I have been a loyal customer of Scotiabank for more than 30 years.
When my spouse Olesia applied for a credit card last October 2012, we insisted on a no-fee VISA card. However, my Bells Corners branch persuaded us to take the "special promotion" of a new Scotiabank American Express Card with an annual fee of $39 CAD/year. We accepted the branch's offer because of a promise that a cash reward of $100 CAD will be given when the Scotia Reward accumulate to 12 500 points instead of a travel reward of $100 CAD for 10 000 points.
So, we changed our lifestyle and made the acquisition of Scotia Reward priority number one, despite the fact that American Express is accepted much fewer outlets than VISA and MasterCard are. We even switched from Maxi, Loblaws and Super C, none of which accepts American Express, to Costco which accepts American Express.
When our points reached exactly 12 500 points on 2013-05-05, we went to the Rewards webpage of the Scotia Rewards website <http://www.scotiarewards.com/>. To our surprise, we did not see a cash reward there. I immediately telephoned Scotiabank <tel:+1-800-4-SCOTIA>. The agent told me that it is not actually a cash reward but called "Scotia Rewards Credit Dollars" which cannot be transferred to a checking or savings account but can be used only for Mortgages, ScotiaLine, etc. Moreover, the agent said that we have to accumulate 25 000 points in order to obtain this reward instead of 12 500 points!
We are beyond upset, and absolutely in shock that Scotiabank has misled us with as many as 2 deceptions, i.e., "cash" and "12 500 points". Please note that if I do not receive reasonable explanations from you, I will be forced to report this incident as false advertisement to the Competition Bureau of Canada <http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/>.
Please note that it is not at all the fault of the Bells Corners branch, whose financial advisor was simply following the bank's policy in a very professional manner with utmost integrity.
I promptly reported the problem of false advertisement to Scotiabank, and a representative called me and settled the matter.
