Aqua Reward Credit Card - 3% cashback up to £100/year

Hominu

Jakg wrote: »

I'm just drafting a reply telling them to poke it. Because it's taken them so long to reply (6 weeks!) I may well escalate to the ombudsman before they've got round to replying.

They are given 8 weeks to reply. If you are not in a state of deadlock, then the ombudsman will just forward your concerns to the bank and not take action.

jetfighter

Well, I spoke too soon when I said I'd had my £125.99 paid into my bank account! It didn't happen. A week after Aqua had told me they would pay it in, someone from Aqua rang me and said that they couldn't pay it in because my original cheque had been banked. This is despite NatWest (where I paid in the cheque) sending me a letter stating that it had bounced. I have been asked by Aqua to now send them a copy of this letter from NatWest as proof that they have said it bounced because as far as they are concerned, it has been paid in. I am absolutely furious! This has been going on for 2.5 months!

jetfighter

I just want to cry.

This keeps getting worse.

I had (still have!) an outstanding positive balance of £125.99 (owing to me) after refunds, cashback, etc. in February 2014 when they withdrew the credit card and cancelled the account. It has been an endless saga lasting 4 months so far and I still don't have the money after numerous letters, phone calls, trips to my bank to try to pay in invalid cheques they sent me, and so on. They are currently investigating an official complaint I have put into them because they are claiming my cheque was cashed after I paid it in at NatWest - no, it bounced.

Fast forward to this weekend: We've just paid £28.51 to Parcelforce to return a faulty microwave, kettle and toaster package to Amazon (worth £123.75) and Amazon are now insisting on refunding the £28.51 + £123.75 to my expired Aqua account because it was the original payment method, even though I have removed the Aqua card from my Amazon account and have another card on there.

Just had a very frustrating phone call with Amazon customer service in which they refused to do anything but refund to Aqua. They won't even give me the money as a gift certificate. They've told me I'll have to get the money as a cheque or bank transfer from Aqua... which is never going to happen, let's face it.

So now that's £278.25 of my money that Aqua have now... it's been 4 months waiting for the £125.99, so I don't have a hope in hell of getting the rest, do I? It would've been better to just bin the broken microwave, sell the kettle and toaster (as they were working fine), and save the postage money which we've just thrown away. I am fuming.

I don't know what to do with myself. :(:(

jetfighter

Finally a result. All £278.25 has now been transferred to me by bank transfer, four months later. I can't quite believe it! I keep expecting the money to disappear from my bank account.

Aqua have also offered me £55 compensation for settlement of my formal complaint, which I'll certainly be accepting. I'd encourage anyone else still waiting to put in a formal complaint.

Finally! :T:T:T

Hooloovoo

jetfighter wrote: »

Finally! :T:T:T

I'm glad it's all finally worked out for you.

I guess you'll be ignoring any future Aqua Reward cards then?

jetfighter

Definitely - more hassle than it's worth! What a horrible company to deal with! :mad:

Hooloovoo

jetfighter wrote: »

Definitely - more hassle than it's worth! What a horrible company to deal with! :mad:

I have had a easy time with Aqua compared with you and some others on here.

Even bearing in mind your story, I'd probably still have another Aqua card if the offer was good enough :rotfl:

Aquamania

Aquamania wrote: »

I don't believe this of Aqua. I really couldn't make it up if I tried.

I actually wrote to Aqua about this transaction, rather than be fobbed off with another made up answer from them on the phone, and today I get a written response.

Where do I start? At the beginning I guess.

They claim in their letter that on 22 January 2014 they were still getting lots of applications to transfer to the new reward account (not from me they didn't), so they postponed the closing of accounts until 14 February.
(So how come I was not allowed to use my account after 21 January, and the transaction on 20 January was only given 0.5% cashback?)

This was because they say once the cashback was actually credited, they would not accept an application for the new rewards account.
(Isn't the 0.5% rewards card now available to anyone, subject to acceptance, via their site?)
They said this postponement meant that cashback payments were, as a result, delayed by 4 weeks.
(So postponing the closure of my account by 3 weeks postponed the payment of cashback by 4 weeks?)

