Northwest WorldPerks (Discontinued Program) - US BANK WP VISA SCAM!!

I Recently applied for a WP Visa using extension 2644 (5000 miles on enrollment, 5000 miles after spending $500 at NW and 15,000 miles after 15 months of keeping the card). I read of this offer on IF magazine. Many people I know have had bad experiences with US bank. Now matter what link they apply from, they would always get the minimum number of enrollment miles. This happened to members of my family and friends. For example - my friend applied using a 5000 link and got 3000 miles and the other time using a 10,000 mile telephone extension and got 3000 miles. Each time they had to call US Bank and fax over a copy of their offer. Hoping that I would not have to go through this, I called the Customer Service Department and tried to verify the enrollment offer they had on file for me. I was told by the supervisor that there was no way to verify this and I would just have to wait and see what would post. They said they only had me down to receive 5000 bonus miles which is the minimum for this period and I'll have to fax the rest of the paperwork in for additional miles to the Service Dept. She said that a fax or mail was the only way I could contact the Service Department for questions as they did not have a phone number I could call. When I got a fax number from the supervisor, and tried faxing over my letter, the fax number was not answered. I called again and got a different fax number and that too was not answered (I even have fax reports on this).

I haven't seen anything like this!! US Bank gives out so many enrollment bonus offers - 3000 miles, 5000, 7500 even 10,000 that either they have no way to keep track of who applied from where or their simple policy is to just award mimimum miles until someone calls and complains. The only time I know of someone who hasn't experienced this is when they faxed their form in. I guess US Bank then had something in writing from the customer. Otherwise they have no way of keeping track of who applied from what extension or website link.

With so much information, I am thinking of writing to the Better Business Bureau and telling and telling them about all this. In the meantime I have this letter ready for US Bank - it's just a matter of finding a way to send it to them as they don't have a phone number and faxes apparently don't work either.

Any suggestions/advice or comments??

This is a draft of what I plan to send to the better business bureau in case they do not respond to me:


US Bank issues a VISA card to Northwest Airlines Frequent Flyer members. This credit card is called the US Bank Northwest Worldperks VISA card. In an effort to encourage people to apply for the card, a enrollment bonus is frequently given in the form of Northwest miles. In addition to this the customer earns 1 mile for every dollar spent (2 for every $1 on select merchants). With these frequent flyer miles, one can redeem free award tickets on Northwest Airlines. For example a Round Trip ticket from NY – LA would “cost” 25,000 miles. The enrollment bonus offered by US bank to apply and receive a credit card could be as high as 10,000 miles upon payment of annual fee of even 15,000 miles over a period of 15 months. As this is more than half the miles required for a free ticket for the $55 annual fee, many people are inclined to apply for the card. There are many methods to apply for the card – via website, fax or through a paper form.

However the method US Bank uses to post these bonus miles are flawed and can be considered fraudulent. Below are the reasons:

1. Doing a search of various offers on their website, one can come across various links which offer various bonus miles during the same time period. These include but are not limited to www.usbank.com/worldperks212 (http://www.usbank.com/worldperks212) , www.usbank.com/worldperks60, (http://www.usbank.com/worldperks60,) www.usbank.com/worldperks112, (http://www.usbank.com/worldperks112,) www.usbank.com/worldperks220. (http://www.usbank.com/worldperks220.) These offer 5000, 3000, 4500, 10,000 miles respectively. The 10,000 mile link has expired but all others are still active. There are others for 2500 and 7500 miles as well. All of these links are not targeted and available to the general public. Thus a person has to shop around to get the best enrollment bonus. Similarly if one wishes to apply by phone, there are as many extensions.
2. Since US bank has no efficient method to verify who applied from what link, the standard practice has been to simply give the customer 3000 or 5000 miles and if the customer complains, then they are told to fax a copy of their application form to US bank. Customers who mail/fax their form in usually do not face this problem as then there is factual evidence in the form of the application form.
3. As a result of the above, customers often find themselves paying one or sometimes even two annual fees before realizing that they are not getting the enrollment miles they were suppose to. They then call US bank and are required to fax over a copy of their application form for verification. If they can do this, they are fine. If they can’t, it’s the customer’s loss. Many times even if they do fax it over, they are told by the representative that this was a targeted promotion for which they were not eligible. However they were not told of this fact when they applied.
4. Due to the above mentioned factors, a customer will sometimes pay up to $110 in annual fees (higher for the Signature Card) before realizing that they might not even get their bonus miles, for many customers the bonus miles was the primary factor they applied. US Bank’s attitude to this is that they expect their customers to furnish proof of how they applied or else they will get the standard 3000 or 5000 miles bonus.


I am including along with this letter links from the website www.flyertalk.com (http://www.flyertalk.com) where many US bank customers have expressed their dissatisfaction over US bank’s practices. I can also provide written statements from parents and friends who have experienced the same issue. Clearly this is a problem that needs to be address. US bank’s attitude continues to be to tell their customers to have proof of what offer they used to apply (which is often difficult if you apply on-line or over the phone) or else they will just be eligible for the basic standard mileage.

