Egg's automated fraud detection system... are other cards as bad?

meggsy

My Egg card was used fraudulently, someone bought a £600 computer, and Egg security have phoned a couple of times since to check transactions. Very happy that they do this

sstteeww

I use my egg card for all my purchases and pay the balance off in full each month. About 7 months ago, I went through a period of Egg security blocking my card about once a week in response to "normal" transactions (local supermarket, local petrol station, local cinema etc.). This blocking period lasted about 5 weeks! I would then have to call them to get it unblocked (refused to use their crazy automated service that asks for all your details).

Thankfully, this hasn't happened since then, so hopefully it was just a glitch in their system. I did at the time suspect they were deliberately harassing me to try and get me to stop using my egg card, but the lack of any card blocking since then suggests their security was just over-sensitive for a while.

djm1972

Thanks, sstteeww -

That's exactly the feeling i've had (they're trying to get rid of me).

Last night I sent a strongly-worded secure message saying that i'd had enough of it and if they can't turn down the sensitivity then I'd like to close my account and got a reply this morning saying that they couldn't and asking me to confirm my instructions to close my account. :rolleyes:

meggsy

I posted this on another thread at the weekend ..... will be of interest to those of us who pay the balance in full ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article6718971.ece#comment-have-your-say

Paulgonnabedebtfree

meggsy wrote: »

I posted this on another thread at the weekend ..... will be of interest to those of us who pay the balance in full by DD ...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/consumer_affairs/article6718971.ece#comment-have-your-say

Link not working. Is there a typo maybe?

EDIT: It's working now.

thor

NickX wrote: »

Well I am of the opinion that you shouldn't pay before you need to. Why give someone your hard earned funds when you don't have to ?

.

In these days of the Internet I guess I automatically expect that I can leave it till the last minute for instant cover. I keep hoping that a new cheaper deal comes online and would kick myself if I committed too early.

schoolrunmum

Slightly off thread, but don't move to Alliance and Leicester will you? They blocked both mine and husbands card last week, but didn't bother ringing to check:mad:, :mad:they sent :mad:a letter via snail mail-3 days later, I got it. They said "Someone took £200 out of a cashpoint in Bangkok,using your husbands card"..well , no, as my husband IS IN BANGKOK it probably was him!Ok, we'll lift the block. Fine says I,"What about the other 11 dodgy transactions,totalling £1300?" Definitely not us...so we cancel cards. I ring fraud dept monday morning to discuss, and they tell me it was all a "clerical error"..there were never any dodgy transactions on the account....grr......why didn't they tell me that before we canx the cards? Now waiting for up to 2 weeks for new cards/pins....last time they sent pins to the wrong address-3 times!!!Unsurprisingly,we are closing the account...

sstteeww

djm1972 wrote: »

Thanks, sstteeww -

That's exactly the feeling i've had (they're trying to get rid of me).

Last night I sent a strongly-worded secure message saying that i'd had enough of it and if they can't turn down the sensitivity then I'd like to close my account and got a reply this morning saying that they couldn't and asking me to confirm my instructions to close my account. :rolleyes:

Don't close your account, there is a fair chance that is exactly what they want you to do! Just get another cashback card and carry that as well as your egg card, so if your Egg card does get blocked during a transaction, you can still earn cashback using the other card :T See Martin's cashback cards page (sorry, as a newbie, I am not allowed to post links).

Hopefully you are just having a phase of their system being overly-sensitive to your transactions; or perhaps they really are out to get you :eek: in which case when you call them up to unblock the card, be very polite and tell them you love your egg card and are never gonna give it up! Remember, be an adversarial consumer, ride-out their bully-boy tactics and keep your 1% cashback (with no fee)!

Right now, it is the best cashback card (unless you're in the initial 5% Amex Platinum three month period). I get about £5 a month on average using my Egg card. :beer:

djm1972

sstteeww wrote: »

Don't close your account, there is a fair chance that is exactly what they want you to do! Just get another cashback card and carry that as well as your egg card, so if your Egg card does get blocked during a transaction, you can still earn cashback using the other card :T See Martin's cashback cards page (sorry, as a newbie, I am not allowed to post links).

Hopefully you are just having a phase of their system being overly-sensitive to your transactions; or perhaps they really are out to get you :eek: in which case when you call them up to unblock the card, be very polite and tell them you love your egg card and are never gonna give it up! Remember, be an adversarial consumer, ride-out their bully-boy tactics and keep your 1% cashback (with no fee)!

Right now, it is the best cashback card (unless you're in the initial 5% Amex Platinum three month period). I get about £5 a month on average using my Egg card. :beer:

My "now having calmed down" thoughts exactly! In fact, I'm going to try and use it more!

I do have back-up cards so if it does ever get blocked i'm not in complete trouble - and the last person I spoke to in the security department said they'd flagged my account for a human call rather than the automated process that isn't compatible with my mobile.

:beer:

fozmcfc

Never had a problem with my egg card, despite using it numerous times. My Natwest mastercard on the otherhand gets flagged up so often I've stopped using it.