This time round, there'll be eight of us. My biggest group tour ever.
I was thinking whether to get a cabin luggage for my mom as there's not enough for all of us. Then I remembered some banks are giving out free luggage for credit card signup.
Aha! Free cabin luggage.
So I went to find out which banks are offering this. There are two banks I saw having the same promotion. However, their promotion is only for NEW sign up. As I'm already an existing credit card holder of OCBC and Citibank, I do not qualify.
One day, while my cousin was doing grocery shopping in his neighborhood, he saw a roadshow by CIMB bank giving free luggage for credit card sign up. He signed up on the spot so he could get the luggage for me. He also took a form for my sister.
After two weeks, the representative at the roadshow called up my cousin and told him that his application was declined. Apparently, my cousin has applied for their credit card previously but never activated it at all. According to the rep, since my cousin is an existing credit card customer of the bank, he does not qualify for the promotion which is only for NEW sign up. My cousin has forgotten about his previous application totally.
Isn't it interesting?
Although my cousin has applied for their credit card previously, he did not activate it. So does it make him an existing customer? If you are talking solely about record, then yes, he is an existing customer. But if a customer signed up for your service but have never used it at all, do you still consider him an existing customer? If you define existing customer as one who is active in your record, then he does not qualify.
But we are not going to say whether should he be considered an existing customer or not. Banks have their own sets of terms and conditions.
What we want to talk about how new and existing customers are being treated.
How often do you find that the company you are giving money to runs an attractive promotion to attract new customers, which you do not qualify as an existing customer?
My guess is that it's very often.
See that promotion for that phone at a special price? Sorry it's for new sign up only. I remember there was once my broadband contract with StarHub (a telco company in Singapore) has expired and there was a special promotion. As I'm already an existing customer, I do not qualify. And I ended up canceling my current contract and re-apply as a new customer so I could enjoy this special promotion.
While most companies do have other promotions for existing customers, it does not make sense that existing customers cannot enjoy new customer promotion.
And why the hell makes existing customers pay penalty for recontracting their contract six months before expiry? Can't the telco companies arrange to start the renewal contract after the existing one expires?
Which is cheaper? Getting new customers or keeping existing ones?
Which is more expensive? Getting new customers or losing existing ones?
Now back to the credit card issue. Instead of rejecting my cousin's application, what could the bank do?
Why not request my cousin to activate the card he applied previously and use it to make three transactions? After all, in order to qualify for the cabin luggage, a new sign up needs to make three transactions of any amount on the card. Instead of making three transaction, can they request him to make six or maybe $100 amount as his is a special case?
It's not so much about how much processing fee the bank could earn from these transactions. But rather the total experience. The bank has invested in printing the forms, setting up roadshow, paying the salaries and staff processing credit card and other admin charges. And they wasted all these just because of the reason that my cousin is an existing customer, which he has obviously forgotten about it.
They have a perfect opportunity to create a Wow experience and start a relationship. Instead of doing it, they rather throw away the chance.
Could it be possible that my cousin will starts using their credit card for future transactions and promotions offers by the bank after the three transactions? I do not know. But I can be sure that he will never use the credit card in the future after what happened. He has no lack of credit cards to use.
For the rest of the banks out there, don't laugh. You are no better than CIMB.
You can treat all your customers differently. But don't treat anyone worse off than another.
P.S. You may think that I'm ranting because I did not get the luggage. That may be true. But what's more important is are you making the same mistake?
P.P.S. There was some dining offers that came with the CIMB credit card my sister applied and there's one that I would be interested to try one of the restaurant for their 1-for-1 promotion. But unfortunately, I'm not going to give my business to them. I'll just find out of that restaurant has any other credit card promotion. If none, I'll just go to another restaurant. Easy as that.
P.P.P.S. There's no lack of choices.