Sombody Shoot MBNA before it's too late.

Originally posted by sailor99

Originally posted by RichardMannion
Maybe I'll have the honour of being the first person to cancel their card.

Sorry, pipped you to the post there old boy. Got mine through this morning, cut it in half and popped it in an envelope. Then addressed the envelope to their MD and put a note inside saying if he wanted to know why I had done this to speak to his customer service department.

Admittedly a futile and pointless exercise. However I felt better having metaphorically wiped my bum on their card, and not having lowered myself to just taking the miles.

Now my nice new BA card is very pretty, it plays "Les Fleurs Me Paraissent Plus Belles" whenever I buy something (not really) and when I rang up today to upgrade it from the free one to the premium plus one, it took all of 5 minutes to do. Need I say more.

And what benefits does your flower card give you???

BA miles of course, and not at a bad rate. A companion ticket that is usable. You can also apply your Tesco vouchers to BA miles.

And they help you when you ring up.

Nuf said, this is getting close to a vendetta against MBNA.

I'm going to defend MBNA very briefly....very briefly..........

Card arrived yesterday, activated easily (though on hold 10mins - my fault I suppose, it was 6:30pm). Asked to change recipient Flying Club number for miles from my wife's account to mine - done easily. Mentioned off to States on Wednesday - wanted to ensure card OK - assured it will be OK (we'll see).

However!!!!

I manage my company's MBNA affinity scheme. We haven't been able to take on new business for months. Changes of ownership, lack of interest and general intransigence mean we have people wanting to get our card and I have to give the ever less convincing argument that we are still in discussions. Had a very constructive telephone conversation a month ago and was promised everything would move forward and lots of info in the post - but still waiting after various reminders.

So basically.......be annoyed but not surprised!

Anyway I don't care I'm on the 11:15 to MCO tomorrow.


Trevor

As you fly over the MBNA offices on your way to MCO, you couldn't deliver one of those little "seagull messages" could you? Have a good trip.

Originally posted by sailor99
BA miles of course, and not at a bad rate. A companion ticket that is usable. You can also apply your Tesco vouchers to BA miles.

And they help you when you ring up.

Nuf said, this is getting close to a vendetta against MBNA.

Not from my point of view - simply interested to know what's on offer on the dark side....[}:)]

I did mean that I was close to a vedetta. I just didn't want to go OTT on the virtues of BA on a VS website - it would look too sour grapes.

Just got a couple of BMI cards issued by MBNA,process very smooth and quick.Now need to apply for 2 of the fee paying BMI cards as no upgrades are possible so a whole new application process same as with VS. At least it should leave us with 40k BMI miles each:D,I can see SAA first to CPT next year.

As a side note BA amex can also cock-up, Mrs J was charged a £120 fee for membership yesterday even though amex were informed last year she has her own Blue card so the correct fee amount is £30.Not bad 2 years on the trot[V]

Originally posted by sailor99
I did mean that I was close to a vedetta. I just didn't want to go OTT on the virtues of BA on a VS website - it would look too sour grapes.

Yep, realised that Jeremy! [:I]

Out of interest did you earn ff points for the fraudulent transaction...?

As a side note BA amex can also cock-up, Mrs J was charged a £120 fee for membership yesterday even though amex were informed last year she has her own Blue card so the correct fee amount is £30.Not bad 2 years on the trot

£90 credited to Mrs Jag's account this morning[^]

Out of interest did you earn ff points for the transaction...?

The miles will be awarded if the fraudulent balance is still on the card at the statement day.They will however be lost when the amount is credited back to the card on the next billing cycle.

Originally posted by catsilversword
I've had a couple of occasions when buying currency (not with a credit card, I hasten to add!) where my switch card has been refused. Actually, both times have been with Marks and Spencer, and staff there have flatly refused to query why it's been declined. After talking to my bank and them being flummoxed (what a word) as to why it's been refused, they confirm that, in fact, the message traders get in such situations isn't a declined message, but a 'refer to bank' one. Seems they just won't or don't do it.

Finally, something I know about!

Declines come in a number of flavours. When a card authorisation is requested, the query goes from the retailer to their card services provider, to the card holders bank, and back. If there is a delay in this process, or something is not responding in the chain, then a decline message is issued - not because the card is no good, but because they can't check is good. This is *sometimes* the case when the issuing bank will then say there's no problem with the card.

When a transaction is referred, then the retailer should contact their card services provider and verify the details of the transaction. This could be a problem with the card or transaction type (unusually large amount, unusual card usage location) or a random security check. This is NOT always due to a dodgy card or transaction. Some retailers ignore this request and just consider the card declined - either because of store policy, or because they don't understand what the message is and what they have to do. In these days of card fraud, some shops take a very cautious view and anything that is out of the ordinary will have them refusing a card or transaction.

