Curve Card

eagle

NFH wrote: »

Curve seem to be on the ball with the declined transactions problem, which two of us reported above. They've just sent out an e-mail as follows:
It doesn't surprise me that things aren't going 100% smoothly with so many new customers suddenly joining. It's not so important whether something goes wrong but what they're doing about it. As long as they give frequent updates, I'm not too bothered about this.

I agree. It's a BETA test after all (my card has that plastered all over it as a reminder!), so I'm not expecting it to be trouble free. When all the bugs are ironed out, it will be and should be a full launch!

AnnaDanishek

I received an e-mail on Sonday saying that my card had been despatched and should be with me within a week. It has still not arrived today. What means of delivery are they using that takes up to a week to be delivered?

DeeWestern

Do be careful with using this card until this decline bug is fixed as it doesn't seem Curve are keeping your cash in escrow.

Failed transactions are being charged by Curve but not being passed on the retailer - Curve will refund you in a couple of weeks, but you need to pay your credit card bill in the meantime and may have to cover the cost if Curve go in to administration. I would recommend only using the card with large transactions (to gain protection under Section 75) or for transactions you can afford to lose if you weren't refunded.

guesswho2000

AnnaDanishek wrote: »

I received an e-mail on Sonday saying that my card had been despatched and should be with me within a week. It has still not arrived today. What means of delivery are they using that takes up to a week to be delivered?

Mine was dispatched on 18/4 and turned up on Saturday 23/4, so give it a couple more days, they do say within a week! FWIW, mine was sent out first class according to the Jiffy bag, so make of that what you will.

AnnaDanishek

You can withdrawal up to £200 (or currency equivalent) for free using your American Express or other credit cards per calendar month after which there is a 2% charge. This limit does not apply to ATM debit card withdrawals. In addition, there is a 50p charge after 10 withdrawals.

eagle

AnnaDanishek wrote: »

I received an e-mail on Sonday saying that my card had been despatched and should be with me within a week. It has still not arrived today. What means of delivery are they using that takes up to a week to be delivered?

guesswho2000 wrote: »

Mine was dispatched on 18/4 and turned up on Saturday 23/4, so give it a couple more days, they do say within a week! FWIW, mine was sent out first class according to the Jiffy bag, so make of that what you will.

Mine despatched on the 20th April and it arrived on the 23rd. First class post mark on mine as well.

DeeWestern

Wanted to check back in with the latest on these cards to see what had happened after a week. Here's the latest.

The blogger with thousands of referrals eventually did write a post about Curve's Fair Use Policy (5 days after the changes, on Wed 27th). He did not recommend cancelling orders, and said that the Fair Use Policy would start in two months time for anyone who had ordered the card by 22nd April.

This is not the case.

You may remember that it was posted above that it seemed strange that Curve dispatched many hundreds of cards on Monday 18th April via 1st class mail (with a next-day delivery target for 90% of items) but cards weren't delivered until Saturday 23rd April.

According to Curve, anyone who activated their card on Friday 22nd April or later will be subject to the new Fair Use Policy immediately - and will incur fees if they use their debit card at an ATM each day, or withdraw more than £200 on a credit card.

I do not know if the blogger advised otherwise because he misinterpreted the terms and conditions or was wanting to put consumer pressure on to Curve to give people a fairer deal.

Either way, please be careful out there and remember to double-check what you're told, especially if your sources have financial interests.

NFH

One problem with Curve is that you get no protection under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. This legislation causes credit card issuers to be jointly and severally liable in the event of a merchant's breach of contract for goods or services costing between £100 and £30,000. This is useful when a merchant goes out of business or the merchant refuses to remedy its breach of contract. However, the legislation doesn't apply when there's an intermediary such as PayPal or Curve.

One way to retain Section 75 protection when using Curve is to pay £1 directly on a Visa or MasterCard credit card and pay the rest on Curve, recharged to your Amex card. One little-known benefit of Section 75 protection is that the credit card issuer is jointly and severally liable for breaches of contract for the whole cost of the goods or services, not only for the amount charged to the credit card.

Obviously it isn't always possible to pay with two transactions, particularly for online purchases, but this is a useful tactic to use when it is possible to do so.

guesswho2000

Anyone had any of the transactions which failed, but were charged to the linked card anyway, refunded yet? I've got three, totalling just under £200, which I'm waiting to be refunded.

The billing date for the linked credit cards is still a way off, so I'm not bothered at the moment, but this could be annoying for someone who has to actually cover the cost of these errors in the interim.

I've been reassured they'll be refunded, but will get Amex to do it if they're still there when the statement is produced, as it's a pain having to deal with UK operating hours from the other side of the world!

planteria

these last two contributions to this thread are enough to encourage me to sit on my hands re. Curve for now:coffee: