complaining -rudeness and credit limit reduced

theps

HI, hope i've posted this in the right section. just after a bit of advice please and very very upset.
had letter this morning from virgin credit card(mbna) saying they are reducing my credit limit by £1000. I phoned up to ask why as - never been over limit, never missed / late payment, and had paid £5000 into it 2 months ago. The limit was £7400. i've used the card in the last 2 months booking holiday and computer. even with the new limit i'm still within my credit limit. The man who spoke to me was sooooooooooo rude he reduced me to tears. Ihave since complained by phone to customer services and waiting for them to get back to me.
basically the conversation was:
limit reduced as i have other credit cards. virgin had done a check on me. I didn't know they could do a check on me without my permission as I've had this card, and the others for atleast 2 years, had not requested an increase etc. to be honest the letter came totally out of the blue.
anyway he said as i had other cards, even though they are within their limit/never missed/never late etc etc. he asked me what i had spent the money on. i replied an extension to the house (my hubby's a bricklayer and so the cost was pure materials rather labour etc). he said sarcastically 'that must be some big extension; i said it was as double the back of the house. he then asked where i'd got the £5000 from that i paid into the account in april. wanted to know what i had spent the money on. i had done a couple of balance transfers as virgin had a special rate on promo, he said i was using thier money to pay other cards - i thought that was what a balance transfer was! he kept questioning what i spent my money on. he also said he could pass me onto loans.co.uk as they could secure my debt on the house. i said i thougth it was odd that he was trying to put me under pressure to take out a secured loan when i was not doing anything wrong on my credit card. he kept going on and on at me, and i said i didnt think i had to tell /ask permission from virgin before i used my card as to what i could use it for. in the end i said i wanted to speak to his supervisor . he said i couldn't. he kept saying speaking to anyone else wont increase your li''mit, if i had my way it would be 0. i said i wan't interested in that, i wanted to speak to complain about him. he said 'do you really want to air your dirty washing in public and let everyone listen and laugh'. i asked for his name, he said Dave, i asked for a surname and he said'its just dave to you'. eventually i got him to give me his extension number. i hung up and phoned customer services.
what more can i do to complain, surely he can't speak to me like that, why have they reduced limit? can they do credit checks without my knowledge? many thanks

Robert_Sterling

Staff employed at call centre usually give you a first name only.
It does not need to be their real first name.
It is rather like a login name.
The call centre will know who Dave is.

When you apply for a credit card you give them permission to check you out at CRAs.

I guess that their terms and conditions allow them to reduce your credit limit.

Perhaps they will not make less profit if you take your custom elsewhere.

CharleneUK

Wow, I don't have much to add except to put the complaint in writing.

I'm completely shocked by how you were treated! 'dave' obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed!!

Bossyboots

It sounds like they may suspect money laundering but what a bizarre thing to do to suggest you go to loans.co.uk.

kuohu

Sounds very unusual, and not at all professional on behalf of the Virgin employee. You should definitely put your complaint in writing, and post it recorded delivery so that it cannot be 'lost'. They should have a recording of your call, and I would hope they respond in a very embarrassed and apologetic manner when they review it.

Voyager2002

Such rudeness is extraordinary, and quite inexcusable.

However, financial organisations do reduce (and increase) credit limits for reasons that may have nothing at all to do with customer behaviour. If their head office thinks the economy is slowing down, they may try to reduce the amount of money owed to them so that they are less at risk. That is not something you should take personally.

zombiecazz

How can you fail to take it personally, when the call centre a**e was so terrible rude. If they have a policy of changing your credit limit they should at least be polite enough to explain the reasoning behind it.

Duh of course balance transfer is for paying of other debts.

I hate it when people believe they have the god given right to speak and treat you anyway they feel like.:mad: :mad: :mad:

Quasar

Yeah, and wanting to know what OP spent her money on is just out of order. And I bet this "Dave" is neither first name nor log on name at all, just a name which will NOT identify him. He sounds just like the sort of caller I'd LOVE to deal with.

C_Ronaldo

its got nothing to do with the company what the OP spent the money on, how rude can you get

thefirs

You've probably got a line of complaint to the FSA because they attempted to cross-market an inappropriate product from another institution.

It sounds like a rogue CS employee to me. I like to think I'd have had a field day in getting name, module number, location, etc whilst he was on the line, then asking to speak to the supervisor, but I know what an amazing knockout these ambushes can be when they are so unexpected, and they can stop the ordinary responses kicking in. A near-verbatim record of the conversation can be of some help when submitting your complaint, though once again it's something that doesn't normally come as second nature.

Thank you for sharing this experience with us - those of us with Virgin CCs beware.

theps

thanks for all your comments and i will follow your advice. i'm feeling more positive today and will def complain further.