Almost daily MrConsumer has been receiving seemingly too-good-to-be-true offers from CapitalOne Shopping. Here are four recent ones.
Since TurboTax Deluxe was on sale at Sam’s Club for $44.99, getting $30 back on that purchase would make the net price only $14.99. That’s an unheard of deal.
Are they really going to give me $20 of free merchandise at Walgreens? Or is the offer just 20% off?
Can you really get a $20 rebate on a $20+ purchase at Dollar Tree? Is it only for these cookies, or on any products?
Is CapitalOne Shopping really offering $50 off a $50 grocery purchase at Shaw’s supermarkets? The only stated exclusions are subscriptions and gift cards.
To some, CapitalOne Shopping makes it seem like you will get these dollars off on your purchases at these stores. Not so. What they do is let you accumulate “rewards” and then cash them in for e-gift cards (see list) from major retailers. They are not cash rebates nor credits that can be applied to your purchase or credit card balance.
There is absolutely no explanation of these offers in the emails or when you clickthrough to the retailers’ website to take advantage of them. There are some exclusions listed like for tobacco, pharmacy, and gift cards depending on the offer. The only relevant detailed disclosures are in their long terms statement and this link in the emails, but it does not explain specific offers:
*MOUSE PRINT:
Each offer says “Limit 1 email bonus per user.” Does that mean I can only use each offer once, or that of all the emailed offers I receive, I can only use one of them? Can I use any credit card or do I have to use a CapitalOne card? We asked the PR folks some pointed questions including why there is no explanation of how to participate in these offers in each email and what the real terms are. We got no answer to our multiple requests.
If you like the idea of getting savings in the form of gift cards from their limited selection, then this could be a great deal even if you are only allowed one of their super-duper email offers. (They offer an $80 bonus for new sign-ups with lots of strings, and there are some additional high-value offers on their homepage.)
Everything at Capital One is too good to be true. They are a horrible bank with the worst customer service. That JD Power ranks them high in their survey is a joke
I’ll defend Capital One Shopping here, some of their deals really are that good.
It does come back in the form of a gift card, but you can get amazing deals there. You can also quasi-manipulate the rewards if you have the extension installed, “shop” somewhere for a bit, and then leave and wait to get an email.
I often use them for when we book at IHG, I can often times get 15-20% back, but with hotels it takes 90 days after the stay for the rewards to process.
Joel… Besides lack of clarity in their email offers, it frankly is annoying that they follow me around the web. So if I visit a particular website store, very soon thereafter (as you say) I get an email from them with an offer. I generally don’t care about big brother watching my surfing habits, but this is creepy.
The email bonus offers are very difficult to earn. You can do everything right: activate the offer, shop the right products, pay without coupons or discount codes, not use any other cash back browser extensions; and they still don’t track the shopping trip. You contact them, and provide screenshots of EVERYTHING, and they still find some reason to deny you. I find that if I email them and that person says no, you just wait a few days & email again and get someone else and usually that works. You get a “courtesy” credit for what you legitimately earned. I use them just for coupon code searches when shopping not for the bonus email offers any longer.
Wow, Jen… How awful that you have to fight to get your rewards repeatedly!
How do you email them? I have an offer that never tracked and couldn’t see how to contact them.
Log into your account. Find the FAQ or help section. At the bottom of the all the FAQs is a link asking if you still need help. Then see your purchases list. At the bottom, click the link that asks if you still don’t see your purchase. From there, you will out a form of what is missing.
I have been a Cap One customer since 2003, when they were ING, before the buyout. I use them as a bank, nothing more.
The few times I have had to call customer service have been successful; no complaints. However, I have always made it a practice to ignore their marketing nonsense.
I have found CapitalOne to be deceptive in all the interactions I have had with them. After FINALLY getting out of a CD AND a “high-interest savings account”, I no longer do ANY business with this company
Works for me,but you do have to wait for rewards to go from pending to usable.Then you have to find a gift card,for a store you want to shop at.You don’t have to use the rewards quickly and can wait for a gift card to show up,that you want.Don’t complain.It’s the best deal going.If you keep track of your purchases(take a screen shot of the purchase with the capital one % rewards amount showing,you can complain if you don’t get the reward.I complained twice and they gave me the reward,after I sent screenshots.Please don’t do anything to end this program,just because you can’t figure out how to use.
I have not had a problem with Capital One Shopping yet. I have used it five times and each time it tracked properly and they did credit my account with the appropriate reward. If you don’t see a gift card that you like then check back every week or so because they’re constantly adding and removing gift cards. My only issue with them is that the cell phone offers completely lack in detail. Do I have to buy a plan to get the cash back or do I have to buy a phone to get the cash back or do I have to buy a phone and a plan? I have written them about the lack of detail in these offers but they don’t seem to care. If they are not clear enough, then I simply won’t participate