Since I have been shut out of many things over the years (and personally do not consider myself a bad bloke, even though others think I must therefore be one) I have a bit of experience with some of this. I think that drawing on such experience is helpful (as I have said elsewhere despite being highly shunned for it). To know more about how and why one can get shut down can enlighten one as to how some deals and companies operate. You also find out that hey, it's them who are pulling the big scam here, not you! then again it's all subjective... I mean why listen to a guy with 10+ years FT experience who has been kicked out of stuff and talks too much?
Anyway, I have done many things with UR but I have not
yet been shut out of Chase. However, if the things that have happened to people like
emptiness were to happen to me, I would press very hard to recoup at least my points, if not my accounts as well--
to have them reopened.
- We do not know what each person had been doing (so we cannot assume they must have broken some rules or meant to harm the program)
- We cannot know exactly why Chase closed any account (we can only assume they THOUGHT person X was up to something)
- It can be widely assumed that if pressed for a reason, Chase, like any bank, would use the party line: "We don't have to tell you. According to things like the bank Secrecy Act of 1970, etc, we can close anyone's account at any time for any reason... blah blah."
Yeah, sure ok but why
WOULD you? And why now?
When it comes to anything involving points, promos, bonuses, etc, I find it very interesting that THIS is exactly when and why banks and companies suddenly happen to find a need to close out someone's account!
It is for this reason that I say press onward. Challenge it. Do so with any and every entity you can find. Bank regulators, BBB, Attorney General's Offices (the more complaints they get of the same nature, the more inclined they are to act upon them) state and local regulators and finally the serving of a small claims court notice.
If my points were taken a short time after I just paid the annual fee for my card AND I was refused the % bonus I was also supposed to get, AND my points were being threatened, I would call that Bait & Switch so fast it would make their head spin. It could make the local paper or more entities, but even then, the general public (and sadly, even some of your peers or some of the sadistic, anti-social and narcissistic types found in FT even) would instantly assume YOU must have somehow 'gamed' the system (that is a term that is very undefined by the way) and are therefore the reason why you got shut down. It must be YOU, because it didn't happen to ME! But despite all that garble you may encounter, once you serve notice to whatever company were to do this to you,
they kinda have to deal with it.
Here's a little example:
In a recent case I had a certain bank want to close my bank accounts and a cash back credit card. they would not say why of course, but it was true that I had just found ways to earn over $2,300 using that cash back card. All legitimate ways according to their own T&Cs, mind you, but enough to make them wish they never gave it to me. Thus, they had to close it. And if the card is closed, one does not get the bonus. So to do this, they had to close the bank accounts and thus, everything related to them, including the card. because they could just close the bank accounts for any reason (according to that 1970s rule) they could easily tie this into today's Cb CC. And that is what they did. I wrote everyone but finally did end up using SC court. A week before my hearing date I got a call from their lawyer. he sent me a check. When I pressed for reasons he would not give them, and had I gone to court I may have gotten more, but I also figured it was best to end it here and take the money. I did, and that worked nicely for me.
When I had to sue Cartera for missing UA and other miles, I ended up in SC court. I find now I should have used the AGs office first and I did not win in court (judgement was mailed and said, "no money awarded" as I was claiming a monetary value for my lost miles) but it was really interesting to me that the very next day, ALL my miles were suddenly in my UA acct, AND ones I had claimed the company owed me in Delta suddenly magically found their way into my DL as well. Hmmmm...
Point is, I got the missing miles... I got the cash back money (and in the case of Chase, it would have been the points) that I was rightfully due under the T&Cs of the company in question at the time I did my activity. I had to fight for it and that stinks, but like anything, once dragged into the system for whatever reason, you just gotta find the means to get yourself out of it!
You need to fight for your right to party. period.
Never doubt the Beastie Boys.
MM good luck!