phil3157

I tried booking a flight through United's website having been recommended to their offer which was, if booked and paid for using their United Explorer Mileage Plus Visa card I would receive a statement credit of $250. With this in mind I applied for, and received said card. After receiving it I went onto the United website where I selected a flight and then came to the payment section where I filled out the details from my new card. As I did not see any reference to the statement credit, although there were a couple of boxes requesting any promotion codes, I wondered if I should fill those out, so I called United before hitting submit. The CS rep explained that the $250 statement credit did not need a promotion code as the credit would automatically be applied to the next statement following an initial purchase. I asked if they could confirm that in writing and they transferred me to another department, which was Chase Visa I believe. The Rep again confirmed that a statement credit would be issued on the first statement and again I asked for written confirmation and was told that they would have to transfer me to a supervisor for that. Supervisor came on the line and told me that the statement credit would not apply to the particular card I had. I drew his attention to the online webpage ads and to the fact that the card as issued looked identical to that shown and that was what I had applied for, but he still refused to honor the offer. I have since filed complaints re false advertising with various consumer agencies including BBB, as well as sending a written complaint to UA as I still want to know why the card I applied for does not honor the offer, even though it looks the same as the one shown in their ad.

I had previously booked part of a trip using American Express card in order to lock in the flight and it was at that time that the offer of $250 credit came up if paid with the United ExplorerMP card. The trip was PHX to LHR via DEN. At that time I followed a link and applied for the United MP card which I understood could not be used at that time as it would take 7 days to arrive. I therefore booked the DEN to LHR flight using AMX (as I wanted to lock in the dates and fare) and intended waiting until the United card arrived and making the PHX - DEN booking with the new card. After my experience described above I intended to book that segment with a different airline and vowed never to use United again after this. However, I learned that if I booked with United our bags could be checked in at PHX and transferred at DEN to the LHR flight, which would be more convenient and time saving. I therefore have booked today using my new UA card. During that booking process a popup came up with the same offer of $250 credit if the United MP card was used! Maybe I should have applied for a second card at that point but instead proceeded to pay with the new UA card and that way would see how it showed up on the card statement.
So far it shows a zero balance, but probably takes 24hrs to show up. We will see!
This site would not allow me to download screenshots of UA offer as I do not have enough posts.
I am hoping to hear if someone else has had a similar experience and if so how it was resolved, if at all. Thanks for reading.


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myperks

Edit: read wrong.

i guess only chase will be able to tell if you account has that promotion code attached

jhayes_1780

IME, (pmua) it showed up as a credit to the statement at the end of the first billing cycle (not an "instant credit").

guv1976

I have no idea if this is the case here, but I have seen some statement-credit offers that require you to apply for the credit card before you have completed the booking process, and if you are approved, charge that ticket to the newly-aporoved credit card. That's right: you would charge the ticket to the new account immediately -- before you have received the physical card -- to complete the booking. (Essentially, the credit-card issuer would share the new card number with the airline to complete the booking transaction.)

If that's not the OP's situation, then perhaps he will see the credit when his statement closes.

phil3157

Guv1975 - That came up on my initial booking and I was told, over the phone, that they could not give me the new credit card number via email etc as I would have to wait for card to arrive, but that they had approved the card and the number would be visible to UA and could be used. When I called the UA reservations I was told that was not the case and that they would have no way of linking the card. If I wanted to complete the reservation I would have to give them any other credit card number, which I did with AMX with the intention of waiting for UA card to arrive and then using it to book rest of trip.
Fact is, that I spoke to 2 different CS reps at United and both told me that the credit would appear on my first statement following a purchase but neither of them would send me email confirmation of that. It was only when it was escalated to a Chase United supervisor that I was told, after again asking for written confirmation, that the card I had been issued did not qualify.

WineCountryUA

OP -- can you provide a link to this offering? I have not seen such an offer (not saying it does not exist), so without knowing what card and the T&Cs, you will get little help from FT. (You will not be able to post a pic on FT until you get a few more posts)

What card are you using? Statement cards are usually just for new card applications. Again, with the T&Cs we are guessing.

