Credit card protection query

Baled

Hi

My employer runs an employee discount scheme wherein numerous retailer shopping cards are available to buy at a discount.

I'm looking to purchase one for approx £230 on my Barclay credit card. Once purchased, the card is posted to my home with the balance non-refundable. Delivery is 3-5 business days.

They do offer postal insurance the cost of which will use up about a third of the 9% discount I'll get on the balance.

If I forego the insurance to get the maximum discount and the shopping card gets lost in the post is it likely Barclaycard would refund me if I have to make a claim? If they did, what would be the likely timescale?

Thanks in advance.

Ebe_Scrooge

It's a good question, and I must admit I don't know the answer for definite. However, this article would seem to indicate that you wouldn't be covered :

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/section75-protect-your-purchases/

"A relatively new area for third-party purchases is group buying websites, such as Groupon and LivingSocial. Here you buy a voucher for a cheap deal and the goods or services are redeemed by another retailer. This indirect relationship could make it hard to claim using Section 75, yet you should be able to use the chargeback route instead.

A standard voucher purchased from another store (eg, a Topshop voucher bought from Morrisons) would also count as an indirect purchase, so is unlikely to be covered in the event that you couldn't use the voucher at Topshop."

No doubt someone else with more knowledge will be along shortly, but it's probably worth having a read through that article.

eco_warrior

Not known a dispute like it but I don't see any issues in obtaining a chargeback if the card goes missing.

Timescales will vary depending on the card issuer and the type of card used for the purchase (Visa or MasterCard), some issuers should be able to refund you on the same day you contact them. Some might send you paperwork to complete which is quite antiquated these days.

Ergates

Baled wrote: »

They do offer postal insurance the cost of which will use up about a third of the 9% discount I'll get on the balance.

That sounds like a protection racket! You pay for the card and for postage (fair enough) then you need to pay extra to ensure it arrives safely? Surely that's their responsibility.

Terry_Towelling

Just try to be sure that the seller of the shopping card doesn't profile the transaction as 'cash' and that your card issuer doesn't either. If they do, you'll get hit with unavoidable interest from the date of the transaction and potentially a cash handling fee.

Although you are effectively making a cash/cash-like transaction, you are still purchasing something physical that has to be delivered to an agreed-upon location, so you will get Chargeback protection from your card issuer if it goes missing in the post (as stated by eco-warrior) but you may need to explain carefully to them exactly what it is you have purchased to avoid being fobbed off as potentially just having made a cash withdrawal (as the transaction profile might indicate).

Don't concern yourself with S75 just yet.

Baled

That sounds like a protection racket! You pay for the card and for postage (fair enough) then you need to pay extra to ensure it arrives safely? Surely that's their responsibility.

They don't charge for postage luckily but they recommend taking the insurance for high values which would suggest they probably wouldn't replace the card if lost in the post...

Thanks for the responses! ��

Baled

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Just try to be sure that the seller of the shopping card doesn't profile the transaction as 'cash' and that your card issuer doesn't either. If they do, you'll get hit with unavoidable interest from the date of the transaction and potentially a cash handling fee.

Although you are effectively making a cash/cash-like transaction, you are still purchasing something physical that has to be delivered to an agreed-upon location, so you will get Chargeback protection from your card issuer if it goes missing in the post (as stated by eco-warrior) but you may need to explain carefully to them exactly what it is you have purchased to avoid being fobbed off as potentially just having made a cash withdrawal (as the transaction profile might indicate).

Don't concern yourself with S75 just yet.

I did buy a £5 card last week with my Lloyds debit card, the transaction on my accout online comes up as "online/phone/mail order purchase". Does that tie in with it being treated as a goods purchase so to speak? Or could Barclaycard treat it differently to Lloyds?

gionnetto

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Just try to be sure that the seller of the shopping card doesn't profile the transaction as 'cash' and that your card issuer doesn't either. If they do, you'll get hit with unavoidable interest from the date of the transaction and potentially a cash handling fee.