They said they only told people who contacted them by phone of this postponement
(Did anyone here get told, because I wasn't told it when I called them?)

and that they couldn't inform customers in writing as they didn't know who was affected
(Surely it was all those accounts where an existing customer had not already provided a new, signed CRA?)

They then say the cashback was credited to my account on 21 February, but in the same sentence admit it is only shown as credited to my account according to my statement on 4 March
(No explanation as to why these dates differ)

They say records show I have now received the cashback by cheque which has been deposited (well that bit is true - cheque was dated 25 March iirc)

They then go onto admit that a credit they had promised at the earlier phone call (I told you I called them! They definitely didn't mention anything about all this postponement in that call) had actually been processed as a debit by mistake (yeah right, as well as the incorrect spelling) so as a result they have now credited my account with an amount to compensate this error.

(Credit my account? :eek: I thought my account was closed, but just checked online and see a credit has been processed. Now my "closed" account is back in credit)

The letter finally says that this credit can only be used towards my aqua account and cannot be claimed as a balance.
If I'm not happy with this resolution, I can now take my complaint to the ombudsman. It says I have 6 months from the date of the letter to take this complaint to the ombudsman if I so decide.


:cool:

Sorry Mr Ombudsman, but I don't think I have any alternative but to involve you now ...

I thought I would take the opportunity to update on where this got to.

So in mid-May I filed a complaint with the ombudsman.

I got a response mid June from the FOS confirming they had received my complaint and stating it could be up to 12 weeks before I hear from them again.

Well the FOS called me beginning of this month, saying they were now investigating the complaint and we went through the details. It all sounded very promising now the FOS had picked up the case. They said it sounded like a complete fiasco.

Well the FOS called earlier this week saying they have managed to get Aqua to agree to pay me the credit on the account.

Er,... was that it??? :eek:

I asked about maybe some compensation for trouble and inconvenience caused in view of 'the complete fiasco' the FOS earlier called it. The FOS actually mentioned the possibility of some small compensation in their initial call.

So they went away again, and have now come back with an offer of £50 :T
... but Aqua say I will have to wait possibly 6 weeks for the money...

I asked if they (the FOS) thought that waiting 6 weeks was reasonable, and they said it was not their role to comment or otherwise arbitrate over how long restitution takes.

So it looks like I might get another £50 come end of September.
Is that a coincidence that that would also be the time cashback would have been paid anyway according to the original anniversary date?

Anyway, I'll keep you posted if/when I ever see any money.

horngkai

I just got an updated credit report from Equifax and Aqua, despite them closing my account in February, is still showing up. Anyone else notice this?

Jakg

Aquamania wrote: »

I thought I would take the opportunity to update on where this got to.

So in mid-May I filed a complaint with the ombudsman.

I got a response mid June from the FOS confirming they had received my complaint and stating it could be up to 12 weeks before I hear from them again.

Well the FOS called me beginning of this month, saying they were now investigating the complaint and we went through the details. It all sounded very promising now the FOS had picked up the case. They said it sounded like a complete fiasco.

Well the FOS called earlier this week saying they have managed to get Aqua to agree to pay me the credit on the account.

Er,... was that it??? :eek:

I asked about maybe some compensation for trouble and inconvenience caused in view of 'the complete fiasco' the FOS earlier called it. The FOS actually mentioned the possibility of some small compensation in their initial call.

So they went away again, and have now come back with an offer of £50 :T
... but Aqua say I will have to wait possibly 6 weeks for the money...

I asked if they (the FOS) thought that waiting 6 weeks was reasonable, and they said it was not their role to comment or otherwise arbitrate over how long restitution takes.

So it looks like I might get another £50 come end of September.
Is that a coincidence that that would also be the time cashback would have been paid anyway according to the original anniversary date?

Anyway, I'll keep you posted if/when I ever see any money.

I complained to the ombudsman as well. They ruled that they should pay me £25 additional compensation, in addition to the £25 they've already offered me (which they told the ombudsman they've paid me even though they haven't!).