Sainsbury's took her card!

hopefulfooluk

They'll mug ya for the time these days I tell ye tamarto!

ALIBOBSY

Well for a start the customer services lad could have done a better job. I worked in customer services for a while and had to deal with some very difficult customers and there is an art to dealing with people, even if there is nothing more you can do for them.

To suggest we all have a fistful of cards or constantly carry cash around with us is crazy. All this rubbish about T & C's winds me up. Just because something is in the T & C's does not make it moral, fair, good for the customer, or in any way "right". The assumption by some on here that the banks are always right and the customer must be at fault is beyond ridiculous, banks do make mistakes and inconvienence people and to be frank don't give a monkeys about any customers. The days of good customer service in this country are long gone. Its all money grabbing, selfish, immoral greed.

This would appear to be rubbish customer service from the bank, but she needs to get onto them ASAP and find out what has happened. Sympathies to your friend, hope she gets sorted today.

ali x

INT1

wrangler5 wrote: »

What amazes me is the blame culture that people seem to adopt so that they never have to take personal responsibility for anything. When i go shopping i do not just take one single solitary debit card and nothing else. Does that place me in a minority then?

No, I carry all 8 of my cards in case any get declined, swallowed etc etc.
I don't carry more than £20 cash in my wallet unless I have to buy something (Cash only)

The OP has gone completely ott about 1 card declined/retained.

Oh and for info, all banks will provide a 24 hour transaction referral service. They are obliged to do so if they want to support the VISA and Mastercard brand on the cards. The lines don't shut at 6, maybe the line for the fraud department does in Natwest but not the referral line, that will be open and the merchant should be following a referred authorisation process.

lisyloo

No, I carry all 8 of my cards in case any get declined, swallowed etc etc.

I don't think it's a good idea to carry all your worldly goods about with you :-) (PLEASE notice the smile)

I carry 2 credit and 2 debit.
That sounds like quite a lot, but one credit card is AMEX and doesn't get accepted everywhere.

It's sensible to be safety conscious, however in 41 years on this planet I've never been been mugged (although I never leave my handbag on the floor or in a trolley).
Most of use wear hundred of pounds worth of jewelry around (wedding rings etc.) and never get mugged.

So are we all being a bit sensitive here?

On occasion (when buying a second hand vehicle) we have carried large amounts of cash,
We've been very self-conscious, but no-one knew amnd no-one mugged us.
Are we all being a bit paranoid?
We don't all get mugged every time we go to the supermarket.

To be honest, I feel sorry for the guy behind the desk.
He was jsut doing his job and shouldn't be subject to the rants of a woman throwing her toys out the pram, even if she has a valid argument with her bank.

As for expecting better service, well if you go on a 5* cruise or to a Michelin star restaurant then you expect good service.
But supermarket srtaff are not highly trained or paid so to expect sensational service when throwing a strop seems to me to be a bit of a diversion.

Paul_Herring

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

Well for a start the customer services lad could have done a better job.

Well...

MaKaToM wrote: »

A lad got on the phone to the Maestro people, read out her card number, gave the amount and then said "ok, yes she's here with me, ok, bye - sorry cards declined and I must retain it".

She flew off the handle to say the least, demanding that she have an explanation while pulling out her drivers license, counterpart, old university cards, even her passport, but the kid behind the counter simply repeated "declined, I have to keep it".

I think the customer could have done a 'better job;' that is no way to conduct yourself towards someone who is neither responsible for the situation, nor can do anything about it.

INT1

lisyloo wrote: »

I don't think it's a good idea to carry all your worldly goods about with you :-) (PLEASE notice the smile)

I carry 2 credit and 2 debit.
That sounds like quite a lot, but one credit card is AMEX and doesn't get accepted everywhere.

It's sensible to be safety conscious, however in 41 years on this planet I've never been been mugged (although I never leave my handbag on the floor or in a trolley).
Most of use wear hundred of pounds worth of jewelry around (wedding rings etc.) and never get mugged.

So are we all being a bit sensitive here?

On occasion (when buying a second hand vehicle) we have carried large amounts of cash,
We've been very self-conscious, but no-one knew amnd no-one mugged us.
Are we all being a bit paranoid?
We don't all get mugged every time we go to the supermarket.

To be honest, I feel sorry for the guy behind the desk.
He was jsut doing his job and shouldn't be subject to the rants of a woman throwing her toys out the pram, even if she has a valid argument with her bank.

As for expecting better service, well if you go on a 5* cruise or to a Michelin star restaurant then you expect good service.
But supermarket srtaff are not highly trained or paid so to expect sensational service when throwing a strop seems to me to be a bit of a diversion.

It probably isn't, My PINs aren't written down with the card, However I should maybe keep some safe in case my wallet got stolen etc!

ckerrd

I must admit to only having one debit card and nothing else so if this happened to me I would be stuffed.

