I called tonight to redeem 20,000 MINI Rewards Visa points for a MotoringGear gift card as I have done before, but was told this offer is no longer available, even though it's posted as a card benefit on their own website (http://www.4myminicard.com/Rewards.aspx and http://www.4myminicard.com/Terms.aspx).

Their site said (as of 8:00 pm today):

"28. Points can be redeemed for payment of purchases made through the MINI Motoring Gear catalog or the www.MINIUSA.com Motoring Gear website. To redeem points for MINI Motoring Gear, call the MINI Motoring Rewards Redemption Center. You will receive a MINI Motoring Rewards voucher to be used as payment for your MINI merchandise."

The customer service rep told me they were sorry that the website had not been updated and that my only option was MINI Moolah, which is redeemable only at a MINI dealership. Mine really doesn't carry much of anything from MotoringGear, so I'm out of luck. Beware...https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...milies/mad.gif

 

Try your luck another day with a different representative (perhaps a superior, if that doesn't work).

Otherwise, unless you really want to pursue it (hire an attorney--not worth the time and money), you're probably SOL. Express your displeasure to VISA and maybe they'll try to compensate you in some other way.

 

If your dealer doesn't have something you want you can probably have them order it for you.

 

Get the MINI Moolah and trade it off to someone who can use them. Atleast you would get something.

 

I haven't redeemed anything yet, but was very troubled when I looked for more info on the web and found not a lot a few months back. Then I called. The dude who answered really was no help. I have only about 10,000 whatever you want to call them miles/points and feel completely misled by the offer. I never have got any gift card in the mail. Do you need to request one?

 

Hey everyone, thanks for all the feedback.

I did talk to a Visa manager but got the same story - we haven't updated our website, i.e., what our policy actually is and what we advertise are two different things.

Willsblackmini, I'll probably see if my dealer can order something using the Moolah voucher - thanks for the recommendation.

Once I've paid off the card, I'll close the account and shred it, which is a bummer since it has my car on it. I was pretty psyched when I first got it!

 

MINI dealerships can generally order any of the MINI Motoring Gear accessories. They have part numbers just like anything on your MINI. I've ordered stuff like that (shirts, an umbrella, etc.) via my dealership without any issue. You just need to know the part number, although they usually carry Motoring Gear catalogs there so the parts numbers are listed in it.Yes, you call the MINI Card folks, and request to redeem your points. They will then mail you a voucher which is already written out to your dealership (10,000 points = $100). You can then use that voucher to pay for anything you like at the dealership - it's just as good as cash or a cashier's check.

Earlier this year I cashed in 50,000 points for a $500 voucher and used it to pay down a large service ticket.

 

I just today got the new (and certainly not improved) CARDHOLDER AGREEMENT (since they are making sure to rip us off before all the new protections go into effect). And guess what? The wording about the MINI Motoring Points Rewards in section 28 is exactly the same as what is quoted above! I guess the website is updated since there aren't any usable links on it anywhere (except for the charities one). I guess it is safe to say that MINI Moolah is still essentially the only way to go.

 

I swear I hate credit card companies. Citi Bank pulled something like this on me when I tried to redeem my points. Hopefully, you get it cleared up and get what you want. Keep calling and bugging them. Credit card companies are all rip offs. My credit is perfect and almost all of my cards have increased there APR on me. At least I dont carry a balance so it wont affect me.

 

It seemed at first glance that these "motoring rewards" were somewhat like the other credit card company that offers "cash back". The problem is the restraints on these rewards that have been pointed out in the preceding posts.

But there is another concern with these "rewards", and that is the actual use of them at the dealerships, seeing how that is the only way to use them now.

My experience with the use of these was not a good experience. First, in order to use these "rewards" you need to tell the credit card company which dealership you are going to use them at. Then, they make out a check, voucher, whatever with that dealerships name on it and send it to you. Then you go to the dealer and use this check, voucher, coupon, whatever to purchase or order you merchandise.

The problem I experienced was with the balance left over after I had use this to purchase my merchandise. Since it was a small amount, I thought I would just receive cash back, wrong. The local dealership here did not know what to do with the fact that I didn't use all of the amount on the reward voucher.
I'm telling you that it was like an episode of the Keystone Cops. Parts people running to managers, and managers actually calling MINI rewards center and trying to access my account using my name (thank God the rewards center wouldn't tell them anything and they had to hand the phone to me).