I am therefore writing to you in the hope that you can address this situation.

Thank you,

you should search for other threads on this topic. i had to go through major shenanigans to get my miles, but they finally posted.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">you should search for other threads on this topic. </font>

arawal has already posted to that thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum35/HTML/003087.html

I too am still trying to get the full 10,000 mile enrollment bonus. You might wish to try faxing the info to NW WP at 218/254-7567. Fax no. for US Bank is 701/461-3461.

I aready called NW Worldperks and explained the whole situation to them. The rep was really nice and said that she would post my complaint to her manager as they have a monthly report where they view their partner's activities to make sure they are doing business correctly with respect to Worldperks miles.

I still honestly believe that US bank has no way of keeping track of who applied from where. I called every department and no one could verify my enrollment code. It's only if you fax or mail an actual form that they have some sort of proof. Failing that, it's up to the consumer to follow up with the bank.

Let's see what happens.....

I might tend to agree with USBank making it very difficult to get the miles promised. After a successful application with the correct codes, I got a letter saying they needed a copy the front and back of the offer or I was out of luck. The thing I really didn't like was that there was no return name, department or address to send the information. Not even on the letterhead. What do you think the odds of me sending something to a bank get to the right person. I think it was purposfully void of information and in very poor taste on their part. Good luck to you and thanks for at least trying to help us all.

So far I had no problems with the card. I got the first 5k, we will see in 15 months if I get the next promised 15k without any red tape. The card also qualified me for the activity of FFF2 which gave me another 10k. So far I got about 20k miles in a month and a half with the card! Hopefully it all works out and I get 15k more in 15 months, we will see.

I HAVE HAD 2 MONTHS OF TRYING TO GET THIS RESOLVED. THEY HAD ME FAX THE OFFER TO THEM. I ONLY HAD THE FRONT. THEY TOLD ME THAT THEY WOULD ONLY GIVE ME THE MILES IF WHEN THEY CROSS REFERENCED IT WITH THE NAMES THEY SENT THE OFFER TO WAS THE SAME. I TOLD THEM THAT PLENTY OF OTHER PEOPLE HAVE GOT THE 25K BONUS AND THEY DIDN'T GET THE LETTER. THEY REFUSED TO HELP ME. THERE IS A HORRIBLE MANAGER NAMED DEB THAT WROTE ON MY FILE NOT TO GIVE ME THE MILES. I EXPLAINED TO HER THIS IS WHY I SIGNED UP FOR THIS. I HAVE THE SIGNATURE CARD AND GOT ONE FOR MY HUSBAND. HE GOT THE PROMO AND SHE SAID TO TELL ME HIS NAME SO SHE COULD TAKE AWAY THE MILES. I AM SO LIVID MAD!

MY SUGGESTION IS TO ASK FOR THE HIGHEST MANAGER UP, EXPLAIN THAT YOU SAW THIS ADD IN A MAGAZINE AND YOU ARE INTITLED TO RECIEVE THESE MILES. I HAVE ALREADY PURCHASED THE 500 IN NWA TICKETS. SO I AM GOING TO TRY THAT ROUTE IN GETTING MY MILES. US BANK IS NOT HELPFUL AT ALL, BUT DON'T MAKE A MANAGER MADE BECAUSE THEY SEEM TO BLACK BALL YOUR ACCT.

LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANYTHING OUT...MAYBE YOU CAN FIND THE SECRET KEY TO GETTING THEM.

i also applied for the 5,000 upon sign up...5000 if i buy $500 of NW tickets by 10/31 and then 15,000 miles in 15 months...

does anyone have a copy of the orginal agreement...i signed up with a telephone nuimber....i forget the extension

thanks...just preparing in case i end up with the same problems you guys have??

please email at bschatzber@aol.com

thanks much

The extension is 2644. I got the offer from IF (07/02 Best Bets). I even asked the person at the enrollment line if this offer was targeted and he said no. But from personal experience, I don't trust them at all!! My advice is to call the enrollment center and ask the person there if the offer is targeted and when he says no, get his name - not that it would make a difference the way US Bank works but still it's a start.

I just posted this on another forum topic and then I strolled in here.

THIS IS EXACTLY, I MEAN EXACTLY, WHAT HAPPENED TO ME. NWA'S ATTITUDE IS WELL THEY TOLD US THEY WEREN'T OFFERING THAT...

-my original post-

On May 5th I followed a link of NWA's WorldPerks site and was offered a US Bank NWA Visa with a 6k mile bonus if I was accepted. I applied, got the card, but they credited only 3000 miles. I called US Bank and they said "prove it". I normally keep copies of EVERYTHING I sign up for to prove it, but in this case I can't find my print out. I wrote to NWA but they said "we checked with US Bank and they don't recall offering 6000 miles". What an odd answer... Can anyone else help me confirm this NWA offer?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by arawal:
Since US bank has no efficient method to verify who applied from what link ...</font>
This is not necessarily true. Last year I applied on the web for the 10K bonus. I printed the first page, which stated the bonus and then printed the application before I sent it.

