Corporate efficiency - unwanted, unreceived new card

I received a letter from Elan that my Visa card had been upgraded with all these new "super" features, none of which I really needed or wanted.  The letter stated that I should have already received my card and all I needed to do was activate it.

The problem was that I never received the card.  If I did, I might have thrown it out knowingly or unknowingly, but I doubt it.

Then I received an email touting all the benefits of the new card.  That was ten days ago.  I sent email to the local branch manager of the bank that issued the card; she replied she would check on it and asked me to call at the end of the week if I still had not received it.  I did not receive the card by Friday

Today I talked with somebody in the main office of the bank and she said they would request a new card for me and I should have it Wednesday.  Elan would charge a $15 lost card fee but the bank would give me credit for it.

Now I'm going to have to go through all the organizations that I have authorized to debit my credit card automatically and change my account number.  What a nuisance!

So, why did Elan decide I should have something that I didn't ask for?  Are they hoping that the "rewards" offered with the card would induce me to spend more?  I suppose lots of people will be overjoyed to be upgraded.

I guess the upside is that I can use the points to pay on the balance.  The mischievous part of me wants to use it every month.  Let's see, a $100 balance would give me 100 points.  Would that be a dollar, a dime, or a penny?  It reminds me of the people who overpaid charge card bills by one cent because they were not getting any response from the store about a problem.  A clerk processing the checks would notice, but a computer processing thousands of electronic payments would probably not notice.

Well, the computer might notice and send a message to somebody, but since so many companies won't allow spaces in a keyed-in card number, would any take the time to put in such a filter?

Another "free marketer" playing free with "full information"

Last summer I had to replace my computer and did so at BestBuy. In September I received an email that I had a $45 reward certificate that expired on 4/14/2012. Then before Christmas I received an email that my rewards would expire by a certain date. Today I received another email "Last chance: Use your reward certificate before 01/07/2012".

I think the message really means the specials that will be available for reward points will expire in January. But you wouldn't know that from the wording.

Whatever, this is not a true free market where the buyer and the seller have all the information they need to make a good decision. At least, I am free to not be in the market, if you ignore possible forfeiture of my "reward points".