![]() Just a couple years ago it wasn’t like this," one executive at the major credit-card issuer said. "Over time, the growth appears to be explosive. Ever since, there's been an eruption in the number of claims made to credit-card companies. Employing algorithms and digital bots to monitor price fluctuations and hunt down refunds, companies like Earny and Sift began automatically filing price-protection claims with credit-card issuers on behalf of customers, who grant the bots access to their email to scan for purchases and receipts.Ĭredit-card-industry insiders, many of whom requested anonymity to talk freely about how the trend is affecting companies, told Business Insider that after the emergence of the bots, more customers became aware of the price-protection benefits. What would you have to lose?Ī couple of years ago, tech companies started popping up that promised to do just that. You'd carry on blissfully spending without worrying about getting fleeced, and occasionally wind up with cash refunds. Imagine having a personal assistant who managed the entire refund process for you, automatically. "Back in the day, when this was first offered and customers had to do the legwork, they didn’t bother," an executive at one major card issuer said. ![]() ![]() Using price protection was a laborious task to all but the savvy, determined shopper, the type who listens to personal-finance guru Suze Orman while clipping coupons and cataloging receipts. ![]() Between monitoring prices, cobbling together the necessary evidence and paperwork, filing the claim, following up, and waiting to eventually collect a check in the mail while your kids grow older and your hair starts to gray, who had the time? Who can't relate to the pang of frustration from buying something nice and then noticing it's been significantly marked down not long after? You haven't been ripped off just because that laptop or pair of designer jeans is discounted by $78 five weeks later, but the feeling of buyer's remorse is similar.įor many years, credit-card companies like Chase and Citi have offered protection from this consumer headache as one of a handful of complimentary, insurance-like benefits: If you pay with their card, they'll refund you the difference, up to several hundred dollars, if you spot a lower price in following months.Īnd for many years few people ever took advantage of it. The cuts come amid intensifying competition by credit-card companies to win over consumers and grab wallet share in the $183 billion market for credit-card fees and interest.Discover, which doesn't work with apps like Earny, has cut other benefits but is keeping price protection. Citi recently revealed it would cut back on its price-protection offering, while Chase is planning to eliminate it entirely.Insiders say the rise of these tools and services has led to exponential growth in price-protection claims: "Nobody foresaw the onslaught of claims right now.".Apps like Earny have emerged that use bots to automate the price-protection process, connecting with users' email accounts to monitor purchases and hunt down refunds.Filing a claim was a laborious task, so few people ever did.For years, credit cards from JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and others have offered price protection, a benefit that refunds customers up to $500 if they buy an item and subsequently spot it cheaper somewhere else. ![]() Developed using Engineered Arts own animation software 'Virtual Robot', Mesmer characters can be fictional, or faithful recreations of real-world people with accuracy possible to the last pore or finest of hairs. Built on the sensors and the extensive software framework already developed for RoboThespian, the Mesmer robots can offer some of the smartest animatronics on the market, giving extensive interaction but can also move very smoothly, quietly and naturally too. However, more recently the company has been building a range of lifelike bio-mechanical Mesmer robots. The company has successfully sold its the fully interactive and multilingual RoboThespian robot and their smaller SociBot robot around the world to science centres, theme parks and visitor attractions, and also to academic and commercial research groups where they are used as research and development platforms. Founded in 2004, the Cornish company operating from an industrial unit near Falmouth, is a world leader in life sized commercial available humanoid robots for entertainment, information, education and research. PENRYN, ENGLAND - MAY 09: Engineered Arts RoboThespian robots are pictured at the company's headquarters in Penryn on in Cornwall, England. ![]()
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