Frindle

Pending transactions take days to show up, so good luck catching fraud. Customer support is incompetent (sent me 8 cards to cover me +2 AU, some with wrong account numbers), the website is down pretty regularly, and they can't tell you when your statement closes until 72 hours beforehand.

There are also other smaller things like they can't change your closing date, and the fiasco they had with cards falling apart initially.

VegasGambler

It's not that pending transactions take days to show up (they don't). It's that they don't show pending transactions; they only show posted transactions. That is a little strange, but fraud is their problem, not mine, and I don't see how that helps with fraud detection anyway. It's not like I'm on the websites for all my credit cards every hour of the day checking for fraudulent pending transactions. I just check my statement when it's time to pay.

I have no AUs but I just got the one card. It works fine. It's got my account number on it and everything.

I've also never had the website be down, but, then again, as I said... I don't check it that often.

I only just got the card a couple of months ago, so I don't know the details of their previous issues, but, if they are fixed now, that's not really relevent.

I dunno.. it seems like a lot of complaining about nothing to me. I applied for a credit card, I got a credit card, and I use the credit card. Once a month I take a look at my statement and pay off my credit card. I get tons of points. What else do I really need?

I am surprised that people are not more excited by this card. It's my most valuable card (in terms of earning rewards) by far. I think that the problem is that the number of points that you get (3x, 1x) don't seem that high... but when you factor in the value of Elevate pts (way more than most other loyalty programs) it is huge.

Eastbay1K

I like the card well enough, and AX is no better with showing some pending items. Maybe I don't suffer from OCD but for my periodic online account checking, the website works almost all the time.

I just finally canceled my Barclaycard (the one that rolled over from the prior VX card) and spent way too long trying to cancel on the phone. The fact that I've never used it wasn't quite hint enough.

Frindle

I have a charge from two days ago that still doesn't show up online. They don't show up until they post. A little OCD? Yes, but with all the credit card data breaches I'm very careful and monitor quite a bit right now. I had a card I rarely use compromised a few weeks back, so I'm in my accounts several times a week now.

You just got this account, you missed out on the cluster**** that was the launch of it.

They have gotten better, I'll give you that, but Barclays had it's act together more than Comenity has so far, at least for me.

I agree with you that the points are valuable, that's why I have it, but for a company that prides itself on customer service, Comenity is a horrible choice. When my AF is due in a few months I'm going to ask for my AF to be waived to give me a legitimate chance to try this card once they get the kinks out, if they won't do that, I'll find something else to use.

VegasGambler

Why does everyone worry about compromised credit cards?

So, your card gets compromised. They remove the fraudulent charges, and send you a new card. It's happened to me a few times -- never cost me a dime. The only cost to me is a 5-10 minute phone call. If I'm not paying for it, why would I worry? This is someone else's problem.

The only thing that I am careful of is to make sure that I travel with at least 2-3 cards (having your only card compromised while away from home would be inconvenient)

Frindle

Yeah, you get the card replaced, but then you have to figure out everywhere you've linked it, and get it swapped out, which after 7-10 days is another headache.

VegasGambler

No you don't. I always forget about a couple. When a payment fails they just email you and you replace the card on file. This has happened to me before -- it's never a big deal. It honestly seems like you are just trying to invent things to worry about.

The whole point of the US credit card system is to make it as hassle-free as possible for consumers, because they want you to use your card for everything, so that they can collect more swipe fees. As a result, they have taken all the responsibility for fraudulent transactions (this is not true in all other countries). Now, don't get me wrong -- you are paying for this -- the swipe fees are essentially an extra cost that is tacked onto everything that you buy. But, once you are paying for it anyway, you may as well enjoy the benefits. The main benefit is that you don't need to worry about any of this crap.

This is all a giant straw man argument anyway. Whether you notice fraud right away or a month later is irrelevant, because the end result is the same. The fact that Comenity doesn't show pending transactions is irrelevent to preventing fraud. It may make it take longer for you to detect it, but that doesn't change anything on your end.

paradox

I've had the card only a few weeks, but I'm finding it to be a little inconvenient. A transaction made on 10/17 never showed up when I checked my account online (I checked it every day, as it was my first purchase and I wanted to see how long it would take to show up). It is, however, on the 10/24 statement which I downloaded.

Also, you can't do much online, other than very basic functions. I wanted to get add an authorized user. Can't do it online; have to call in. I wanted to make a change to my scheduled payment. Can't do it online; have to call in. And I can't change my due date (see upthread). Add it all up, and that equals a bank that's not very consumer-friendly. I like the Elevate points though, so my usage after hitting the minimum spend shall TBD.

VegasGambler

Of course you can add an AU online. Under "account services", go to "manage authorized buyers", and click "add buyer". Enter the AU's details. Done.

SoCalZman

this is specifically in reference to the prior VX Visa/now barclay master card, but I just got an email that I was being upgraded. I am going to get a few more benefits and a card with a chip in it. Anyone else get this email?

Frindle

You just got an email? Isn't it about 10 months late?

paradox

I stand corrected. I saw "Manage Authorized Users" and assumed it allowed me to amend AU previously added but not add an AU. I should have investigated further.

socalgecko

I hit my first 10K increment during October and the status points hit my Elevate account the same time that the purchase points did. I know all their T&C say it can take up to 4 weeks, but it looks like it's pretty much instantaneous as long as the qualifying purchase transactions post before your statement period closes.

VegasGambler

One strange thing that I notice about this card is that it seems to take a while for available credit to reflect payments. I made my first payment, which posted on Nov 4. It is now Nov 7 and my available credit still has not increased to reflect the payment.

It's not really a big deal... my credit limit is about 3x what I would use even in a month of heavy spending (and about 10x what I would use in an average month), but I'm curious to know how long this takes.

VegasGambler

Some people have reported that in order to get no change / cancellation fees, you have to pay for the entire flight with the VX CC, and if you use any travel bank funds, there will be change/cancellation fees. This essentially means that you can only cancel/rebook a flight once without paying fees.

This is not my experience.

I had a non-refundabe F fare for around thanksgiving ($424). Paid with the CC. When they had their 20% off promo I cancelled and rebooked for the discount, and used the travel bank to pay. I just got the email about the 50% off promo, so I did the same thing. The fare had dropped, so I got 50% off the new fare (I paid $157). I was not charged a fee to cancel the 2nd time, even though the flight had been paid for with travel bank. The fare was non-refundable, and was well beyond the 24-hour window.

Just a data point, and YMMV, but I certainly didn't get charged. I didn't do anything special -- I just cancelled online and there was no fee charged; the whole amount got credited to my travel bank. I wasn't 100% sure it would work so I even took a screenshot of the page (which showed no fee) before I confirmed the cancellation, so I'd have some ammo to complain if they did charge the fee