Kwik-fit card scam?

swagman

Paid for an MOT at Kwik-fit couple of weeks ago - paid in full using my Coop Bank credit card.

Yesterday a Kwik-fit store credit card arrived + "your copy of the agreement" and a card with £1000 credit limit.

Nothing on the agreement or in the terms describes it as pre-authorised or conditional - everything implies this is an agreement already made. Indeed, to cancel it says I must inform them in writing.

Now I know that this is not an agreement because I have not signed anything, nor have I asked for the card or sought credit at Kwik-fit.

What I object to is the misleading impression given, and sending a card with my name on it, plus address details, through the post - a great help to identity theft!

Anyone else had this?

jonesMUFCforever

How is it going to help identity theft.
The card had come to your home address and presumably the PIN and statement will follow.

I agree that it is an underhand way of getting you a credit card especially as they will have probably credit scored you first - are you sure that there is no small print on something that you may have signed whilst on their premises?

MarkyMarkD

IIRC Kwikfit offer interest free credit for a period of time if you spend over a certain amount.

I doubt very much they would have just made up the fact you'd agreed to this.

swagman

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

IIRC Kwikfit offer interest free credit for a period of time if you spend over a certain amount.
I doubt very much they would have just made up the fact you'd agreed to this.

Signed nothing at all. Paid for an MOT at £44 and (now I have checked) paid for it using a DEBIT card on a chip and pin machine. No other work as follow-up to the MOT. Never in the past had any relationship with Kwik-fit other than paying for tyres on the spot and in full.

On the back of the Kwik-fit receipt it says "Your invoice details have been added to our central computer records for Kwik-fit Group marketing and warranty purposes". There is no opportunity to opt out of that.

I would argue though that it goes beyond "marketing" to send out credit card agreements as if the agreement has been properly made.

So I can think of no other explanation than that they take customer details and use them to issue credit cards, sending them out with agreements which are not agreements but look as though they are!

simongregson

Ask them to send you a signed copy of the credit agreement. If they can't, make a complaint, it is illegal to send out unsolicited credit cards in the UK.

It could be that the branch has a target number of cards to sign people up for and perhaps has been filling in forms to make up the numbers. If you find that the signature on the agreement signed was not your own, you should report it to the police as fraud.

Incidentally, any debt built up on the card would be unenforceable without a signed credit agreement, but I guess Kwik fit think this is a risk worth taking, seeing that you can only use the card to get the car fixed, there is less opportunity to go on a spending spree!

Jennifer_Jane

Agree with you OP - very unsatisfactory. Why should you have to go to all the bother of cancelling, etc? I had car insurance with Kwik Fit and have bought loads of sets of tyres and so on and never had this. But agree, it's pretty poor on their part.

Thanks, Simongregson, for the useful info.

Jen
x

MarkyMarkD

Swagman - thanks for the clarification. As the others say it is unacceptable to send out unsolicited cards in the UK, and it's unacceptable to credit score someone without their consent.

swagman

ejones999 wrote: »

How is it going to help identity theft.
The card had come to your home address and presumably the PIN and statement will follow.

The point is that this envelope, in the wrong hands, has all the info needed to make a "customer not present" purchase. The card (which has no sticker on it requiring authorisation before use) has a name, card number and a 3 digit security number on the back. So far as I can see anyone could use it for a phone or internet order up to the £1000 limit. The copy of the (so called) agreement also in the envelope has my name and address.

So here is all the stuff to raise a debt, which would be down to me to face all the hassle to sort out. As simongregson says, it would be an unenforceable debt, but it would still be a hassle.

I have written a complaint letter to the card company and, in the light of the reply (if any) I will do the same to Kwik-fit and, if necessary, fill in a complaint form to the Financial Ombudsman. My dander is up!

YorkshireBoy

swagman wrote: »

I have written a complaint letter to the card company and, in the light of the reply (if any) I will do the same to Kwik-fit and, if necessary, fill in a complaint form to the Financial Ombudsman. My dander is up!

You may wish to copy the OFT in, because it's they who issue the consumer credit licence to Kwik-Fit/their card provider.

System

swagman wrote: »

The point is that this envelope, in the wrong hands, has all the info needed to make a "customer not present" purchase. The card (which has no sticker on it requiring authorisation before use) has a name, card number and a 3 digit security number on the back. So far as I can see anyone could use it for a phone or internet order up to the £1000 limit. The copy of the (so called) agreement also in the envelope has my name and address.

Isn't a kwik-fit card only usable in Kwik-Fit depots?

MarkyMarkD

Good point, !!!!!!. So the fraud potential for it is very limited indeed.