Misleading Mileage Plus Visa Deal - pay fee but receive no bonus
 

Here is how United Mileage Plus can get you to become an annual fee-paying cardholder and then deny you the bonus miles promised in the card solicitation. My husband recently completed an application for a Mileage Plus Visa card which offered a 30,000 mile bonus after the first $250 was charged to the card. The offer specified that "Existing United Mileage Plus Visa cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer." Since my husband was not a current cardmember he assumed that he was eligible. He completed the application, was approved, and then received, activated and used the card and was charged the $60 annual fee. Ten days later he received a letter telling him that his new account "is not eligible to receive the premium associated with the first use of your card." In other words, first they issue the card and charge the fee, then they evaluate and report your eligibility for the 30,000 mile bonus. According to Customer Service he was denied the bonus because "existing ... cardmembers" includes everyone who ever had a United Mileage Plus Visa card. Visa Cardmember Services claims that the application is for the card and not for the premium and, therefore, the approval is for the card and not for the premium. No amount of discussion with the supervisor yielded any satisfaction. But I did determine that within 60 days of getting charged for the annual fee you can pay the balance and close the account and they claim that the fee will be refunded.

That is what you should do.. close the account and claim your money back. They are entitled to make their offer to whoever they like, but they should expect that if they mislead customers, they will walk away. You should also write to your office of the Attorney General as their advertising of a financial product is misleading.