Fun and games paying Call18866 from Morgan Stanley/Barclaycard

It truely is a shambles. I have two cards but only recieved the PIN for one of them so far.

I thought I'd seen the back of Barclaycard when I ditched them several years ago. They stitched me up when they converted the old Profile Points scheme into a new "better" scheme. On the old scheme I had enough points for a return air ticket to anywhere in the world, in the new scheme I was eligible for a couple of £15 HMV vouchers, and then for a small fee IIRC.

Reply to
Steve Pearce
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Bitstring , from the wonderful person Steve Pearce said

And more - the letter they sent out gives customer service number as

0844 891 4999. You ring it and discover this is the GOLDFISH customer helpline, and they still can't help you ('ring the number on the back of your card', which connected me to thin air after going through all the 'enter your info and press 6 for a customer rep'.)

The 1604 number told me there was a long queue. Oh I wonder why!!!! And that I could register online (liars) if I had my last statement (ho ho).

Reply to
GSV Three Minds in a Can

In message , GSV Three Minds in a Can wrote

And they are still peddling the lie

you'll hardly notice any change

Reply to
Alan

SNAP! I ditched them for the same reason. At least with the new card you get actual *cash* back rather than having to spend more money to get your 'rewards'.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Bitstring , from the wonderful person Roger Mills said

Today's episode - the car had a flat tyre, so at 8:40 I was in the tyre repairers who were not busy, so I asked if I could experiment with the new cards. One is 'declined' and the other requires a PIN (which I don't have). Ergo neither of them is the requested Chip & Sig card.

Still can't get through on Barclaycard helpline. Even the 'lost and stolen cards' hotline didn't get me anywhere are 20 minutes .. that'd be fun if you were ringing it from the USA wouldn't it.

Complete wasters. I'm about ready to reach for the scissors ...

I did find time to write them a letter though. This makes the massive assumption they have someone in Northampton who can actually read (and that the Northampton address is more accurate than the first 3 phone numbers I was given).

Reply to
GSV Three Minds in a Can

Must admit my experiences are much the same as everyone else. I did manage to register online and get to the web site for one day and then bang it went t*ts up. Notice that cashback from Morgan Stanley had not been credited to the new account. Perhaps I should just encase the thing in a lead coffin and bury it very deep.

Reply to
Rupert (W.Yorkshire)

I finally swapped my points for 4 or cases of wine, and I almost missed the boat on that deal to. I seem to remember they withdrew the wine offer and then had to re-instate it due to pressure.

Reply to
Steve Pearce

In message , Roger Mills writes [...]

Barclaycard web site is now working for me, as from this morning. It's very different from the web site that I remember from previous years. I left Barclaycard some time ago but I will admit to being quite impressed with the quality of information that is now available online.

Reply to
Dave Nesbitt

It's *just* started working, this morning - when I tried at about 7am, it wasn't!

Yesterday, by going direct to the Barclaycard site (without the /ms/ at the end of the URL) I was able to register, but couldn't log on - repeatedly getting "An error has occurred - please check your details and try again" rather than a more honest "Sorry, service not yet available".

I *can* now log on, but it's *painfully* slow - watching paint dry is more exciting!

It seems that they issued a statement on 22nd, under the Barclaycard name, but containing all outstanding Morgan Stanley transactions. [I was expecting a final statement from M-S but no matter]. It also looks as if the Direct Debit which I set up for paying my Morgan Stanley bills is being transferred and will be invoked to pay the Barclaycard bill without requiring any action by me. I'm quite happy with that, but don't remember seeing anything from them which explicitly said that that would happen.

On the statement which I viewed online there is a single line saying "1% Cash Rebate this month. . .x.xx" which seems to hide a multitude of sins! The amount is actually made up of:

  • Accummulated Morgan Stanley cashback
  • 1% on the first 200 of this month's balance
  • 1/2% on the remainder of this month's balance . . which is what I would have expected - but the description isn't very accurate!
Reply to
Roger Mills

In message , Roger Mills wrote

My direct debit for the 'minimum amount' has been transferred over as they said in one of the letters BUT according to the direct debit web page I appear to owe them thousands and it's payable on 1st October. Barclay's have put the remaining available credit limit amount in the payment box rather than what I have spent on the card in the last month!!!!!

My outstanding cashback from MS has disappeared so I await my first statement with eager anticipation. At least I made a copy my details from the MS web site shortly before they trashed it.

They must be using 1970s technology to run the web server. I haven't seen connections so slow since I had dial-up with a 9600 bps modem.

So far I'm very unimpressed with the changeover.

