Royal bank of Scotland Rewards scheme

Stevie_baby

I have a Royal Bank of Scotland rewards current account and every month you can earn £4 cashback in Rewards for paying 2 or more Direct Debits from your reward account. One of my Direct Debits is for gym membership, this DD has not been collected for December & January due to the current Tier 4 lockdown rules imposed by the Government which means gyms are unable to open.  RBS have refused to honour my £4 cashback due to only one DD being taken.  I have explained to them that through no fault of my own I am being penalised and that RBS should be more flexible during the current coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately RBS are not prepared to show any compassion or flexibility during this pandemic.

colsten

The T&Cs are clear. You got no case, I'm afraid.

crumpet_man

Stevie_baby said:

I have explained to them that through no fault of my own I am being penalised and that RBS should be more flexible during the current coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately RBS are not prepared to show any compassion or flexibility during this pandemic.

It's not the fault of RBS either so why should they have to pay you?  I bet you saved more than £4 in gym fees!
In future you could do what some others do and use a spare credit card once a month for a low value purchase, then set the DD for that to pay in full from the RBS account.  You can do things like Amazon auto top up £1 per month.

General_Grant

crumpet_man said:

Stevie_baby said:

I have explained to them that through no fault of my own I am being penalised and that RBS should be more flexible during the current coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately RBS are not prepared to show any compassion or flexibility during this pandemic.

It's not the fault of RBS either so why should they have to pay you?  I bet you saved more than £4 in gym fees!
In future you could do what some others do and use a spare credit card once a month for a low value purchase, then set the DD for that to pay in full from the RBS account.  You can do things like Amazon auto top up £1 per month.

Would need to be higher than that to meet the terms of the account (as quoted in the first response).

ischris85

You could setup Paypal to take a payment straight from your bank account (which is taken by direct debit). And make a purchase for instance from Ubereats by paypal.

Stevie_baby

I have today received a telephone call from a complaints specialist @ Royal Bank of Scotland in relation to my complaint about non payment of rewards. He fully understood why I had raised this issue and is going to bring it to the attention of the Improvements Team to see if they are willing to change their policy whilst we are in this pandemic. He has also credited my account with 6 months rewards to cover any future cancellations of my gym membership DD.    

PRAISETHESUN

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5734632/savings-accounts-accepting-dds

Some good ideas to generate DDs if you don't have enough household bills to go around every month. It's a little old, but most of them still work

[Deleted User]

Stevie_baby said:

I have a Royal Bank of Scotland rewards current account and every month you can earn £4 cashback in Rewards for paying 2 or more Direct Debits from your reward account. One of my Direct Debits is for gym membership, this DD has not been collected for December & January due to the current Tier 4 lockdown rules imposed by the Government which means gyms are unable to open.  RBS have refused to honour my £4 cashback due to only one DD being taken.  I have explained to them that through no fault of my own I am being penalised and that RBS should be more flexible during the current coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately RBS are not prepared to show any compassion or flexibility during this pandemic.

Compassion - you've saved money on the DD itself, so doesn't apply.
Flexibility - Is a gym membership a mandatory Direct Debit type?

crumpet_man

General_Grant said:

crumpet_man said:

Stevie_baby said:

I have explained to them that through no fault of my own I am being penalised and that RBS should be more flexible during the current coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately RBS are not prepared to show any compassion or flexibility during this pandemic.

It's not the fault of RBS either so why should they have to pay you?  I bet you saved more than £4 in gym fees!
In future you could do what some others do and use a spare credit card once a month for a low value purchase, then set the DD for that to pay in full from the RBS account.  You can do things like Amazon auto top up £1 per month.

Would need to be higher than that to meet the terms of the account (as quoted in the first response).

Quite right, £2 per month.  I do the £1 per month for a different rewards account, I use Post Office saver for Natwest and RBS.

Katiehound

A very easy one is to set up DD for a CC and then put a small purchase on there. I have done that for over 2 years with my Barclaycard / Barclays a/c. In your case it just needs to be an over £2 spend.
In lockdown I have just selected an item from my main shop and put that through the till first & paid for it seperately. Easy

Stevie_baby

Stevie_baby said:

I have today received a telephone call from a complaints specialist @ Royal Bank of Scotland in relation to my complaint about non payment of rewards. He fully understood why I had raised this issue and is going to bring it to the attention of the Improvements Team to see if they are willing to change their policy whilst we are in this pandemic. He has also credited my account with 6 months rewards to cover any future cancellations of my gym membership DD.    

I know those of you who commented were trying to give some sound advice, but I think my complaint struck a chord with RBS which has resulted in a positive outcome i.e. £30 credited to my account.  They are also looking at their terms & conditions in light of the pandemic, so a win win situation.