o2 money card now released!

jb66

savagej wrote: »

It seems the mystery continues, is this an electron card in disguise, a debit card in disguise, or a credit card in disguise. If places that only take debit cards are refusing it it would seem it does have a credit card BIN, but then may also still require full authorisation. It is a new hybrid.

I imagine it is a credit card that works in the opposite way as usual in that you must have a positive balance. This has cleared up why o2 are offering this card, if it is recognised as a credit card they will be charging the merchant 4% of all transactions therefore making a healthy profit. Debit cards % is less than credit cards.

never-in-doubt

jb66 wrote: »

I imagine it is a credit card that works in the opposite way as usual in that you must have a positive balance. This has cleared up why o2 are offering this card, if it is recognised as a credit card they will be charging the merchant 4% of all transactions therefore making a healthy profit. Debit cards % is less than credit cards.

That makes sense actually..... usually you pay a set rate for debit cards (i.e. £0.15p per sale) whereas a credit card is a % of total sale. That makes decent sense and explains why the card is 'free' to the end user.

Kev_B_6

I applied for one on Saturday and despite the Bank Holiday I received the card and PIN on Friday, good going.
Only problem is I tried to load cash on it last night (after activating it of course) and was told they were unable to do it and I should contact customer services, which I did today, to be told that they will look into it and I should try again next Wednesday... NEXT Wednesday... 10 days.... I naturally queried this and was given the usual cr*p but eventually got him to admit that 'one or two' other cardholders are having the same problem....
Laughable thing is that I was using my NatWest Solo card to load the money (which according to NatWest went through fine but O2 didn't take it) and the O2 card is provided by NatWest....

Anyone else having these problems?

One thing that puzzles me is the lower amount 'unverified' Load and Go card can be topped up at any shop that has PayPoint, so why on earth can't this one? Would make life easier in situations like this...

Other than this always been very happy with O2 :j

Kev

Haha.... just about to submit this and got a call from NatWest Fraud Prevention.... Seems they've blocked it 'cos they didn't know what it was... :rotfl:
Nice to know they're on the ball with fraudulent activities.... but for a product run by themselves? Hmmmmmmmm....

The very helpfull lady has now unblocked O2 Money..... :T

scott_lithgows

I texted the "load" number to find out where was the nearest place i could load money onto it and it came back somewhere in Dunoon which is the other side of the Clyde and a boat journey away!

Grade_A_Reject

never-in-doubt wrote: »

That makes sense actually..... usually you pay a set rate for debit cards (i.e. £0.15p per sale) whereas a credit card is a % of total sale. That makes decent sense and explains why the card is 'free' to the end user.

Plus the fact that once you load your card they get to keep your money interest free until you spend it.

wizk1

Grade_A_Reject wrote: »

Plus the fact that once you load your card they get to keep your money interest free until you spend it.

Good point. The only reason I've got the card is to grab the £5 freebie, then I'm outta there . I see this as my dividend considering I partially own 58% of RBS

gerrard23

We arranged for one of these for our son because we wanted something that would support our son through University. We wanted him not to be able to go overdrawn - with all the rip-off charges that engenders - and we wanted to be able to load cash remotely at will as well as by standing order. We like the o2 brand and two of us are already customers. Their service is usually pretty good. We also liked the text advisories which would help to keep him on the straight and narrow.

Initially it was a bit of a struggle to set up as it had to be in his name. That was about six weeks ago. Once we got over the initial hurdle of having to wait a week between first two loads, we set up the standing order, which worked perfectly for two weeks.

Now for the third week running my wife and I have been on tenterhooks and have wasted hours of our time trying to

a) load money onto the card and getting this message

Add money to an O2 Money card


[SIZE=+0]Something’s wrong with the card you used or the card you want to add money to. Check both, then try again.

[/SIZE]
b) get a response from Natwest via the 10202 o2 web contact number. This afternoon I waited at least twenty minutes for an answer. Finally I was greeted by a nice young man called Jack who was not aware of any problems with the web site yesterday or today and had no notes of what to do other than advise customers to "keep trying". He was not aware either of any other complaints about the service, which I put down to the fact that nobody else was able to get through on this "service" to lodge a complaint.

I was advised that his manager, Matthew, was in a meeting which may take a long time but that he would get back to me as soon as he was out of his meeting.

Prior to calling, I had had a rapid response from the secure code line who advised me there was nothing wrong with my card - from RBS - in the same way that there was nothing wrong with my wife's card - from Nationwide. the problem was with o2 and Natwest's web site. They advised me to make the payment by telephone, but it transpires that neither o2 nor Natwest offer such a service.

Jack advised that I could lodge a written complaint to the following address:

Natwest
o2 Money card service
PO BOX 1747
Southend on Sea
Essex
UK
SS1 9AJ

no contact email address

All of this is a re-run of last week's fiasco which took two days for o2 and Natwest to resolve, cost my wife and I several hours of inputting card detail and hanging on phones trying to discover what was wrong. In the meantime our son's card, which he relies on at University for food etc., was rendered useless. We then had to go to the additional expense of sending cash in a letter to him - with the attendant postal strike risks, in order that he could eat.

During that last set of phone calls,the staff at Natwest seemed to be completely in the dark as to what was going on with the "service" and sent us off on wild goose chases with securecard (always responsive) and our banks.

In all, this o2 money card seemed a bright idea but in practice is too risky and unreliable. Just a marketing ploy. Not sure who it will backfire on. Dont join o2 just for this card.

no_cally_doe

I must say that I've had the o2 card now for around 2 months and find it really helpful. Gone are the days of looking at my account and thinking " I thought I had more money, when did I spend that?" I load £300 every four weeks and once its gone that's it I dont allow myself to take any more money out of my account.

The text updates are really the only reason I got one, I have an iphone and when I check my text updates I can see the last two months of purchasing and spending anytime anywhere. Even used it as proof of purchase once when taking an item back to a shop!

For no cost its definitely worth it

wizk1

At least someone one here likes it. But this card doesn't have a place in my and many others' lives.

foxy-roxy

I_luv_cats wrote: »

I like the idea of these o2 cards, free to use in the UK as many others have so many charges from loading to purchasing.

Also I don't want to put my bank debit card too often on the Internet. I limit the potential fraud to the balance on the o2 card against my whole future bank balance!!![/QUOTE]

I like it for this idea, am paranoid about putting my bank details on the internet, so would get one for this reason, although i am not an o2 customer so will go elsewhere