Beware Sainsburys

surreysaver

HoolyNI said:

Jami74 said:

HoolyNI said:

On one of the cards I attempted four times to clear the card early rather than have the money sitting in my current account but kept running into "technical difficulties". 

Is it worth phoning Sainsbury's bank and telling them that you tried four times to pay the card early to avoid the interest but kept running into 'technical difficulties'? You might just get lucky and have the interest for that card removed. You'd have to be very polite though.

I suppose there might be some digital record of my attempted transactions, twice on the app and twice via pc I think it was on three different days. Went through the entire process but failed to verify right at the end.

Now you mention it, I did have trouble paying my Sainsbury's Card off. It wouldn't let me in the app, but it did on the website

surreysaver

HoolyNI said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

HoolyNI said:

... it's not something I paid much attention to before, but will in the future.

And that's the nub of it.  It's akin to someone complaining they've damaged their car engine by putting petrol in it when it's a diesel engine; "Well, all my previous cars were diesel, so I didn't think anything of it".  Yes, they made a mistake, and some might argue it's an easy mistake to make ... but ultimately it's their mistake, no-one else's.  Learn from it and move on, but don't try and blame the bank for adhering to to their T&Cs which you agreed to at the outset.

There's only about three people on the planet that actually read the T&C's and they've all managed to find this thread....I'll be insisting on hard copy statements in future too as they might actually get looked at. 

Make that four!

daivid

surreysaver said:

HoolyNI said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

HoolyNI said:

... it's not something I paid much attention to before, but will in the future.

And that's the nub of it.  It's akin to someone complaining they've damaged their car engine by putting petrol in it when it's a diesel engine; "Well, all my previous cars were diesel, so I didn't think anything of it".  Yes, they made a mistake, and some might argue it's an easy mistake to make ... but ultimately it's their mistake, no-one else's.  Learn from it and move on, but don't try and blame the bank for adhering to to their T&Cs which you agreed to at the outset.

There's only about three people on the planet that actually read the T&C's and they've all managed to find this thread....I'll be insisting on hard copy statements in future too as they might actually get looked at. 

Make that four!

Four and a half, either read them or accept fault for not reading them if caught out. 

As to the exact date of when the 0% ends I have some sympathy as it is not always easy/quick to find this detail. If running close to the date I phone to confirm (though usually I switch to a new 0% card a few months ahead), I also now keep a written record of the date I opened each card and the date the introductory offer ends.

cymruchris

You can add me to the list as well - I read all the terms and conditions of anything I take on - and if anything isn't remotely clear - I'll call up for clarification. You're right that many, many, many people don't read their terms and conditions for anything at all - and blindly sign up to just about anything. As a warning, it's useful to encourage people to read these when they sign up to something, sharing an example of where you didn't and got caught out rather than labelling them as shysters because you hadn't. 

femalemonarchfemalecanine

my statements always clearly show what balance is outstanding and the date it expires and has done on all the cards I've had including Sainsburys

callum9999

SuperAllyB said:

HoolyNI said:

maisie_cat said:

We had the same thing with a Tesco card a few years ago, you need to clear the balance a full month ahead or something and we were stung for £7. We fell for the same "estimated interest" line but it only happens once.
Our Sainsburys 0% ended 4th March but the payment would have been 15th, triggering an interest charge, so we paid it off in early February and no interest was charged.
They all do it, but £90 is not that much for 2 years borrowing.

My deal was only for 12 months so £95 is steep enough. I have had maybe half a dozen balance transfer cards over the years and have never paid a penny in interest on any of them. My deal ended on the 12th March and the first card wasn't cleared until the due date of 9th April, the 2nd card I attempted several times to clear it early via online banking but was prevented from doing so, rather than wasting time in a phone queue I let it run thinking no interest would be charged until after the due date.

If the deal ended on 12th March then you should have cleared it by then rather than waiting for the following due date. Obviously you'll be charged interest from then on. You're nowhere near as smart as you think you are.

Several cards set the end date as the first statement after the transfer expiry date - it's what my Virgin cards do. If they've only had those cards before now then no, it's not "obvious" - perhaps you're also not as smart as you think you are?

