I accrued 336,047 so called 'fun points' from my Barclay Carnival FunPoints account and decided to see if I had enough to cover a cruise for my husband and myself. I contacted Barclay to check how much I would be entitled to as a statement credit, as you have to book the cruise then redeem points toward credit and I did not want to pay out of pocket for the cruise. I called the redemption center and was told that I would be entitled to $5000.00 in statement credit. Since I typically don't take anything at face value I called twice more and was told by the first representative that I would have over $4000.00 toward a cruise.By the time I contacted the third representative I had the cruise information and cost available. This time I was told that I was entitled to all but $400.00 of the cost.
Based on the information I was given, not once but three times, I booked the cruise ($3,707.00). When the cruise posted on my credit card I called to request a statement credit only to be told I was entitled to ONLY $2000.00 for the now over 340,000 fun points I had on my account. Now I have to either pay $1700.00 dollars for a cruise or pay the cancellation fee out of pocket, neither of which is part of my budget. When I explained that I would not have booked the cruise had I not been told I had the available points I was told that Barclay's can't be responsible for information given by their employees and the operator apologized for the poor customer service. I certainly feel a business IS responsible for their employees! If a business offers points towards goods/services I feel that everyone there should be well versed in the value of said points.
Don't know yet what course of action I will take regarding the cruise but I do know I will be canceling this card asap. I feel that Barclay's mislead me, a long-term customer, and it feels fraudulent... So much for 'fun'.
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