Barclaycard - declined and retained...?

naturalbornspender

Hello,

I went to purchase some items thursday night using my barclaycard in a shop in town, and was a bit shocked to have my card declined - even more so when i was told they would have to retain it. The transaction gave a message on the cashier's computer that he needed to call for verification, so he did and all I heard was "yes..okay, yes she is here. okay" and then - "I'm sorry, your card has been declined and I have to retain it."

I've never gone over my £2000 limit, and always make payments over the mimimum, and always on time.

I returned home that night and called barclays, only to be passed on to EIGHT different people, cut off, told to call another number, put through to an answer phone, kept on hold for 20 minutes, and then told to ring yet another number.. I finally got through to someone this morning (had to wait because of the bank holiday..) who said it was nothing to worry about, and just a "security check" they are performing on "all of their customers" yeah right. So they're retaining EVERYONES cards?!

This makes no sense to me. Why would this happen?!

She said to get my card back I must wait for a letter through the post, and then return it with 2 pay slips, 2 bank statements and my rental agreement, just to verify my identity.

Should I make a complaint? I was relying on my card to see me through the easter weekend, and going without meant I couldn't see through the plans that I had made... this has put me out no end, I'm so frustrated!

NickX

I don't really understand this at all, but it sounds disgraceful to me.

The advice is always NEVER to let your card out of your sight. In restaurants you should insist that you watch the waiter process the card so there is no opportunity for anyone to skim the card.

For the shop to retain the card sounds criminal to me. It is YOUR property and they have no right to retain the card. In fact I would have considered calling the police to the shop in view of this being theft.

The calls you have made to Barclaycard are not satisfactory. I sounds as though they have tried to give you the "brush" off. If they are complicit to this, then I would complain in the strongest possible terms, demand compensation and threaten them with the ombudsman.

How can they advice NEVER to let the card out of your sight, then advice a retailer to keep hold of your card ?? Outrageous :mad:

steveing64

I used to have a terminal in my pub and i think it was in the agreement that if they asked you to hold on to a card you could as long as no memebers of your staff are put at risk.

If i remebr right you would get paid extra for doing this

Not sure but the card belongs to the card company so if they want back they can do

bye the way i agree it is not very nice and i am not sticking up for them

MissEyre

It sounds like your card has been compromised-the card is the property of the issuing company, and if they ask for it to be retained or returned to them, that is their right. It doesn't sound like the explanation has been good enough though-I would certainly complain and keep complaining until you are satisfied with the answer.

Good luck getting this sorted out x

sillyvixen

barclaycard dont get me started - i thought thet were the good guys, alerting me to the fact fraudalent transactions had gone through on my card within 6 hours of it happening and cancelling and reissuing my card.. when my statement came through however a further 3 transactions had gone on that were pending when they called me and have been transferred to my new card number (from the same place as the ones they alerted me to). i phoned on the 12/3 the day the bill arrived and they said they would send a dispute form and stressed it should be sent back by return.. recieved nothing chased it up on the 18th form should be with me "in the next few days" postie been today and still nothing...phoned and guess what systems down try again this afternoon.. why cant do what they say!!:mad: :mad:

naturalbornspender

I'm just angry because it was a little embarrasing when I was ahead of a long line of people waiting at the till! Also obviously, because I'm now without my card.

Al Mac - I only had to enter my pin in the shop - it went through fine. They asked me no other questions.. just declined and kept the card.

I've had the card around 5 years now.

relay

NickX wrote: »

I don't really understand this at all, but it sounds disgraceful to me.



For the shop to retain the card sounds criminal to me. It is YOUR property and they have no right to retain the card. In fact I would have considered calling the police to the shop in view of this being theft.

:mad:

I think you'll find it's the Bank's property actually. This was standard practice when i worked in retail using the old PDQ machines - if there was an issue whith the card (ie it was stolen or overdrawn) the Bank would phone directly and request us to withhold the card and return it to them cut in half - they would then send whoever retained the card a £50 reward for taking it out of circulation.

It is not the card holder's property at all & remains the property of the Bank. It is not theft or criminal for retail staff to retain it if requested to do so by the Bank. Not sure where you got that from.

How can they advice NEVER to let the card out of your sight, then advice a retailer to keep hold of your card ??

Well what would you rather they did if it were your card & it was stolen - give it back to a potential thief and say 'Have a nice day'? Trust me, Banks don't request retailers to retain cards for the fun of it.

plotholder

just had my card declined and when i queried it they say it is because "they have reveiwed my account and i can now only spend up to 95% of my limit" this means that when it says i have £x to spend i dont afterall

grrr

i dont mind this in principle as i am trying to clear my cards so if i cannot use it fine but on this occassion i needed to and had the embarrassment of it being declined in a queue of people. luckily i had another card on me so i used that.

Barc have confirmed they did not write to me to tell me this so i am awaiting a call back tomorrow with an apology.

like i said if they want to reduce my limit fine but have the decency to tell me before theydecline my card

dhassen

NickX wrote: »

It is YOUR property and they have no right to retain the card.

As others have said, it's not your property, it's the property of the card issuer. They can take it off you and do with it what they will!

relay

plotholder wrote: »

like i said if they want to reduce my limit fine but have the decency to tell me before theydecline my card

They don't tell you when they are going to do it because if they did then people would max thier cards out before the limit gets reduced.

Geenie

MissEyre wrote: »

It sounds like your card has been compromised-the card is the property of the issuing company, and if they ask for it to be retained or returned to them, that is their right. It doesn't sound like the explanation has been good enough though-I would certainly complain and keep complaining until you are satisfied with the answer.

Good luck getting this sorted out x

This happened to me last week. Barclaycard declined in Sainsburys after a big shop!!:eek: I rang later and they said it had been compromised by someone trying to get money online using my numbers and details. Not sure what was exactly done or how they were alerted it wasn't right, but they stopped the transaction straight away and cancelled the card. I got a replacement card 3 days later in the post so can't complain about them being security concious and stopping fraud, even if it was embarrassing at the time in a packed Shop.