I want to make a complaint about MBNA...

Pobtastic

Okay so I had a credit card with Abbey through MBNA and just recently they've transferred all their customers over to MBNA completely (so Abbey have nothing to do with them any more). I received my card this morning and so I rang up to activate it...

The operator answered and asked for my name, date of birth and place of birth... Bearing in mind that my passport arrived at the end of last week and was left in my outside mailbox all day before I picked it up when I finished work, anyone could have gotten to this information. Then the operator asked for my Mothers maiden name, which I gave... "Sorry that's not what I have here?" - well that's odd... So I say, "that's impossible - my Mothers maiden name doesn't change, it's McNotthisreally"... So the operator asks "do you have a password set up on your account?" so I reply, "not that I'm aware of..." - and here's the moment you've all been patiently waiting for, he then asks me "so what's **** then?" THIS IS THE PASSWORD ON MY ACCOUNT!!! I'd forgotten that I'd even set one and surely the operator shouldn't be just telling it to me? At that point he hadn't actually completed verifying who I am, it transpires that he thought my password *was* my Mothers maiden name and that's why he thought it was incorrect... Absolute rubbish... Especially as my password is the most unlikely surname ever.

So I spoke to a customer services supervisor, who managed to convince me to keep my account open. I received a £25 credit on my account (which I'd said I wasn't bothered about anyway - but yes, it's better than nothing...) and the promise of a 0% money transfer??? She explained that I could 'borrow' money at 0% for up to a year and put it in a high interest account, surely it isn't ethical to suggest this? Especially in the current economic climate...

Anyways, I'm still angry (it only happened about an hour ago) and the card remains inactivated until I can make up my mind whether to trust them or not with my finances. I feel like I want to complain further, all this emphasis has been put on us to keep our security details private yet what's the point when the companies we deal with aren't bothered about keeping them secure themselves?

Pobster

CannyJock

Take the £25, take them up on their offer of 0%, ask them for an increased credit limit and an extension to the 0% period then do a balance transfer directly into a high interest savings account, repay them the minimum by direct debit and clear the balance before the 0% period runs out.

Count the interest you've made from them and have a drink or two at their expense to make you feel better

Pobtastic

Well... I do have a £25,000 credit limit so whilst yes, this does sound like a tempting idea - I'm not really in dire need of extra money, I've just had an £8k tax rebate a week ago as well... When the supervisor asked me literally "what I wanted?" I replied that I wanted the op fired and I really, really do think that's justified even if it was only said out of anger. Of course, the supervisor replied that's not an option, but well I really do feel a complete loss of trust in them and all I got to remedy the situation was a "sorry", £25 in my pocket and nothing much else. This is the sort of thing you read in newspapers, that a credit card company gave out a password over the phone - surely there's more to be done than just accept it?

Pobster

CannyJock

Stooze 95% of the 25K, put the money into a Kaupthing Edge online saver account and according to the stoozing calculator (http://www.stoozing.com/calc.htm) you'll make £ 515.43 from them.

How's that for compensation? The CS person you spoke to will get absolutely slaughtered for the mess they made of the call (recorded for training and security purposes).

If you do decide to write and complain, you'll get further if you have the date, time of the call and the name of the person you spoke to and ideally the call centre team number.

jamalfatty

You volunteered more than enough information than the industry guidelines say you need to verify your identity with name / DOB / place of birth - plus if you had ever called them before from your number then that would also serve to further verify you are who you say you are.

NickX

Pobtastic wrote: »

So I spoke to a customer services supervisor, who managed to convince me to keep my account open. I received a £25 credit on my account (which I'd said I wasn't bothered about anyway - but yes, it's better than nothing...) and the promise of a 0% money transfer??? She explained that I could 'borrow' money at 0% for up to a year and put it in a high interest account, surely it isn't ethical to suggest this? Especially in the current economic climate...

Hey forget the original CS rep and all the security stuff, that doesn't really matter.

You should buy the supervisor a beer :beer: because she has told you about one of the best tricks of using credit cards - known as Stoozing, that is borrowing money on the card at a low rate, and investing it at a higher rate that will make you a profit. Loads of stuff on the site from Martin on this, and the excellent stoozing site, www.stoozing.com

In addition you've made an extra £25, enough for a nice meal out.

As for the current economic climate, it really isn't going to make any difference. They money that the credit card company lose by lending you the money at 0% will be vastly out-weighed by all the other customers who are paying extortionate interest rates. You have an opportunity to play the Credit Card companies at their own game. This is a Good News post IMO :j

youknowwho

You said that your passport has been in your mailbox all morning with all that info on... Well how the hell is MBNA meant to know that? you said it as if it was their fault?? yes you have a basis for a complaint, but i dont think that you can complain that they aren't physic!

The advisor shouldn't have given your password - correct, they will be disciplined about that. Take your 25 quid "compensation" and shut the account. You said you dont want them dealing with your finances (even though it is their money that you are borrowing, so really its their finances)