The person on the phone at MINI rewards asked me what the problem was. I said I don't know and turned to the person from the dealership that phoned them and said "What the **ll is going on? The person from the dealership said they didn't know what to do about the change from the transaction. I quickly hung up the phone and told them "easy, just give me cash". The person from the dealership said, "we're not allowed to give cash back". I tried to tell them the voucher from MINI rewards was just like cash to them, so if you give me my change in the form of cash, it's the same thing. They couldn't understand that and in the end I got a gift certificate for the change. BTW we're talking about $20 on a voucher of $200, so not a huge amount.

Maybe it was just my local dealership. But it seems that this Motoring Rewards program and the MINI dealerships are not on the same page regarding this issue. Or, maybe the dealerships are just hoping the customers that use these "rewards" are just going to fore go the change from the transaction and let the dealership pocket it!

Just be careful on how to use this, if you plan on using your rewards, call the dealership in advance to find out how they redeem these so called "rewards".

 

When I signed up for the card, it was made pretty clear that these were points to be used in lieu of cash at a MINI dealer of your choice. I was never given the impression that they could be redeemed for cash. A certificate for change due seems reasonable to me as well.

 

[edited by Moderator]

I agree CC Companies are screwing those of us that have Great Credit 800+, we started a long time ago paying off our High $$ CC's, STUPID I know, but when I saw what was coming down the pike I immediately began paying every cent I could off. So our lovely CC Interest Rates went through the roof and all I can do is LAUGH at the CC Companies because we no longer use those cards AND have a ZERO Balance!!

 

I don't understand why you all think Credit card companies are ripping you off. When you get a card the terms are clearly explained to you, what you then do with it is entirely up to you. And how those who pay their bill off in full monthly can complain about an interest free loan is beyond me......

I also used my MINI voucher to pay a service bill and also had some left over $$$, they simply issued me a credit which I used the next time I needed brakes pads and an oil filter - no biggie. Once again, a free loan they carried on their books and did all the paper work for me - seems like a deal to me for no more hassle than calling the MINI card company and asking for a voucher.

I finally closed my MINI card account tho, like a lot of CC companies, they were fond of trying to charge me a late fee on an electronic check - they don't allow eletronic transfers, so my bank had to send them a check each month, after the second attempt I closed the account. BofA uses this tactic to increase their income too, especially on accounts that get paid off in full each month. I can't blame them for trying, but Homey don't play dat!

 

despite scoring an average 825 fico last august when I applied for a mortgage, that wasnt good enough for MINI card, who said they were going to jack up my rate nearly 5 points effective 11/30. so I paid it off, and use it only as a "gas" card now, paid in full every month, to keep the bastards from collecting more interest from me.

As far as the rewards go, never any problems.

 

An option is to just leave it open, but don't use it. It's crazy but closing an account tends to lower your credit rating score.

 

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I don't have any problems paying my bill electronically. I just link my MINI account to ING Direct, and each month I direct MINI to withdraw that month's balance a couple of days before it's due. CC companies will sometimes make the due date fall on a weekend or bank holiday to try and mess up your timing, so just keep an eye on the calendar and pay a couple of days early just to make sure. I still don't understand why closing an account in good standing lowers your fico...
As an aside, I applied for and received a BMW card recently because they said they would pay my BMWCCA dues for the year. That's $40 in my pocket, or more likely, towards more mods.

 

To me, it looks like you say you don't understand how the credit card companies are ripping us off and then you show an example of how they do. However, raising interest rates on accounts in good standing (no late payments, no promo rate ending), doubling (or more) of interest rates because a payment is 1 day late, charging over-limit fees when they are the ones that allowed the over-limit charge to go through, being charged an over-limit charge more than once per billing period, maybe those things are disclosed somewhere in the fine print, but are they fair? That's why we all think we're getting ripped off.

MANY of those things were not in the original agreement, but when they see they have you over a barrel and change the terms, yeah, it feels like a rip-off. The MINI rewards thing is another example; the original terms said I could use my points for a wide variety of things, which I no longer can. Then they mail out something which again states I can when I can't?

 

Very Well said!

 

Closing a credit card you've owned for a long time can affect your credit score, but closing an account you've only had for a year or two has little or no effect. The credit rating agencies are looking for long-term payment history, and a card you've opened recently doesn't have enough history to really matter one way or another.

If a credit card company doesn't meet my needs, I close the account, and always make sure the issuer sends me a notice of the closure.