Unhelpful M&S customer service

Ms_Brush

I'm in the process of getting finances in order as its all gone pear shaped in the last 3 months whilst I have been doing my dissertation for my masters and working full time. I work in the public sector so need to get finances in order asap, just in case! I need to attack another card, overdraft and mortgage as well, but while there is scope for moving things around, dont want to take on another card or extend credit at the moment.

Big problem for me is finding time to sort this out during working hours.

Crisis point is arriving as 0% rate has expired and interest rate now 18.9%. My course fees are on the M&S card and I need to get it cleared off asap, so want a much lower rate, and to move some balances around.

M&S CC - Balance - £3800 Credit Limit £4800

Other debt - HSBC CC Balance £1400 credit limit £1500

Overdraft £500

Mortgage £152,000 - due to end of fixed rate in August, now inadvertantly overpaying by £200 p/m

So, I tried following Martin's debt shuffle steps...

Anyway, called M&S customer service this morning (sat am) and got some airhead on the phone who clearly didnt listen or didnt understand, not sure which! The best she could offer was that "the rate is fixed and do you want to talk to collections to set up a payment plan...?" I finally managed to get out of her that their weekend service cant do the same things as their daytime service, so to call during working hours on Monday.

Please help - as time during work hours is a problem, does anyone have any other ideas how I can get to sort this out?

opinions4u

So you rung them up and asked for a lower interest rate?

And they assumed you were struggling with payments.

Has it crossed your mind that they don't have a lower rate to offer you?

got some airhead on the phone

Perhaps they thought you were an airhead for expecting them to simply reduce your rate. They are under absolutely no obligation to do so.

during work hours is a problem

How did the world cope before we had call centres with long opening hours? Lordy knows.

inadvertantly overpaying by £200 p/m

Overpay the credit card. Not the mortgage.

YorkshireBoy

Ms_Brush wrote: »

time during work hours is a problem

Don't you have a lunch break? If not, they're open well into the evening. Ring them on 0800 997996, but to be honest they aren't going to reduce your rate on an existing balance...after all, they've already given you 10 months of 0% interest. It's payback time now for them.

does anyone have any other ideas how I can get to sort this out?

Who do you bank with?

exel1966

Ms_Brush wrote: »

Big problem for me is finding time to sort this out during working hours.

If this is a real problem for you as you're suggesting, then find the time. I'm quite sure you have 5 minutes to call them during the daytime and even more during the evening. It's about sorting your priorities.

dont want to take on another card or extend credit at the moment.

Why not ? As soon as you obtain a new card, close the old one down.

Crisis point is arriving as 0% rate has expired and interest rate now 18.9%.

Prorities again, crisis point could have been easily avoided. You would have known exactly when this was expiring, but have left it too late. As for 18.90%, that's not a high rate in todays climate.

Anyway, called M&S customer service this morning (sat am) and got some airhead on the phone who clearly didnt listen or didnt understand, not sure which! The best she could offer was that "the rate is fixed and do you want to talk to collections to set up a payment plan...?" I finally managed to get out of her that their weekend service cant do the same things as their daytime service, so to call during working hours on Monday.

Sensing some attitude here from you. Like she said the rate is fixed for you personally. Maybe there was nothing else she could offer. You can demand a lower rate as much as you like, but you probably won't get it.

gt94sss2

Ms_Brush wrote: »

Please help - as time during work hours is a problem, does anyone have any other ideas how I can get to sort this out?

1. Don't call M&S again.
2. Stop overpaying on your mortgage.
3. See if you can transfer your card balances to a new 0% card. Don't use any card where you have managed to clear the balance.
4. Use any spare funds to start paying off the debt with the highest APR, while keeping up minimum payments on the rest.

Assuming you bank with HSBC, clear your overdraft as well..

Regards
Sunil

Ms_Brush

Thank you for answering, but I probably didnt explain myself properly here... it is only a crisis as in I havent had time to worry about my finances for the last couple of months, and my deals expired and I havent sorted them out because I have been using EVERY spare minute I can find to finish a disseration for my masters degree (the source of the debt, and yes, it does take up a lot of time that does include lunchtime, when I get one!). BTW, the main priority is graduating, funny enough, after spending £20k to get the qualification...

To get started with my finances, I decided to use this site to help... and Martin's guidance to get me going http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/cut-credit-card-interest - and as M&S apparently will offer existing customers better deals, I thought I'd try it out. It didnt work, but I didnt expect assumptions that I am stupid or sarcastic answers to my questions.... I was looking for some other idea how to get going.

I bank with HSBC, who very helpfully dont open their branches on a saturday where I live!

Now, has anyone got any sensible suggestions that dont entail spending an entire day on the phone?? Please?

fozmcfc

Ms_Brush wrote: »

Thank you for answering, but I probably didnt explain myself properly here... it is only a crisis as in I havent had time to worry about my finances for the last couple of months, and my deals expired and I havent sorted them out because I have been using EVERY spare minute I can find to finish a disseration for my masters degree (the source of the debt, and yes, it does take up a lot of time that does include lunchtime, when I get one!). BTW, the main priority is graduating, funny enough, after spending £20k to get the qualification...

To get started with my finances, I decided to use this site to help... and Martin's guidance to get me going http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/cut-credit-card-interest - and as M&S apparently will offer existing customers better deals, I thought I'd try it out. It didnt work, but I didnt expect assumptions that I am stupid or sarcastic answers to my questions.... I was looking for some other idea how to get going.

I bank with HSBC, who very helpfully dont open their branches on a saturday where I live!

Now, has anyone got any sensible suggestions that dont entail spending an entire day on the phone?? Please?

What a spoilt pompous little brat you are. Your attitude on this thread quite frankly stinks, I hope your attitude gets you what you deserve, a bit fat NOTHING.

marywooyeah

Ms_Brush wrote: »

Thank you for answering, but I probably didnt explain myself properly here... it is only a crisis as in I havent had time to worry about my finances for the last couple of months, and my deals expired and I havent sorted them out because I have been using EVERY spare minute I can find to finish a disseration for my masters degree (the source of the debt, and yes, it does take up a lot of time that does include lunchtime, when I get one!). BTW, the main priority is graduating, funny enough, after spending £20k to get the qualification...

To get started with my finances, I decided to use this site to help... and Martin's guidance to get me going http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cards/cut-credit-card-interest - and as M&S apparently will offer existing customers better deals, I thought I'd try it out. It didnt work, but I didnt expect assumptions that I am stupid or sarcastic answers to my questions.... I was looking for some other idea how to get going.

I bank with HSBC, who very helpfully dont open their branches on a saturday where I live!

Now, has anyone got any sensible suggestions that dont entail spending an entire day on the phone?? Please?

as another poster said I am also sensing some attitude from you.
other posters have offered very helpful suggestions such as a balance transfer onto a 0% card and paying off the debt rather than overpaying your mortgage, none of which incidentally will entail spending all day on the phone as you can apply for several 0% credit cards online, and then transfer the balance onto it, and could you not reduce your mortgage payment online? i assume its a standing order? is so then you could manually alter the payment amount on your online banking.
many call centres are open until 9 or 10pm these days if you are worried about phoning in the day, and whilst I agree that you should spend a lot of time on your uni work if you really were that worried about your financial situation could you honestly not find an hour to spend online sorting it out?

Ms_Brush

I dont have an attitude, I am just seriously fed up with this site and a small number of users of it. I agree that there have been some sensible suggestions (thank you for these), but also some that made me even more cross than not being able to walk into my local bank on a saturday the way I used to until a few months ago. I spend all day dealing with issues and problems on the phone at work, so the last thing I want to do when I get home is start all over again.