I was wondering the same thing about vouchers purchased from Perkbox and Membership Plus. I think I'll stick to paying via debit card till I'm sure they won't be classed as "cash".

Terry_Towelling

Baled wrote: »

I did buy a £5 card last week with my Lloyds debit card, the transaction on my accout online comes up as "online/phone/mail order purchase". Does that tie in with it being treated as a goods purchase so to speak? Or could Barclaycard treat it differently to Lloyds?

Transactions on your debit card (in the UK certainly) will generally be processed at face value regardless (I believe - someone shout if that is wrong) because you aren't borrowing, you're using your own cash. It's using credit cards where you can get handling fees and interest.

The example you cite would appear to suggest the transaction was profiled by the seller as a purchase/sale rather than cash/quasi-cash, so that would seem to be that side of the transaction taken care of.

You then need to be sure that the receiving side of the transaction (i.e. your card issuer) doesn't classify the transaction as cash/quasi-cash. That is more difficult because you don't know what it is in the transaction 'message' that your issuer will use to make their assessment.

According to Barclaycard's website 'help' pages, they view Gambling, Gaming, Lottery websites, Crypto-currency, Money orders, Wire transfers, Stocks and shares, Buying foreign currency from a UK bank or Bureau de Change – including traveller’s cheques and pre-paid foreign currency travel cards as cash-like.

The specific transaction data that Barclaycard uses to make its determination that a transaction is one of those listed, will not be the retailer description but will be either the Merchant Category Code or (possibly) a 'Quasi-cash Indicator' value (if such still exists) and that information is, once again, down to the sending bank.

However you choose to look at it, it's a bit of a lottery and you often can't be sure what will happen until you try it. Your experience with the Lloyds debit card would seem to suggest you won't have a problem with cash fees but I can't guarantee that. Sorry if that's of little comfort and a bit woolly but that's as precise as I dare to be.

phillw

Baled wrote: »

They don't charge for postage luckily but they recommend taking the insurance for high values which would suggest they probably wouldn't replace the card if lost in the post...

Credit card companies sold sentinel insurance to customers for things they legally had to provide for free, so it's difficult to tell until you actually try to claim for one that went missing and find out what happens. If they are sending via royal mail then you may only be able to claim up to their limits.

However whenever I've had a pre-paid card then I've had to activate it, using information that was provided by email. So unless someone is sophisticated and is able to intercept your post and your email, then you should be ok with standard post. But you should find out what the procedure is for activating and whether they will cancel the original card and send another one if you report it lost.

Baled

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Transactions on your debit card (in the UK certainly) will generally be processed at face value regardless (I believe - someone shout if that is wrong) because you aren't borrowing, you're using your own cash. It's using credit cards where you can get handling fees and interest.

The example you cite would appear to suggest the transaction was profiled by the seller as a purchase/sale rather than cash/quasi-cash, so that would seem to be that side of the transaction taken care of.

You then need to be sure that the receiving side of the transaction (i.e. your card issuer) doesn't classify the transaction as cash/quasi-cash. That is more difficult because you don't know what it is in the transaction 'message' that your issuer will use to make their assessment.

According to Barclaycard's website 'help' pages, they view Gambling, Gaming, Lottery websites, Crypto-currency, Money orders, Wire transfers, Stocks and shares, Buying foreign currency from a UK bank or Bureau de Change – including traveller’s cheques and pre-paid foreign currency travel cards as cash-like.

The specific transaction data that Barclaycard uses to make its determination that a transaction is one of those listed, will not be the retailer description but will be either the Merchant Category Code or (possibly) a 'Quasi-cash Indicator' value (if such still exists) and that information is, once again, down to the sending bank.

However you choose to look at it, it's a bit of a lottery and you often can't be sure what will happen until you try it. Your experience with the Lloyds debit card would seem to suggest you won't have a problem with cash fees but I can't guarantee that. Sorry if that's of little comfort and a bit woolly but that's as precise as I dare to be.

I didn't know about this situation concerning 'cash' transactions on credit cards so thanks for the heads up! What a minefield.