Egg, blocked card and the power of Martin

cronshd

This may be of interest to some of you.

Today my Egg card was blocked, after a retailer put through a transaction twice erroneously. This alerted security and no further transactions could be made.

The situation was complicated by the fact that I was in Sweden and my wife was in Spain (so any attempted call by security to our UK home would be unanswered). When I discovered the card was blocked, I called Egg - and eventually they unblocked the card.

That's when the fun started. I requested to be refunded for the cost of the telephone call I had to make in order to unblock the card. I explained that I felt I did not want to have to pay for calling to unblock my card - when it was a false security alert anyway (side note - I do think they do a good job generally in this area).

At first the agent asked me how much the call was (at this point it was about 30 minutes into the call - and I was using Skype - so it wasn't so much) - and then he asked his supervisor. Who said "no way". At this point, I felt there was a point of principle to be defended.

I made my case very strongly (over 10-15 minutes), but the agent was unmoved. I then used the ltrump card. I said that I would then post the details of this case on to MoneySavingExpert.com - and I asked if the agent was aware of Martin Lewis ("he's on TV and radio" I explained.....). I built on this by saying that for me, it is a point of principle - the money itself is irrelevant, which is the case.

I was put on hold then for about 10 minutes and then I got a swift reply "We'll refund you £5 for the call which will be in your account within 2 days". RESULT!

The power of MoneySaving Expert.com at work! Small stuff - but points of principle are worth defending, if you believe in them.
:money:

The_Boss

Damn right. Why should you have to foot the cost if they are the ones that stopped it?

Den

but you still posted...

mistyarthur

Den wrote:

but you still posted...

Principles obviously aren't too big a deal when you win.

Deemy

mistyarthur wrote:

Principles obviously aren't too big a deal when you win.

LOL...

I think Egg are owed a refund

wacko911

Go for it, and good on ya! £5 hardly covers the embarassment of being refused at the till when you have followed the rules. I think Egg got away lightly.

asharon

I think I'd rather have Egg being cautious and protecting me from fraud.

The_Boss

asharon wrote:

I think I'd rather have Egg being cautious and protecting me from fraud.

Nobody is arguing about that - its the cost it took for the OP to have their card reactivated.

Morgan Stanley stop my card all the time for 'fraud' reasons. But at least they call me, albeit sometimes over a day after the alleged fraud took place.

gamma

cronshd wrote:

This may be of interest to some of you.

Today my Egg card was blocked, after a retailer put through a transaction twice erroneously. This alerted security and no further transactions could be made.

The situation was complicated by the fact that I was in Sweden and my wife was in Spain (so any attempted call by security to our UK home would be unanswered). When I discovered the card was blocked, I called Egg - and eventually they unblocked the card.

That's when the fun started. I requested to be refunded for the cost of the telephone call I had to make in order to unblock the card. I explained that I felt I did not want to have to pay for calling to unblock my card - when it was a false security alert anyway (side note - I do think they do a good job generally in this area).

At first the agent asked me how much the call was (at this point it was about 30 minutes into the call - and I was using Skype - so it wasn't so much) - and then he asked his supervisor. Who said "no way". At this point, I felt there was a point of principle to be defended.

I made my case very strongly (over 10-15 minutes), but the agent was unmoved. I then used the ltrump card. I said that I would then post the details of this case on to MoneySavingExpert.com - and I asked if the agent was aware of Martin Lewis ("he's on TV and radio" I explained.....). I built on this by saying that for me, it is a point of principle - the money itself is irrelevant, which is the case.

I was put on hold then for about 10 minutes and then I got a swift reply "We'll refund you £5 for the call which will be in your account within 2 days". RESULT!

The power of MoneySaving Expert.com at work! Small stuff - but points of principle are worth defending, if you believe in them.
:money:

Hmm and you still posted their mistake and lied about how much the call was and used someone else's name to strengthen your case without their knowledge. I won't be happy if I was egg, Martin, or Moneysavingexpert.com.

Epiphone

Personally I don't agree with asking for a refund on this occasion. Egg were protecting your account, it's not their fault you had to call from Sweeden. You used Skype so infalted the cost of a refund etc.

I wonder, if it was fraud and egg did nothing would we have seen an "egg allowed fraud on my card!!!" type post?

The_Boss

What is Skype?