Regular readers may recall our previous pain caused by a VanCity error. Happily, our bookkeeper has developed a workaround, so we don’t have to suffer the agony of switching banks again.
And yet, VanCity continues to irritate me. Their latest salvo involves a piece of direct mail associated with my Enviro Visa card (buy stuff and feel smug!). They’re offering ‘2000 bonus points’ (don’t ask me what they’re redeemable for) if I register today at www.myvisarewardsplus.com.
I figure that VanCity is a trustworthy organization, so I’ll go ahead and give it a try. I go to register at the site, and they present me with a mercifully brief registration form. I enter all the required fields, click Submit, and then disaster strikes. Here’s the error message:
Sorry, at least one of the required fields is either blank or contains incorrect information. For further assistance, please contact us at 1.800.611.VISA. If you have forgetten your password, use your browser’s back button and click the “Forgot my Password” link.
Here’s the problem–they don’t indicate which field contains incorrect information. There’s only 12 fields, and they all look correct to me. Unfortunately, the UI is no help in indicating where the error lies. Not to mention, of course, that the ‘forgotten your password’ text shouldn’t be there, as this is a registration page. Bollocks, I say.
I should have given up there, but I shrugged my shoulders and called their help line. After wading through several layers of voice mail options, the friendly recorded message advises me that I can only obtain help during office hours on weekdays.
Truly, an impressive failure in direct marketing. VanCity seems bent on chipping away at what’s left of my customer goodwill.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
my motto is why bother with people who don’t want your money?
yup, devil is in the details — disconnects can ruin a whole campaign…
Those rewards, however, are kind of nifty. I just cashed my rewards (Royal Bank VISA) in for $250 in Future Shop Gift Cards. That’s the Christmas shopping taken care of!
I wonder if it has anything to do with this?
Hey, I’m a vancity customer, and had no problem with the myvisaawards site.
And let’s point out that this site, lets you redeem points for goods. They don’t have to give us anything.
The only thing that through me when I used it, was that the site wasn’t really part of the vancity site. I guess hence the extra password.
I think I get fair service from them, having switched first from the Royal then to Coast Capital, and finaly to Vancity.
They’ve done ok by me.