And statement credit generally will not appear in your online account but in your monthly billing.

Also, is this a Chase offer or UA MP offer? Statement credits are usually done by the card companies.

guv1976

When the offer came up on your initial booking, was there not a link with which to apply online? If so, I'm not sure how or why you ended up on the phone with Chase. If the offer required you to apply online and to complete the booking online after getting instant approval of the new card from Chase, and you then paid for the ticket with an Amex card instead, it would appear that you may not have complied with the terms of the offer.

Edited to add: When these statement-credit pop-ups appear during the booking process, I believe that they are intended to induce potential customers to immediately apply for the credit card via a supplied link, and then, if approved for the card, to immediately complete the booking online so that UA's computer system can receive the card-number information from Chase. If you don't follow that process, Chase may not have any obligation to issue the statement credit. But as has already been suggested, the devil is in the details of the pop-up offer.

oopl

Screenshots are your friend. Keep that in mind when applying for credit card offers.

phil3157

I did exactly that and received approval but website wanted number and that was why I called UA as I have described. As far as I am concerned this is a bnlatant rip off with the intent to deceive the customer. Why would agents, CS reps or whatever they are called all confirm verbally that yeas you will mget a statement credit but all refuse to put that into writing and when pushed simply deny commitment?
To answer other responses, yes I have screenshots of the process including those of today when I booked the other half using the new UA card. I did try posting those here but this forum would not allow attachments as I mentioned earlier, but please rest assured that I am telling the truth and if you give me an email address will happily send those attachments in the hope that yuou will be able to publish them here.

gmt4

In the first sentence the OP says "statement credit." He/she actually spells out the terms of the offer in the post yet doesn't comprehend what they mean so stirs all this up by calling UA and confusing them. Statement credits are not instant credits or discounts at booking. For a statement credit to be issued the charge has to post on the statement first. That takes days.

All that said, before bashing UA the OP needs to understand what these terms mean. Complaining at the UA CS agents in this case and making comments such as "vowing to never use UA again" was completely misdirected and unfair. This would be more of a chase problem than a UA problem in the first place.

Regardless, nothing can be done about a statement credit until the charge posts. That's the time to call and question and dispute it.

letsbeadventurers

findark

I feel like it's worth pointing out that United has basically nothing to do with this other than generically having a business agreement with Chase and carrying a Chase advertisement on their site. The credit card is issued by Chase, and any signup bonuses are handled entirely from the Chase side, so OP should be calling Chase, not United, to investigate the terms of the card. If OP has not charged $250 of United airfare to the card then it's entirely possible they will still receive a statement credit once such a charge posts to the new account. Chase should be able to confirm this, or otherwise describe what went wrong in the booking process to mess up the offer.

For those who haven't seen, this has been a pretty common signup bonus recently: if I recall it's 25k miles + $250 as a signup bonus for a new Explorer card and I am sure you also have to be valid on the 24-month window to receive it.

birdiedouble

I did this same promo in early June. The United website was able to use the card that I applied for but did not have physically. The $250 credit posted three days later. Based on a screenshot I have the $250 statement credit is issued after your first purchase. As findark pointed out, your beef is with Chase not United.

Other part of offer was 25,000 miles after spending $2000 in first three months.

phil3157

I did not expect an instant credit or discount what I expected was a credit to show up on the statement after my having used the new card to make a purchase. Usually credit card statements take a month. My issue is with both United and their partner Chase as the offer appeared on United's site. Why was I told by United CS and Chase CS that I would get a statement credit by completing the next booking with the c ard, but a supervisor at Chase then told me the opposite?

TerryK

It was not on United website. It was an ad link which directs to you Chase website. United has nothing to do with it other than a marketing agreement with Chase. You are better off calling Chase instead of United for all issues related to credit card. Whatever United CS told you doesn't mean squat.

As an example, I see there is an application for Amex Gold card on this very FT page. It is not on FT website but an ad link for Amex application. Others may see different ads when accessing this same page on different time or from different locations. If I refresh this same page, it displays same FT content with a different ad link. Guess what would happen if I were to contact FT about Amex application bonus?