Yesterday we shared the news that the Chase IHG Rewards card will no longer offer an uncapped free night upon your cardmember anniversary (after paying the $49 annual fee)
(SEE ALSO: IHG guts its anniversary night)
Whereas you used to be able to use your free night at any IHG hotel in the world, now you’ll only be able to use the anniversary night at hotels costing 40,000 points or lower (and even some of the 40,000 point hotels seem to be excluded according to some things that I’ve seen)
Chase and IHG backpedaling?
Over the past couple of days, we’ve seen a bit of backpedaling by Chase Twitter support reps, as reported by Doctor of Credit. Unfortunately, the information they’re giving is contradictory and doesn’t seem to make sense.
I thought I’d share a few of the tweets I’ve seen
First of all, this is the standard message they’re sending to everyone
We can understand your concerns. This was a business decision that Chase and IHG made. We know this isn’t ideal, and we’ll share your feedback. ^TS https://t.co/znUu1VJn9r
— Chase Support (@ChaseSupport) April 4, 2018
But then sometimes they are sharing additional information
Hi there. Any Anniversary Free Night issued before May 1, 2018, is still valid at any IHG hotel worldwide. Anniversary Free Nights issued after May 1, 2018, will be redeemable at eligible IHG hotels with a redemption value up to and including 40k points. ^JG
— Chase Support (@ChaseSupport) April 4, 2018
That would be correct. We can understand your concerns. This was a business decision that Chase and IHG made. We know this isn’t ideal, and we’ll share your feedback. ^JG
— Chase Support (@ChaseSupport) April 4, 2018
Or perhaps a glimmer of hope?
We certainly apologize for the news. Accounts opened between 1/1/18 and 4/5/18, will not see this change for the first year. ^JD
— Chase Support (@ChaseSupport) April 3, 2018
We are still monitoring the situation and I’ve reached out to some contacts to see if we can get some more clarity about who will get what kind of certificate and when. I’ll keep you posted
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It seems Chase and IHG together know exactly what they are doing: telling anyone who applied for a card between May 1 and December 31, we don’t care about you or keeping our word. Get it! That is how we do business.
So do as I did and cancel the card. If that benefit is not there anymore and a main reason why you applied for the card, call Chase and Cancel. Actions will create changes when it hits Chase bottom line
Did anyone else receive this “invitation” to let Chase know how you feel? 😀
Dear EILEEN KERRIGAN,
As a valued customer, we’d like your feedback and ideas to play a role in helping us create the best possible products, service and experiences. To that end, we invite you to join the Chase Innovation Community. As part of this select group of customers, you will be asked to participate in short online surveys and discussions with others in the community, focused on the IHG Rewards credit card. Your contributions will result in improvements and products inspired by you.
Click the link below if you’re interested in joining the community:
• The link takes you to a survey.
• The survey will ask you to share some basic information about yourself to help us determine if you’re eligible for the community.
• We’ll let you know if you are eligible on the last screen of the survey.
Here’s what to expect if you’re eligible and agree to join the community:
• We’ll ask for your participation once or twice a month.
• You’ll spend about 15 minutes completing an online survey or participating in a community discussion on topics like the design of new products and the quality of our letters and emails.
• We’ll review responses to help us improve our products and services.
**********************
Just for fun, I followed the link and started the survey. I got as far as section 2, which asks what kind of financial products you have (credit cards, HELOCs, investment accounts, etc.). I checked all of the relevant boxes and clicked “Next,” only to get an error messages telling me to check all of the relevant boxes for the products I have :-/
Not wasting any more time on THAT little exercise in futility 😀 Really, Chase, can you not even get a survey right??
I didn’t get it but someone else over on the Points With a Crew miles and points Facebook group did
I got the email.
When I read “Here’s what to expect” I assumed they meant they were going to compensate us for our time. I got to the second question and decided- what’s the point?
I wish people would stop rocking the boat so they don’t just decided to cancel the card entirely.
stop rocking the boat? Don’t follow you Jesse. Are you by chance from the school of thought that believes we little people need to learn our place, not question the powers that be, just take what the Lords of the realm (and the keepers of the casinos) see fit to dole out….. lest if we dare to complain, they might take away the very air we breathe.