I am a bit surprised that no one else has mentioned this here, nor any bloggers, but I remember taking a survey from Barclays a year or so ago about a high end card that would have more spending bonus, no sign up bonus, transfer partners, no cap on higher rewards, and more perks that would make it a primary card in my wallet. I more or less said yes to most of their questions. Little did I know then that they would launch a card with practically no perks, inferior transfer partners than the other three players, more annual fee than justified and a suboptimal transfer ratio.