EGG 0% anniversary offer?

[gerryw]

I got an EGG card in June 2004 with a six month 0% introductory offer on balance transfers (to be managed online). The 0% offer was also to be available on the first and second anniversaries of opening the account for six months each. Last year, as before, I took advantage of the offer; no balance transfer fees were suggested or applied.

On 1st June this year I again took advantage of the offer and no mention was made of fees at the time of the transaction or in the confirmation e-mail. On 15th June I checked my statement in response to an e-mail. A 2.5% transfer fee!!!!! £285 !!!!!

I rang EGG. They said the fee was increased to 2.5% in May 2006 and claim it was introduced in May 2005 at 2.0%. EGG didn't tell me this year or last (they ue e-mail) and I wasn't charged last year. I asked for the level of complaint to be increased and was told that EGG would write to me (they don't speak to complainers!) and that the fees are rarely reinstated.

Anybody agree I have a case for a refund?

[The Stig]

I've just had exactly the same happen on my husband's card. He emailed the Internet Customer Service team, but they just said T&C's changed 1st May. This does not however, answer the point put to them that it is unfair to apply bank charges when the customer is not aware of them.

 

I've had terrible problems with the internet team at Egg before...their level of comprehension/communication is extremely frustrating, so I've just emailed the same complaint to [email protected] who've been much more helpful in the past. I believe they're the 'Customer Relations Officers' who deal with all queries, not just internet.

 

Fingers crossed they agree and refund...I'm reasonably confident they will as applying charges the customer is not aware of is completely unfair.

[gerryw]

Sorry to hear that you're having similar problems, Stig.

Well, CRO at EGG wrote to me on 22nd June but I couldn't deal with this until now. They say they e-mailed me in February and that it was detailed in the Terms and Conditions in March (I assume that this means the legal smallprint on their website that we all read every day - I hadn't even noticed it before).

I've replied -

 

Dear Sirs

Thank you for your letter of 22nd June.

You are correct in your statement that I am unhappy regarding a balance transfer fee being applied to my account without prior notice.

When I telephoned your Customer Services Department to query the charge I was told that a balance transfer fee of 2% was introduced on this account in May 2005, and then increased to 2.5% in May 2006. My statements show that I was not charged a fee for a transfer I made in June 2005. I find it difficult to believe that this was due to overwhelming generosity on the part of EGG, and that it is more likely that you had problems with your notification system. Perhaps the styling of your e-mails make them more likely to be rejected by mail servers.

I received no notification from you of the changes this year and there is no warning message on the website when making a balance transfer. You also have the opportunity to inform customers in the confirmation of transaction e-mail.

In view of this I cannot accept your judgement and I will make a formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service unless I receive a satisfactory response from you within seven days.

[The Stig]

Good for you...I like the reply.

 

So far I've only received the standard acknowledgment of complaint letter, which says they must contact me within 4wks if they are unable to resolve...so might be waiting a while and no doubt when it does arrive it'll probably say the same as yours.

 

The only reason I did this balance transfer was because it was 0%...had I known they were going to sting me for £356.25 I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it.

 

Previously when I had problems with Egg's PPI & they refered me to the T&C's discovered it was not actually possible to view the terms as an existing 'logged in' customer...they were only available for inspection if you weren't logged in and were viewing site like a newbie....how useless is that!

 

One thing for sure, if they dig their heels in on this one, it'll be the final straw & I will never ever use them again...they're just so crooked!

[gerryw]

I've had a reply from EGG. They're still insisting that the changed terms and conditions apply because they sent me an e-mail. the fact that I didn't receive it seems to be irrelevant to them.

I've now whizzed my complaint off to the Ombudsman using the arguments outlined in the previous postings and also raised the matter of "when is 0% not 0%; when its 5%" i.e. 2.5% over 6 months.

Keep you posted.

Cheers for now.

[The Stig]

Hi Gerryw

 

Received Egg's reply and they're refusing to refund the fee.

 

Needless to say I'm going to challenge the decision but before I get a letter off would you clarify a point for me.....I'm looking at the first statement (where it notifies me of fees applied), right at the very bottom it says,

 

"If you only pay your minimum payment, your estimated interest (see explanation) on your next statement will be £4.31"

 

Please tell me the xxxxxxx little toe rags aren't going to charge interest on the balance transfer fee of £356.25 for the next 5mths as well?

