Barclaycard fraud dept complaints

stones7

Does anyone know a way to get BC to take complaints seriously?

I was the victim of credit card fraud this summer, and now months later it's still not resolved. I spoke to the merchant who took the transactions and they agreed to refund them if requested formally by BC; but despite this, 6 months down the line I still have not had the refund.

Well that's not entirely accurate, I did get a refund after months of phonecalls and speaking to dept after dept. But a short time after the merchant refunded me, BC took the money off my card again claiming it was theirs - which it most certainly was not.

I have spent hours on the phone to their customer services teams. I have explained the situation over and over again, and all the time I'm met with what appears to be deliberate stalling; and an attitude that if someone within BC took the money then they must have had good reason to do it and therefore my complaints are wrong.

Right from the beginning BC have made this whole experience difficult. They seemingly deliberately slow everything down, and try to be obstructive. As I said above the merchant was more than happy to issue the refund, all that was required (for his insurance I suppose) was a formal request from the credit card company. But still, BC didn't want to make this request, instead coming up with nonsensical reasons why they should not investigate the fraud. Is it a coincidence that I had paid the bills in full so BC had no financial stake in the fraud, and therefore were not incentivised to investigate? The cynic in me says no.

Anyway, in the end I did force them to contact the merchant who issued the refund. Only for BC to then remove the refund again from my card claiming it was their money. It isn't, it's mine.

So I'm back to square one. Last week I spent another few hours on the phone trying to resolve this, and was told that the fraud dept are a back-office function and can only be contacted internally via email. Therefore I have no way of speaking to them directly, and the only way to track if any progress was being made with my complaint was to keep checking on-line to see if my account had been credited - it hasn't of course.

After this I also spoke to a team leader in their customer services team, and asked them their complaints procedure. He gave me an address to write to, which it subsequently turns out is wrong; told me I couldn't complain by email - also wrong; and set my expectations that someone would write back or call within 48 hours - also wrong.

Having found the proper complaints procedure on-line I have no alternative but to complain again.

But I was hoping that someone had previous experience, or some pearls of wisdom they could offer on an efficient way to get BC to take this matter seriously. I am becoming irate at being ignored, when they owe me several hundred pounds and they are not doing a thing about it.

--stones7

alibongo54

If you call up and state you wish to log a formal complaint they HAVE to take the complaint over the phone.
Barclaycard are regulated by the FSA and therefore "TCF" - Treating customers fairly is applicable to them one of the steps of TCF is that "Consumers do not face unreasonable post sale barriers imposed by firms to submit a complaint"
Therefore telling you to email is putting up an unreasonable barrier. Quote TCF to them they will be sick of hearing about it from their bosses! I work in the industry and I get fed up of it but know its the right thing for consumers!

stones7

"Consumers do not face unreasonable post sale barriers imposed by firms to submit a complaint"

Oh how I wish that were true. Barclaycards official complaints procedure gives details of how to complain via email. That's fine. But if you actually try and actually submit a complaint following the process you have to complete a form that has a 10 minute time limit for submission 'for security reasons' and can only contain 750 characters maximum.

I am a security professional, and the time limit is utter nonsense. It's a deliberate attempt to rush the complaint and to reduce the details that customers can submit in their complaints.

Moggles_2

There's only so much that can be achieved over the phone and by e-mail. I would make a formal complaint in writing. Barclaycard's complaints procedure sets out the time limits allowed for dealing with your complaint. The bank is also obliged to confirm the result of your complaint in writing.

I would mark your letter & envelope "Complaint" and send it recorded delivery. That way you have proof that they have received the letter and when you posted it.

You have the right to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, if you are not satisfied with the outcome.

almost_there

Going by your quote below it appears that you've forgottten whos money it is that you're spending!

BC took the money off my card again claiming it was theirs - which it most certainly was not.

stones7

Going by your quote below it appears that you've forgottten whos money it is that you're spending!

BC took the money off my card again claiming it was theirs - which it most certainly was not.
almost there - no I think you misunderstood. I know that BC provide the credit on the card and it's their money I'm initially using if I use the card. However when the merchant refunded the transactions to my card, for monies that I had already paid BC for when I paid the bill in full, that money is not BCs - it's mine.

I am currently still out of pocket, but BC have in fact now been re-paid three times for the original transaction on the card.

From a BC perspective:

- original transaction
+ bill payment in full
+ merchants refund
+ BC removing the credit from the card

The error is the final charge, where they have in fact taken money from me that they never should have. But getting them to see that is proving almost impossible.

SarahMoon

Ring them up in Liverpool on

0800 282 390* (UK-only free call) or
+44 (0)207 116 7488* (from abroad)
(I know it said it goes to Liverpool the 0207 is just a redirect number)

It Barclays central complaints who will take your complaint and investigate it, They are really good, However Barclaycard are really really bad at taking complaints