Egg Balance Transfer Fees

Aubs

Hi all,

Just letting you all know, and hoping someone may be able to offer some advice...

My partner received a letter from Egg basically saying transfer your balances over to us and we will give you an interest rate of 1.9% until March 2006. What he didn't realise, was that there was small print on the reverse of the letter that stated they would charge a 2% fee (max £50) for any balance transfer.

the letter was formatted:

---

Address
Address

Date

Text
Text
Text

Yours xxx

---

and on the reverse:

---

T&C's

---

There was no reference on the front of the letter that stated see reverse for T&C's.

Anyway, he was charged around £36 for a £1800 transfer that he did over the phone.

He then contacted Egg and the lady that answered said they'd have to get hold of the recording of the original conversation, as he had not been informed about the transfer fee at the time of making the transfer.

She then called back saying she would have to pass the query on to the Customer Relations department. They sent a letter (that arrived today):

Dear X

RE: Your Egg account XXX

Thank you for your recent telephone call regarding the problems you have experienced. I have taken personal responsibility for resolving this for you.

What I understand your complaint to be about
You are unhappy that you will be charged a balance transfer fee and have asked Egg to refund this fee.

What my findings are after investigating it
On 10 October 2005 you actioned a balance transfer over the telephone for £1800.00 to your Ebb Card account. When your next statement is produced in November 2005 we will apply a balance transfer fee.

I am unable to refund the balance transfer feel that will be charged to your account. When you applied for the Egg Card product you agreed to accept the terms and conditions, which state

4.3 If you applied for your Card from 1 May 2005 we may charge a handling fee of 2% (maximum fee £50) of the amount of:
each Transferred Balance made during the introductory 0% interest rate period; and
each Transferred Balance made under a special promotion

You have also confirmed that the letter you received stated that there would be a charge for all balance transfers actioned on your Egg Card account.

My conclusion is that I do not accept your complaint.



Then it went on abut your rights regarding complaints.

Points:
1. My partner has been a customer for a few years so the point about "...1 May 2005..." is irrelevant.
2. They did not say if they had heard the recording
3. Any advice about the small print on the reverse?

Thanks people.

Aubs

MarkyMarkD

The small print is part of the offer of balance transfer that they made. It's your fault for not reading it and I agree with their rejection of your complaint.

With any financial matter you have to read the full terms of the deal - and failing to read page 2 of 2 is not exactly trying very hard! There does not need to be anything on the front of a letter to state that there are Terms & Conditions on the back - turning over the page would have revealed that easily enough.

Aubs

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your comments... Where did it say page 2 of 2? or even page 1 of 2 on the front? the front of the letter had the "to" name & address, the body of the letter AND the "Yours Sincerely" ending of the letter. There's no reason to think there's somehting on the back! (Yes, I know it would be easy to simply turn it over!

Also, when you telephone them to transfer a balance, they should inform you of any charges that will be made...

MarkyMarkD

No, cobblers. They shouldn't repeat stuff on the phone which you already have in writing. That's a waste of their time and yours.

When I say "page 2 of 2" I mean that there were only 2 pages of stuff for you to read ... turning over the page to see if it's blank is only common sense, surely.

al.green_2

Did the original letter include the 'applied from May 2005'? If so you may have an argument.
Also, if it is a change to the original terms and conditions you applied for when you first got your card (or applied when you last did a balance transfer) they should have informed you of this over the phone (you may not have seen a letter by this point). They probably should have informed you of any charges you would incur anyway.

I've had a few instances of companies trying to get money out of you through sneaky clauses hidden in updated T&C's and you can usually get them to withdraw it if you argue long enough.

MarkyMarkD

I don't agree with you either, al.

If you have a card with an introductory 0% balance transfer rate, which reverts to the card's standard rate for balance transfers of 15.9% (or whatever), then clearly any offer they make which varies that is a variation to the terms & conditions. If they say the new deal is 1.9%, and refer in the terms and conditions on the back of this offer to a charge of 2% (say), then that offer, in its complete state, is a single variation to the terms and conditions. If you choose to take it up, then you accept those terms.

I repeat that there's no need for any organisation to repeat on the phone something they've clearly laid out in writing - indeed, it's confusing for them to do so as they can never go through the full terms & conditions over the phone because it would take too long, so any brief summary will always tend to be insufficient.