Problems With Egg

John_Pierpoint

It is good to know that Egg has difficulties identifying "normal" patterns of spending, and the credit crunch/recession/depression can only make things worse.
Fraud is now the world's biggest money spinning crime (Drugs are so last century, no wonder they have to resort to shooting each other, as competition hots up).

At least I'm not the only one with "a black mark" against the account.
My saga is here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=332339

ldn-100

I have an Egg Money card that I only use where I cannot use Amex, so I have an intermittent pattern of usage. When I use it online I often find the next time I use it in a shop they have to call Egg to verify my identity. It can be quite irksome.

benf90

Gordon861 wrote: »

When you get the enter your details bit of the system, wait for the gap and just press a number i fails to recognize it and asks again. After 3 fails it gives you a real person, if you are lucky they have a northern accent and they can sort out your problems.

If you are unlucky their english isn't great and when you describe their auto sorting system as bloody annoying, they complain that you swore at them.

Egg's call centre is in Derby

Gordon861

benf90 wrote: »

Egg's call centre is in Derby

I think they have an overflow.

Joe_Bloggs

There is a newish variation of the phishing scams going around. It is termed vishing.
This wikipedia article describes it better than I can.
J_B.

Voyager2002

Yes, I have had similar problems with Egg Money.

Their automatic telephone calls are annoying, and I don't get on with speech recognition. No need to give their staff a hard time about this: you simply state clearly (on the 'phone or by means of a secure message) that you do not wish to receive automated calls, and they will ensure that contact is made by a human being.

The main problem with their staff is that there are so few of them: whenever I have had to call them and speak to someone, I have had to wait for ages. And this happens when a shop calls for authorisation as well: I was stuck in a supermarket for about half an hour when this happened, and because the supermarket people thought the card might have been stolen they wouldn't even let me abandon the transaction and leave. Bloody Somerfield!

paulmeara

I am frequent user of Egg Money, mostly for the cashback that they offer. In general terms I am fairly satisfied with this card, although I do note that it is becoming more and more difficult to talk to a human being. When you contact them by telephone there is a definite preference on their behalf for your use of the Internet rather than direct person to person communication. Of course, having rung them in the first place, person to person is exactly what you are likely to require.

From my point of view, the most frustrating problems occur when I fail to follow what they, or MasterCard, feel is my normal pattern of usage. At this point the security block kicks in, and everything grinds to a halt. The circumstances under which this occurs entirely and wholly predictable. Everytime I try to make a single large purchase, either in person, or on the Internet, then this problem will occur, and I then have to make a telephone call to sort it out.

I don't think it's unreasonable that a cardholder should make single large purchases from time to time, and the security system should not be so sensitive as to block EVERY single purchase that falls into this category. I can see that if I attempted to purchase a 50 inch plasma TV in Kazakhstan then some scrutiny might well be called for, but attempting to purchase hotel accommodation in Barcelona from lastminute.com is not wholly unreasonable. Neither is attempting to buy a holiday in Egypt at a local travel agent, where they compounded the error by attempting to get me to reveal sensitive security information in the middle of a shop full of people.

In this last case, (lastminute.com) I have attempted to in instigate a formal complaint. Let's see what happens!

ic

I've had problems over the past week with my Egg Money:

1. (23/12) My transaction at Morrisons was declined, but accepted on the second swipe.
2. (25/12) My PayPal transaction on Christmas day wouldn't work - had to use a different card.
3. (27/12) My transaction at Asda was declined - ring for authorisation. Took 20 minutes involving Asda closing the till and me having to go off to the office with a supervisor to ring through to the authorisation centre, who in turn had to ring Egg.
4. (27/12) Returned home to receive an automated phone call, verifying three transactions.
5. (27/12) Order placed on Christmas day on behalf of parents for a TV from Dixons was cancelled - they had been unable to take payment. Rang Dixons to try and reopen the order, but no deal - they told me they last attempted to take payment *after* my two calls above that were earlier in the day (so when there should have been no block on the card).

Aside buying the TV, all my shopping is "normal". I've bought other large items in the past with no problems (and hell, they were larger!). I've sent a very stroppy email to them through the website - the cancellation of the Dixons order means we've missed out on an exclusive 10% off voucher, and the items we were after are no longer in stock - they were due for delivery today. Looking at my account, nothing has been added to my recent transactions in the last week.

Does anybody know of a number to get through? It used to be possible to talk to customer service, but now the 08457 233 233 line tells you to use the facility online. I emailed two days ago - so far no answer...

To answer the question above - I pay my account in full each month via direct debit. I've had the card since shortly after it was launched. Must agree I've also wondered if this is some tactic to get the people who make them little money to leave (that couldn't be pushed out under the excuse of being "risky", as they did earlier in the year). I note the Egg Money card is no longer available to new customers, so looks like they don't want to keep going with it.

lisyloo

You're being paranoid lisy

Maybe, but I'd rather be that way.
We have never had any id theft, travel car or house claim, so I'd rather be paranoid than the other way around.

the automated call is legitimate - as is confirmed by the fact that it then takes you through 3 recent transactions

But you don't know that up front do you? That happens afterwards.

I would never give out my details to some one calling, for the sake of making a return call.

CopperPlate_2

I have to say that I only keep EM for the decent rate of cashback. I've fallen foul before to their oversensitive security systems. And I have noticed that you are left on hold for ages (in excess of 15 minutes one night) waiting to speak to a human being - in the end I gave up. That all said, when my card was scammed at the start of the year, Egg were very good and quick at refunding the money taken from the account.

I don't like the automated security system that calls you - I usually try and bypass it but then end up in the above situation! Some of the staff have been less than helpful when I've spoken to them about the transactions, but then you get good and bad everywhere I suppose. It's the automation of everything that is making me dislike them a bit and the current suspension of EM makes me think that they are going to either re-launch it with much reduced benefits or scrap it altogether for new applicants, perhaps diluting current customer benefits over a period of time?