Britannia/CO-OP con

Reverbe

I have just discovered an under the radar annoyance concerning the co-op. I have been a Britannia Building Society member for many many years and reaped the benefit of their member bonuses to the tune of a couple of hundred quid a year. I admit I was opposed strongly to the merger with the Co-op for the very reason I would lose out on my bonus.. I tend to get now only #10 a year or so.

I just received my latest statement for rewards and it contains a deduction column which includes... a line termed "odd pence donated to the Co-Operative Membership Community fund"

I did not know about this and have never given them any authority to deduct this money from my rewards.On calling them to complain they stated that ALL Britannia ppl joining the COOP membership due to the merger had had this option ticked default on their behalf without being given any choce in the matter.

I objected to this and stated I had NEVER given them any authority to do this to which they agreed to give me my money back and they also told me that any member objecting to these deductions would have to contact them to complain and stop these deductions happening.

Please check your statements carefully esp if you are a Britannia member who has been swapped over to the Co-Op and if you object as I do to this non authorised deduction dont hesitate to call their freephone number and rectify this. You could be unwittingly losing a lot of money.

Milarky

Well I got £4.36 in food vouchers from them for my Britannia membership. Not a fortune - and unlikely to be repeated - but we all gotta eat... I don't know why I got vouchers and not the cash - perhaps because it came to less than a fiver.

Yes, it's gut wrenching when they give you something for nothing like this and just round the pennies! :rotfl:

Especially for anyone earning 99p interest....

pmduk

It could have been worse, they could have been taken over by Santander.

talana

Reverbe wrote: »

Please check your statements carefully esp if you are a Britannia member who has been swapped over to the Co-Op and if you object as I do to this non authorised deduction dont hesitate to call their freephone number and rectify this. You could be unwittingly losing a lot of money.

I'm in that boat of being an ex-Britannia member. Got £17 worth of vouchers and had the extra 43p deducted. While I agree with the point you're making, on the other hand it's hardly a lot of money being lost.

More annoyed that it now comes as Co-op vouchers rather than a cheque. I never shop at Co-op....

Reverbe

Talana. Its the principle. They are deducting money to donate to something you might not want to donate to WITHOUT your express consent. This is why i have highlighted this to the MSE team.I feel sure Mr Lewis would not approve of such practises.

As for it coming as vouchers you can get it added to your Britannia account instead as I do so please do consult their customer services on this.

Personally to me 47 and 54p is a LOT of money but again the principle is that this is being donated from your account without your express consent!!!

Folks it is bad enough that Britannia members like myself of over 30 years standing are losing out on their previously generous member reward bonuses following this merger(which i objected to and used to recieve due to my years service and amounts a couple of hundred quid in loyalty rwards) without them taking more of your money without your consent for some spurious charity.

fozmcfc

I do agree that it is probably pennies, but I agree with the OP that, that is not the point. The point is that they shouldn't have auto signed everybody up for it IMO.

A lot of money which is donated to charity doesn't end up where it should anyway, so donating to charity should be the choice of the individual.

I'll admit, I don't know anything about the Co-Operative Membership Community fund, but this is definately a warning worth giving to people and even something the Co-OP should be pulled up on IMO.

talana

Reverbe wrote: »

Talana. Its the principle. They are deducting money to donate to something you might not want to donate to WITHOUT your express consent. This is why i have highlighted this to the MSE team.I feel sure Mr Lewis would not approve of such practises.

Absolutely, I'm with you on that. Hence the bit where I said I agree with the point you're making.
I just thought you were overegging it a bit with the scale of loss involved. Really, you consider 54p to be a LOT of money? Fair enough.

One thing that wound me up about it (Co-op and the Britannia as was) was that they'd use it as a selling point when trying to flog one of their products. For example, Britannia tried to flog me their buildings and contents insurance once. When the "adviser" noticed a lack of interest on my part he went with "if you have our insurance you'll qualify for more reward points"!!
No matter that the product they were flogging was twice as expensive as my existing insurance, I'd get an extra £5 or whatever annual reward back!! Guess he thought that would convince me.

pmduk

Reverbe wrote: »

You could be unwittingly losing a lot of money.

Assuming these benefits are paid quarterly, you're talking about a maximum donation to charity of £3.96 annually. Whilst you may have an argument let's not exaggerate it eh?

Reverbe

pmduk for that money I can buy meals for 39 1/2 dinners... you think thats an insignificant sum to me????!!

talana

Reverbe wrote: »

pmduk for that money I can buy meals for 39 1/2 dinners... you think thats an insignificant sum to me????!!

This one I have to hear, how do you buy a meal for 10p?
Frugality, penny-pinching and money-savviness are laudable up to a point, but life's for living too.
If I had the mindset where I thought 50p was a LOT of money, I think life would be so depressing. Socialising with friends, travelling anywhere for pleasure, taking up a hobby, eating well, turning on your central heating........ all involve an outlay of some kind, a vast fortune by that mindset. 50p doesn't even buy you a mars bar!

I'm with pmduk, to 99.9% of the population, 50p or a couple of ££ is definitely not classed as a lot of money.

pmduk

I think he was taking the proverbial!