Morgan Stanley £20 Annual Fee

System

humfer wrote: »

And just to wind me up even more I have been to their site and on the application form its still clearly states 'no annual fee'. Idiots:mad: :mad:

At least they didnt ask you if you wanted a loan? I was when i rang them.:mad:

malky39

well phoned them up today and guess what......... yip no budging on the fee and also just kept getting the terms and conditions line over and over. Was told that they are introducing the fee to provide better offers to which i replied the only reason i use the card is for the cash back and the fee wipes out the first £20 of this to which i was told i am free to clear my balance and close my account to avoid the fee. So thats what will be happening and Yorkshire building society her i come have already applied for there card just waiting on a result

notbritishgas

Considering writing to MS "higher management" about the ill feeling and in particular the loss of cashback when closing accounts.

Whilst googling I have found reference to Charlotte Hogg, Managing Director of CBGI (the credit card business). Does anyone know if she is still in post and if she is based in London or Glasgow or indeed anywhere else.

Also found reference to the Chairman of MS, John J Mack, based in the States, wonder if he knows what is going on here!

ceegee

I've had the notice too. £20 charge with effect from June. Luckily-ish, my cash back was £16.51 so I won't lose as much cashback as some poor souls. I rang them yesterday and got the £15 credited to my account, which is much quicker than waiting for a cheque. I have stopped using the card and when the balance is paid next month, I shall immediately cancel both the card and the direct debit.

The thing is that they don't make money out of people who pay in full, on time, so they slap an annual fee on.

I phoned them and the girl on the phone was quite sympathetic really....when I asked if the fee could be waived (ever hopeful and it's always worth a try!) she said that they had been told to say it was non-negotiable.

MrsMillar

In agreement with everyone else really. I called MS just to ask if there was any way of avoiding the fee other than closing my account. I was told "no" so I said I would be closing my account.

My cashback is at about 12 pounds so I will presumably lose that. I am not brave enough to send them a cheque for the full balance less the cashback I have accumulated!

Like most people here I pay off in full every month and thus do not want to pay an annual fee. Very disappointed.

I have just put in an application for the Platinum card (which I fully expect to be rejected), but thought I'd just see what would happen.

Gnid

MrsMillar, why apply for the Platinum card?

If you look at some post above, some people got charged (will get charged) a fee on their platinum card within one year....

Why waste you time earning the cashback (assuming 1% cashback, for £15, you need £1,500) on a card that you might not get because the bank will unilaterally charge you annual fee on its discretion.

I would recommend going to another provider (e.g. egg money, etc)

Shiggaddi

I certainly won't be applying for the platinum card. I was told on my phone call, that I would have to wait 6 months anyway. There's no way I'm doing business with this cowboy outfit again. As others have called up to complain and make their feelings clear on the cashback, I would urge others to do the same. If anyone does have a platinum card and got the notice of a fee, or notice of a fee waived for a year, I would strongly urge them to get the £15 cashback multiple and cancel the card.

It's all very well that they are slapping a fee on the old card, and advertising no fees on the new card, but if people using the new card are getting notices, then this advertising needs to be bought to the attention of trading standards, the ASA, the banking ombudsman, Watchdog etc.

It's not that I desperately need the £7, but it's the basic principle that I see this as my money, and if I had the attitude that it's not worth making a fuss about, then chances are that many others have the same atttitude and Morgan Stanley can fleece 100,000 customers x an average of £10 and make £1 million just on this alone, along with charging a fee for those who don't cancel. If all we can achieve is making call centre staff go around in circles explaining T&Cs on an 0800 number for 20 minutes, then that is better than just sitting and doing nothing.

This is an American based company, and American companies are more customer focused, and believe more in customer satisfaction than UK companies. Most US companies use freephone numbers even for customer support, compared to out 0870 numbers. Morgan Stanley, has adopted the American way of using freephone over here, which is a plus for them, so writing to their American head office might cause a stir if enough people do it, especially if they leave their UK team to get on with things and don't interefere much.

emma396

melbury wrote: »

Yes quite sure it is a platinum card. There was a letter attached to my statement this month saying that they are introducing a £20 annual fee for some cardholders, but not me!! Will be reviewed again next year.

i got exactly same as u melbury

spring85195

Just want to point out that.. the management dudes at MS is not stupid, they are very smarty people and they have expected and taken the customer's reaction into account when they make this decision.

I guess complain or argue will not have great use in here..

Gnid

I think they are pretty stupid - not a good business model and false advertising. Instead of keeping loyal customers, they reject them. In addition, they advertise no annual fees on the card and then whack on an annual fee 12 months down the track?

EVEN IF a person is not whacked with the annual fee this year, why would you want to keep using their card to slowly build up the cashback, because once you told all that effort to build up the cashback, they can whack an annual fee next year??

I would recommend people to apply for another cashback card (e.g. egg money as per MSE suggestion) straight away and once that is up and running, cancel the card immediately, EVEN IF there is no annual fee.

If people pay the £20 pounds or don't care about it or think it doesn't apply to them - if MS can stuff selected people on any of their credit card, they can stuff you up as well (don't think they will be more friendly to you - you are just a number)...