Although they say 0% for balance transfers and 0% for purchases for a certain number of months but they try and pull every trick out of the hat just like a common thug conman to disqualify you from the advertised offers.

I have returned my Capital One card for these reasons, and could understand them being crooks,

but our own BarclayCard is beginning to surprise me .

Anyone with similar experiences, and I am as positive as anyone can be that there must be more than meets the eye.

sb

will on the weekend eco_warrior,

in the meantime wanted to see if there were others who have not been getting what was advertised or told.

this week will be capital one and their scam, and i would just dare them to challenge me. by the way i returned their worthless piece of plastic to them, without ever having used it.

next week will be barclaycard , and the challenge will be open to them too

ok here we go

i apply for a capital one card and in my application i also mention that i might transfer a balance of x

there card on offer was offering 0% for purchases for approx 1 year

and 0% on balance transfers for a lot lesser period plus a balance transfer charge.

my card was approved and upon my telephonic inquiry i was told that a credit limit of 1.5x was approved

and would i like to make a balance transfer . I said no .

upon receiving my card and when i rang to activate it and seek further info for i wanted to make a purchase equivalent to x, i was informed that my credit approved was 1/3x.

i told them that that was not true and they would have the telephone records to prove that i was approved a credit of 1.5x.

they did not budge and offered one excuse after another, but i told them what to do with their card, and i was tearing off this worthless piece of junk and to close my account pronto.

moral of the story

these card guys are advertising offers to entice people to apply

once they get decent customers they try and play tricks(cons) to get them onto not the best credit that they have advertised but to get them on the worst possible for the full inflated repayments to start soonest.

barclaycard is next week.

now to the story of barclaycard

remember barclaycard is still offering their card with 0% balance transfer for 14 months

anyway

I apply for a card in June which is accepted and am told my card will be with me soon.

I receive the PIN but no card till August inspite of my repeated reminders and am given one story after another

1. their suppliers are out of cards

2. they have sent the card and need to send me another one as the first one must have got lost in the post.

Finally I receive my card in August.

Call same day to make a balance transfer and am told it is not 0% but 5 or 6%.

Have a dispute and they promise to come back in 2 weeks time.

Having not heard from them 5 days after the promised time with excuses that the person was not well etc, I am told that my 0% is till May 09. Tell the person that this is ridiculous. He apologises and says it is his mistake that he did not communicate the correct message to the promotions team. Rewrites to them and promises to come back in 1 week. Surprise surprise, have not heard from him since.

Anyways talk to someone else in Customer Services who says the same 5 or 6% .

Tell him this is wrong. Comes back and says OK 0% till May 09. Again argue with him and this time he says that for the 0% for 14 months I had to make the balance transfer with the first 60 days.

Explain to him that I had not got the card for 60 days so I could not have made the transfer and he would have records to prove it. Goes and talks to supervisor who says OK will do 0% for 14 months but cannot do it over the phone and will have to send me a special letter to make the transfer. Says I should receive this letter in a couple of days and he will call back in 1 week to confirm if all has gone OK.

Surprise surprise, have not heard from him either.

Having not heard from either or anyone, email Barclaycard complaints, who say will try to resolve in 1 month.

Exactly 1 month later they come back and need 1 more month.

Have written to them

that it is not rocket science we are trying to resolve, as to why booster 2 did not fire

and as i gave them the cake on a plate(ie gave them the list of all communications and details thereof)

they should have had all my communications documented as that is the least of the requirements of efficient organizations under the ISOs', and hence this case should have been resolved in a week if not days. All they have to do is pull up the file. How long does that take?

Excuse me if I smell a rat and the smell originates from Barclaycard as an organization.

The bigger you are the bigger the con you have to be. The markets and collapse of financial institutions are enough proof for the smaller guys like you and me. Also if you all have been following the mobile cash back scams it will tell you something about large organizations.

One more thing, they say they cannot transfer the whole amount available as a certain percentage of the amount is only available as cash.

It is one fib after another.

Like I said they entice customers with lucrative offers and having got them stuck/trapped con their way into other offers where the payments come back sooner at a higher rate.

Now is this a scam or not a scam.

Barclaycard are open to comment and or challenge that this is not a scam.

I dont think its a scam, i think its dreadful service.

I've not heard of a card ever having a portion set aside as cash only either, seems rather pointless to me.

Have you given up on them?

eco

i would have thought of it as shoddy service and standards too

had the stories not been changing so much

looks like they have been passively discouraging me to do the balance transfer.

Eco my friend this is definately a scam, trust me these guys are big cons.

read my other post re dyson on vaccum cleaners

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/poor-dyson-and-their-money-spinners-26030.aspx

Being someone who works in customer service i appreciate that the story can change depending on who you speak to.

