Co-operative Refer a Friend Switching Offer £125 (Nov 2022)

dcs34

Dustybee said:

I've received a reply to my 'please review your refusal' message.

They state "the terms and conditions state you cant have

another incentive as you opened an account with us November 2022 and closed the following month after the initial RAF £125.00 was paid"

As the terms and conditions are not that explicit, the next step is the Ombudsman then.

Ask them where exactly in the terms and conditions it says that?

ForumUser7

dcs34 said:

Dustybee said:

I've received a reply to my 'please review your refusal' message.

They state "the terms and conditions state you cant have

another incentive as you opened an account with us November 2022 and closed the following month after the initial RAF £125.00 was paid"

As the terms and conditions are not that explicit, the next step is the Ombudsman then.

Ask them where exactly in the terms and conditions it says that?

^I second this. Usually, if it isn't in the terms, it makes the banks fold like a house of cards.

Co-op must think they have a leg to stand on, because the switching bonus is less than it'd cost them to refer to FOS (IIRC £750 per case, but unsure if bulk discount). That said, I don't know what it is they are relying on - perhaps just that most won't refer to FOS.

Dustybee

@forumuser7 & @dcs34

I presume they are relying on :

3.6 The Recommended Friend is entitled to only one payment even if they switch more than one account to us or if more than one Recommender refers them.

Although this is non-specific in covering 'previous offers' of the refer-a-friend.

Do you think it is worth me querying this with them first?

flaneurs_lobster

Dustybee said:

@forumuser7 & @dcs34

I presume they are relying on :

3.6 The Recommended Friend is entitled to only one payment even if they switch more than one account to us or if more than one Recommender refers them.

Although this is non-specific in covering 'previous offers' of the refer-a-friend.

Do you think it is worth me querying this with them first?

As others have said, if you are serious about making a formal complaint then you have to ask the question about their refusal to pay, "which specific term or condition are you referring to and where is it published". You can't rely on your presumption. 

youngretired

Dustybee said:

@forumuser7 & @dcs34

I presume they are relying on :

3.6 The Recommended Friend is entitled to only one payment even if they switch more than one account to us or if more than one Recommender refers them.

Although this is non-specific in covering 'previous offers' of the refer-a-friend.

Do you think it is worth me querying this with them first?

We raised complaints for December's referral being declined for this reason and the complaint handler stated that this clause refers to all Refer a Friend incentives as they are all the same scheme. We have gone to the Ombudsman as their T&C's aren't clear and we know people have managed to get 2 incentives. We thought because the T&C's for the £125 did not include a "as from date" and the number of referrals were changed then this was a different scheme to the £50. 

dcs34

youngretired said:

Dustybee said:

@forumuser7 & @dcs34

I presume they are relying on :

3.6 The Recommended Friend is entitled to only one payment even if they switch more than one account to us or if more than one Recommender refers them.

Although this is non-specific in covering 'previous offers' of the refer-a-friend.

Do you think it is worth me querying this with them first?

We raised complaints for December's referral being declined for this reason and the complaint handler stated that this clause refers to all Refer a Friend incentives as they are all the same scheme. We have gone to the Ombudsman as their T&C's aren't clear and we know people have managed to get 2 incentives. We thought because the T&C's for the £125 did not include a "as from date" and the number of referrals were changed then this was a different scheme to the £50. 

And again, where in the T&Cs does it say this limitation covers all previous iterations of refer-a-friend scheme (given no details of these are in the current T&Cs), and not just the current offer period (which, given it doesn't say, would be the most obvious interpretation).

They can't expect customers to be mind readers and shouldn't try to hide behind shoddy/ambiguous T&Cs. All it would have taken is 13 more words in clause 3.6: "...one payment [in total from this offer and any prior referrals under previous refer-a-friend offers] even if...") or just stick another clause in to say you only count as a new Co-op customer if you haven't had an account since XX/XX/2023.

@Dustybee

You should ask them what specific part of the T&Cs this is stated in, and say that if you don't receive a satisfactory answer you will be escalating a complaint to the FOS. 

They will try to fob you off with generic T&Cs responses, assuming that most customers don't read them (in the same way the customer service agent probably hasn't!). If you sound confident and knowledgeable about your position and rights to redress then I'd expect a 'sensible' decision from them that £125 is less than £750 + more staff time responding to the complaint!

flaneurs_lobster

dcs34 said:

If you sound confident and knowledgeable about your position and rights to redress then I'd expect a 'sensible' decision from them that £125 is less than £750 + more staff time responding to the complaint!

£250, referrer and referee £125 each.

Alex9384

Should I start a new thread for this??

Seems like Coop are trying to avoid the pay out... This is what I received today.

Just to clarify. I have not benefited from this offer. I benefited from their £50 offer last summer, which was a separate offer, not "this offer". Right or wrong? I was referred by a friend and got the bonus in July 2022, then I closed my account after 4 months or so. Then I opened another one on the 1st Feb 23 and the switch completed yesterday 3/3/23. So I was referred again but this time by a different friend and for a different offer.

Nowhere in their T&C can I see any clause saying that you can only get bonus from Coop once in a lifetime. Neither I can see stated any time period you need to wait after receiving one switch bonus in order to be eligible for another switch bonus. This was discussed on the forum as soon as this £125 popped up. That was the reason I decided to switch to Coop again.

So, on what grounds are they refusing to pay me out?

Edit:
Normally banks have T&C saying "you are not eligible for the offer if you've received one since XX...". Coop don't have anything like that in their T&C. Am I right?

Dustybee

@Alex9384

You are not alone.

If you read the last two or so pages there are a number of us in the same boat.

The consensus is complain with the facts you have stated and if no joy with that, take the matter to the FOS.

Bridlington1

@Alex9384 welcome to the club. If you complain the response will probably be something along the lines of "sorry but you're not a new customer" followed by a "we'll send you a final response letter, you're free to take the matter to the FOS if you're not satisfied". They were quite quick to give me this response in my case.