New VS Credit Card Details

Originally posted by catsilversword
Has anyone here received their PIN and it HASN'T been the same? Mine arrived yesterday, and I haven't even bothered to open it (no card yet). Has anyone had their card???

On the paperwork I receieved under the 'what happens now?' section it says - 'your pin remains the same'[:?]

Does make you wonder why they are bothering to mail new ones out [?]

Has anyone had their first new style statement yet? I got mine this morning and apparently have earned 488.60 flying club miles although thankfully I got my correct miles in my flying club account.

Originally posted by mitchja
Remember though the card companies dont really like people who pay off their balance every month as they are not making any money of out you. After all, like any business, card companies are there to make money.

Sorry to disagree with you on this, James, but everyone who pays off their full balance every month is, nevertheless, contributing to the card issuers pockets. DylanDog's £100k spend will have cost his retailer(s) around £1,250 in 'processing' charges. Where do you think the retailer(s) will get that £1,250?(rh.) Yes, it's in the price of the goods.
Next year his £100k spend on an Amex card will cost his retailer(s) around £3,000 (Amex really are that much more expensive)and just like the last sentence of your post, the retailer is there to make money, ergo his prices will rise.
I appeal to everyone not to believe that VS miles are free if you pay off your card balance every month. It's just not true!

agreed [y]- but retailers dont offer you a discount for cash - so we are stuck with them[:(] so may as well get some miles...

Anyway - they've changed my mastercard over at long last - well a week late ... now just waiting for my card!!

Paid for my VH holiday using the new card on Thursday - I don't know if I was the first one to use the card but I got put on hold twice and after the second time I asked if there was an issue - the customer services representative told me that they hadn't seen one of "these" cards before and she needed her supervisor to "set it up".

However - it all went through OK.[y]

And yes - the 1.5% was added to the bill[:(!]

Oh and as a footnote - I was calling the UK service centre[y][y][y]

Has anyone managed to swap to the black card from the non fee m/c? After a few attempts MBNA tell me they have done it, and I now have a new account number on line, so just waiting to see what turns up. [?]

[mcmbenjamin]

Originally posted by Ian

I appeal to everyone not to believe that VS miles are free if you pay off your card balance every month. It's just not true!

Well yea, businesses have to cover cost or they fold.

VS mile or any 'award' program are not 'free.'

The client pays but not always receive benefits. Hotels/flights are priced the same if you choose to accure mile/points on the booking whereas using a card at a business could increase the client's cost for the product or serivce (like MarkJ's VH booking).

Would you rather have a less expensive product or service (benefits more clients) or a slightly higher price but have 'loyalty' programs? It's an age-old question. BA or EasyJet? Hilton Paddington or Easy Hotel London (forgot to book [:0] oh darn)?

Originally posted by locutus
Has anyone managed to swap to the black card from the non fee m/c? After a few attempts MBNA tell me they have done it, and I now have a new account number on line, so just waiting to see what turns up. [?]

In my case no, despite being assured in my first phonecall a trnsfer to black would happen, and assurances in a subsequent phonecall, this morning a white card arrived.
I was immediately on the phone to MBNA, and after 6 transfers, I was told an upgrade to black was not possible (others had previously reported this within this thread). So I applied for the fee paying amex there and then, a decision will be made within 7 days.
I was somewhat suprised to be told it is ok to hold both cards, and recieve the bonus miles on first spend on both cards (only the white card will accrue the bonus transfer miles).

All in all, I do not believe this whole M/C to Amex process has been handled well, I can only hpe things will be smooth from here on out.

I guess the next thing will be to see how quickly the miles hit the VS Flying Club account - or does it mention that anywhere in the T and C's?[:?]

Originally posted by MarkJ
I guess the next thing will be to see how quickly the miles hit the VS Flying Club account - or does it mention that anywhere in the T and C's?[:?]

I'm always surprised that at the moment, the miles appear on the day the statement appears, quite efficient really!

Is there anyone else still waiting for their new card? The pin arived last week but no sign of the new card yet..

Originally posted by DragonLady
Is there anyone else still waiting for their new card? The pin arived last week but no sign of the new card yet..

I haven't even had the pin yet.........probably quite a few people to go through and maybe the higher spenders are getting to go first?

