Success with reduction of late fee - Amazon Card

andyboyo

After taking advice posted on MSE phoned Amazon/Halifax today and got a refund of half my late payment fee.

Explained that I'd been away and as the payment was only a day late could they process a refund. The operator said that as it wasnt a bank error and it was basically my fault that she could only agree to a half refund of £12.50

Needless to say I have a minimum payment direct debit now set up (its a new card and I'd forgotten to do it before i went away).

Should I now persue them for the full refund or leave it as I dont really want to have them reduce my credit limit ? The card is 0% for purchases until November and I have some major items to buy this month (I have the money saved just wanting to make the most of the 0% interest).

Another point to note is that I'm still waiting for my initial £15.00 worth of free loyalty points to arrive - phoned them and they said there is a 3 to 4 week delay in sending out the vouchers. Anyone else having this problem their freephone number for this is 08002796620. The 0845 number just cuts off after a recorded message about loyalty points.

Call_Centre_Monkey

To be fair, it you were away it was your fault, and there should have been another form of payment in place. So I doubt you would have much success on getting the other £12.50 back.

But good idea to have the direct debit now, it's a good safety net.

ajbaker

I disagree. The 'half refund' approach being taken by banks at the moment is a very recent thing - it seems to have occured following the OFT ruling that bank charges in excess of £12 are not legitimate. My thinking goes the banks offer this good will gesture, still see a return on their investment in you and give you little room to push the complaint further.

As a first offence however it is worth pushing for. Call them, state the half refund is unacceptable. If they still refuse, follow it with a letter. In my experience many banks would offer the full refund for a first offence if you have taken the time to write. If they still refuse however, I would suggest you return here for advice. Many people have successfully threatened to take their bank to the small claims court; however I could not advise this now that the charges are 'almost' in line with what the OFT has stated.

Call_Centre_Monkey

ajbaker wrote:

I disagree. The 'half refund' approach being taken by banks at the moment is a very recent thing - it seems to have occured following the OFT ruling that bank charges in excess of £12 are not legitimate. My thinking goes the banks offer this good will gesture, still see a return on their investment in you and give you little room to push the complaint further.

As a first offence however it is worth pushing for. Call them, state the half refund is unacceptable. If they still refuse, follow it with a letter. In my experience many banks would offer the full refund for a first offence if you have taken the time to write. If they still refuse however, I would suggest you return here for advice. Many people have successfully threatened to take their bank to the small claims court; however I could not advise this now that the charges are 'almost' in line with what the OFT has stated.

HBOS and Sainsburys card have been doing this for over a year and a half, so not all that recent.

And when the Fees go down to £12 in the next month or so, I can assure you the chances of customers getting refunds at all are going to come down a lot. Which is annoying, since it's the people who seem to get charges all the time have ruined it for the 'good' customers. Someone who might have been a customer for say 20 years forgets one payment in those 20 years - there will be a lot less scope for refunding charges for them now, whereas before they well have had the £25 charge refunded in full.