Sometimes it won't do much of anything for you, sometimes it can help you get more cards than you would otherwise. Like the old Citi AA card experience that does not work anymore. Like a lot of things I think it is less useful now than it used to be because like anything else it becomes less effective over time as banks adjust.

From what you wrote it sounds like you were expecting to use it to have fewer inquiries after your applications. Inquires are only merged if they look identical like possible duplicates and even then sometimes they are not. For Chase usually business cards and personal cards inquiries will have different bank addresses so they will not merge. If you applied for two Chase personal cards on the same day the odds would be better for merging.