I got the bonus quickly, but if I hadn't I would have had the bonus page in my hand as proof.

I do the same thing when I switch phone services. If you apply on the web you have documentation showing the bonus you should receive.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Family flyer:
[B]This is not necessarily true. Last year I applied on the web for the 10K bonus. I printed the first page, which stated the bonus and then printed the application before I sent it.

I got the bonus quickly, but if I hadn't I would have had the bonus page in my hand as proof.</font>

The maddening part of this whole ordeal is that even with a printout of the offer US Bank refuses to award the bonus miles.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cactuspete:
The maddening part of this whole ordeal is that even with a printout of the offer US Bank refuses to award the bonus miles.</font>


that's why we all need to pitch in and fax around the offer. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

scre* them.

Ok, finally got my US Bank enrollment miles crap sorted out. For those of you new to this, read the first post I wrote on this topic.

Basically, if you threaten action against these companies they will act. I wrote to them citing examples of how bad their process of posting enrollment miles is - I gave them weblinks of different active offers on their websites each offering different enrollment miles (www.usbank.com/worldperks212, etc.)and how I could provide statements from friends and family that they were facing the same problem. I told them that I thought that they had no process of knowing who applied from what link and they would require you to prove it - and that such practises could be consider fradulant and that I would contact the Better Business Bureau unless I heard from them in 10 days.

Well the "threat" did it - companies would rather give miles than face negetive publicity. So I got a call from a manager. She was the supervisor of a supervisor I spoke to the other day. She apologised and verified my enrollment. I asked her to send what she told me in writing and she said that she would. she spent 15 minutes talking to me and explaing how things worked. I told her about the behaviour of the supervisor I spoke to (she hung up on me). I was told that it was noted on my account that the supervisor was trying to transfer me but got disconnected (sure).

Anyways, after apologising, she gave me a credit of $25 on my account! Not bad!

So for those of you who are still having problems with this, try calling and then sending over a letter like I did above. The manager said she would sent me a copy of the offer letter so if anyone is looking for it (5000 miles on enrollment, 5000 after spending $500 on NW and 15000 after 15 months) - just e-mail me and if in fact I do get an actual application - I will send it to you. If you need more info on the supervisorm etc - let me know. Take Care and Good Luck!

Not to belittle your powers of persuasion, but I don't think that NW or USBank gives a rat's a$$ about a BBB complaint. There are probably tens of thousand of them on file already. Who goes to check with the BBB before applying for an airline affinity card?

A better bet might be the threat of filing a complaint with your state's banking department or consumer fraud division of the state attorney general's office.

Nevertheless, congrats on your success.

i also applied for the 5,000 upon sign up...5000 if i buy $500 of NW tickets by 10/31 and then 15,000 miles in 15 months...
now they say that there was never a 15,000 mile bonus does anyone have a copy of the orginal

please email at plto6@cox.net

thanks much

I still need help with getting a copy of this offer,please e-mail me at plto6@cox.net if you can help
Thanks
Boyd

If you complain to US Bank be sure to invoke their FiveStar guarantee. They will credit $5 to your balance if you contact them regarding an error or poor service.

I need a copy of the offer also, please.
fax 517-566-8065 or e-mail bjmikols@centurytel.net

I just got off the phone with US Bank and like the rest of you said, they could not tell me anything about a futher 15,000 pts in 15 months. Their only comment was to wait unitl the 15 months were up and if the miles didn't post by 2 months after that to contact them.

Thanks and would really appreciate a copy.

Wow.

I am glad I found this message board. I too had signed up for the 15000 bonus mile offer and attempted to have them credit the correct amount a couple months ago but gave up since I had no "proof" of the offer.

If someone could please send a copy of that offer to me I would be eternally grateful! :-)

Fax 928-441-1614 or petersen@programmer.net.

Thanks!

My husband also applied for this and has not received the initial approval miles. If someone has the offer, I would appreciate it faxed or emailed to me also(especially since I talked my husband into this!! ). Thanks, Jan
fax 734-764-2245 or email stellybelle@hotmail.com

Hi guys, give me till the weekend and I will get back to those who posted on this forum this month. If you could e-mail me your fax numbers, that would be easier for me as well.

Thanks!

Actually never mind - most of you already did post your fax numbers.....

Just for what it's worth, I signed up online for a USBank WP Visa last year using a 10,000 mile link and got all 10,000 miles without any effort on my part.

Just faxed you all a copy

I would very much appreciate a copy too. My FAX is 985-643-1672. Thank you!

Thanks Arawal for all your time and trouble. The fax came through just great with a copy of the offer.