Curve App shambles

moimoimi

After joining Curve two months ago, on day 1 I was told my account had been blocked. I've since spent the best part of two months in the most frustrating customer service experience I've ever had, to the point where I'm wondering if they are infringing on my consumer rights.

Each time I get in touch I am told that my case is being looked at and that they will get back to me, only for a week or two to go by before I ask what's going on, and get the same reply. More recently, I've twice now asked them to delete my account and data if they can not provide a timeline. Both times, I've just had essentially the same reply as before, along these lines: 'I'm so sorry for the delay and appreciate your understanding on this matter. I'll close this thread now but let me assure you that an agent will be in touch again soon'.

Another week passes, nothing happens. Is this allowed, when a customer is asking to close their account and delete their personal data if it's not being dealt with?

First time I've shared such an experience on any forum, it's been that poor...

WillPS

Curve support is shocking. 

My best advice is to raise a complaint about this by email: https://help.curve.com/how-do-i-make-a-complaint-rk2gS_2Iu

Follow up with the FOS if necessary.

flaneurs_lobster

Think I got a Curve card some years ago because they gave me a bribe. 

Never used it since. It's a card aggregator linked to some kind of cashback deal - is that right?

Vague recollection about allowing Barclaycard (or was it Amex) with Google Pay?

Is there some use case I'm missing that makes it somehow appealing?

Voyager2002

flaneurs_lobster said:

Think I got a Curve card some years ago because they gave me a bribe. 

Never used it since. It's a card aggregator linked to some kind of cashback deal - is that right?

Vague recollection about allowing Barclaycard (or was it Amex) with Google Pay?

Is there some use case I'm missing that makes it somehow appealing?

You can link your Curve card to most credit cards: you make a transaction with Curve, such as withdrawing cash overseas, and the corresponding amount gets charged to your credit card as a purchase. So there is no foreign currency 'loading' with Curve doing the currency conversion at the Mastercard rate; and if you have a cashback card you benefit from this since the card issuer sees the transaction as a purchase. 

However, the general hassle of dealing with Curve tends to outweigh the benefits of using their card... I managed to lose my card, and discovered that the app does not offer any way to report the card as lost or stolen. 

flaneurs_lobster

Voyager2002 said:

You can link your Curve card to most credit cards: you make a transaction with Curve, such as withdrawing cash overseas, and the corresponding amount gets charged to your credit card as a purchase. 

Does this work with cash withdrawals on CC in UK? 

EDIT : I've just had a look at the Curve terms and it's not clear to me that this is even true of overseas ATM withdrawals. Can anyone confirm if ATM cash withdrawals on CC via Curve appear/treated as purchases?

Voyager2002

flaneurs_lobster said:

Voyager2002 said:

You can link your Curve card to most credit cards: you make a transaction with Curve, such as withdrawing cash overseas, and the corresponding amount gets charged to your credit card as a purchase. 

Does this work with cash withdrawals on CC in UK? 

EDIT : I've just had a look at the Curve terms and it's not clear to me that this is even true of overseas ATM withdrawals. Can anyone confirm if ATM cash withdrawals on CC via Curve appear/treated as purchases?

Their T & Cs have been changing (for the worse) almost every week. When I used Curve regularly this certainly worked overseas, and did work for me once or twice in the UK. However, it probably no longer works today. Another factor is that when you make a Curve transaction, they send a code to your credit card representing the type of transaction: some credit card issuers simply treat it as a purchase while others use the card to determine that it was a "cash advance" and so charge you fees and interest. 

surreysaver

I've used Curve before. I think it used to let you undo and redo transactions?
Can't eeme why I stopped using it now 

gt94sss2

flaneurs_lobster said:

Voyager2002 said:

You can link your Curve card to most credit cards: you make a transaction with Curve, such as withdrawing cash overseas, and the corresponding amount gets charged to your credit card as a purchase. 

Can anyone confirm if ATM cash withdrawals on CC via Curve appear/treated as purchases?

It depends on the credit card in question treats the transaction.

crumpet_man

flaneurs_lobster said:

Voyager2002 said:

You can link your Curve card to most credit cards: you make a transaction with Curve, such as withdrawing cash overseas, and the corresponding amount gets charged to your credit card as a purchase. 

Does this work with cash withdrawals on CC in UK? 

EDIT : I've just had a look at the Curve terms and it's not clear to me that this is even true of overseas ATM withdrawals. Can anyone confirm if ATM cash withdrawals on CC via Curve appear/treated as purchases?

Some CC treat it as cash advance, some treat as a purchase. 

Also relevant are the limits for the different Curve membership tiers: free Curve has no fee free ATM use, 2% or £2 whichever is higher.  

flaneurs_lobster

crumpet_man said:

flaneurs_lobster said:

Voyager2002 said:

You can link your Curve card to most credit cards: you make a transaction with Curve, such as withdrawing cash overseas, and the corresponding amount gets charged to your credit card as a purchase. 

Does this work with cash withdrawals on CC in UK? 

EDIT : I've just had a look at the Curve terms and it's not clear to me that this is even true of overseas ATM withdrawals. Can anyone confirm if ATM cash withdrawals on CC via Curve appear/treated as purchases?

Some CC treat it as cash advance, some treat as a purchase. 

Also relevant are the limits for the different Curve membership tiers: free Curve has no fee free ATM use, 2% or £2 whichever is higher.  

Yep, all confirms pretty much why it was used once then stuffed in a drawer. 

Fingerbobs

Curve was useful when it first came out, but then they started removing more and more features from the "free" offering and adding them to paid tiers. The main selling point of the card was that you could aggregate all your different cards into one - but they then withdrew even this feature from the free tier, limiting you to two linked cards (I think) rendering the free tier utterly useless for most people. 
The final nail in the Curve coffin for me was when they started charging the ATM withdrawal fee on cashback obtained in a supermarket.