Cabellas Rewards Credit Card Well Worth Any Hassle

17 May 2007

Cabellas Rewards Credit Card Well Worth Any Hassle

Posted by Darrell under: Tips & Ideas; Gear - Tips, Reviews, Wishlist .

Cabellas St.Louis I recently signed up for and received a Cabellas rewards credit card. This is remarkable because I’m not your typical credit card consumer. I really don’t like them and I rarely sign up for one – regardless of what t-shirt or hat they are going to give you for doing so. But, this is an interesting story and you might enjoy it – I sure did.

I was in Cabellas in St. Louis looking for a new Bow travel case. The plano case I had was literally falling apart (what can you expect for $35?) and I needed a case that would get my bow to Alaska in one piece. With the help of the guy working the archery department floor I settled on a SKB double case. It was nice, if not a little pricey. (Stay tuned as I’ll be writing a review of this case after my Alaska trip).

Since the case cost $229 and the guy helping me could tell I was a little hesitant to pay that much for a bow case, he suggested that I get a rewards card and receive $30 in points from the purchase. I thought he was talking about a true rewards card, not a credit card so I let him lead me to the customer service booth in front of the store. I soon figured out that I was being sold on applying for a credit card, not simply a rewards card and I was preparing to leave when the girl doing the selling made an interesting statement. She said “and if you’ve purchased anything recently from Cabellas I can give you double points for the full amount of the purchase”. I immediately asked her if purchases made via Cabellas Outdoor Adventures (Cabellas outfitting arm) qualified. “Yes, anything Cabellas” she quickly told me, seeing that I was starting to take the bait. “All I need is a copy of your receipt and for you to fill out this short application”.

I filled out the application in short order and before handing it to her verified that I would receive double points (basically 2%) for any receipts I turned in from Cabellas. “Oh yes, just come back in a few minutes and I’ll have your application approved. You can give me your receipts then and I’ll enter them for double points!”

The helpful staff gave me a fax number where I could have the receipt/s faxed if I didn’t have them with me. I immediately made a phone call and a couple minutes later I had my receipt in hand. I returned to the rewards credit card desk and found much to my dismay that the girl that had worked so hard to sell me was gone. She would return in an hour or two. I didn’t have an hour or two to wait so I explained that I had applied for a card and I had a receipt to receive double points on. “No problem, sir. I can help you with that, ah yes you have already been approved and I have your temporary paperwork right here. Here is your free Cabellas hat and I’ve already credited $30 worth of points (3,000 points) onto your new credit card account.”

“Great”, said I. “However, there is still the matter of my double points for this Cabellas receipt.” I then handed him my receipt in the amount of $7,150 which entitled me to the equivalent of $143 in points (14,300 points). Needless to say he got a little flustered and after a few minutes of pushing buttons said everything was taken care of and bid me farewell. “How many points do I now have?”, I casually asked. “You now have 3,143 points” he proudly told me.

I tried to explain that he had only credited me $1.43 towards my $7,150 purchase. He said that was all he was authorized to do, but then he happily called his supervisor. His supervisor was a pleasant fellow. However, I was a little disappointed when he told me that the girl who had told me I’d receive double points ‘might’ have misunderstood. $143 credit was a large amount and he didn’t have authority to make that decision.

I was a little concerned and a bit flustered that I had wasted so much time on this, but I did a great job of keeping this to myself. I just smiled and asked him to do his best. Amazingly, he started by calling the bank which issues the Cabellas credit cards. After a few transfers to get to the right person he quickly explained the situation, took responsibility for any misunderstanding, and asked for approval to issue the $143 in points. He got approval. I could tell from his smile and the way he was furiously writing some authorization code. He then made a second call and again explained the situation along with the additional information that he was able to get an authorization code from the issuing bank. I believe he was talking to the store manager, but it could have been someone at corporate headquarters. I was surprised that he would go through the trouble and put his neck on the line for me.

When it was all said and done, he got approval and pleasantly added double points for my Cabellas Outdoor Adventures receipt. I already had enough points that my $229 SKB case cost me less than $50 – definitely worth the time spent getting the card. Plus, I’ll receive 1% of whatever I spend on the card (regardless of where I spend it) and 2% back for anything I buy with the rewards credit card from Cabellas.

I received my new card in the mail today. I can’t wait to buy something at Bass Pro Shops with my Cabellas Rewards Credit Card and receive 1% back to spend in Cabellas. I’ll use it along with my traditional Bass Pro rewards card (this is a straight rewards card, not a credit card) and then I will also get 1% back to spend in Bass Pro. How cool will that be?

Needless to say, I was very impressed with the people at Cabellas. The staff is extremely friendly and knowledgeable (relatively speaking) and definitely went out of their way to help me. Plus, thanks to the Cabellas Rewards Credit Card, I purchased a really tough looking SKB double bow case for not much more than I paid for the not so nice case I was replacing.

Thanks Cabellas! Thanks Cabellas Rewards Credit Card!

Related Posts & Pages

Recent Posts