Barclaycard I24 Total Disaster

LostBol

Several years ago I acquired a Morgan Stanley I24 credit card. It was a premium credit card with an annual charge of £275. Because I travel frequently it was quite useful. There was 1% cashback on everything and no charge for using abroad among other benefits.

Unfortunately the card was bought out by Barclaycard, becoming the Barclaycard I24. The quality of service dropped dramatically. Barclaycard would block the card and not tell me, or an automated system would call and ask me to check a list of transactions that generally, I couldn’t understand because the computer voice was Indian. Once verified over the phone the card should be unblocked. However on several occasions the card wouldn’t be unblocked and I would have to make embarrassing calls to merchants trying to pay for goods (often several times). The final indignity came when the cancelled my card without telling me, leaving me stood in my local petrol station unable to pay for fuel. After this particular incident I called Barclaycard and spoke to a customer services representative who had a very strong Indian accent which I couldn’t understand at all. Several telephone conversations later I still couldn’t get a reason to why this had happened. After complaing many times and getting nowehere every time they blocked the card and then they attempted to unblock it. I tried to get to the complaints department. low and behold Barclaycard do not have a complaints department you can speak to over the phone. The customer services representative assured me that I would be contacted by the complaints department but this never happened.

After the very poor customer service I received I decided not to renew the card this year. I was owed approximately £180 cash back (the card pays 1% cash back). I was told that if I cancelled the card I would not receive the cash back. Effectively meaning I had to pay £275 to get £180 back.

I decided to cut my losses and cancel the card vowing never to go anywhere near Barclaycard again.

Stay as far away from Barclaycard as you can. They provided bar far the worst customer service and product experience I have ever had in my life.

left_high_and_dry

I too have had horrific experiences with this card. The card is expensive but was designed for the frequent business traveller when it was introduced by Morgan Stanley. When they ran it the service was excellent and I recommended it to many colleagues.
Then they sold it to Barclaycard who increased the cost and reduced the services to a level that makes Ryan Air seem customer sensitive.
I too had my card stopped due to allegedly fraudelent transactions which presumably were picked up by Matercard systems during a lengthy overseas visit. This is unfortunate and but what followed in trying to get an emergency replacement card sent was a nightmare.
All calls calls go to an Indian call centre. The staff are polite but extremely difficult to understand (and they cannot understand you). So at times information has to be dictated letter by letter often 3 times and still mistakes occur. (Calls can take over one hour at least - woe to you if you do not have access to a phone with unlimited overseas calling time). The staff are not very knowledgeable (it took time to convince one that Wellington is not a country and New Zealand is not a city). They then refer you to Mastercard who get further details and seek authorisation from Barclays to issue the card. TMatercard are in America and their staff are generally good. Their predicted response time (could be 30 mins to 4 hours is rarely met by Barclays, whose call centre then eventually and invariably responds by demanding more information most of which has already been given (I think it is because they make transcription errors). When you phone Mastercard or Barclayscard to enquire why nothing iing as promised this normally involves more calls of one to two hours. Then each tries to send you back to the other -you just go in circles. Moreover, they frequently give you conflicting information which only adds to the confusion. At no point can you get to the heart of the problem and resolve it.
One feels that Mastercard staff are sympathetic and disgusted at Barclays and on occassion I nearly got them to take special powers to issue a card and override Barclay's consent. But unfortunately all their efforts seem to get knocked back at Barclays who found more reasons for delaying authorisation. Their staff seem to have no discression and initiative and when you ask to speak to a manager they say it is more than their job is worth to do so. Also the line is a poor one, probably computer based. It often goes off line, breaks calls, or is too noisy to hold a conversation.
Barclays seem to pride themselves in giving minimal service. For example, although Mastercard were willing to provide an emergency card for my wife - the other cardholder - Barclays declined this as they only will issue one if your partner is abroad with you, which causes major inconveniences for us as we not together most of the time.
In total I have had to make about 12 phone calls overseas and these have consumed probably 14 hours of time. I am told now a card will be issued though I am not confident (but fortunately Mastercard not Barclays do the posting etc so some grounds for optimism).
This is an expensive supposedly premium card designed for the frequent busy business traveller and it has good adds on. However, if anything goes wrong you will be left high and dry by Barclays and any service you receive will be time consuming, frustrating and possibly ineffective. It has created major problems during my business abroad. Basically the backup service is rotten to the core. Also, as the previous person wrote, it is impossible to complain by phone to anyone else at Barclaycard except at expensive call rates which I did not do for on reading other blogs on how Barclays handles (or ignores) such complaints, it seemed pointless.
This is a card that is just not fit for purpose as the services it once offered and was designed for no longer exist. Barclays are just stripping cash out of their purchase of a previously good product. Avoid.