TJRAE52

So in November I signed up for AA advantage mastercard since the ticket agent told me about the benefits on one of my flights. I fly American often and they were offering 60k bonus miles plus all the other benefits when owning Barclays's mastercard. So I signed up and waited to get approved. I was approved and I called to activate card and ask about what I needed to do to get my bonus miles. Like I was told by the agent at AA, I needed to make one purchase and pay the annual fee of 99$. So, according to my notes, I set up an online account Nove. 13, 2023, I made my first purchase on November 19th. and on November 30th I paid the annual fee of 99$ which shows on my online transaction statement. I month later I called and someone at barclays told me that I would not get my bonus flyer miles until the 90 days. I watched online my charges as well as my payments. When I didn't get statement in the mail I called and they told me nothing was due yet. So I just waited. I called again in February and they said after the ninety days and my first payment I would received the bonus miles. I went on again March 2nd to see if I got them yet and it says 60 K Bonus miles EXPIRED. I called and asked what was going on. They said I had to pay the annual fee in the first 90 days after I signed up. I told them it was paid and that I had an online statement that showed November 30th 99$ charge. She said to me that they didn't take money until February and it is now too late. I said I had an online account since NOV. 2023. I called and they said nothing was due yet so I set up auto pay so I wouldn't miss a payment and they didn't take a payment until FEB. 2024. I told them I never received any statements did I miss a payment. I don't see any late charges posted. She couldn't explain that but only stated that the payment was taken auto pay after the 90 days. She also said a statement was sent out but then said I selected no paper bills. I would never do that ever.

So let me get this straight. I signed up for a Credit card in Nov. Made my first charge in November. Sent up an online acct. in NOV. No bill came I called, they said nothing was due yet. I asked about my bonus miles they said after you pay the annual fee. I said I have it already set up for payment (I see it on my bill online). They said you have to wait the 90 days. I waited. And they don't take any money out of my Auto pay until FEB and now tell OH SORRY ITS PAST THE 90 DAYS? What?

Has this happened to anyone else? I feel scammed.

S80

Did you explicitly sign up with the flyer given out on the flight? - There are multiple offers out there, one has the first years annual fee waved and just requires a charge on the card.

notquiteaff

I signed up for the Barclays Aviator Red card on November, 28, 2023. The welcome bonus requirement was one purchase and pay the annual fee. I paid the first statement (which included the annual fee) in on January 10, 2024, shortly before its due date, and the 60k miles posted on January 17 to my AA account.

This is presumably how it should work for you.

If you can confirm that you followed the required process and Barclays isn’t agreeing, file a complaint with the CFPB.

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

I’d recommend streamlining your story. Just spell out the basic facts and dates. See my example.

guv1976

OP: Did you make your online payment before or after the $99 annual fee posted to your Barclays account? Before or after your first Barclays statement was actually issued?

TJRAE52

No the agent told me about it and I did it online when I went home. Funny thing is that I had a dispute right off the bat with CheapOAir and so AA credited me 1800$ while the dispute was being settled. I signed up for Autopay and they purposely didn't take out the money until Feb. even thought I agreed to pay the annual fee in NOV. stating I was over the 90 days. Wait what?

Auto pay was set up in November on line. All my credit cards have auto pay. They didn't take the money out initially because I was -$36 which means they owed me . But after they denied my dispute and tacked on the charges, they waited until February to take the payment. Mind you no late fees HMMMMMMMMM
mered

CMTinPHL

You are not exactly being clear in what happened. What does a dispute with “CheapOAir” (AA?) have to do with it? What does AA giving you $1800 in credit have to do with anything?

Did you receive a card? Did you make a purchase with the card? Did you pay for that purchase?

notquiteaff

Not sure if I am the only one confused by your timeline of events. Perhaps you could structure your post like this:

11/28/2023 card opened
11/29/2023 Annual fee posted
12/03/2023 first charge of $5 made
12/19/2023 first statement closed
1/10/2024 paid first statement balance in full (incl. annual fee)
1/17/2024 sign-up bonus posted

I have the feeling that you didn’t pay them Barclays anything (incl. the AF) until after the bonus period was over due to a chargeback credit (though I don’t know how that could have prevented the AF from being due). But I can’t quite piece the puzzle together from the multiple posts.

TJRAE52

well it didn't work like that and when I called they told me I had to wait the 90 days. I did have a dispute right off the bat for 1800$ but still I paid the annual fee by agreeing online since it was done paperless and I had autopay set up already. They never took my payment once I lost the dispute until Feb and now tell me that I was too late ? I don't get that. I made other charges as well. On my Jan statement they never took any money but then again never posted a late charge. This isn't right.

guv1976

I don't understand how autopay factors into this at all. Didn't you say that you went on line and made a separate payment? "I made my first purchase on November 19th. and on November 30th I paid the annual fee of 99$ which shows on my online transaction statement."

Can you answer the questions I posed up-thread: Did you make that payment before or after the annual fee posted to your account, and before or after the closing date of your first statement?

Dave Noble

It is very difficult to follow - can you summarise in dot points what happened when - without commentary

The way it appears is that the annual fee was charged to the card account in November but the amount was not paid by you to the card company until after the 90 day time limit. Is this correct?

CMTinPHL

So you had an $1800 dispute with the Barclays or with AA? You really are not being clear. Did you buy anything with the card? (That wasn’t disputed…)

beachfan

It still could be done in plain english.

When did you take out the card. (approved, not received)
When did you make the charge that was disputed
When did the dispute resolve against you.
When did you make the first non-disputed charge?
When was the $99 fee billed (on the statement)>
When did you pay the $99 fee.

Autopay doesn't matter. IOnly when the fee was paid, not how.
A disputed charge doesn't count as a charge until it's resolved. If that's after 90 days, it doesn't count for the bonus.

moondog

TJRAE52

Why did you go make your Barclays card complicated before the SUB posted?
If you had just made ONE transaction at a grocery store or restaurant and paid the AF, you'd presumably already have the SUB, but if you didn't, you'd be in a good position to sort things out (e.g. few moving parts).

In any event, you might be able to salvage this if you can simply organize the key points in an intelligible manner (e.g. document your timeline with specifics + exclude irrelevant information/commentary).

adeleswart

Called Barclay’s before using new card to be sure the SUB and LP would be credited after March 1. I was told my first statement would be due 3/1 so indeed the LP would be on AA new year’s quest. Not true. A purchase hit the card, I paid the $99, but no ! I just lost 75 ,000 LP, much more valuable than miles over the course of a year . Unlike Citi, Barclay’s does not give LP for sign up bonus! Agent should know this!

skyye_99

Citi also doesn't give LPs for sign up bonuses (or for bonus miles in general). If they did, everyone would have plat pro for a year, easy.