Stung by halifax web saver reward scam. Advice?

alanq

I am reminded of juicyjesus's signature:

<"The word "scam" in the title on MSE means: "I've not read things properly", "I don't like the price" or "I've done something stupid and it's upsetting me." Rarely, if ever, is a scam involved." - opinions4u>

talexuser wrote: »

The judge may well not take kindly to using court time after the ombudsman decision, ...

Bear in mind that although it is usual in a small claims court for each side to bear its own costs, the other side's costs can be awarded against you if the judge finds against you and decides that the case should not have been brought to court in the first place

dunstonh

We are considering taking them to court

That is a bit overkill considering it is your error. How are you going to persuade the judge that your failure to read the form is their fault?

However we are of the opinion that the banner ad. is misleading, and that therefore the ad. breaches financial advertising standards.

Except that the FOS, which is more consumer friendly than the court as it considers law, FSA guidelines and fairness (court is just law) did not agree with you.

Looking at the way it was presented, you and the big bold text saying what to do, this is clearly your mistake and the only one misleading people here is you. There is no scam. There is no trick. You made a mistake and want to blame them. Time for you to realise your mistake and move on and not waste Halifax's time or anyone elses with this.

vns

Have you calculated what the loss in interest actually is?

This might help you decide if it's worth pursuing.

atush

This whole thread is kinda hilarious lol.

Anyway, no point in court, you'll just be out further money (at least your own costs).

what you can do, is punish them where they Need to be punished. In the court of public opinion.

In their poor/misleading advertising, and their refusal to spend the money on different applications for different accounts. They could have mad a new acct, with a new name (not just an acct a/b).

And the best way to do this would be to contact one of the broadsheet newspapers. Get them interested on your story (lay it out a bit better maybe).

Or you could contact them via Twitter/facebook- this gets faster results these days than email or even snail mail

then you might shame them into refunding you/recompense like they did the other chap you mentioned?

rb10

atush wrote: »

In their poor/misleading advertising, and their refusal to spend the money on different applications for different accounts. They could have mad a new acct, with a new name (not just an acct a/b).

'Poor/misleading advertising' ... really?!

On the 'Apply Now' page they clearly say "Please ensure that you select the no card option within the application form".

What's more, they say this three times on the one page. How many times would that page have to mention it before you thought the advertising was acceptable? Five? Ten?

zerog

Yes I agree the only way you are going to get anything out of Halifax is to have your story printed in the "money" section of the daily mail or guardian or something

fwiw, I also thought it was quite clear that you had to select No card, but after I had clicked apply, I asn't sure that I had selected no card. I also missed the fact that it was annual interest and didn't want to wait for 1 year to find out what I had clicked, so I just put all my money in santander (once halifax had unsuspended your online banking for 1 month for trying to transfer £1000 to myself). 1 year later I found that I did get 2.8% after all

helifox

Thanks for responding. My apologies to all that I did not present our situation as clearly as I might have. Here is an attempt to be clearer:

Tempted by a banner ad. whilst inside our Halifax on-line bank accounts on 8 April 2011, we clicked straight through to an application form titled Web Saver - Variable Rate and Reward. The ad had led us to believe that we would be opening a Web Saver Reward with an interest rate of 2.8%. But by clicking yes to a card option ( Which we never used) we reduced that rate to .25%. There was nothing informing us this would happen except for small print at the top of the form, advising :
Important: Please note that if you are applying for a Web Saver reward you must select the no card option.

However the ad. which had sent us to the application asserted in much larger type that we would receive 2.8%.

Although we clicked the card option the account opened was titled Reward Saver in our on-line account. There was no warning anywhere about the drop in interest, which was paid annually. We moved £50000 from our Halifax savings account then earning 2.3% into the 'Saver Reward' account for almost a year.

I am fairly sure the ad. posted by rb10 was not the ad. we saw. (I seem to remember figures holding up a banner...) And certainly the application is different. I did finally manage to get a copy of the application - titled Variable rate Web Saver application - Applicable to Existing IB registered customers - from Halifax.