I am not worried about my finances, because they are basically fine, but I dont want to be spending any more on interest than I need to, which I'm sure is the same as most people - especially as there is a Tsunami is about to hit public sector finances and jobs.... So far, it is not possible to tell what this means to me personally, but I do feel the need to be ready just in case something does happen. And as I have been fortunate enough to never had credit card debt on the card after the rate expires, and certainly not debt on two cards at the same time, I was really not sure what to expect from the credit card co - and I thought (perhaps naively) that they would be helpful, which has always been my experience to date, but the woman I spoke to today really didnt seem to have a clue. And as (I assume) no one listened in to my conversation, I would think it is slightly presumptious to make the assumption that the customer service was top notch and I was asking for something that was off-limits...

I basically know what is needed, and I was going to spend a few hours today trying to make a start. All that happened is I wasted ages trying to get through, then got no-where trying to do what had been suggested to reduce the burden of the debt, and getting a big headache to go with my frustration in dealing with financial institutions who have lost sight of the customers needs.

For the helpful suggestions, thank you.

For the more opinionated, perhaps you could think about how your answers might be perceived by others... My biggest mistake was asking for some support from people who clearly dont care what effect their thoughtless responses might have on other people. Quite frankly it doesnt bother me if people think I have a bad attitude because it really isnt important. But, I would think that some users of this site will get very upset with nasty comments and the righteous "dont you know anything" attitude - and that is not fair to anyone, especially those who have asked for advice in good faith.

Tiddlywinks

Ms_Brush wrote: »

I dont have an attitude, I am just seriously fed up with this site and a small number of users of it. I agree that there have been some sensible suggestions (thank you for these), I basically know what is needed, and I was going to spend a few hours today trying to make a start. So, if you know it all, then why ask on here?

...... then got no-where trying to do what had been suggested to reduce the burden of the debt, and getting a big headache to go with my frustration in dealing with financial institutions who have lost sight of the customers needs. They are there to make a profit - not reduce your "burden".

For the more opinionated, perhaps you could think about how your answers might be perceived by others... Umm, so should you...

Quite frankly it doesnt bother me if people think I have a bad attitude because it really isnt important. So why go on about it then?

Ms_Brush wrote: »

Anyway, called M&S customer service this morning (sat am) and got some airhead on the phone who clearly didnt listen or didnt understand, not sure which! Perhaps you might try to understand how YOU come across to others.

The best she could offer was that "the rate is fixed and do you want to talk to collections to set up a payment plan...?" I finally managed to get out of her that their weekend service cant do the same things as their daytime service, so to call during working hours on Monday.

Please help - as time during work hours is a problem, does anyone have any other ideas how I can get to sort this out?

You are asking for an "indulgence" from M&S as your balance has reverted to a rate calculated as appropriate to you - so I would suggest you try to approach them in a suitably polite manner.

As for finding it impossible to call during office hours - how about taking a half day as annual leave to sort all of this out? Or, using your mobile at lunchtime.

This problem is of your making, so make the time to sort it. Or not, your choice.

bengal-stripe

Ms_Brush wrote: »

......and I thought (perhaps naively) that they would be helpful, which has always been my experience to date, but the woman I spoke to today really didnt seem to have a clue. And as (I assume) no one listened in to my conversation, I would think it is slightly presumptious to make the assumption that the customer service was top notch and I was asking for something that was off-limit.

When that promotional deal started, nine, twelve or fifteen month ago, you knew full well it would come to an end one day and your interest rate was to be 18.9 %. You agreed to that by signing on the dotted line. You had a long time to put the contingency plans into place (more than one, plans quite often do not work out). You failed to plan properly, now the deal has come to it’s end, you are panicking.
.
And you cannot blame M&S. They've subsidized you for however many months, lending you money for nothing. Do you resent them wanting to make some money? Sorry, M&S does not owe you anything.

Au contraire, au contraire!