Complaint to CC company - compensation mentioned

Upbeat_84

Hi all,

I applied for a new 0% credit card on 28th March. Received confirmation of the application immediately and was advised I would hear within 5 days whether I'm approved. I went via MSE and did a pre-approval check so was fairly confident I'd be accepted as I have an excellent credit score, never miss payments etc.

5 days came & went, heard nothing. Called them and was advised I've been approved but that they're very busy hence delay and to expect something in another couple of days. Again, nothing came through so called them. Was told they'd sent a "Live Sign" link but I never received anything, nothing in spam etc. They advised they would need to send it again and it would be another few days and that someone would also call me. Again nothing and no real clarity on what's actually going on. Repeat the same process every few days with them promising call backs, emails etc and not providing them, me spending hours on the phone calling them until yesterday when, after being told it would be yet another week, I asked to be put through to someone else to make a complaint. At this point I'm in a bit of a tight spot as I should've have had the card well before now.

After quite a bit of resistance from the agent on the call (and over an hour on the phone) they finally put me through to someone who is handling my complaint who seems like he wants to get it resolved ASAP. He made a few calls internally and assured me I would receive something same day. Again, nothing came through. I called up earlier and he checked their end and nothing has been sent.

I've just now received another confirmation of a credit card application from them even though I have the original from 28th March when I actually applied - I haven't applied again. As well as that I've also had an email regarding another hard search done on me so I'm not sure what's going on - I'm waiting on them to call me.

Anyway, the complaint handler has also mentioned that he would like to discuss compensation with me. Fundamentally I just want my 0% credit card ASAP as some unexpected things have come up that I need it for and I'm worried I won't be approved if I try for a different one with a different company. As far as compensation goes I'm not sure what I would be looking at and wondered if anyone had any experience of this? presumably it's just going to be a token goodwill gesture, I have absolutely no idea. Do they take into consideration your situation and issues created by the delays etc?

Thanks in advance.

MeteredOut

Unless you can show a loss (eg, the additional hard search caused you to get a loan at a higher APR than you otherwise would have received), I'd say a gesture of goodwill is all you can expect.

Nasqueron

I complained about a card where they were paying off the balance with the later end date before the one with the sooner one meaning I had to change payments and pay more on the card to clear the card before any interest was paid and I got a £25 sum. 

You would need to demonstrate some sort of material loss as per previous post to get anything more - you had a delay and a mess around which is poor from them but your issue needing a 0% card is not something you could be expected to be compensated for. It's not their fault you need a 0% card and you could have been rejected anyway meaning you had to make other arrangements. As such a token gesture (sub £100) is most likely but you never know with lenders.

Hoenir

Upbeat_84 said:

 Fundamentally I just want my 0% credit card ASAP as some unexpected things have come up that I need it for and I'm worried I won't be approved if I try for a different one with a different company.

That's not compensation though. Whether they grant a card or not is a commercial decision based on set criteria not goodwill. 

ManyWays

You have gone through a considerable hassle and Tesco don't seem to have come up with any good reason so I suggest asking for £100. 

Nasqueron

ManyWays said:

You have gone through a considerable hassle and Tesco don't seem to have come up with any good reason so I suggest asking for £100. 

You don't ask providers for a compensation amount particularly in this case when it's simply a credit card application which has dragged on, admittedly for a long time, but it's not caused a material loss for OP. £25-£50 is likely at most but as I said above, they might do a gesture of a bit more.

DullGreyGuy

Nasqueron said:

ManyWays said:

You have gone through a considerable hassle and Tesco don't seem to have come up with any good reason so I suggest asking for £100. 

You don't ask providers for a compensation amount particularly in this case when it's simply a credit card application which has dragged on, admittedly for a long time, but it's not caused a material loss for OP. £25-£50 is likely at most but as I said above, they might do a gesture of a bit more.

You can ask for whatever you want, you just have a snowballs chance of getting £100 for delayed credit card application. I'd agree in the £25-£50 range and its always questionable of if asking for far more than its possibly worth is going to result in a higher offer to get as close to what you want as possible or a very low offer as they think you are taking the !!!!!! and so go in the other extreme

TheBanker

Most organisations have a standard 'tariff' of compensation amounts, so there is no need to ask the customer how much they would like, or for the customer to propose an amount.

If the issue caused the customer to incur additional costs (direct costs which can be proven, not made up costs like time spent making phone calls) then they may be reimbursed in addition.

But, did they ever actually confirm you'd been accepted? In my view, a delay in dealing with an application should not result in compensation given there was no guarantee the credit facility would be provided. If the had accepted you then delayed actually setting up the account there is perhaps a stronger case, since at that point it would be harder to get another card elsewhere due to their credit search. 

ManyWays

Nasqueron said:

ManyWays said:

You have gone through a considerable hassle and Tesco don't seem to have come up with any good reason so I suggest asking for £100. 

You don't ask providers for a compensation amount particularly in this case when it's simply a credit card application which has dragged on, admittedly for a long time, but it's not caused a material loss for OP. £25-£50 is likely at most but as I said above, they might do a gesture of a bit more.

I don't agree. This isn't just a slow process, it is one where the poster has been told several times it has been sorted or someone will call him but nothing happened. The compensation is for extremely poor customer service, not the delay in itself.

DullGreyGuy

ManyWays said:

Nasqueron said:

ManyWays said:

You have gone through a considerable hassle and Tesco don't seem to have come up with any good reason so I suggest asking for £100. 

You don't ask providers for a compensation amount particularly in this case when it's simply a credit card application which has dragged on, admittedly for a long time, but it's not caused a material loss for OP. £25-£50 is likely at most but as I said above, they might do a gesture of a bit more.

I don't agree. This isn't just a slow process, it is one where the poster has been told several times it has been sorted or someone will call him but nothing happened. The compensation is for extremely poor customer service, not the delay in itself.

But compensation is still based on...

1) what the persons actual losses are

2) the level of distress, worry and other soft aspects a normal person would have received.

In the UK punitive damages are illegal, someone cannot be awarded large damages because of the scale of the mistake made by the defendant only the level of damage sustained by the claimant. 

In a recent complant to the FOS a banking group not only told me mistruths but initially told the Ombudsman a series of lies. Eventually they admitted to this fact but the compensation to me wasnt changed. I couldn't see something important online and from a compensation perspective it didnt matter if it was a temporary glitch in the system or a limitation of the system. The FCA potentially would be interested and could fine them but that goes into their coffers and doesn't increase what I get. 

Nasqueron

ManyWays said:

Nasqueron said:

ManyWays said:

You have gone through a considerable hassle and Tesco don't seem to have come up with any good reason so I suggest asking for £100. 

You don't ask providers for a compensation amount particularly in this case when it's simply a credit card application which has dragged on, admittedly for a long time, but it's not caused a material loss for OP. £25-£50 is likely at most but as I said above, they might do a gesture of a bit more.

I don't agree. This isn't just a slow process, it is one where the poster has been told several times it has been sorted or someone will call him but nothing happened. The compensation is for extremely poor customer service, not the delay in itself.

Sure but it's not worth more than £25-£50 in most cases because OP has not incurred a quantifiable loss - they applied for a card, the bank doesn't have to give them it, if they simply said no, OP would have to move on. Not calling back and delays is poor service but that does not equate to a financial loss so no significant amount is due