited back, but the loss of the use of $60 for one month is not worth worrying about.)
The moral of the story, I guess, is the same thing I keep reading on thread after thread on Flyertalk: If you don't get good service from the first person you talk to, keep calling back until you get someone who is willing to do the right thing. Too bad the business world is like that.
And by the way, I'm not naive enough to believe that all my problems are over. Since at least one other person has posted that the fee came back later, I'll watch my monthly statements very carefully.
The End