Egg credit card blocked abroad

cpal_m08

Greetings,
I recently went backpacking through asia so I got an egg visa card to use as backup while I was away. I advised egg where I would be going, and it came to be that I had to start using the card. The card worked ok in Thailand, but when I arrived in Cambodia I could not withdraw money. After phoning them a few times, where I was told security had been activated and would be subsequently dropped, I was able to withdraw cash. However a few days later I arrived in the capital Phnom Penh, tried to withdraw money and again I was unable to withdraw. I used the last of my money calling them a few times and was still unable to withdraw cash. I had no money for food or acommodation but fortunatley I met a local who took me in. The following day I called Egg from the British embassy, their computers were down and they said they'd call me back at a certain time. The call back never came nor could I get thru to their customer service, and in the end I had to call my dad who left work early and had to Western Union the money to me for a £30 fee. The card worked a few days later in Thailand so it must have been a security problem.
I am going to write to them to complain but was wondering how to word the letter in order to get compensation from them? Is there a precedent for this and how much should I be looking at getting? It was obviously quite distressing being stuck in a foreign country with no food and nowhere to stay.

Thanks in advance

SimbaSimon

cpal_m08 wrote: »

Greetings,
I recently went backpacking through asia so I got an egg visa card to use as backup while I was away. I advised egg where I would be going, and it came to be that I had to start using the card. The card worked ok in Thailand, but when I arrived in Cambodia I could not withdraw money. After phoning them a few times, where I was told security had been activated and would be subsequently dropped, I was able to withdraw cash. However a few days later I arrived in the capital Phnom Penh, tried to withdraw money and again I was unable to withdraw. I used the last of my money calling them a few times and was still unable to withdraw cash. I had no money for food or acommodation but fortunatley I met a local who took me in. The following day I called Egg from the British embassy, their computers were down and they said they'd call me back at a certain time. The call back never came nor could I get thru to their customer service, and in the end I had to call my dad who left work early and had to Western Union the money to me for a £30 fee. The card worked a few days later in Thailand so it must have been a security problem.
I am going to write to them to complain but was wondering how to word the letter in order to get compensation from them? Is there a precedent for this and how much should I be looking at getting? It was obviously quite distressing being stuck in a foreign country with no food and nowhere to stay.

Thanks in advance

To be honest I very much doubt you'd get any compensation. They'll just say you should have a backup incase your unable to use your card, what if it was lost or stolen? You'd be in the same situation.

normanmark

Just because you tell them where you're going doesn't mean that a card will not be blocked. This is something people never really grasp.

Its an automatic system which applies blocks to cards and look at the pattern of spending and other things into account. Something card companies have no control over however the travel notification just means that if a block is applied then they can get to the bottom of who is using the card.

As for compensation, unfortunately you would be wasting your time. The block they put on is for their security as much as yours. The advice which has already been said is to ensure you have back up funds just for these situations.

johnmoney05

You took cash from your EGG VISA? You better off paying £30 for Western Union. Maybe Egg did you a favour.

Any

I have Nationwide current account AND credit card and never had any troubles abroad. Though I never travel from one foreign country to another, I only take it one at a time:-)
I would recommend it to anyone - especially the current account, for the reason mentioned above - cash out of credit card? Extremely expensive! And might be the reason they blocked the card - I've read somewhere that because of so many attacks on english tourist where the attackers torture you until they get your PIN and then withdraw as much cash as they can, banks are now pretty tough about security in case there is too many credit card cash withdrawals.

Any

Alx_B wrote: »

If the banks are going to take this attitude though it begs the question "What on earth is the point of taking a CC abroad in the first place?" It seems like a pointless exercise if you're not going to be able to use it when you need to. I wonder what the chances of being kidnapped and tortured for the PIN really are?
If it's relatively common practice then all the more reason not to take a CC away with you, but I can't help but wonder whether it's something that's happened a few times, which the banks have latched on to as an excuse for blocking foreign card transactions, so as to reduce their exposure to the cost of card fraud.
/cynicism

Well, the article only mentioned that they are very cautios if there is numerous CASH withdrawalls, so I don't know... But I am certainly not rich enough to take cash out as the interest is piling up very quickly.. There are ways / cards how to take cash abroad other then to actualy take CASH, but credit card certainly wouldn't be one recommended. At least I wouldn't.

Any

Alx_B wrote: »

If the banks are going to take this attitude though it begs the question "What on earth is the point of taking a CC abroad in the first place?" It seems like a pointless exercise if you're not going to be able to use it when you need to. I wonder what the chances of being kidnapped and tortured for the PIN really are?
If it's relatively common practice then all the more reason not to take a CC away with you, but I can't help but wonder whether it's something that's happened a few times, which the banks have latched on to as an excuse for blocking foreign card transactions, so as to reduce their exposure to the cost of card fraud.
/cynicism

By the way I used to wrong word - torture. Should have used "threaten". I certainly wouldn't argue with a man with a gun, he wouldn't need to touch me:p

Richard019

Yeah, I wouldn't look for compensation for not being able to make cash withdrawals. If they decide to deduct the interest savings you made by not being able to take the money out you might end up owing them even more money.;)