"Over A Year And No Rewards"
My Best Buy® Visa® Card Review
Written by: shyann on 2010-07-01
Overall Satisfaction
Customer Service
Rewards
Account Management
Delivery Time
shyann's review: 
I was extremely excited when I was approved for the Best Buy RewardZone MasterCard in May 2009. The idea of these rewards were great, I started using the card as soon as I got it. September 2009 I decided to go online to check how many points I have accrued. After getting to the RewardZone site, I realize that the member ID has to be registered before I can do anything. I was fine with that. I begin to fill out the registration but every time it tells me that the information is incorrect. I reach out to the RewardZone people and they inform me the Member ID has never been activated, so the number is useless and theres nothing they can do about it. The tell me to reach out to HSBC to see if they can get the Member ID activated or issued a new card and Member ID. I call HSBC and before they listen to my problem they send me back to the RewardZone people. I went back and forth with them for 9 months. Even with not being able to accrue and use the rewards HSBC charged me an annual fee for a card that I have been unable to receive the benefits. I called HSBC and I was basically told that its not their problem and they will not refund the fee. Even though it is their problem, they were responsible for activating my Member ID number before I received my card and they didnt. I was told that they would replace my card, new card number and new Member ID number. When I received the new card, it still had the old Member ID number. So with this new card I thought I would reach out to RewardZone one more time. This time I received a very pleasant rep but was disconnected and unable to reach again. When I called back I was given very rude reps, who like all the other reps before, assumed that it was HSBC's problem before I could explain my situation. Once she did let me explain, she said that my information would have to be forwarded to the department that handled RewardZone MasterCard Member IDs like mine that were never activated. So it is very common if there is an entire department dedicated to it. I then proceeded to ask about points that were due to me from the past year and she rudely dismissed me. Then proceeded to say that it can take 7 to 21 days for someone to get in contact with me from this particular department.
I am extremely dissatisfied with service on both ends, RewardZone or HSBC. I am thinking of severing all ties I have with both companies.
I was extremely excited when I was approved for the Best Buy RewardZone MasterCard in May 2009. The idea of these rewards were great, I started using the card as soon as I got it. September 2009 I decided to go online to check how many points I have accrued. After getting to the RewardZone site, I realize that the member ID has to be registered before I can do anything. I was fine with that. I begin to fill out the registration but every time it tells me that the information is incorrect. I reach out to the RewardZone people and they inform me the Member ID has never been activated, so the number is useless and theres nothing they can do about it. The tell me to reach out to HSBC to see if they can get the Member ID activated or issued a new card and Member ID. I call HSBC and before they listen to my problem they send me back to the RewardZone people. I went back and forth with them for 9 months. Even with not being able to accrue and use the rewards HSBC charged me an annual fee for a card that I have been unable to receive the benefits. I called HSBC and I was basically told that its not their problem and they will not refund the fee. Even though it is their problem, they were responsible for activating my Member ID number before I received my card and they didnt. I was told that they would replace my card, new card number and new Member ID number. When I received the new card, it still had the old Member ID number. So with this new card I thought I would reach out to RewardZone one more time. This time I received a very pleasant rep but was disconnected and unable to reach again. When I called back I was given very rude reps, who like all the other reps before, assumed that it was HSBC's problem before I could explain my situation. Once she did let me explain, she said that my information would have to be forwarded to the department that handled RewardZone MasterCard Member IDs like mine that were never activated. So it is very common if there is an entire department dedicated to it. I then proceeded to ask about points that were due to me from the past year and she rudely dismissed me. Then proceeded to say that it can take 7 to 21 days for someone to get in contact with me from this particular department.I am extremely dissatisfied with service on both ends, RewardZone or HSBC. I am thinking of severing all ties I have with both companies.
3 Comments
Comment 1 by kdb030609
Re: Over A Year And No Rewards 
on 2010-07-01
Wow ! That sounds like a horrible mess. I wouldn't let them waste anymore of your time. I would let them go. There are better reward cards out there! Unless you really do a lot of shopping at Best Buy.
on 2010-07-01 Wow ! That sounds like a horrible mess. I wouldn't let them waste anymore of your time. I would let them go. There are better reward cards out there! Unless you really do a lot of shopping at Best Buy.
Comment 2 by wanderer
Re: Over A Year And No Rewards on 2010-07-02
WOW! Dump the Best Buy Rewards Zone card if you have alternatives... What an unacceptable mess... HSBC has been very low key since the new credit card reform act came to pass. In fact they have been invisible. I had a card transferred from HSBC to Direct Merchants and they have not got the "Loyalty/Rewards" to show up on the "pdf" file I stayed paper so I could get my rewards info. They said you had to call another location "call". When HSBC had it they automatically handled it very well. What's the story...?
on 2010-07-02 WOW! Dump the Best Buy Rewards Zone card if you have alternatives... What an unacceptable mess... HSBC has been very low key since the new credit card reform act came to pass. In fact they have been invisible. I had a card transferred from HSBC to Direct Merchants and they have not got the "Loyalty/Rewards" to show up on the "pdf" file I stayed paper so I could get my rewards info. They said you had to call another location "call". When HSBC had it they automatically handled it very well. What's the story...?
Comment 3 by cfmdev49
Re: Over A Year And No Rewards on 2010-07-03
Seems like everything I read about the BBRZ MasterCard indicates that it's pretty much not worth having... Low cl, poor rewards... Their store card is so much better. Is there any chance you could get that instead? I have it and I constantly get notices about no/or low apr's on purchases over $299.00 if you pay within 6 months... Over $499.00 and you get a year... The store card is gold in my opinion...
on 2010-07-03 Seems like everything I read about the BBRZ MasterCard indicates that it's pretty much not worth having... Low cl, poor rewards... Their store card is so much better. Is there any chance you could get that instead? I have it and I constantly get notices about no/or low apr's on purchases over $299.00 if you pay within 6 months... Over $499.00 and you get a year... The store card is gold in my opinion...
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Disclaimer: This content is not provided by Citibank. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by Citibank. Review content is powered by Finance Globe.
