Last updated on November 26th, 2016 at 05:14 am
While I have been hiding in RV parks throughout New Zealand for the past week, I occasionally peek at my email to make sure the wheels aren’t coming off things back home.
(Side note: This is not to be confused with my fears of the wheels coming off in the actual van, which is tangible as well.)
Probably the most notable email that I have received in the points and miles game is this one from Citi, where they tell me that for a 2 month period, the wrong balance was reported on my statements.
Now this email itself is not very important in the scheme of things. Mistakes happen all of the time. What is notable to me (a marketer by day and person who has at least some sense of customer service IQ) is the blunt nature of this email in what it contains.
The phrase that got my attention was this:
“We showed a higher amount of ThankYou Points than you actually earned.”
No sugar coating or balance adjustment, just a hope-dashing note about my points balance. As someone who does not usually pay attention to printed statements (yet checks their balances religiously online), I wasn’t even aware that there was a problem before this email arrived. Normally I would just delete this email, but I had flagged it on my phone for follow up just in case it was part of a bigger issue. In the end, there was really no issue at all, so the communication was wasted on me.
You should never end an email to a customer on a negative note. Always have an offer, whether it be empathy or something more tangible like a favorable points correction.
As a marketer, I could think of approximately 73 better ways to phrase this, and maybe even turn it into a marketing opportunity.
For example, turning this into a positive:
“Your ThankYou points balance listed in your statements was artificially high due to a systems error. As a token of gratitude for your understanding, we are crediting your balance 500 points as a one-time courtesy.”
Another example, turning the communication into a marketing opportunity:
“Your ThankYou points balance was listed incorrectly due to a systems error. We apologize if you were planning to make a redemption with your points, and we encourage you to visit out thankyou.com website for your latest travel needs. Your points balance could get you ___ or ___.
I had issues with Citi all Summer, but not because of the printed statements
If you read my weekly updates, you might have noticed that I was checking the Citi website daily to see if my points posted for category spend bonuses. I thought that these would post on the 1st of the month (because the website does say “August spend bonus”), but it actually posts on your statement date.
I grew frustrated with the way they posted the points you earn each month on your statement date (19th for me), because it caused me to miss the best rate for my flights to New Caledonia (prices went up during the 18 days I waited for my points to post).
After receiving this email, it seems that Citi has IT issues coming from all corners of their ThankYou program.
Did anyone else experience an issue with your Citi Statements or points balances?
Not with Citi, but I did with Barclays on the Wyndham card. I had a stay and they then credited the points SIX times with various descriptions from “car rental bonus” on. Then they reversed all six of them a month or so later and sent a very similar letter. Then they went back a few weeks later and added one back, to actually make it correct, since they should have left one and not backed out all.
Actually it was the monthly bonus for charges to the card, which was mostly for stays.
Citi screwed me out of my Prestige anniversary bonus. After gutting the card’s benefits, they said the anniversary bonus would be valid until this year. Sure enough, when my anniversary date came around, my anniversary bonus on >$100,000 of spend was zilch. I disputed it and they said oh yes, we made a mistake and your anniversary bonus is 5,000 points. Instead of >30,000. Disputed it again and basically said we don’t make mistakes and don’t know what you’re talking about. Citi sucks big time.
Whoah! That is really bad. I have not always had great luck with Citi myself, but considered my recent run a stroke of good luck. Now it appears just temporary