Fluid balance transfer scam (just to get new customers?)

lanarkshire

Original question remains:
Has anyone actually been able to balance transfer to Fluid 0% card?

If MSE web site endorses this deal as their top pick for 0% for poor credit scorers, 
can MSE staff ask Fluid if their 0% balance transfer actually exists ?

if no user appears to have managed to balance transfer, then we may have been fished in to Fluid on false pretences?

msallen

• If you want to communicate with MSE staff then you need to do that direct, not post on this forum and hope they see it.
• As has already been explained it is simply not conceivable that this is a deliberate ploy to get people to "sign up" but without any intention of letting them do BTs. You are making yourself look silly by bringing it up again
• Do you and your colleagues live close together? There could be a problem with a certain post code area or street etc.

Thrugelmir

Perhaps it's a temporary technical issue. Try again in a couple of days. All four of you meet the full criteria for balance transfer eligibility? 

Sandtree

lanarkshire said:

All you could do is ask Fluid what the issue is, and how to correct it.

Asked Fluid, and they can't help.
Unusual 4 users all have same issue?

Unusual? Not really... thats the nature of random things.


There was an article a while back from a music service, think it was Spotify, that they originally did the "random shuffle" to be as mathematically random as is possible but they got lots of complaints from people saying that its clearly not random because it played the same song 5 times in a row or it played the whole playlist in order. These events are improbable for a single user but with millions of customers improbable becomes an almost certainty.

So they changed it, they added more rules to the random shuffle which actually made it less random but the complaints dropped. People struggle to understand that uncommon events happen fairly frequently. 

Same as the birthday thing, with just 23 people there is 50% chance that at least two have the same birthday. 

ThisnotThat

lanarkshire said:

Original question remains:
Has anyone actually been able to balance transfer to Fluid 0% card?

If MSE web site endorses this deal as their top pick for 0% for poor credit scorers, 
can MSE staff ask Fluid if their 0% balance transfer actually exists ?

if no user appears to have managed to balance transfer, then we may have been fished in to Fluid on false pretences?

And what would they gain from that?  They'd have paid money to set up new accounts (credit checks/administration/printing cards) and possibly even affiliate money to MSE and they'd end up with a bunch of cheesed off customers who can't compete the offer they signed up to and would presumably either cancel the account or leave the card in a drawer unused.

Usually the purpose of a scam is to financial enrich the scammer.  Here they're apparently flushing money down the toilet and ruining their reputation to boot. Not exactly the hallmarks of a scam.

born_again

lanarkshire said:

If MSE web site endorses this deal as their top pick for 0% for poor credit scorers, 
can MSE staff ask Fluid if their 0% balance transfer actually exists ?

if no user appears to have managed to balance transfer, then we may have been fished in to Fluid on false pretences?

We don't pre-moderate the forum, 

 https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/forum-faqs

MSE make money of referrals. That is why ML was so rich, I think he mad a 6 figure sum per year in referrals.  Prior to selling the name.

Sandtree

born_again said:

MSE make money of referrals. That is why ML was so rich, I think he mad a 6 figure sum per year in referrals.  Prior to selling the name.

You think it was only 6 figures? In 2019 it was £48m in revenue and £32.8m operating profit pre tax. Obviously he exited in 2012 with what was rumoured to be a high 8 digit number.

It was the only unlimited liability company I had ever come across, but the advantage of being unlimited is you don't have to publish accounts... looks embarrassing making so much money from being a consumer champion. 

[Deleted User]

Sandtree said:

born_again said:

MSE make money of referrals. That is why ML was so rich, I think he mad a 6 figure sum per year in referrals.  Prior to selling the name.

You think it was only 6 figures? In 2019 it was £48m in revenue and £32.8m operating profit pre tax. Obviously he exited in 2012 with what was rumoured to be a high 8 digit number.

It was the only unlimited liability company I had ever come across, but the advantage of being unlimited is you don't have to publish accounts... looks embarrassing making so much money from being a consumer champion. 

To be fair, he has given away lots to charity and still works hard to push consumer rights even if some things might be a bit misguided or they didn't prepare for unforeseen consequences e.g. on the overdrafts change

Sandtree

Deleted_User said:
some things might be a bit misguided or they didn't prepare for unforeseen consequences e.g. on the overdrafts change

Having worked with a business that was actively championed by him prior to moving away from MSE pretty much the only due diligence was alignment on rhetoric and commission amounts to be paid.  The business itself was a pure tied agent selling a single off the shelf product simply white labelled to them. There were dozens of others selling the identical product for around the same price and some were bigger organisations so call centers werent just business hours etc. 

I dont fundamentally have issues with someone having a highly profitable ethical business but I find the holier than thou elements jarring, that this is very much a for profits organisation is somewhat hidden in the small print and would highly challenge the multiple claims over the years that there are "no ads". Sure you can't just pay to have a banner at the top of the page but its not a high hurdle to get them to include paid referral links to you in the next editorial piece on your subject matter. 

OceanSound

Sandtree said:

OceanSound said:
I would have thought this is vastly prevented by having customer enter postcode then select house/flat number or name from drop down box.

Although, occasionally a particular flat or house doesn't come up and then you have to enter everything manually.

....Plus just because they source the data from the PAF file doesnt mean they use the same data structure to hold it.

Do you mind posting examples of threads/posts to do with other financial institutions (I have to say this instead of 'bank' because heaven forbid calling a financial institution that is not a 'bank'  a 'bank' will make some members really stroppy) where customer(s) was/were having issues due to this issue.

It's really interesting how on this forum that most issues are blamed on customer in an instant, but when a financial institution makes a screw up, it's just an error, mistake, misunderstanding, result of a 'new' staff member (because obviously senior staff never make mistakes ) or other 'things that people don't understand'. 

Some members are obviously hung up on the op's use of word 'scam', rather than admit that this company's system and staff are rubbish.