Sainsbury's Card 21 December 2010 at 8:29PM in Stoozing: free cash from credit cards 7 replies 2.1K views

elsie2010

I applied for a Sainsbury's Card, but when it arrived - apart from having a much higher APR than advertised, but I understand that's fairly normal - the small print said that the 0% for 12 months only applies to Sainsbury's purchases. It's on my credit file anyway, so I went along with that, but I am very annoyed. Has this happened to anyone else? How can I report this to MoneySavingExpert? Their description says nothing about this clause...

elsie2010

Hi, everyone
I have just spoken to a customer advisor and apparently the card does give you 0% on all purchases for 12 months, even though the small print does say "for all Sainsbury's purchases". I suppose it all comes down to how you interpret that "Sainsbury's purchases". However, we shall see...

thenudeone

If there is a facility to send secure messages on the website then ask them to clarify exactly what they mean, and keep a print of their reply!

datostar

elsie2010 wrote: »

Hi, everyone
I have just spoken to a customer advisor and apparently the card does give you 0% on all purchases for 12 months, even though the small print does say "for all Sainsbury's purchases". I suppose it all comes down to how you interpret that "Sainsbury's purchases". However, we shall see...

I queried this with them as well. They said they were aware of the incorrect information in the T&C's and had had numerous queries about it. I've had the card 4 months now and have used it all over the place and haven't been charged any interest so you should be OK. There is another Sainsbury Mastercard, however, which gives you Nectar points on all spending but interest-free only on spending at Sainsbury's. The one I've got (and, hopefully, you) requires you to be a Nectar card holder and have swiped it at least once in the 6 months before applying for the card. I think they've made it so darn complicated that they've confused themselves, never mind the customers!

Pickled_Hen

elsie2010 wrote: »

Hi, everyone
I have just spoken to a customer advisor and apparently the card does give you 0% on all purchases for 12 months, even though the small print does say "for all Sainsbury's purchases". I suppose it all comes down to how you interpret that "Sainsbury's purchases". However, we shall see...

That is very sneaky of them! The smallprint details are unclear as to what exactly they are referencing to!

pauljoecoe

Mines a bit old now - but when i took it out it was 9 months for general purchases and 12 for Sainsburys. But that makes the 12 months unusable unless you restricted solely to Sainsburys purchases use!

skelrich

What's said over the phone doesn't alway reflect what's written in an email. This is the reply I received from Sainsbury just a couple of days ago on the specific question of what was meant by "Sainsbury's purchases".

>>>>>>>>> begin email >>>>>>>>>>

Thank you for your recent communication.

I can confirm that the refrence on your statements is purchases made within a sainsburys store.

Please quote your full name, postcode and last 4 digits of your account number on all correspondence.

Kind regards

Ryan Hooper
Customer Services & Support

>>>>>>>>>> end email >>>>>>>>>>>

If this is correct, it seems to me that the ambiguity will inevitably mislead some folk into grabbing a card and making significant purchases in the belief that 0% interest rate applies.

jem1980

We have had the same query, and received the same response from customer services on the phone today. They seemed to know about the discrepancy straight away and were very reassuring that it is 0% for 12 months on all purchases on the Sainsbury's Card (as opposed to nectar credit card or gold credit card) not just purchases instore.

Maybe the email response is wrong because they were confused about which card the query was about? e.g. they thought it was the nectar credit card rather than the sainsbury's one?

Anyway, I am reassured, but if in doubt give them a quick call to confirm.