The OP is clearly being ridiculous in their accusations, but I always wonder whether they'd keep up that tone if they were politely told why they are wrong instead of the usual smart-alec, aggressive responses you get on here that just make people feel like they're under attack and presumably trigger a "fight or flight" reaction.

Slightly off topic, but I feel like people should be forced to answer a short "quiz" about the financial product they're taking out before they get approved. I know the consensus from people on here is generally "f*ck the stupid/lazy, they deserve what they get", but that's obviously not the attitude of the financial regulators etc. It would help avoid so many problems you see on here where people misunderstand a fundamental, basic aspect of credit cards etc.

sparklep0ny

callum9999 said:

SuperAllyB said:

HoolyNI said:

maisie_cat said:

We had the same thing with a Tesco card a few years ago, you need to clear the balance a full month ahead or something and we were stung for £7. We fell for the same "estimated interest" line but it only happens once.
Our Sainsburys 0% ended 4th March but the payment would have been 15th, triggering an interest charge, so we paid it off in early February and no interest was charged.
They all do it, but £90 is not that much for 2 years borrowing.

My deal was only for 12 months so £95 is steep enough. I have had maybe half a dozen balance transfer cards over the years and have never paid a penny in interest on any of them. My deal ended on the 12th March and the first card wasn't cleared until the due date of 9th April, the 2nd card I attempted several times to clear it early via online banking but was prevented from doing so, rather than wasting time in a phone queue I let it run thinking no interest would be charged until after the due date.

If the deal ended on 12th March then you should have cleared it by then rather than waiting for the following due date. Obviously you'll be charged interest from then on. You're nowhere near as smart as you think you are.

Several cards set the end date as the first statement after the transfer expiry date - it's what my Virgin cards do. If they've only had those cards before now then no, it's not "obvious" - perhaps you're also not as smart as you think you are?

The OP is clearly being ridiculous in their accusations, but I always wonder whether they'd keep up that tone if they were politely told why they are wrong instead of the usual smart-alec, aggressive responses you get on here that just make people feel like they're under attack and presumably trigger a "fight or flight" reaction.

Slightly off topic, but I feel like people should be forced to answer a short "quiz" about the financial product they're taking out before they get approved. I know the consensus from people on here is generally "f*ck the stupid/lazy, they deserve what they get", but that's obviously not the attitude of the financial regulators etc. It would help avoid so many problems you see on here where people misunderstand a fundamental, basic aspect of credit cards etc.

The main reason people get these types of responses is because of the tone of their OP.  Posters that don't fly off the handle throwing out all sorts of frankly unfair accusations, and keep the emotive language to a minimum usually get much more neutral responses.

To quote another poster, the tone of the OP sets the tone of the replies.

callum9999

sparklep0ny said:

callum9999 said:

SuperAllyB said:

HoolyNI said:

maisie_cat said:

We had the same thing with a Tesco card a few years ago, you need to clear the balance a full month ahead or something and we were stung for £7. We fell for the same "estimated interest" line but it only happens once.
Our Sainsburys 0% ended 4th March but the payment would have been 15th, triggering an interest charge, so we paid it off in early February and no interest was charged.
They all do it, but £90 is not that much for 2 years borrowing.

My deal was only for 12 months so £95 is steep enough. I have had maybe half a dozen balance transfer cards over the years and have never paid a penny in interest on any of them. My deal ended on the 12th March and the first card wasn't cleared until the due date of 9th April, the 2nd card I attempted several times to clear it early via online banking but was prevented from doing so, rather than wasting time in a phone queue I let it run thinking no interest would be charged until after the due date.

If the deal ended on 12th March then you should have cleared it by then rather than waiting for the following due date. Obviously you'll be charged interest from then on. You're nowhere near as smart as you think you are.

Several cards set the end date as the first statement after the transfer expiry date - it's what my Virgin cards do. If they've only had those cards before now then no, it's not "obvious" - perhaps you're also not as smart as you think you are?

The OP is clearly being ridiculous in their accusations, but I always wonder whether they'd keep up that tone if they were politely told why they are wrong instead of the usual smart-alec, aggressive responses you get on here that just make people feel like they're under attack and presumably trigger a "fight or flight" reaction.

