Egg - blocking credit card with no explanation

bargain_hunter_99

After years with Egg, I now find myself the victim of some of the worst Customer Services I have ever experienced.

Approx 10 days ago I tried to purchase an item on the Net with my Egg credit card, to have it refused. Upon contacting Egg I was told a temporary block had been placed on my card 2 days beforehand. Well thanks for letting me know !!!

When I asked why, I was told the team dealing with this would get back to me within 7-10 days !!! No amount of escalating to management made any difference.

So 11 days down the line, I phone back up & guess what, same blanket response with people hiding behind phones who now say they will get back to me as soon as they can

As I've always paid off my full credit debt each month, I can only assume they are starting a new round of removing credit worthy customers who they don't make enough money from. That's bad enough, but at least be up front about it !!

Anyone else experienced this ?

DifferentFromTheNorm

Sounds like something to do with the team which deals with fraudulent transactions and fraudulent applications.

If it was any other team you'd have been told the name of the team / department and not just 'the team dealing with it'.

The 7-10 days timescale is usually something given as a guideline when the fraud teams are involved.

Also, the reason for the complete blank on any information is because of the law. If Egg suspect something is suspicious about your account and they were to do anything deamed to be tipping you off then both the company and the individual can be prosecuted etc.

To remove any likelyhood of this happening they simply just repeat that they will be in touch soon, usually by letter. The advisors will be under strict guidance to avoid using words such as 'fraud', 'fraudulent', 'suspicious activity' etc etc.

You might find it best to get a copy of your credit report to check that there's nothing strange going on.

You say you've been a customer for years which makes this situation a bit weird. Usually this type of thing happens within a couple of months of an account opening, when they've reviewed an application or received an alert from the credit reference agency.

You should hear from them soon. If not, there may be a way to finding out a bit more information, but it will take a while and isn't guaranteed.

Although you won't be told anything over the phone, there will be notes on your account to explain what is going on, or at least naming which department has placed the temporary block on the account.

To see this will require a request under the data protection act and it'll cost you £10. Egg call it a DSIR and you can find out more info about it here:

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,2388,3_11084--View_1765-bID_ECGetAccInfoFAQ-dva_1,00.html

DesG

Call the fraud team direct, 01332-633863. (I have it programmed into my mobile, and they call me when they do there 'thing')

Make sure you ask them to update your details with your mobile number and they call you with an automated system straight away when they spot a suspicious transaction.

The last transaction they called me for was one that was VbV, so I guess even they don't trust VbV these days.

Cheers, Des.

SomersetSaver

I've had similar experiences where they've blocked transactions on a number of occasions - even when I feel it's within my 'normal' spending pattern e.g. last Christmas they blocked a £50ish Amazon order, which was various Christmas presents for other people. When I called up they queried it even though I said "It's Christmas, I often buy at Amazon, it isn't that much money".

They are very hot off the mark (also had a holiday booking rejected as it was quite expensive and on the internet - but what else would you use a credit card for?!) and it used to annoy me. That is until I had fraudulent use of my card and they blocked it immediately (but didn't call me) which meant I only suffered the initial loss of about £36, which they refunded as soon as I sent back the appropriate signed form.

But what you're talking about does sound a lot worse than normal - I've found they usually clear it straight away, so hope you get it sorted out (and also hope it's not a sign of things to come).

ldn-100

If you are going to make a large or unusual purchase with an Egg credit card you can give them a call and ask them to "remove security" from your card. You can call again after the transaction has gone through and have it put back on, or it comes back automatically in 48 hours or so. I have noticed they query more transactions than my other providers.

sutton111

blacksheep101 wrote: »

This has happened to us on several occasions usually when we're abroad even though we have previously contacted them to let them know we will be in a certain country and using our Egg card there. :mad: Very annoying, they just don't seem to register this. Equally irritating is that they phone our home number to let us know a possibly fraudulent transaction is being made ...and there's no answer.. duh!

As well as this, we bought a new TV a couple of weeks ago, the amount had to be authorised and it all took a very long time with various security questions being asked. It went through eventually but when we got home our caller display showed that Egg had tried to call us. Well for goodness' sake we were still in the shop buying the TV so obviously couldn't answer the phone! Don't their employees have common sense?

Despite these occasional annoyances we are usually quite happy with our Egg Money card and will continue to use it as we get cashback at the end of the year which comes in handy just in time for Christmas.

probably they rang to make sure it was you in the shop. It's a pain but it seems they are good at looking at dodgy transactions can't be bad if it stops your card being used fraudlently.

DesG

blacksheep101 wrote: »

Very annoying, they just don't seem to register this. Equally irritating is that they phone our home number to let us know a possibly fraudulent transaction is being made ...and there's no answer.. duh!.

If you contact them, you can get them to change the number they ring to your mobile, that is what they did for me when I blew a fuse the last time! It is an automated system which dials your number, not a human!

blacksheep101 wrote: »

Despite these occasional annoyances we are usually quite happy with our Egg Money card and will continue to use it as we get cashback at the end of the year which comes in handy just in time for Christmas.

If another visa or MC card comes out with 1% cashback or better I would jump ship, but otherwise I put up with their foibles to get £200 per year cashback.

Cheers, Des.