My AA Credit Card –Mislead, misold & now miserable! Fake 0% promotion, help?!

Aleasha

I took out an AA credit card last year for transferring another credit card balance. I have never used it for purchases and pay off amounts monthly using the online services.
A few months ago I noticed on the front page of my ‘Account Overview’ in black and white there was an advert for ‘my promotions’- 0% on balance transfers before 30th October 2011 (I cant remember the exact date but it was a few months away). I had another credit card due to end its 0% so I kept the offer in the back of my mind to apply before the deadline, a month later the advert was still there so I clicked into ‘promotional offers’ and clicked on the 0% offer. It showed me the promotional rates of my offer and I filled in my balance transfer details. Job done I thought...
Next month my account showed interest, I called then AA who advised me this would be amended back to 0% and the interest refunded. Fair enough I thought mistakes happen.
The following month the same happens again. So I call up and am taken through the same process, the advisor refunds the interest, tells me they will revert back to 0% and even apologised this was not done last month as promised.
THIS month again interest was charged?! Picking up the phone I expected the same story as the last two months BUT instead the advisor told me that the interest was in fact correct as the balance transfer I had made months earlier was subject to ‘standard interest’. When I advised him this was incorrect because I had indeed clicked on the promotional offer so it should be 0%? The advisor then told me that it wasn’t their fault I had made an error and not read the small print properly?! He said although the advert promised a promotional offer there had not been any offers on at the time of my application and they advertise promotional rates but I had applied on the wrong dates?!?
So I asked why they had blatantly advertised a promotional rate, even showing me the terms of the deal when clicking through onto it and having an ‘apply now’ button BUT nowhere was it clear that the promotion was not live yet?? Bearing in mind the advert had been there a few months and gave you a deadline to apply by!? Surely you can only offer deals which are current and valid NOT ones they make up!?
The advisor told me ‘somewhere’ on my application it would have said ‘standard interest’ and it was my choice to apply, I informed him that there was no way I would have applied if I thought it was anything more than 0%?! So it is basically there word against mine.
I found the AA advisor cold and rude, when I told him how frustrating this was and they would lose a customer he just said it was up to me?! He asked if I wanted him to talk to a manager about it – YES PLEASE!? – and when he came back said they would put the balance on 0% but would not refund the interest from last month or any interest until the changeover (which takes around 2 days) he then told me I was lucky to get this?!?
When I asked to speak with the manager myself I was told all he can do it put in a call back request?! But was told this would take up to 48 hours and all the while I am getting charged ludicrous amounts of interest!
Surely it is false advertising putting misleading promotions on?? Please can anyone offer any advise of what I should say when the manager calls back?

udydudy

I am not sure I can be of help in this case other than politely stand your ground. But in future when you do apply for 0% promotions online keep a record maybe printouts of teh screen. I use a software called "cutepdf" which shows up as a printer on your computer and everytime you want to keep a record of such deals or other online stuff instead of printing to your regular printer(wasting paper & ink/toner) you just print to cutepdf and it will ask for a name and save the file as a pdf file.

You would have the necessary proof without having to spend on paper and ink/toner. Also is very useful when you email to complaints and add these as attachments.

Sorry could not be of help

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

The AA card is serviced by MBNA.

I have just accepted a 0% BT offer on an MBNA card. When I went to the appropriate webpage there were two possible buttons to click. One offered a BT at my regular interest rate and the other at 0%. I made sure to click the 0% one.

Perhaps you had the same option and didn't click the correct button. An easy thing to do if you're not 100% alert.

The_AA_Company_Representative

Aleasha wrote: »

I took out an AA credit card last year for transferring another credit card balance. I have never used it for purchases and pay off amounts monthly using the online services.
A few months ago I noticed on the front page of my ‘Account Overview’ in black and white there was an advert for ‘my promotions’- 0% on balance transfers before 30th October 2011 (I cant remember the exact date but it was a few months away). I had another credit card due to end its 0% so I kept the offer in the back of my mind to apply before the deadline, a month later the advert was still there so I clicked into ‘promotional offers’ and clicked on the 0% offer. It showed me the promotional rates of my offer and I filled in my balance transfer details. Job done I thought...
Next month my account showed interest, I called then AA who advised me this would be amended back to 0% and the interest refunded. Fair enough I thought mistakes happen.
The following month the same happens again. So I call up and am taken through the same process, the advisor refunds the interest, tells me they will revert back to 0% and even apologised this was not done last month as promised.
THIS month again interest was charged?! Picking up the phone I expected the same story as the last two months BUT instead the advisor told me that the interest was in fact correct as the balance transfer I had made months earlier was subject to ‘standard interest’. When I advised him this was incorrect because I had indeed clicked on the promotional offer so it should be 0%? The advisor then told me that it wasn’t their fault I had made an error and not read the small print properly?! He said although the advert promised a promotional offer there had not been any offers on at the time of my application and they advertise promotional rates but I had applied on the wrong dates?!?
So I asked why they had blatantly advertised a promotional rate, even showing me the terms of the deal when clicking through onto it and having an ‘apply now’ button BUT nowhere was it clear that the promotion was not live yet?? Bearing in mind the advert had been there a few months and gave you a deadline to apply by!? Surely you can only offer deals which are current and valid NOT ones they make up!?
The advisor told me ‘somewhere’ on my application it would have said ‘standard interest’ and it was my choice to apply, I informed him that there was no way I would have applied if I thought it was anything more than 0%?! So it is basically there word against mine.
I found the AA advisor cold and rude, when I told him how frustrating this was and they would lose a customer he just said it was up to me?! He asked if I wanted him to talk to a manager about it – YES PLEASE!? – and when he came back said they would put the balance on 0% but would not refund the interest from last month or any interest until the changeover (which takes around 2 days) he then told me I was lucky to get this?!?
When I asked to speak with the manager myself I was told all he can do it put in a call back request?! But was told this would take up to 48 hours and all the while I am getting charged ludicrous amounts of interest!
Surely it is false advertising putting misleading promotions on?? Please can anyone offer any advise of what I should say when the manager calls back?

Hello there, very sorry to hear about the difficulties you have experienced. The service you describe is certainly not typical and we would like to investigate this further for you. To help us with this, can you please give us a call, with your details, on 0800 917 8612 and ask for the manager. Thank you.

thenudeone

udydudy wrote: »

I am not sure I can be of help in this case other than politely stand your ground. But in future when you do apply for 0% promotions online keep a record maybe printouts of teh screen. I use a software called "cutepdf" which shows up as a printer on your computer and everytime you want to keep a record of such deals or other online stuff instead of printing to your regular printer(wasting paper & ink/toner) you just print to cutepdf and it will ask for a name and save the file as a pdf file.

Unfortunately the formatting on many pseudo pdf printers is very different to what appears on screen. Also, many banking websites are specifically designed to print in a different format and usually with less information.

So if the pdf doesn't work, just press the keyboard button PrtScr; then open a new document in your word processor (or spreadsheet, it doesn't matter), click anywhere in the new document then type Ctrl-V. Repeat as many times as necessary. Save the file somerwhere on your PC.

You now have a perfect record of what was on your screen when you did the transaction. It's very useful in circumstances like this when you want to prove what you were offered.