Reply to
Alan

It gets better... My spend profile (I used my MS card for business) meant I had something over £4k to pay off this month

Barclaycard limited the payment online to £1 (one pound) Calling the helpline was better, but that is limited to £3k with an automated payment as the ONLY option

The heavy accented man in Bangalore (I assume) who seems to have replaced the softly spoken lady in Scotland explained that the details were "still being moved over" and if I wanted to pay more I would need to wait another 24 hours. This means I miss my deadline ... I was invited to attend a branch of Barclays as a solution, not easy if you work during the day.

I too have the history of 15,000 profiles points (I lost the lot) and frustration aplenty with Barclaycard. I agree 100% regarding Goldfish who were no problem at all

In reality a great deal has changed and frankly I'll find another provider and take my £significant spend elsewhere (again!)

Tim

Reply to
google

I'm extremely *un*impressed. I check my Barclaycard account online most days, and especially after making a purchase. Yesterday (24th) I couldn't log on, and I still can't today. Some poor hassled foreign call centre worker tells me it's because of the Morgan Stanley assimilation and that I/we won't be able to get online for a day or two.

Fair enough, but the error message makes it look like my problem, and there's no helpful message on the website to save us a phone call. Not that I can find anyway. How predictably customer-centric.

Andrew McP

Reply to
Andrew MacPherson

You should be able to view a statement online, in advance of receiving a paper copy. It was by viewing mine online that I realised that they *had* transferred the MS cashback balance.

As good as that? Feels more like a 110 baud teletype to me! When I eventually managed to log on this morning - after several failed attempts resulting in "Your request cannot be handled" I took the opportunity to provide feedback on the site - telling them what I thought of the fact that it wasn't up and running in time, that logging on is very hot and miss, and that the whole thing is painfully slow. I'm not holding my breath though! [Typing my message into their online form was *just* like using a 110 baud teletype - with the text being jerkily echoed back several words behind what I was actually typing!]

Ditto!!

Reply to
Roger Mills

You don't say whether you're a longstanding Barclaycard customer or an 'assimiliated' MS customer - but I assume the former.

I was an MS customer and so have only just started trying to access the Barclaycard site. The whole thing is pathetic! It wasn't ready in time for the switchover and, although I *can* now sometimes log on, it is very hit and miss - often resulting in "You request cannot be handled" or somesuch. And when I *do* get in, it's painfully slow - taking many seconds to switch between screens.

Reply to
Roger Mills

You guys appear to be getting priority. As a BC customer for about fifteen years I'm rejected right at the start of the process. The website's like treacle, but when I do enter my customer ID it chucks this back at me...

"Your log in request could not be processed.

Please check your details and try again"

Very helpful, I'm sure you'll agree!

Andrew McP

Reply to
Andrew MacPherson

Oh, and that's been the case every time I've tried since about 10am yesterday. I tried lunch time, about 9pm, and at 6:30am & various times since then. No joy.... though at 6:30am the site was at least working at normal speeds.

This would appear to be about as well planned as the current economic crisis is being handled. Maybe that confidence-inspiring Mr Bush could commandeer our TV stations as well and give us an update on Barclay's IT capabilities? :-)

Andrew McP

Reply to
Andrew MacPherson

If it's any consolation, I've had some of those too! In fact, I kept getting that immediately after I'd registered, almost convincing me that I must have entered my details wrongly.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Bitstring , from the wonderful person Andrew MacPherson said

A Barclaycard droid actually rang me to discuss my issues (I know not whether it was because my new card was declined, or whether because there presciently knew my a$$-warming letter was on the way).

He grovelled. He promised new chip & sig cards. He agree to refund 35 minutes of sat waiting for the phone to be answered (including on the lost cards hotline number!). It isn't fixed yet, but it does appear that BC are at least faintly aware they are screwed up in spades, doubled, redoubled, and vulnerable. 8>.

Meantime 'I can keep using my Morgan Stanley card'.

Reply to
GSV Three Minds in a Can

I'm guessing BC are in full on "don't p*ss off the new customers!" mode. Because it's 2:25am here, the BC site is lightning fast, but they're still rejecting my customer ID.

If it wasn't for my residual loyalty to BC -- in more conservative lending times they gave me a low limit card at a time when I had zero credit rating -- I'd be building up a considerable head of exit steam by now. As it is I'm merely whingeing on usenet... which is vaguely cathartic, if not, ultimately much use. :-)

Andrew McP

Reply to
Andrew MacPherson

Yup - same with mine! Except I pay in full by DD and they say the previous statement balance is the outstanding credit (over 7000) and payment is due

26/9/08 (ie today). Be interesting if they try to claim that amount by DD.... no sign yet....
Reply to
Andy Pandy

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