Bpayband: Think before buying

Steve_Rich

I was a big fan of this product. As one of the original 2014 testers, I loved it. When they launched properly in 2015, I was sent a wristband (usually £24.99) as a gift from them.


I used it regularly until September 2016, when it stopped working. Opening it, I found the "sim card" inside had become distorted. Probably due to its position between my hot wrist and the band casing over the summer, or maybe a leak of sweat (eeugh) through the casing join.


"No worries," I thought, "like your credit card and phone company, they want to keep you spending with them, and will just send a new card out. Happens all the time."


No. They don't, if the item is more than 6 months old. I couldn't FART at them, because it was a "promotional item" in my case, so SOGA doesn't apply (a solicitor on Which Legal Helpline verified that, too, interestingly).


Appealing to their simple commercial reason didn't either. Apparently, the item isn't considered a "credit card" but just an "item which can be used to pay for things, but doesn't have an account attached, so isn't something we will replace for you."


To cap it off, I contacted them via a form on their website, and it issued me reference numbers - but I never got replies. I think their system can't cope with my email address ending (dot email). I tweeted them, and they made my tweet public (did delete it in the end) and when I got to PM them, that stopped after a few days. Luckily, the Executive Office took up the complaint. Unluckily, their reply was the paragraphs above.


So, my advice is that thought this is a wonderfully convenient system, I really wouldn't buy one.


a) There appears to be a design flaw that only appears a good while after you buy it.


b) They really don't want you as a customer enough to want to keep you when things go wrong.


A sad end to a great idea. Hope this helps someone.

dj1471

Steve_Rich wrote: »

So, my advice is that thought this is a wonderfully convenient system, I really wouldn't buy one.

But... If you had bought one you would have had a claim under SOGA or the CRA and presumably a warranty, so problem solved.

You got something for free and it broke, if you like the product so much I'm confused why you're not willing to buy one.

Gunther_Golf

Alternatively just take your card out your pocket and wave it over the card machine.

Utterly bonkers

Steve_Rich

1) Because there is an actual design fault with the product. The band's design was the reason the sim card failed. I'm not going to buy something that I know is faulty, and that when the fault happens again, I'll have to replace it again.


2) Because the band itself, the bit that I consider I had to pay for, is fine. It is only the fact the chip stopped working - the bit the bank operates from - that renders it useless. To me, that bit is their responsibility, and I didn't see why it couldn't be replaced. I wasn't asking for the band to be replaced, just the banking chip.

Steve_Rich

"Alternatively just take your card out your pocket and wave it over the card machine."


When I first got the band, I didn't have contactless cards. Also, I admit I did find it really convenient not to have to dive into pockets - particularly when using the tube in London.


Now, yes, I'll be using cards from now on.


I guess that's part of what I'm getting at - now we have cards, the band seems an unreliable alternative not worth paying for.