Has any one had any of their MBNA SonyCard Pulsebeats taken away?

bardsi

I have just called Sony all excited about the new hi-fi I was going to get only to discover that I have lost over 30,000 points. I have just emailed the email address the lady gave me - fingers crossed I will have the same success that some of you have. It is atrocious. I will be sticking to my BA AmEx and BMI mastercard in the future whose points don't expire!
Bella

Shanker

A statement of when and how many points are due to expire.

So the tale goes on!

Obviously people will have "joined" Sonycard at different times so we will continue to get news of the later subscribers losing and having to demand reinstatement of hard earned points well into the future.

All of this could have been prevented by a simple change in rules that allowed all earned points, (i.e. those that have been paid for), to be retained in perpetuity. Any promotional points at start out, (i.e. I had 2500 points given to me like this), could be made the exception.

The thing is SonyCard was only administered by the Bank of Scotland for a short period, (less than 3 years), so they didn't have a chance to implement the removal of expired points. When the reigns were handed to MBNA, they of course, in the manner of which we are all aware, implemented the rules made by SonyCard with great zeal.

I don't understand why SonyCard show high value items in their catalogue when they know that most people will never be able to save the points necessary to be able to claim them. Or perhaps I do, I am not that naive!

The secret is unless you know you can save the amount you need for the TVs and BluRay players and PS3s then use the points to buy the smaller value items such as MP3 players. But don't use them for FM radios because they will be obsolete in 2015!

mboard232

It appears that I am in the same boat by having 2651.85 SonyCard Pulsebeats disappear from my account sometime between 1st November 2008 and 1st February 2010.

I redeemed 4000.00 Pulsebeats on 9th December 2008 which should have used up all the ones that were coming up to three years old.

After complaining via the redeem Pulsebeats UK phone number I was advised to send an e-mail to this address [EMAIL="customerservice@rewardssonycard.co.uk"]customerservice@rewardssonycard.co.uk[/EMAIL] which appears not to exist.

From a search of MoneySaving Expert.com I found I was not alone.

Can anyone advise me that have had success in getting their Pulsebeats reinstated which is the best e-mail address to use?
[EMAIL="sonycard@eu.sony.com"]sonycard@eu.sony.com[/EMAIL] or [EMAIL="customerservice@rewards.sony.co.uk"]customerservice@rewards.sony.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Any advice on this problem will be greatly appreciated.

Caparn

Complete permanent reinstatement.

mboard232,
You need to do what it says on reply 40: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=17370143
email: sonycard@eu.sony.com
They refunded mine

mboard232

Thanks Caparn.

I have just sent an e-mail to that address and await a response with baited breath.

Knowing my luck they will respond by telling me to e-mail the other address as I feel like I have been given the run-around over the last few months.

Shanker

A statement of when and how many points are due to expire.

Yes thats the one - [EMAIL="sonycard@eu.sony.com"]sonycard@eu.sony.com[/EMAIL]

Start with that.

You will have to write to MBNA too when you have had a reply, (if it is favourable of course), telling them that you are aware of Sony's decision and asking them to expedite. Its a pain dealing with two organisations but that's the way it is.

Really we should be demanding that the points are reinstated permanently. At the moment they will expire in 3 years.

I consider them to be earned currency and not up for grabs, (i.e they are yours once given and should not be taken away).

It is apparent that Sony don't want everybody exchanging them for high value items.

Good luck.

Shanker

A statement of when and how many points are due to expire.

sonycard wrote: »

We are obviously concerned by the anger caused by the recent expiry of points and wanted to address / resolve the issues raised.

Firstly, under the Sony Card terms, points expire three years after they are received. This has always been the case.

However, the points which expired last month relate to those earned prior to November 2005. This was the date that administration of the points passed from HBoS to MBNA. For simplicity and to avoid confusion in card member’s minds we decided to reset the point’s age to zero from that date.

The effect was that, as a token of good faith, we extended the life of these points to allow card members more time to accumulate and redeem even better rewards. Sadly, we cannot allow points to continue in perpetuity, so from now on points will expire after their three year life is completed.

As a result of feedback, we are looking at ways in which we can make redemption even easier so that members will not have to wait to redeem. We will also be looking at how points expiry is communicated in the future.

In the meantime, as a token of our good faith to our members we are actively reviewing individual cases with a view to finding a mutually beneficial resolution.

If you would like to contact us directly you can do so at [EMAIL="sonycard@eu.sony.com"]sonycard@eu.sony.com[/EMAIL] and we will happliy consider your case.

Can this person, who obviously represents Sonycard, please update everybody on this forum as to the progress of the intentions that are stated in this post.

I don't see any real difference on my monthly statement or have I received any additional information since this posting.

If you saay you are going to commit to action then why have you not done so?

From my point, it has been well over 18 months since I started with this thread and although I have had my reinstatement, there still seems to be a lot of people out there who are still struggling to claim theirs. For a company with a very high profile, you do not seem to commit to your customers in a very professional friendly manner.

Shanker

A statement of when and how many points are due to expire.

Hello fellow Sony Card sufferers!

Over the last 2 years we have had different stories coming in about deduction of hard earned and in my opinion paid for Sony points.

MBNA decided in their zealous wisdom and their apparent and total disregard for customer care to deduct points that were 3 years old and over from Sony card accounts.

I had a modicom of good fortune in that I managed to have mine, (some 13,000), reinstated but with the proviso from MBNA that they would be deducted again after 3 years, (some time toward the end of 2011 - I think!).

Others were not so fortunate, but maybe it was the way I went about it. I approached both Sony card and MBNA. MBNA only administrate, so Sony Card, must have the last word in whether they sanction the decision to reinstate points.

This all came about because Sony card changed their administrators some time back. Previously the work was done by either RBS or The Bank of Scotland, (evidently one is profitable and the other is owned by the tax payer!). It was 3 years subsequent to this changeover that MBNA decided to follow the rules that the previous lot ignored which put us all in this state of perplexity.

At the time of complaining, I also requested that they do something to amend the monthly statement so that it would reflect the information regarding Sony points. MBNA are continually sending me requests to change to paperless statements but I refuse until they agree and actually make permanent these proposed amendments.

The points I made were that the statement should have a separate section where it states:

a) The balance of points
b) Points "cashed" with dates
c) Forward dates of when and how many points are to be deducted giving ample notice for account holders to make a concious decision whether to "cash" them or not.

Needless to say I have received no acknowledgement whatsoever. I took the matter no further at that time.

Because the end of 2011 will be my particular 3 year anniversary as it were, I have decided to contact them again. I have started via an email to the MBNA customer services. It reads like this:


Over 2 years ago I contacted MBNA concerning Sony points.

The main problem was resolved to my satisfaction but one point I raised is still to be addressed.

Having now accumulated over 25,000 points, I understand that at some stage in early 2012, I will find out the hard way that hard earned points that have been on my account for longer than 3 years will be taken away from me.

I suggested in my last communication that MBNA should somehow publish advance notice, to points holders such as myself, of any imminent intention to deduct time expired points from individual accounts, informing of how many are to be deducted and dates that the time expired points were actually earned.

I have continued to opt to receive “paper” statements through the post so that I may observe the point at which you actually commence this operation but so far over the last 24 months or so, I have not witnessed any efforts toward changing the layout of the statements that would indicate that something was actually being done to accomplish the sort of forward noticing that I would expect.

Would you please update me on the progress of this?

I have not even received an acknowledgement yet, but I will keep on pestering them.

I suggest all of those of you who are and have been as aggrieved as I, also keep pestering them.

Please feel free to use my email as a model, obviously taking out the quantities.

Please post replies on this thread and let me know of any actions and progress.

yorkyuk

I also managed to get my points reinstated after also contacting Sony Card and MBNA.

I also suggested that they put something in place to warn customers a month or two in advance when their points where to expire and by how many. They basically fobbed me off saying they would look into it but obviously they have ignored what their customers want.

I now have to set up a calendar event every November to remind me to phone Sony Card customer services and request how many points will expire in December so I can make the decision to spend some points or not.

When you read through the many posts on this subject and see how many points people have lost due to them expiring it is clear people spend a lot of money on their Sony Card and as a result make Sony Card and MBNA a lot of income.

It is therefore a bit of a disgrace that Sony Card and MBNA refuse to add some kind of Alert on people’s statement to help their Customers out.

Shanker

A statement of when and how many points are due to expire.

yorkyuk wrote: »

I also managed to get my points reinstated after also contacting Sony Card and MBNA.

I also suggested that they put something in place to warn customers a month or two in advance when their points where to expire and by how many. They basically fobbed me off saying they would look into it but obviously they have ignored what their customers want.

I now have to set up a calendar event every November to remind me to phone Sony Card customer services and request how many points will expire in December so I can make the decision to spend some points or not.

When you read through the many posts on this subject and see how many points people have lost due to them expiring it is clear people spend a lot of money on their Sony Card and as a result make Sony Card and MBNA a lot of income.

It is therefore a bit of a disgrace that Sony Card and MBNA refuse to add some kind of Alert on people’s statement to help their Customers out.

Yorkyuk,

Referring to your post/reply, I have highlighted the bit that I am particularly referring to.

I think that you may be under the misapprehension that MBNA will be deducting points from you on an annual basis, (i.e. once a year, every December in your case).

This is not so.

Once they start taking the points away, it will be on a MONTH BY MONTH basis as you earned them.

You will see points being deducted every month from when the first lot, (your reinstated points from 3 years or so back).

This is why, with at least 11 months to go before they commence this heinous, over zealous act, we need to start campaigning for the appropriate amendments to the posted statements and the on-line statements too.

I am insisting on continuing with postal statements until something is done.

When you contact MBNA, they state that they will respond in 2-3 days. Given that it almost goes without saying that those would be working days and Saturday probably isn't included, I will be contacting them again tomorrow since i have not received a response yet.

We all must act now. If you don't want any shocks in the coming months when you find so many thousands of points have been taken, you must start writing to MBNA and Sony Card now.