I do notice that, and yes only he can confirm. But I just think he's summarizing the situation and not being exact with his language, while most of the replies are taking those words literally. I think this because I just got one letter like this last week from Barclays. The letter basically says (to paraphrase) "congratulations, you have been approved for a credit increase on your account to the amount of $xxx." So that's where I think he's getting his language from.

If OP requested an increase, then yes, he should have known and we all should know. But Barclays moved my limit up unsolicited on my part whatsoever. I did not check to see if it was a hard pull, and I assumed it was not. I would also be surprised just like the OP if that "upgrade" was a hard pull, so that is why I am suggesting maybe OP didn't request it.

I could clearly be wrong. If he/she requested then there's not much debate. However, if unsolicited and resulted in a hard pull, that's more of a debate as to how to handle it.