Crap, when you click ok, it activates it……
If they do not get direct debit sorted out, I’d guess most would go back to their old bank accounts and maybe just use this as a spending account or even close it
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Especially seeing as most of the prepaid current accounts (Revolut, Monese, Dozens, etc) all have direct debit facilities.
As a bank, I’m surprised this was initially missing.
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You’d have thought they had it sorted before opening accounts……
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Oh well, 1% isn’t that much at least for me when taking how much I spend into account, plus I never earned that much with similar offers from other banks….
This is something I tried to clarify with support when I contacted them. The conversation went like this:
Me: Regarding the 1 year of 1% cashback reward, does that 1 year start from the date the account is opened or the date that the reward is activated in the app?
Agent: The Cash Back reward system is for a period of one year form the date you opened your Chase UK account.
Me: I just had look at the page on your website regarding the cashback offer (Cashback important information | Chase UK) and under ‘How long will I receive cashback for?’ it says ‘We’ll offer cashback for a period of 12 months from the date you activate cashback.’ That would suggest that the 1 year period starts from when you activate the offer in the app, no?
Agent: Great to see that you have the Chase website with you. It would showcase all the products and other services and features that you may find interesting.
Me: Right… so does the cashback period start from the account opening date or from when it’s activated in the app, as the website suggests?
Agent: That means that you start receiving cash back rewards from a period of one year from the date you activate the cash back rewards system.
Christ 
This repeated misinformation is really frustrating, I have no idea what of the things they tell me I can believe and what I can’t! And what’s up with the chat bot-esque canned reply that didn’t follow whatsoever? I had a few more of those at other times as well…
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That does sound like the Asia-based support is not to provide overnight coverage, and more just to provide front-line support.
It’s probably the case that managers, and people they can escalate to, are based in Edinburgh with very few ordinary requests dealt with from there.
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I mean if you’re going to keep contacting support and trying to get answers that contradict the website then I’m sure you’ll find plenty of examples from all manner of companies.
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Thank you, Revels. I don’t keep contacting support, it was part of the same single conversation I’ve had with them. And I would dispute that I’m trying to get answers that contradict the website. I didn’t know what constituted ‘activating’ the cashback offer, considering there is no button that says activate. Does opening the account automatically activate it, or does tapping ‘ok’ on an info screen count as activation? The reason I ask is because I’d have ideally liked to have saved the cashback period for a time that I have greater card spending due. (Some large stuff I have coming up is on the excluded list it turns out, unfortunately)
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This is a fair criticism, and it seems like the OK button is the activation button - but this isn’t clear and is a usability problem.
It should be labelled “Activate” and not “OK”.
Also, given the lack of Google Pay support, Android users may want to wait until they have the physical card to activate - but this isn’t made clear at all.
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The button on the Home Screen says ‘Get Started’ and the button on the cashback page (before it’s activated) simply says ‘Ok,’ as @Seb says.
Personally I didn’t find this explicitly clear as to whether it is simply an acknowledgement of an already active offer to then bring up the cashback screen (kind of like an info page explaining what you’re about to see when you press ‘Ok’), or whether it’s an activation of the otherwise inactive offer, and I don’t think I should feel bad for trying to clarify - that’s exactly what CS should be there for!
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Yes, that’s all true, except I don’t remember the word activate being used anywhere.
Also, OK is not an “action button”, as you are just agreeing. It should be labelled with something more specific that makes the function of the button clear, preferably a verb.
“Activate” would fit better.
Edit: I see @Lonford was posting at the same time!
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Agreed. This is what threw me, I think.
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Yes, it wasn’t clear if the button meant “OK, I’ve seen and understand the information on this page” or “OK, I want to activate cashback now”.
Ideally, they should add a page explaining that cashback lasts for 12 months from date of activation with the buttons at the bottom saying “Activate cashback now” and “Maybe later”.
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Chase, hire this man!
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A job as a usability consultant?
Sounds pretty good, especially if you can do it from home!
I’m available if Chase want me.
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Trust me they are not just accepting people with perfect or high credit scores.
I was actually thinking; so many banks offer say £125-150 rewards to switch to them, and this works out to about 35p a day (give or take). If you were offering 1% cashback for a year instead, to get 35p a day you’d need to be spending £35 a day, every day.
Appreciate not every new customer of a bank will be a switch but considering the numbers who switch just to get the bonus and don’t spend on it, I’d hazard a guess that cashback of 1% is rather quite sustainable given they are reducing their “loss” on you each time you spend.
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I hadn’t thought it like that. You’d need to spend £15k on non-bills to get the same as you would from moving a dead account to another bank.
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Of course, you can just do both - cashback on Chase and another moving account to sweep up the bonuses.
Though purely from a marketing viewpoint, 1% cashback sounds so much better, so actually it’s probably a better move for a bank to do. Pretty smart when I think about it.
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It is a smart move but I’m not sure if 1% cashback sounds better or not.
For some people, who spend a lot, then it probably does; but there is also a big appeal to getting £100 (or more) fairly quickly as an “instant reward”.
You obviously only get the cashback as you spend, so it takes a while to get paid the £100 or whatever that a switch offer would give you fairly instantly.
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