Morgan Stanley - ****S!

ey_up

Just had a good conversation with a muppet called Duncan on their call centre. Got a bit deffensive when I suggested they'd scammed me out of my cash back bonus! £20 accumulated but not charged to my account as statement date is not till 2nd June and the charge kicks in on the 1st.

How has everyone else handled it? I phoned their call centre in April and was told to apply for the platinum card (as i met the criteria) and transfer the balance over included cash back bonus only to receive letter saying i couldnt have one as I had a classic card! Muppets.

I asked Duncan to close my account as I couldnt get the bonus and he said he'd take payment now - only to come back and say the system was down. Really racked off with them but I guess its a battle lost. I've wrote my letter to them and the FSA not that they will come of anything. Wierdly my girlfriend has been given a reprieve and they wont charge her the annual fee until June 2008.

Grrrrhhh!

humfer

ey_up wrote: »

Just had a good conversation with a muppet called Duncan on their call centre. Got a bit deffensive when I suggested they'd scammed me out of my cash back bonus! £20 accumulated but not charged to my account as statement date is not till 2nd June and the charge kicks in on the 1st.

How has everyone else handled it? I phoned their call centre in April and was told to apply for the platinum card (as i met the criteria) and transfer the balance over included cash back bonus only to receive letter saying i couldnt have one as I had a classic card! Muppets.

I asked Duncan to close my account as I couldnt get the bonus and he said he'd take payment now - only to come back and say the system was down. Really racked off with them but I guess its a battle lost. I've wrote my letter to them and the FSA not that they will come of anything. Wierdly my girlfriend has been given a reprieve and they wont charge her the annual fee until June 2008.

Grrrrhhh!

Its quite funny. If you would have asked me for a credit card company to recommend I wouldn't have hesitated to state MS. However something very very strange has happened to them in the last few months and I must have called them 5 or 6 times in the last week or so. Both my wife and I have cards but they have chosen to charge my wife only (I am reprieved this year). Therefore we demanded the all the cashback to date be paid out as it was earned before they introduced the annual fee. You can imagine all the rubbish they spued out - terms and conditions, £15 multiples, blah blah. You simply have to keep tieing with them and state you ain't putting the phone down until to speak with a manager (don't let them arrange a call back, they never do). I honestly feel they have a moral duty to pay out 100% of the cashback so just keep trying, you will get there in the end

MABLE

ey_up wrote: »

Just had a good conversation with a muppet called Duncan on their call centre. Got a bit deffensive when I suggested they'd scammed me out of my cash back bonus! £20 accumulated but not charged to my account as statement date is not till 2nd June and the charge kicks in on the 1st.

How has everyone else handled it? I phoned their call centre in April and was told to apply for the platinum card (as i met the criteria) and transfer the balance over included cash back bonus only to receive letter saying i couldnt have one as I had a classic card! Muppets.

I asked Duncan to close my account as I couldnt get the bonus and he said he'd take payment now - only to come back and say the system was down. Really racked off with them but I guess its a battle lost. I've wrote my letter to them and the FSA not that they will come of anything. Wierdly my girlfriend has been given a reprieve and they wont charge her the annual fee until June 2008.

Grrrrhhh!

NO doubt you took your anger out on poor old Duncan who is there just doing his job. He is probably no more a muppet than you are but by all means slack the company but dont get personal.

ey_up

I didnt really take any anger out on him. Its not the way to do anything. I was polite throughout and he was most unhelpful!

MarkyMarkD

I have always found MS staff some of the best on the phone. I'm sorry you've had a bad experience!

skybluesaver

Its very frustrating, believe me i know as i'm in the same boat with being charged the £20 annual fee. I only have one other cashback credit card which has far inferior customer services to Morgan Stanley (Outsourced to India) I'm afraid i'm gonna have to bite the bullet & pay the fee as for me at this time, there really is no suitable alternative.
Please folks remember though, customer service agents are only there to advise on the new company policies & having a go at them will not really gain anything.

ey_up

I've opened a Yorkshire BS Base Rate Tracker account/card. No intro of 3% but atleast have got 1% deal. May consider MS again if 3% still going in 6 months. Think we'll lose all decent offers eventually. Now people who cant operate accounts correctly are clawing back the fees the rest of us will lose out. Never mind, good while it lasted.

YorkshireBoy

ey_up wrote: »

I've opened a Yorkshire BS Base Rate Tracker account/card.

Why that particular card? If you'd gone for the 'Classic' card you'd have enjoyed your 1% cashback PLUS 0% on those purchases for 6 months as well.

No intro of 3% but atleast have got 1% deal.

It's only 1% on the first £2K per annum, and 0.5% on anything over £2K per annum.

shopbot

I'm going to close my MS card because of the annual fee. I always pay off my balance in full and will do so this month. When I get paid at the end of May I'll make an immediate payment and then phone MS and cancel. Will they cancel the card there and then? Or will they say I have to give them written notice etc? On other words will the strategy above ensure I don't pay the £20 annual fee?

ey_up

shopbot wrote: »

I'm going to close my MS card because of the annual fee. I always pay off my balance in full and will do so this month. When I get paid at the end of May I'll make an immediate payment and then phone MS and cancel. Will they cancel the card there and then? Or will they say I have to give them written notice etc? On other words will the strategy above ensure I don't pay the £20 annual fee?

I rang in yesterday and they closed the account but couldnt take payment because the system was down. The card can be closed instantly. Aslong as you phone and cancel sometime before June 1st you shouldnt have a problem. If they debit your account early its there mistake and you should get it credited back.

MrsMillar

Do I understand from the OP that cashback can only be claimed at the end of the month?

My situation is that I want to close my account before 1 June to avoid the £20 fee. On my last statement, my cashback was at £14.18. Today I paid for an online shop (£170) thinking this would just about take me to my £15 cashback. I was thinking of phoning next week, asking them to credit me the £15 cashback then for me to clear my balance and close my account before 1 June.

HOWEVER, if I will only be "awarded" the additional cashback at the date of my next statement, which will fall after 1 June, then I will have to pay the annual fee of £20 to claim my cashback of £15.

Does anyone know exactly how it works? or are my fears unfounded?

I just hope that the no. of people closing their accounts harms them more than they gain from all of the unclaimable cashback they will no doubt be keeping.