A decline is a decline, and more often than not will have come from the card holder's bank. Neither the retailer, or the retailer's card services provider will know why the card was declined, that's between the card holder and the card's issuing bank. This can't be given out to other parties due to the Data Protection Act, and there would be no benefit in telling third parties that your credit card is maxed out.

The only exception to the above points is when a lost or stolen card is used. In that case the credit card terminal will give a referral message, and then the operator the retailer speaks to will inform them the card is lost or stolen, and to retain the card.

Received a reply from MBNA to my complaint letter over the weekend.

Dear Sailor

Thank you for your leter (their spelling not mine). Your leter (WTF) has been passed to the relevant department. In line with the banking code of conduct we will attempt to respond to your points in the next 28 days. If you have not received a response with in this time please contact Mrs X.

[sarcasm mode] Apart from no telephone number being given for Mrs X or any other MBNA deparment, and the spelling mistakes, and an undelying impression that they will fail to even relpy with in 28 days, I feel really happy and contented that they are taking my points so seriously [/sarcasm mode]

[xx(]

Originally posted by sailor99
BA miles of course, and not at a bad rate. A companion ticket that is usable. You can also apply your Tesco vouchers to BA miles.

And they help you when you ring up.

Forgot to add that if you already have an amex, then the premium + card (The BA black one, looks like a centurion but you can use it in Burger King as well as McD's, double the ordinary miles and only £10k spend for the companion) is free. USed to be £30 for existing card holders (c/f £120 normally) but they just discounted it.

Originally posted by sailor99

I have been on and on at MBNA about the interest they charge me, but no one has ever been able to explain it to me. Every month I get charged an "estimated interest" even though I pay on the button. Never do I get a credit for overpayment of interest though. On my other credit cards I pay by the due date and never get charged any interest, so MBNA's method is totally beyond my ken!

I had a similar rant in a thread a few months ago. I was very very annoyed at their lack of information over foreign transaction charges.
Taking up to 6 weeks to be available on their online statement, before I could use the figures to do my company expenses. Even when I phoned them to ask what exchange rate was used, they couldn't tell me.

And then there is the whole mystery of how they justify that XR, and how and when they add their foreign transaction charges. No matter how I did the mathÕs (and i have a big flash calculator[|:)]) I couldn't make the figures come to the same as they'd actually charged me.

I'm sure this is just a scam to screw us for interest charges. Before my company will pay out, they want all the paperwork in order and all the figures to tally up and be justifiable. Since MBNA don't make the necessary figures available until near the end of the "interest-free" period, I have no chance of getting the expenses cleared to pay the CC bill in time, and get hit with interest charges.

And then there was the time I splashed out on some new clothes just before going overseas for a couple of weeks. The new clothes (admirably) caught the attention of their fraud department[:I], but did they call me at the store, or on my mobile, or at home? Oh no, they wrote to me! The letter was dated the day I flew out, and said words to the effect of "we've cancelled your card until you phone us to confirm that it was you using it"... The very card I intended to use to chuck quite a few business expenses on.... and an Engagement Ring.... Most embarrassing! Fortunately good old gold AMEX came to the rescue, even in darkest China where it wasn't advertised that the shop accepted AMEX, (but only at 1mile per pound [:(!]).

All of which leaves me wondering. The "real" AMEX website shows all your transaction charges within a couple of days of you making them, clearly identifying local currency amount, XR and GBP amount, and hence is good for business expenses. So maybe I will just take my bonus miles from the Mastercard to Amex Virgin switch, and then go back to my proper AMEX (which happily isn't a credit card, so I cant end up sitting on a big chunk of credit.... but then I will need a Visa or Mastercard CC backup for those (many) occasions that AMEX isn't accepted.... Suggestions anyone?

Originally posted by PVGSLF

Originally posted by sailor99

IAll of which leaves me wondering. The "real" AMEX website shows all your transaction charges within a couple of days of you making them, clearly identifying local currency amount, XR and GBP amount, and hence is good for business expenses. So maybe I will just take my bonus miles from the Mastercard to Amex Virgin switch, and then go back to my proper AMEX (which happily isn't a credit card, so I cant end up sitting on a big chunk of credit.... but then I will need a Visa or Mastercard CC backup for those (many) occasions that AMEX isn't accepted.... Suggestions anyone?

We've just re-activated a NAT Gold Visa account. It was always an alternative account, and we couldn't even remember if we'd ever used it, let alone chip and pin. Mr cat tried to use his to change his PIN, and it was refused and referred to the bank. He rang then bank, and they told him they knew he'd tried to use it and that he'd been referred back - and they'd already sent out a re-advice of the PIN, so he could set it up again. Quite impressed with that sort of service - so we'll see....