[Resolved]  Tata Credit Card — Cheating of consumers by luring them with reward points

Address: Tamil Nadu

Respected Sir,
Sub: Cheating of consumers by luring them with reward points/gifts, and not honoring the same – Reg
I am Karthik, from Coimbatore and I am Holding a Tata Credit Card No [protected](Card issued by SBI Cards), apart from my other bank cards like HDFC,ICICI,CITI. Normally banks use to lure customers by promising attractive gifts if the cards are utilized more by reward points which can be redeemed as gift coupons, purchases at select outlets, etc. Likewise, Tata cards promised many attractive options to redeem the reward points. Attracted to this) I mostly used my tata card to make more purchases and gathered around 7000 reward points in few years.
The cheating process of Tata Cards:
1. Since they have a system, that the reward points has to be redeemed within a specified time frame which is not known to the customer, else the points will get expired. That is the client will loose the points which he has gathered all these years.
2. After knowing this I wanted to redeem my reward points and called the customer care asking them how & where to redeem the points. I got a reply that I can redeem the points only from TATA group companies such as Taj Hotels, Westside retail outlet, Tata sky etc.
3. In the month of April’12, I opted to use the card in Taj Vivanda hotel in racecourse road, Coimbatore and Westside retail store in Brookefields Mall, Coimbatore. Before visiting the store I did a complete inquiry through the call center about the process of redeeming.
4. Then I Visited Taj Vivanda hotel for lunch and after billing I requested the manager to use my card in Empower rewards machine to redeem my points against the bill of Rs.2000/- but unfortunately the manager was unaware of this process, he swiped the card in a normal edc machine. For which the card got billed for the amount swiped, instead of getting adjusted against my reward points.
5. After that I went to Westside retail outlet and selected dress materials amounting to Rs.4000 and in the billing counter I requested the manager to use my card in Empower rewards machine to redeem my points against the bill of Rs.4000/- but unfortunately the manager was unaware of this process, and also they did not have that machine, whereas tata credit card call center informed me that the same can be utilized here. In that embarrassing situation I had to spend Rs.4000/- from my pocket for the purchase.
6. After these two incidents I gave a complaint(Ref No:[protected] to tata cards through their helpline number [protected] about this issues of redeeming the reward points. They promised me to solve this issue and also informed that they will re credit the bill of Rs.2000/- spent in Taj Vivanda. And also solve the issue with Westside.
7. As per their promise they did call me back during first week of May’12 and took the complete details of the above issues and promised a call back. After a week I got a call back stating that I can use the card now in taj and Westside. And also the Rs.2000/- spent will be adjusted against the bill.
8. Meanwhile they have removed around 700 points stating that as expired. And for my April’12 bill I paid deducting the above Rs.2000/- but they charged a penalty of Rs.1950/- in my May’12 bill. Before making my April’12 payment I confirmed with the call center executive and after confirming only I made a payment of Rs.10700/- against my bill of Rs.12,700/-.
9. Again I called the call center and informed the issue and requested them to re-credit the reward points for which I have not got any revert till date. Instead they advised me to utilize the reward points before the expiry date in any tata outlet.
10. On 22nd May I again visited the Westside store for purchase. But to my surprise the store manager informed me that they do not have a machine to redeem the reward points from tata card. I immediately called the customer care from the mall, and one executive attended the call. I asked him to speak to the store manager regarding the non acceptance of the card. On hearing this he asked me to wait and put the call on hold for more than 20 mins. Annoyed with this kind of service again I disconnected the call and called back the customer care line and gave a strict complaint[protected] about the issue. Again the lady promised that I will get a call back regarding this issue within a day but no response received. I informed her that if I don’t get a revert in a day I shall forward the complain to banking ombudsmen.
11. Before forwarding this complaint I called the customer care number and spoke to Mr Uma Shanker(Seq No:7257441) on 23rd May’12 and explained the entire issue right from the beginning. He promised me that he will personally handle the issue and solve the issue of Rs.2000/ - spent in taj vivanda, recredit of expiry of points and come out with a complete solution by 24th may’12. But again as usual there was no response from tata card staffs.
12. On 25th May I called the customer care to check with Mr.Uma Shankar whether they have arrived at any solution for this issue of mine but could not reach Mr.Uma shankar, and the other executive wanted to listen to my entire issue. But I don’t want to become a joker in front of them I decided to post this letter today 26th May’12.












As this issue is pending with tata cards for more than a month I request you to take this as a general complaint and take necessary action on tata cards to avoid luring customers by these kind of cheatings. Also request you to order tata cards to refrain from giving false commitments to customer and lure them to use the cards and make profits. Also this kind of irresponsible behavior of not giving proper response to customers has also to be addressed.

Kindly acknowledge this complaint with a reference number and do the needful to sort out the above issues that I have listed.
Thanks & Regards

Karthik P


48 Arunachalam Road East,
R.S.Puram,Coimbatore 641002
Ph:[protected]/[protected]