After using Axis ACE exhaustively for all my utility bill payments, an itch for another cash back card started. Though the Airtel Axis card was already launched a year back but some how I never developed any interested towards it. Partly because mostly I belong to a Jio eco system where right from the broadband to most of the mobile connections in the family belong to the Jio stable.
Working from home changed the situation a bit as due to criticality of my work I couldn't rely solely on one ISP and had to plan for back up in case of the outage from the main ISP. Hence chose to buy a dongle with Airtel connection. During the same time one of my family members chose to migrate to Airtel due to the same reasons and while paying bills for these connection the idea of applying for Airtel Axis card kindled (25% cash back on Airtel bills was too tempting to let go off).
Since I already hold an Axis account, I reached out to my RM and asked her to arrange Airtel Axis card for me. Axis being Axis, RM tried to pull some strings but to no avail she finally gave up and mentioned that Airtel card can only be applied from Airtel Thanks app and nowhere else.
Decided to install the app and registered using my non Airtel number, I was ecstatic to see the Airtel card invite with FYF right on the landing screen of the Thanks app. However, the happiness was short lived as the moment I chose to go ahead with the offer, the app showed the message that the couldn't be offered to me.
Dejected I again reached out to Axis customer care but they repeated the same lines that the card can only be sourced from the Airtel Thanks app.
Being a programmer, I knew that Airtel might be doing some background checks (e.g. previous association with Airtel etc.) to allow a person to apply for this card, I decided to give it another shot this time with an Airtel number. Decided to use my Airtel dongle sim to apply for this card, and registered on the app using the airtel number and again saw the offer of Airtel axis card on the home screen, considering the previous experience, I was not keeping the very high hopes. However, this time when I clicked on the apply now button things moved to the next steps quickly and app asked for the details like first name, last name and PAN number. A CIBIL inquiry was done and card was provisionally approved.
Now the ball was in Axis' court, since I have already been an Axis customer, I knew that they will approve this card and they did. However, they chose to update my mobile number on all my axis cards with the Airtel number using which I applied for the Airtel card.
Card was delivered to me in a weeks time and I was able to pay my airtel bills using it. Despite launching it more than a year back, Airtel and Axis still not managed to keep things right with this card. SMS notification related to this card doesn't convey the cashback percentage (ACE does it quite well) one is left at the mercy of monthly statements to calculate the cashbacks.
Here are the unboxing pictures.
25% on Airtel and 10% cashback (with caps) on utility bill payments is one of the useful features of this card. 10% cashback (with caps) on Bigbasket, Swiggy and Zomato is icing on the cake.
One can easily get cashback worth of Rs.300 (with modest use. One can get higher if spending done in all categories) easily per month. This translates to 3600 per year which compensates annual and joining fee very well and makes it a no brainer card.
Working from home changed the situation a bit as due to criticality of my work I couldn't rely solely on one ISP and had to plan for back up in case of the outage from the main ISP. Hence chose to buy a dongle with Airtel connection. During the same time one of my family members chose to migrate to Airtel due to the same reasons and while paying bills for these connection the idea of applying for Airtel Axis card kindled (25% cash back on Airtel bills was too tempting to let go off).
Since I already hold an Axis account, I reached out to my RM and asked her to arrange Airtel Axis card for me. Axis being Axis, RM tried to pull some strings but to no avail she finally gave up and mentioned that Airtel card can only be applied from Airtel Thanks app and nowhere else.
Decided to install the app and registered using my non Airtel number, I was ecstatic to see the Airtel card invite with FYF right on the landing screen of the Thanks app. However, the happiness was short lived as the moment I chose to go ahead with the offer, the app showed the message that the couldn't be offered to me.
Dejected I again reached out to Axis customer care but they repeated the same lines that the card can only be sourced from the Airtel Thanks app.
Being a programmer, I knew that Airtel might be doing some background checks (e.g. previous association with Airtel etc.) to allow a person to apply for this card, I decided to give it another shot this time with an Airtel number. Decided to use my Airtel dongle sim to apply for this card, and registered on the app using the airtel number and again saw the offer of Airtel axis card on the home screen, considering the previous experience, I was not keeping the very high hopes. However, this time when I clicked on the apply now button things moved to the next steps quickly and app asked for the details like first name, last name and PAN number. A CIBIL inquiry was done and card was provisionally approved.
Now the ball was in Axis' court, since I have already been an Axis customer, I knew that they will approve this card and they did. However, they chose to update my mobile number on all my axis cards with the Airtel number using which I applied for the Airtel card.
Card was delivered to me in a weeks time and I was able to pay my airtel bills using it. Despite launching it more than a year back, Airtel and Axis still not managed to keep things right with this card. SMS notification related to this card doesn't convey the cashback percentage (ACE does it quite well) one is left at the mercy of monthly statements to calculate the cashbacks.
Here are the unboxing pictures.
25% on Airtel and 10% cashback (with caps) on utility bill payments is one of the useful features of this card. 10% cashback (with caps) on Bigbasket, Swiggy and Zomato is icing on the cake.
One can easily get cashback worth of Rs.300 (with modest use. One can get higher if spending done in all categories) easily per month. This translates to 3600 per year which compensates annual and joining fee very well and makes it a no brainer card.