I am unable to post a link - as a new user - but there is no 'large bold text' in the application – nor any mention of the consequences:
Choosing a cash card will open a Variable Rate Web Saver with a rate of 0.25% AER variable...
...as in the version you posted.
There is only only 7pt type beneath the title 'Variable rate Web Saver application', stating:
Thank you for your interest in a variable Web Saver account.
Before you continue with the application, please note that the following points apply.

• Open ... with as little as £1.
• Interest paid annually.
• Important: Please note that if you are applying for a Halifax Web Saver Reward you must click the no card option within the application.

Thank you so much rb10, for directing me to the archive. I have tried frequently without success to get access to the ad. I saw from Halifax Customer Relations. Browsing the archive is enlightening:

All the archived versions of the application are for new or unregistered customers only.
It appears that had I not already been an on-line banking customer, I would have been provided with much more complete information, and I agree that would have been less misleading, especially if I had applied after August 6.

The April 7 version only contains the line:
Please ensure that you select the no card option within the application form.
within the body text is not separated out, or highlighted, there is no Important: and there is no mention of the drop in interest.

The Version archived on May 17th is also for customers who either are not already with the Halifax or not logged in... as the next step is either to register or log in.

By June 7, the warning has been separated out, and made more prominent – but there is still no mention of the interest rate drop.

The first mention of that is August 6, which appears to be the Version you posted. Perhaps this change took place as a result of Jo Thornhill's warning article of July 3rd:

Beware catch on Halifax online savings account - one wrong click and your rate drops 0.25%
By!JO THORNHILL
Created 3:26 PM on 3rd July 2011

(In that article Halifax admit that

By the 7th August ( as long as you approach the product from outside your internet banking, there are warnings all over the page - and,
as talexuser says
'it was pretty clear not to select the card option',
as Gaffy says
'it was quite clear to me to not select the card'. Of course the entire product was withdrawn in Sept 2011.

dunstoneh is of the opinion:

'Looking at the way it was presented, you and the big bold text saying what to do, this is clearly your mistake and the only one misleading people here is you. !!There is no scam. !There is no trick. !You made a mistake and want to blame them. '!!

Let me re-iterate: there was no big bold text when we applied, and I think the changes in the archive reveal that Halifax themselves believed it could have been clearer, and subsequently made it clearer. However, they did not contact people who had applied to ensure that they had not been misled.

Rb10 helpfully attaches an image of the Apply Now screen someone would have see after August the 7th, if they were not already inside their internet banking account. It is not what we were shown.

Vns asks whether we have calculated the lost interest – we guestimate upwards of £800.

helifox

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Its not small print at the top, its bold print in the middle.
I find your post is more misleading than the Halifax Application form.
Stop wasting everyone's time and move on.

Actually on 8 April 2011, when we applied, it is written in small print at the top once only. Four screens away from the card options, where there was no disclaimer or tooltip.
The 2.8% offer was in large bold print on the banner ad. There was no specific mention anywhere of the rate drop. We were not actively looking for a savings product - merely doing our banking...and thought that 2.8% sounded better for our £50000 savings than the 2.3% it was then getting...

Did you win that Duke of Edinburgh award you nominated yourself for?

pqrdef

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Not really - if someone has a card they are likely to withdraw more frequently and the bank has to pay for cash withdrawals from another banks machine.

Whereas, if they have to move the money online to their current account before they go to the ATM, that makes all the difference.

Archi_Bald

helifox, the Ombudsman has investigated your case and found you had no claim. Apart from yourself, there seems to be 1 other person who signed up for the wrong account, whilst there appear to be plenty of people who actually signed up for the Web Saver Reward. It wouldn't surprise me if Halifax had presented the exact number of Web Saver Reward accounts to the Ombudsman, and would be presenting it to any Press or Court who you might engage to continue your case.

I can't see how you can construct a case that would convince anybody that Halifax ran any sort of scam, as you claim.On the face of it, it is highly likely you made a mistake, so you have to bear the consequences.