Travelomania

Must have had the wrong agents again and again

If anyone should possibly be considered or granted the EMV card, my guess is me.
I happen to spend a perpetual amount of time outside the US and have had to use for a long time now my EU-based CCs that have contained the chip.
One cannot buy groceries, get gas, purchase a train ticket, pay for toll or other services without the chip-card in most developed nations.

Well ... after a couple of days of the run-around at US Bank, I received a seemingly definitive answer from a supervisor:
It was a pilot program and is closed to new members.
No news whatsoever about when the card would be available to regular customers - nada.


I might take another shot - with enough patience - since threatening to cancel did not do the trick in the least bit
Do you by any chance remember which helpful department you were transferred to ?

brandkb

I first called the number on the back of the card (877-978-7446). I asked for a chip card and they said, "no way" so I said, "ok, I want to cancel the card." He then transferred me to someone "who could help me with that" so I'm assuming I was transferred to the retention department.

The person I spoke to in this department was infinitely more friendly and helpful. He asked me why I wanted to cancel, and I told him that I travel a lot and I want to be able to have a chip card since it's often required when traveling abroad, and that I haven't been using it much (read: at all) due to this fact and the foreign transaction fees. He said, "well, everyone will be getting these by the end of spring." So I begrudgingly agreed but said OK and hung up. The same exact guy called me back about 20 minutes later and said, "I just had a meeting with my supervisor and brought up your request, and he told me to send one out to you right away!" I thought it was awesome that he followed up. I would have been fine with waiting a few more months since I do most of my foreign travel in the summer.

It was funny because he said that on his computer, there are big red letters stating all flexperks travel rewards customers will be getting these cards by May-ish, but the first person I talked to dismissed me right out. I called three times before I threatened to cancel the card and all three times they said something like, "it's just a pilot program" or "we have no way of knowing when they will be introduced on a wider scale" etc. etc.

iowa guy

It was last August or September.

rh1138

There is a promotion for the 49ers and USBank, and they are offering 36,000 bonus miles when applying in NorCal locations. There is a $2,500 minimum spend in 5 months, which in the end will put you pretty close to 2 free tickets.

http://www.49ersbanking.com/

ajoy

I'm wondering if this might work:

Someone posted previously that they purchase a $25 Delta gift certificate on the day of their travel (assuming they are flying Delta on a ticket booked with their FlexPerks points). This should qualify for the $25 airline allowance as long as it is purchased with their FlexPerks card. Of course, you then have to call CS to get a credit for the $25 charge. So your final out of pocket expense is zero dollars.

On the Delta website it says you can refund a gift certificate:
"Gift certificates are refundable during the one year validity period. They must be handled by a Delta Ticketing Office. Totally unused gift certificates are subject to a penalty charge of 10 percent of the face value."

So I could get back $22.50??

alphaeagle

I tried this "trick" a while back on another airline, and was denied the $25 credit. Probably should have pushed them to allow it, but I didn't.

ajoy

I plan to try it out on Delta in early February. I'll report back.

huge

Does anyone have a link for this? I *SO* should have done this 2 years ago - would have netted me $3-4K

[Edit: Sorry, could have answered my own question with 2 minutes of googling. Here's the link. Mea Culpa]

huge

The Flexperks Travel Rewards VISA has no kind of extended warranty, correct?

I think the one time I bought an expensive piece of electronics ($600 Dell monitor) without an AMEX will be the one time I could use the extra year of warranty - monitor is failing after 3.5 years... sigh.

brandkb

I think they might:
http://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/flexperks-cash.html

Under Benefits:

Extended Warranty Coverage - Double the manufacturer's (up to one year).

Yes, it's for the Flexperks Cash but I'd be surprised if the Travel version didn't have some kind of coverage. I think every Visa I've had has some kind of warranty extension.

EDIT: This is the number for the Visa Signature Warranty Benefit Service. If you go this route, plan to have receipts and/or statements and warranty info handy:

1-800-882-8057

lovestotravel49

They do have a one year extended warranty. We just had a 13 month old range we needed repaired. We called them and they emailed us the paperwork to fill out and send back to them.

Update: Shortly after I posted the above response, I received a phone call from the company Flex Perks Visa uses to process the warranty claims and they told me our request for reimbursement was approved and we should have our check in the mail in 7-10 days. We are very happy with their service. It was painless and efficient. We did have to gather all the info they wanted, but fortunately we had it all.

Good luck with your claim. It should go well.

kyushuman

Just got a WAS-IAD-CPT for free ($778 all-in price) using Flex Perks points. Very nice bonus for having this card!
I wonder if I can pre-order a meal on KLM (approx $20) or would it have to be in-flight purchase on the same day?

newsmanhoss

The $25 airline allowance would cover this, so long as your card is charged on the actual day of travel.

Travelomania

+1 ^
I wonder if a tax-free item purchase on board would qualify ?

PDXpress

After doing some pretty thorough research (including reading this entire thread), I don't get why everyone isn't crazy about this card. You never see it written up in travel blogs. Before I apply, what am I missing?

It seems like with 2x points on cell phone charges plus air, gas, or groceries (whichever is highest each month) and 3x points for donations, it has very high value. And then you have the opportunity to double the value your points again when you redeem for air travel. That's a potential 4% return.

I plugged in my monthly spending, which comes to about $30,000 a year. If I used this card I'd earn just under 50,000 points a year, worth nearly $1,000 in airfare. That's over a 3% return. No other non-Amex card comes close to that.

I realize that one of the complaints is that because of the tier structure you can't always maximize your point value. But it seems that if a ticket you want costs $401 then you pay cash, and if it's $399 you use points.

Have I missed some major drawbacks? Is it just that it's not very sexy?