My card arrived yesterday morning, took a little while to activate it over the phone though!

Originally posted by xenole

Originally posted by DragonLady
Is there anyone else still waiting for their new card? The pin arived last week but no sign of the new card yet..

I haven't even had the pin yet.........probably quite a few people to go through and maybe the higher spenders are getting to go first?

That means me then!!!:)

Originally posted by locutus
Has anyone managed to swap to the black card from the non fee m/c? After a few attempts MBNA tell me they have done it, and I now have a new account number on line, so just waiting to see what turns up. [?]

I was told they would phone me back within a week to confirm whether you could move - but inevitably the phone hasn't rung.[:#]

So I have transferred to the white and just regret giving up the fee paying card last year.

I'm interested in the suggestion that you can have both cards at the same time - I see a cost benefit analysis coming up!

Originally posted by ade99
I gather then from the last few posts that the supplementary card holders are coming out automatically. Thank goodness for that otherwise the other half would have had a fit not being able to spend anything till it arrived...

Yes thats what happens - both ours came on Thursday!![y]

Sorry if I have missed this, but has anyone confirmed if there is a deadline to switch cards to get the 10k bonus?
Cheers

Originally posted by Ian

Originally posted by mitchja
Remember though the card companies dont really like people who pay off their balance every month as they are not making any money of out you. After all, like any business, card companies are there to make money.

Sorry to disagree with you on this, James, but everyone who pays off their full balance every month is, nevertheless, contributing to the card issuers pockets. DylanDog's £100k spend will have cost his retailer(s) around £1,250 in 'processing' charges. Where do you think the retailer(s) will get that £1,250?(rh.) Yes, it's in the price of the goods.

True Ian, but I think James' point is that, by paying off your balance in full each month, card companies aren't getting the 'pleasure' of charging you interest on top of that....

Originally posted by DragonLady
Is there anyone else still waiting for their new card? The pin arived last week but no sign of the new card yet..

Yep, still waiting too. My PIN arrived last Monday/Tuesday, but no card. I called then, and was told it hadn't yet been sent out! This was last Friday.....

I'm puzzled over my statement. Usually, a 'new' statement month started on around 12th of the month - no later and sometimes a day or so earlier. However, now the 17th and still it looks as though there has been no cut off - and transactions are still being added, where I expect them to fall into another month. Any clues as to why that might be, peoples????

At least the website for my account has now changed to say Amex instead of Mastercard......looks a bit prettier too.

Received mine this morning.
The spend on my previous card is showing on the statement so guess that means the old one needs to be destroyed.

The miles earning isn't correct, so hoping thats just a glitch of the transfer.

Looks nice though.

Dean

[mitchja]

Also received my new black card this morning. Phoned up and activated it. Fantastic service yet again from MBNA, the agent went though everything with me. He's even changed my due by date slightly it it was 6 days earlier than my M/Card - not a real problem as the due by date is still after I get paid anyway.

He cleared up the some of the wording for me that comes with the card regarding the extra miles earing until July 2007. The wording mentions a £20K 'threshold'. If your spend goes over the £20K level between now and July 2007 you will only earn the standard miles earning levels.

If you have bill payment systems set up with your bank (not direct debit), for the next few months your old M/Card account details will still be valid as MBNA have a system in place which mirrors both your M/Card and Amex accounts. Although he did say to change these details as soon as your first Amex statement arrives.

He also mentioned that miles earned on the Amex card can go towards Virgin Galatic rewards - something to aim for I guess!!!

10/10 for customer service from MBNA again - I've never had anything less from them in all the time I've had a Virgin credit card [y]

Regards

Now been waiting to get through to members shop for 20 minutes....
There does seem to be some irregularities in the literature.
The leaflet I had sent out says 10k miles on your first spend, all other information (including the website) states its 6k miles.
I'm presuming that one is for existing and one for new, need to check that.
Also its states for the Black card the 6 / 4 miles earned up till July 2007 is for the first 20k only..... is this for each, or both combined. Need to check that too..

Dean

Sorry, me again....

Ended up waiting for 45 minutes to speak to somebody in the members shop, no joy.
thought I would try on my mobile at the same time. There's now a message been slotted in saying they're all off for staff training until tomorrow [:0]

Guess my questions will have to wait..

Dean