This is a great story about how big companies love to take care of their faithful customers. I have been a Discover cardholder since 1995. I used this card exclusively over the years for everything unless a merchant did not accept discover. Unfortunately, I never paid one dime of interest even though i would often have 3k per month or more charged to the card.
Two months ago, Mrs. Dude noticed an odd charge we couldn't put our finger on. We called to dispute the charge having done this many times in the past as some merchants aren't easily identifiable on a credit card statement. During the conversation the phone-monkey asks, "Do you want to cancel the account and have a new card issued?" Mrs. Dude responds "No thank you." At this point we are transferred to a different department and notified that our cards have been canceled. When we inquired why we get told "It's standard policy." We, calmly, point out that this has never been the case and if it is standard why were we asked if we wanted it canceled? This question receives no answer. It was almost midnight at this point so I decided to handle this from work on Monday. We had also been assured our new cards were being sent overnight to us. When I called to find out why these people ask a question tehy intend to answer for you, the smartass young phone-monkey says "Listen, you might be upset but we are just trying to protect you here." I asked "What did you do to protect me? The charge was disputed correctly and I was not reporting card or identity theft." He says, "We know a lot about this type of stuff here, it's complicated but in your best interest." I decided to let him know that I work with identity theft, PCI compliance, computer crime, and other nuances of his "complicated" world and that he could feel free to transfer me to customer service. I got a very apologetic guy on the phone who was friendly but helpless. He also informed me my new cards had never been sent out and corrected that issue. He asked what he could do to make it right, to which I gave my typical response " I want a plasma TV." He instead offered me 5% cashback on certain purchases. This is available to everyone and I already had that so he offered me nothing.
I am writing this because we have stopped using our discover completely and yesterday I got a letter that I was hoping was an apology. Instead it was a marketing letter saying how nice it was to talk to me and hey I could still get that 5%. I also just got this month's statement, instead of the normal thousands of dollars it was 1% of the norm, I hope they notice but doubt they will.
If anyone from Discover Card Service would like to respond please feel free to write captn.dude@gmail.com .
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