Slightly off topic, but I feel like people should be forced to answer a short "quiz" about the financial product they're taking out before they get approved. I know the consensus from people on here is generally "f*ck the stupid/lazy, they deserve what they get", but that's obviously not the attitude of the financial regulators etc. It would help avoid so many problems you see on here where people misunderstand a fundamental, basic aspect of credit cards etc.

The main reason people get these types of responses is because of the tone of their OP.  Posters that don't fly off the handle throwing out all sorts of frankly unfair accusations, and keep the emotive language to a minimum usually get much more neutral responses.

To quote another poster, the tone of the OP sets the tone of the replies.

The responses set the tone of the thread just as much as the original post does. I think many of you just relish the opportunity to be aggressive and rude. Which, given MSE is completely fine with it, is ultimately your choice. Just don't whinge when the OP invariably argues back instead of listening.

maisie_cat

HoolyNI said:

maisie_cat said:

We had the same thing with a Tesco card a few years ago, you need to clear the balance a full month ahead or something and we were stung for £7. We fell for the same "estimated interest" line but it only happens once.
Our Sainsburys 0% ended 4th March but the payment would have been 15th, triggering an interest charge, so we paid it off in early February and no interest was charged.
They all do it, but £90 is not that much for 2 years borrowing.

My deal was only for 12 months so £95 is steep enough. I have had maybe half a dozen balance transfer cards over the years and have never paid a penny in interest on any of them. My deal ended on the 12th March and the first card wasn't cleared until the due date of 9th April, the 2nd card I attempted several times to clear it early via online banking but was prevented from doing so, rather than wasting time in a phone queue I let it run thinking no interest would be charged until after the due date.

That's what we did with the Tesco card, you needed to have cleared in before 12 March or possibly before but we didn't take any chances.

sparklep0ny

callum9999 said:

sparklep0ny said:

callum9999 said:

SuperAllyB said:

HoolyNI said:

maisie_cat said:

We had the same thing with a Tesco card a few years ago, you need to clear the balance a full month ahead or something and we were stung for £7. We fell for the same "estimated interest" line but it only happens once.
Our Sainsburys 0% ended 4th March but the payment would have been 15th, triggering an interest charge, so we paid it off in early February and no interest was charged.
They all do it, but £90 is not that much for 2 years borrowing.

My deal was only for 12 months so £95 is steep enough. I have had maybe half a dozen balance transfer cards over the years and have never paid a penny in interest on any of them. My deal ended on the 12th March and the first card wasn't cleared until the due date of 9th April, the 2nd card I attempted several times to clear it early via online banking but was prevented from doing so, rather than wasting time in a phone queue I let it run thinking no interest would be charged until after the due date.

If the deal ended on 12th March then you should have cleared it by then rather than waiting for the following due date. Obviously you'll be charged interest from then on. You're nowhere near as smart as you think you are.

Several cards set the end date as the first statement after the transfer expiry date - it's what my Virgin cards do. If they've only had those cards before now then no, it's not "obvious" - perhaps you're also not as smart as you think you are?

The OP is clearly being ridiculous in their accusations, but I always wonder whether they'd keep up that tone if they were politely told why they are wrong instead of the usual smart-alec, aggressive responses you get on here that just make people feel like they're under attack and presumably trigger a "fight or flight" reaction.

Slightly off topic, but I feel like people should be forced to answer a short "quiz" about the financial product they're taking out before they get approved. I know the consensus from people on here is generally "f*ck the stupid/lazy, they deserve what they get", but that's obviously not the attitude of the financial regulators etc. It would help avoid so many problems you see on here where people misunderstand a fundamental, basic aspect of credit cards etc.

The main reason people get these types of responses is because of the tone of their OP.  Posters that don't fly off the handle throwing out all sorts of frankly unfair accusations, and keep the emotive language to a minimum usually get much more neutral responses.

To quote another poster, the tone of the OP sets the tone of the replies.

The responses set the tone of the thread just as much as the original post does. I think many of you just relish the opportunity to be aggressive and rude. Which, given MSE is completely fine with it, is ultimately your choice. Just don't whinge when the OP invariably argues back instead of listening.

Sorry, but no.  The tone of the thread was set when the OP bounded in and started hurling unfounded (and ridiculous) accusations at Sainsbury's.