Doesnt seem like an effective scam to provide rubbish service whilst making no money off the customer as everything from the word go has been a mess.

eco my friend

i can understand the change of stories from lesser and smaller organizations, who do not have computerized records.

Also the fact that these are standard items and offers as far as they are concerned, so why should there be so many different stories.

Add the fact that these people are now taking 2 months to investigate one small matter, does not sound right.

Of course they want to make money and hence they are renegaging from their original terms. Remember original was 0% for 14 months.

After 60 days of card issue cannot take this offer, etc

They are trying to push me into something which starts to make them money straight away.

These are very deliberate tactics which the whole organization is aware of.

Both the companies are cons.

Its all about opinions SB

The 60 day rule they mention is standard across card companies although the periods differ. The transfer needs to be actioned in the time period to qualify for the 14 months. So thats not a scams as it will be in the terms and conditions.

I work in cards (RBS) and the the service you have received is awful and the problem with Barclays should have been resolved within days. From what you have said they have tied you in to the wrong product (ie card)

Guess ive got my bankers head on for this one :-D

thanks eco about being objective, unlike the other idiot who keeps popping in and i guess is bumped off. good moderation.

i guess i can discuss point by point with you as to why these guys are not so much awful service in comparison to being decietful.

as an example and rightly so you think it is a wrong product they have tied me into.

if you read my earlier post and the guy saying to me that i needed to transfer within 60 days for the 14 months offer in itself is saying that the product was right.

him accepting that they would extend the offer further for me for no fault of mine and would send me a letter in itself is admittance that the product is and was right.

now not following up on the same especially when there must be notes of and to the conversation where even the supervisor comes in

and still requiring 30 days initially with a further 30 day extension for investigations is not just pathetic and shameful but downright passive proverbial shove.

this is not wanting or reneging on a business in which there are hardly any initial margins.

i think i have rightly so asked them to waive the transfer charges and to pick up the interest charges for the balance that i needed to transfer

I guess i am just being objective. I think the word "scam" is too strong because that suggests that everything that has happened was pre-planned to get more money out of you, which i dont believe to be the case. Its hardly been cost effective has it? Making customers upset isnt exactly going to drive business is it?

I think we will have to agree to disagree.

I know 'scam' might seem too strong a word for now, but unfortunately at its' peek it would have been unfathomable to call Enron a scam

Have not the banks been slapped many a times by the SFA for unfair charges.They are no angels.

It is all about maximizing.

One idiot like me makes no difference to them, too small too minuscule, as long as they are on the maximizing road with everyone else.

And it is not just me, I promise you. There surely must have been many more who have been switched into a different more cash generating product as well.

Remember the cash back model of the mobile phones, these 0% for 14 months also work along the same lines. How I wish there was some research study of the same.

It is all about awareness.

So do you believe they are doing this with everyone then? Or are they picking at random? Or maybe, just maybe, its just been a mistake thats been made worse.

You are simply speculating that many others have been affected when you have no evidence of this. What good does that do?

Eco

Capital One - I'm getting very suspicious too.

I've applied and been accepted for a Capital One card - 4 weeks ago. I've received a pin number but no card. When I spotted this discussion a couple of days ago I started to think the delay might be down to more than just inneffiency. I too have chosen not to transfer any balances - I wondered whether the delay was because they didn't really want my business.

I've just tried to chase the card with little success. I eventually got hold of a customer service agent (so called) but the process has left me even more suspicious.

First I tried the customer service number provided (at least it was a freephone number) and selected the option for card application queries. After a short delay I got the message 'We have been unable to connect your call' and was cut off. I did this 5 times within about an hour. On the sixth time, I selected the 'new application' option. After 13 minutes I did get through to an agent, but of course he couldn't help me - he said he could only deal with new applications. He gave me a slightly different freephone number to call for customer services. Although I got the same menu options as before, this time I wasn't cut off. After 23 minutes!!! on hold I spoke to an agent - somewhere in Central America from his accent. His responses to my query didn't stack up.

I opened by saying I was worried my card might have been sent but lost in the postI Before I'd given him any details, he said not to worry it isn't lost in the post. How would he know unless they're just not sending cards out? When he'd taken my details, amidst a number of profuse apologies he said that they were suffering delays because of a system upgrade, assured me my card would be sent out within seven days and said all their customers were being affected and were frustrated.

I said I wasn't impressed or convinced by his story and that if they wanted my business they needed to get the card to me in the next 4 days. He said he couldn't influence that and repeated his 'sent in seven days' promise. ...and then signed of with the standard customer service phrase 'is there anything else I can help you with!!' What do you think I said?

We'll see if the card arrives. I somehow think it won't. I'll let you know!