Who'd have thought Westpac could make things anymore difficult than they already do… however it seems they've continued the downwards spiral.
I've held an Earth product since it was first launched about 8 years ago. It's gone from Earth+ to Earth Gold to Earth Platinum to Earth Platinum Plus to Earth Black.
As I've switched flying away from Qantas and onto MH/SQ, the Altitude card is a better match for me so I made a quick call to Westpac last week to have it swapped over. Was fairly painless… and after about 15 minutes of being passed around was given a reference and told it had all been sorted and the cards would be mailed to me shortly.
I then received an out-of-the-blue email today advising that "unfortunately, my application for a new Altitude card couldn't be approved and maybe I should consider a MasterCard Debit card". This was a surprise given I was walking to the PO Box to see if the cards were there! I'd even call it offensive given I have held not only this card for nearly a decade but also have a mortgage with Westpac on a Premier Advantage Package.
Called Westpac and spoke to Black who transferred me to Application who are, surprisingly, in Manilla. Not sure when Westpac started off-shoring the call centre? The lady was very very hard to understand and the line was poor, however the basic story I got was that the credit limit was too low for a Black card. Amazing given I currently have one… I explained that I was told it had been all sorted out and what they suggest should happen. Got blank silence. The supervisor was of limited help. I was eventually transferred back to "retentions" in Australia.
I was advised they will see if I can keep the Earth cards but just earn points to my "Altitude" account instead? Sounds unlikely. But i'll await a call back tomorrow morning.
It's such a shame even the simplest of things need to be so hard!
I've held an Earth product since it was first launched about 8 years ago. It's gone from Earth+ to Earth Gold to Earth Platinum to Earth Platinum Plus to Earth Black.
As I've switched flying away from Qantas and onto MH/SQ, the Altitude card is a better match for me so I made a quick call to Westpac last week to have it swapped over. Was fairly painless… and after about 15 minutes of being passed around was given a reference and told it had all been sorted and the cards would be mailed to me shortly.
I then received an out-of-the-blue email today advising that "unfortunately, my application for a new Altitude card couldn't be approved and maybe I should consider a MasterCard Debit card". This was a surprise given I was walking to the PO Box to see if the cards were there! I'd even call it offensive given I have held not only this card for nearly a decade but also have a mortgage with Westpac on a Premier Advantage Package.
Called Westpac and spoke to Black who transferred me to Application who are, surprisingly, in Manilla. Not sure when Westpac started off-shoring the call centre? The lady was very very hard to understand and the line was poor, however the basic story I got was that the credit limit was too low for a Black card. Amazing given I currently have one… I explained that I was told it had been all sorted out and what they suggest should happen. Got blank silence. The supervisor was of limited help. I was eventually transferred back to "retentions" in Australia.
I was advised they will see if I can keep the Earth cards but just earn points to my "Altitude" account instead? Sounds unlikely. But i'll await a call back tomorrow morning.
It's such a shame even the simplest of things need to be so hard!
