New card - Abbey Zero

HamiltonL

beniamino wrote: »

I went into a branch today, 2.5 months after my application, and 1.5 months after sending in the credit agreement. The person working there told me that I had been added as a customer to Abbey's system, but there were no products associated with me -- in other words, no record of a credit card application. I asked him what could have happened to the credit card agreement, and the photocopies of my passport and driver's licence that I sent to Abbey. He said the only possibility was that they had been lost in the post, because otherwise they would have been registered on the system under my name.

He suggested I reapply for the card, but I'm tired of this whole saga, so I just asked him to remove my details from the system altogether. I'm really worried about the ID theft possibilities, given that my documents have gone astray.

Sorry for the delays you had in applying for the card. However I can assure you any copies of ID you sent will have been destroyed after verification. I know of a minority who have got confused and sent off the authentic documents, but in these situations Abbey would return them, as far as I know individually for security reasons.

HamiltonL

cardmaster wrote: »

Think I should have read this thread before I applied for an Abbey Zero Card.
Applied at the end of August, sent the CCA back in the first week of Sept and then nothing.

Wasn't too worried I had until 10th Oct to BT onto another card before I started getting charged interest.

Checked with Abbey on 22nd Sept 'Whats happening?' and was just told not to worry the card processing has a backlog. Called back a week later (29th Sept) and was then told that they had no record of my card being generated. Again don't worry, customer services would action the card to be generated.

Called again just now. Appparently my CCA must have been lost, so no card can be generated, they're sending me another to complete.

This leaves me with not enough time to do my BT before I start getting charged.

Lesson here.... Abbey's customer service has a woeful reputation for good reason.... Steer clear.

Your details should still be on the system so I'm not entirely sure what the CSA you spoke to meant. My guess - albeit just a guess - is that the card (PIN first) will be sent out shortly, but there is a delay finalising your application/return due to backlog. Please let us know if you receive/hear anything from Abbey about your application soon.

HamiltonL

jody04c wrote: »

My mortgage is with Abbey and I have a Cahoot Savings and Current Account... Never had any problems with any of these but to my horror, the saga with My Never Appearing Abbey Zero Card continues... Applied on the 28th August and after much callingand follow ups was told it was accepted.. CCA sent to me which I signed and returned the very next day.. This was four weeks ago... They say they can see no record of the forms so emailed some department to send me new forms.. This was 3 weeks ago!!!! Called them again and was told I have to wait another week to allow the remote possiblilty of the orignal forms being found or the replacement forms being delivered to me.... WHAT A JOKE!!!

I assume there is a backlog of approvals awaiting review so the PINs and cards can be sent out. Sorry for your delays, but you should hopefully get your card by the end of the month.

HamiltonL

shobba wrote: »

Applied for AZ card beginning of August and got accepted, they sent me an agreement pack which I signed and returned. No card was forthcoming. I made multiple calls over the following couple of months, noone knew what was going on - they said it must be lost in the post, they would send me another agreement pack etc. Nothing ever happened.

The interest free period on my Sainsbury's bank card comes to an end, so I sort out an Ulster Bank card and do a Balance Transfer to clear the balance. (Very speedy and smooth process by the way).

Spoke to Abbey and asked them to canx the BT which was now no longer required- they put it in the notes and said they would. Just to be safe I wrote a (recorded delivery) letter to Abbey at Grafton Gate East, saying please do not do the Balance Transfer.

Beginning of October Abbey finally get around to issuing me a PIN number (which means the card will follow shortly). I check the Sainsbury's credit card just in case. Sure enough Abbey's done the balance transfer which I'd asked them not to, so giving me a large positive balance on the Sainsbury's card.

The Sainsbury's card is blocked. They can't pay me out the cash. They tell me to contact Abbey to get the BT reversed. I contact Abbey. Abbey can't do anything until I get a credit card number, which I don't have because I don't have a credit card yet. The agent tells me reversing the balance transfer will be a 6-7 week process.

So:- my original card is blocked, the Ulster Bank card has no space due to the Balance Transfer. I don't have an Abbey Zero card yet, and when I get it, it may well be maxed out but the agent doesn't know because I can't give him the card details he doesn't know my limit.

I think unfortunately Abbey may not be willing to recall the BT if you stated it on the application. Given the problems you have had though I think Abbey should make the effort to sort that out and hopefully that is what they are doing. If you contact Abbey on 0845 602 1582 when you get the card they should be able to start clearing up the situation.

Regarding the application it seems to have been the same problem with delays I mentioned in previous posts tonight.

Hope this gets sorted soon. Please keep MSE updated with any news.

Cloudane

So this card has 6 months of 0% on purchases right?

Mine has an August expiry so if I made a big purchase (looks in Apple's direction) as long as I paid it off in full before the end of January I wouldn't pay any interest?

Just want to be sure before I stick 2 fingers up at the credit crunch and splurge on a laptop that I know I can pay off in full by the end of January.

I've messed around with different cards and accounts more than enough over the past 6-12 months so I'd rather use this existing one than apply for some other 0% card. The credit reference agencies are probably dizzy enough already

Volcane

The rumopurs are that this card is gonna be withdrawn within a month according to a stoozing newsletter I've received.

Maybe it's a good thing with all the grief it's causing!

Cloudane

I'm not surprised; it's too good a deal in today's economic climate.

Hopefully for now they'll just stop accepting applications if they do, rather than closing cards down and demanding the money back within 30 days or whatever they would do.

kittykat23uk

Well, a pin number arrived in the post today. I wonder how long the card will take to arrive.

HamiltonL

Cloudane wrote: »

So this card has 6 months of 0% on purchases right?

Mine has an August expiry so if I made a big purchase (looks in Apple's direction) as long as I paid it off in full before the end of January I wouldn't pay any interest?

That's right. Buying a laptop shouldn't be a problem either.

As for the PIN arriving, finally some good news. The card should arrive towards the end of next week.

Cloudane

Thanks HamiltonL. That will do for me.

I know in 6 months time we could well be heading for the next Great Depression if not in it already, so really my attitude right now is to just enjoy things, spend freely (without getting into any long-term debt) and enjoy it while we can.

As an aside, I get the impression you're posting in your free time here in which case hats off to your dedication! Ironically, the company would probably hate staff communicating unofficially, but you're doing a far better job than any of the official customer service based on what people are posting here. I'd just like to remind everyone that a volunteer is a volunteer, and should not be abused or held responsible for whatever happens while he's not even being paid.