I do try to carry some cash with me, so I suppose at least the muggers won't have stopped me in vain.

callum9999

MaKaToM wrote: »

The maestro person actually asked her if a new card had been ordered, to which she explained that she had only been given this card in April, so wasn't due one. So even they didn't know! This coupled with the fact that her online banking works a treat and does not flag anything up as suspicious leads me to believe that the bank have cocked up.

I only find this disgraceful that she wasn't givan any explanation as to why this had happened, combined with the fact that they have the people on hand to stop transactions 24/7 but people who can then fix the !!!!-ups only work until 6pm.

She is a young, single woman living in a country over-run by thugs and yobs, so I can imagine a few reasons why she wouldn't carry lumps of cash around with her, she doesn't have credit cards because she likes to manage her money (if she can't afford, she doesn't buy) and only has 1 wage going into 1 account...so really I don't see this as being her fault. How else would you like her to pay for her groceries...? With pebbles...? Maybe Monopoly money...?

I personally believe that a bank should have accurate information and inform a person by any method of communication that there is a problem with an account, to allow them to make other arrangements and also save them the humiliation of looking like a criminal.

As for the kid at the supermarket, after announcing "card declined, I have to retain your card" my friend asked what the reason was, to which he responded "card declined, I have to retain your card". This is what really annoyed her. She asked again which is when he said "I don't know but I have to retain your card".

Then, when he called the bank for her (after refusing a couple of times before, claiming that "he had to retain the card") and the bank asked her to confirm her long card number, she asked to see the card, he refused stating "no, I have to retain the card". She said "I only want to READ the number, just show it to me!" When he once again informed her that HE has to retain the card.

Personally I wouldn't have had that much patience with someone as daft as him, I mean, who puts someone like that behind a 'Customer Service' desk? Some service...

I just think he could have been friendly - "I'm sorry but the card has been declined and the bank have requested I retain the card"

"But why, what's up...???"

"They didn't say, but you could speak with them if you like".

There are ways of going about things and I don't think that this kid was necessarily helpful in this situation - hense her 'flying off the handle'.

All opinions are welcome guys - but please don't quibble.

Thank you

I wouldn't expect a basic employee at a Maestro authorisation facility to have knowledge about whether their customer had been issued a card by a rival company as a replacement.

Really? This country is so over-run by yobs its unsafe to carry £20 around with you? Where do you live? My area suffers from quite a high crime rate but I've been able to carry around large amounts of cash and expensive equipment without being threatened or mugged.

And not having a credit card doesn't strike me as someone good with money - quite the opposite actually. It says to me that they cannot trust themselves to not run up a debt on it (not that its a particulary bad thing - it shows a level of responsibility to recognise that). Nothing stopping her having another account with a debit card though.

stclair

MaKaToM wrote: »

The maestro person actually asked her if a new card had been ordered, to which she explained that she had only been given this card in April, so wasn't due one. So even they didn't know! This coupled with the fact that her online banking works a treat and does not flag anything up as suspicious leads me to believe that the bank have cocked up.

I only find this disgraceful that she wasn't givan any explanation as to why this had happened, combined with the fact that they have the people on hand to stop transactions 24/7 but people who can then fix the !!!!-ups only work until 6pm.

She is a young, single woman living in a country over-run by thugs and yobs, so I can imagine a few reasons why she wouldn't carry lumps of cash around with her, she doesn't have credit cards because she likes to manage her money (if she can't afford, she doesn't buy) and only has 1 wage going into 1 account...so really I don't see this as being her fault. How else would you like her to pay for her groceries...? With pebbles...? Maybe Monopoly money...?

I personally believe that a bank should have accurate information and inform a person by any method of communication that there is a problem with an account, to allow them to make other arrangements and also save them the humiliation of looking like a criminal.

As for the kid at the supermarket, after announcing "card declined, I have to retain your card" my friend asked what the reason was, to which he responded "card declined, I have to retain your card". This is what really annoyed her. She asked again which is when he said "I don't know but I have to retain your card".

Then, when he called the bank for her (after refusing a couple of times before, claiming that "he had to retain the card") and the bank asked her to confirm her long card number, she asked to see the card, he refused stating "no, I have to retain the card". She said "I only want to READ the number, just show it to me!" When he once again informed her that HE has to retain the card.

Personally I wouldn't have had that much patience with someone as daft as him, I mean, who puts someone like that behind a 'Customer Service' desk? Some service...

I just think he could have been friendly - "I'm sorry but the card has been declined and the bank have requested I retain the card"

"But why, what's up...???"

"They didn't say, but you could speak with them if you like".

There are ways of going about things and I don't think that this kid was necessarily helpful in this situation - hense her 'flying off the handle'.

All opinions are welcome guys - but please don't quibble.

Thank you

What have Natwest said about the whole saga??

eschaton

Poor guy at Sainsburys needing to put up with this mad cow as a customer.

How many times did he need to tell her that he had to retain the card.

He didn't need to phone back to the authorisation centre.

This woman would get mugged carrying £10 around - she should do her shopping online, a lot safer.

OP is living in a 'blame' culture - always someone elses fault.