Barclaycard complaint problems and not able to answer calls back to me!

stressedbrian

Hi folks, I've got a couple issues ongoing with Barclaycard which have generally be resolved bar 2 issues and I really want to speak to the person dealing with my complaint. They have called me on 3 occasions since August and when I answer the call I get played an automated Barclaycard message (about call recording) then the line goes dead. The person hasn't emailed me - I gave contact details to do so, but has sent me 2 letters neither answering my original complaint.
In addition to this I received a small refund for incorrect charges plus some interest, this was paid direct into my account then my credit limit was immediately reduced, the account wasn't defaulted etc and is kept well up to date. I was surprised I wasn't written to before the refund or the credit limit reduction (i got 2 letters about a week later) and I was surprised that I wouldn't be given the choice to have the money into my bank or my account - I felt it was very backhanded.
I had a google and was pretty shocked to see the volume of negative remarks about Barclaycard, I was also surprised that on at least 2 occasions staff complained about lack of support taking calls and I was regularly placed in viscous circles of call waiting (I'm now at about 6+ hours of call / wait time), eventually one member of staff admitted that the department I had been placed on hold to several times was no longer even in operation in its original form.
Any input or suggestions appreciated, thanks

bradders1983

Nothing worth than a viscous circle.

Yahoo_Mail

They're perfectly within their rights to apply any refunds to the card, reducing your debt with them, if that's what they want to do.  Likewise, they can reduce people's credit limits at any time and are not obliged to give advanced warning.  In fact, they often don't, to stop people racking up debt and (in theory) preventing them from reducing the limit.

My advice would be to concentrate on the outstanding issue (assuming it is still outstanding) and ignore the refund/credit limit "issue" as they've done nothing wrong in regards to this.

J_B

Have you tried using the 'help' section on the B/C website to contact them?

[Deleted User]

I wouldn't bother phoning and keep everything in writing.  If you make complaints and Barclaycard are unable to resolve your complaints to your satisfaction escalate them to the ombudsman. 

Nebulous2

They have struggled to communicate during the pandemic. I found secure message through the website was best. If your complaint was more than 8 weeks ago, without a response, then go to the ombudsman.

stressedbrian

Does / can the ombudsman do much is it worth contacting them? thanks

bradders1983

The ombudsman for them reducing your credit limit? Certainly not.

born_again

In cases like the OP. It is better to wait till the person who is dealing with the complaint, or someone they have passed it too.
Talking to someone who is not in possession of full facts is a recipe for making things worse.
It could be that the complaint handler is on holiday, or even worse suffering from Covid. As such unable to deal with the case and it is being picked up by someone else, who is trying to understand the issues & what has been done.

TBH, It is not uncommon for refunds to be processed when a error/fault is discovered, but the letter advising will take a while to get out (even worse now with the PO suffering staff shortages) 1 week is pretty normal for a letter to reach a customer. (staff member types it up, goes to be checked & printed in house (can't do it at home) then has to wait to be picked up and run through the normal PO.
So a letter done on a Friday will not actually make it to post till Tuesday.

Unless the complaint has reached the 8 week timescale or a deadlock letter issued then the ombudsman won't/can't do anything. You may even find that they are even more snowed under than the banks...