Manipulation by a credit card company

I don't normally have trouble with my credit card companies--as most of them we have had for
a very long time, and I try to pay my bills on time always, but yesterday I had an experience with one of them that made me puzzled and angry.
The credit card company shall remain nameless, but when they offered a 5% discount on purchases
made at restaurants and drug stores, (as well as a smaller discount on ALL purchases), I jumped at the opportunity, because those two places are where much of our money goes.
Along with a rather large invoice, there was a notice that we had earned $40 in discounts, and
the notice said this amount could be redeemed at any time by going to their website. That didn't go very well, however, as the only thing I could bring up on that site was how to apply for their
credit card. Of course, I already had their credit card.
I kept bringing up different versions of their name, trying to get somewhere where I could redeem the points. In my search, though, I became a little nervous when ON THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY'S SITE, I began to run across remarks made by their card holders, with
lots of nasty things being posted, like: "This company sucks. They are now trying to get me to
pay a yearly fee to get the discounts", or "do not sign up for discounts with this company. They stay awake nights trying to keep people from getting the full value of their discounts."
Wow! Always being a cock-eyed optimist, though, I finally decided to call the service rep listed on the back of
the credit card.
I just knew I was on the right track then, until I realized my call was completely operated by a
computer. First, "she" told me how much my current bill was, and how much I had already paid and after pushing numerous buttons I got to the part about redeeming the discount.
I wanted the $40 applied to the current statement, but with Ms. Computer, this wasn't even
listed as an option. Finally, the voice said, "If you want to receive a $25 check, push 1". Well,
no, I didn't want a $25 check--I wanted a $40 check."
I finally gave in, though, and pushed that I wanted the $25 check. I told Jim that it made me so
angry that the company manipulated me so easily. Will I ever get the balance? I have no idea.
But I will say I have had a Discover credit card for many years, and redeeming their discounts is so easy--AND it can be applied to the bill. All I have to do is call a number!