Sad state of HDFC Infinia SmartBuy portal
~TL ~DR Payment failed while redeeming rewards points for gift card. Points got deducted and Order was also not placed. No where in transaction history anything is captured after 36 hours. This has happened with me second time while purchasing the gift card on the Rewards 360 smartbuy portal of Infinia. Detailed version below:-
On 16th September I was trying to purchase Tanishq Gift Voucher on Smartbuy portal using the rewards point balance I had on my HDFC Infinia Credit Card. I added the gift cards in my cart and went to the check out page.
During checkout while using the reward point balance of 35,000 points for the final payment of Rs. 50,000, I was asked for an OTP. After I entered the correct OTP, a technical issue occurred on the Smartbuy checkout page and the payment failed.
Later I found that 35,000 points had been deducted from my total point balance and the order had also not been placed. When I called the concierge team they lodged a complaint with them. They told me to wait for 24-48 hrs and they will look into this issue and get back.
Since I was dependent on the reward points balance to make my purchase of a gift card I was waiting for the points to be reversed so that I could make the purchase.
On 17th September Morning I called the Concierge support team again and asked for the status. They told me to further wait and also check with the HDFC Phone Banking team regarding this.
I called the HDFC Phone Banking team and explained the issue again, they had no information regarding this and asked me to check with the Smartbuy team on this. During all this nowhere on the Smartbuy Orders page I could see my failed transaction. Neither I received any email nor SMS.
On the evening of 17th September I again called the Concierge support team for status. They after investigating asked me to take the HDFC PhoneBanking team on a conference call. During the conference call they asked the Order ID for the point purchase from the Phone banking team on my card. After getting the Order ID they told me they will share this further internally to resolve the issue. They told me that reward points will be shown in the next billing cycle.
So even after holding the most prestigious Credit Card of the HDFC Bank I am on the ground coordinating with different HDFC teams to get my Reward Points reversed. Even after calling multiple times every time I am told a different resolution or asked to contact some other team. The customer support team also told me the reversed points will be reflected in the next cycle. Why should the points be reversed in the next cycle as it is the technical fault of Smartbuy portal and due to which I am blocked now on using those points till the next billing cycle.
This is really frustration and a pathetic user experience.