Barclaycard- dreadful cust service, until I try to cancel!

Katzen

For information of anyone interested- got £50 credit to my account when I called up to close it after experiencing dreadful customer service. Will still cancel once I've spent that money (and on the basis of previous experience, I shan't hold my breath for it) but if it does appear I will be pleased- can't say no to a free £50 can you?!

londonTiger

lol the what? theyre giving away money?

dalesrider

So what was the bad customer service you recieved then?

I'm far more interested in what that may have been than £50...

Some of us have principles

I have also heard that the new FCA are going to be investigating this practise and telling the provider that they have to reclaim the bribe (as there is no other way of describing it) and close the account.

chattychappy

dalesrider wrote: »

I have also heard that the new FCA are going to be investigating this practise and telling the provider that they have to reclaim the bribe (as there is no other way of describing it) and close the account.

Ha ha ha well it certainly wouldn't be a bribe within the meaning of Bribery Act 2010.

But I can see it might create other problems in the nanny state - ie a customer that has decided to terminate the product being subjected to the "undue influence" of having £50 dangling in front of them. When it comes to consumer decisions in the world of finance, the key principle is that they can never be held responsible for anything.

Katzen

When they bought out Egg in 2011 they sent me new cards and PINs for the accounts. I lost one of the PINs before I could change it so called for a new one. 1 month passed, I called again and was told it must've been lost in the post so another was sent. Couple of months later, repeat of previous phonecall. I disputed the 'lost in post' story as RM are rarely that useless and was then told it hadn't actually been sent! 'very sorry ma'am, it will be sent now'. Another couple of months and again, same call - not sent but on its way. Think might've done one more before giving up. What made me even more angry was that this was for the card with 1% cashback and I'm the sort to clear in full each month so cost them rather than make them money so I suspected deeper motive. Didn't cancel immediately as the cashback I'd earnt wasn't due until this Feb so I just opened a new card with new provider and put them in a drawer. Approximately 6mths later received 4 PINs for the card in the post! I'm spending the cashback I've got via online shops, plus that£50 if it ever comes and then closing it all down, never to go near again!

bengal-stripe

Katzen wrote: »

'very sorry ma'am, it will be sent now'.

Gosh! - Did they really "ma'am" you???

(UK) ma'am is mostly obsolete, with a few exceptions. It must be used when addressing the Queen in place of Your Majesty; after having first addressed the Queen as Your Majesty, Ma'am must be used for the remainder of the conversation. In addition, the term is still in common usage in the police service and armed forces as a form of address to a senior female officer.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ma'am

pqrdef

Katzen wrote: »

Will still cancel once I've spent that money

They may reserve the right to demand the money back if you don't take it in good faith.

Katzen

pqrdef wrote: »

They may reserve the right to demand the money back if you don't take it in good faith.

Interesting, didn't realise they could do that. Wonder how they would go about justifying that, especially as I haven't used the account in months otherwise.

dalesrider

Katzen wrote: »

I disputed the 'lost in post' story as RM are rarely that useless

Approximately 6mths later received 4 PINs for the card in the post!!

Well if they managed to deliver 4 at the same time..... Does kinda make you wonder.

But how is them giving you £50 when you want to leave better customer service?

To me that in the same league as "Its in the post".....

Good customer service is about fixing problems, when they go wrong.
Not just chucking money at a non issue.

Katzen

Oh no, don't get me wrong, its not good nor will it induce me to start using the card again regularly. Plus I'm fully expecting it to be another 'lost in the post', but its better than nothing so they do deserve a smidge of credit!

jonesMUFCforever

How can it be lost in the post - surely it will appear as a credit on the card?