 

This would just add insult to injury

 

Thanks

 

Moderated - please be aware of the potential for libel action.

[gerryw]

Hi Stig

 

You bet your credit card they are!

Thanks for alerting me to this one. I downloaded and printed my statement on 16th June and there was no mention of this. Since then they have removed the printer friendly link (they're not very good at friendly) and retrospectively applied interest.

I'll ring them and put my complaint on record and try to contact the Ombudsman tomorrow.

[The Stig]

Thanks....I thought it had changed! They've probably had complaints about this too and are now papering over the cracks.

 

Just sent my reply to Egg (Guy Harrison), here's a copy:-

 

Thank you for your letter of 13 July 2006.

 

I have once again double checked the emails I've received from Egg and do not accept I received one similar to the copy enclosed with your letter. However, I have now read the enclosure and would make the following comments:-

 

1) Egg have marketed many "0% Anniversary Offers" over a long period of time. Therefore, when another "0% Anniversary Offer" presents itself it is not unreasonable to assume it's on similar terms.

 

2) If it is not on similar terms then Egg have a duty to inform the customer of what the terms are when the offer is made.

 

3) As a minimum I would expect an online notification when processing the transaction. This would ensure everyone is aware of the fees and can knowingly proceed or cancel the transaction. There is absolutely nothing on the Egg website to alert you to any fees when applying for the "0% Anniversary Offer".

 

4) So far Egg's only explanation has been that the updated terms were sent via email in March'06. Even if this email had been received it is unreasonable to assume the customer would remember 3 months later, when completing a highly publicised "0% Anniversary Offer".

 

5) It is also unfair to market another "0% Anniversary Offer", when the reality of the offer is something very different. Egg have a responsibility to advertise their products in a truthful manner and not mislead the public. Perhaps the advertisement should have read, "5% Anniversary Offer"?

 

6) Having revisited my first statement I also note that Egg have retrospectively amended it. At the very bottom it now appears to be notifying me that if I pay the minimum balance there will be estimated interest of £4.31 accrued. I take this to mean Egg intend to charge interest on the 0% balance transfer fee as well?

 

These fees have been applied by stealth. Had I known about a 2.5% uncapped balance transfer fee I would NEVER have carried out the transfer in the first place.

 

Based on the above and my original complaint (copy below), I encourage you to take the only reasonable course of action and refund the fees. Failure to remove, what can only be considered an illegal charge, will result in my formal complaint to the Financial Ombudsman, The Financial Services Authority and the Advertising Standards Authority.

 

I look forward to your early reply.

 

Your sincerely

 

It's just so frustrating....if Egg behaved in a reasonable manner and gave prior warning online (just like a cashmachine), this could all so easily have been avoided.

 

There must be loads of complaints about this little [problem] of theirs....I can't believe for a moment we're the only two!

[gerryw]

Hi Stig

 

You see it exactly as I do.

I don't think Egg will give in on this until they are forced to.

After they charged the transfer fee, I looked over their site and the T and C are filed away under legal stuff.

I have numerous card accounts most of which were opened for introductory offers. All those which make a transfer charge are up front about it, although like you, I fail to comprehend why they are allowed to advertise a 0% rate.

By the way, I rang Egg last night and spoke to Daniel to register my complaint about the interest charge and the retrospective change in the statement. Their CRO told him that the change was made more than two months ago, even though I have evidence to the contrary. I wonder when the addition of a transfer fee was really made.

I will of course be raising these points with the Ombudsman.

[The Stig]

Haven't had chance to have a good look yet to see what the general feeling is but thought I'd let you know straight away.....There's a few threads running on this subject on MoneySavingExpert.com

 

Just went to the chat forum, found the credit card section and did a search under Egg Anniversary. (Sorry, no good at link things).

 

Fingers crossed there may be a few gems lurking!

[gerryw]

Hi Stig

Thanks for those; I'll have a look in minute but for now here's my follow up letter to the Ombudsman -

My thanks to Julian for his help on the telephone yesterday.

Further to my complaint form of 11th June.

I have just read my July 14th statement from Egg and now find that I am to be charged interest on the balance fee. This is shown on the statement as merchandise interest; a quick calculation now gives an effective annual rate of 5.37% for what is supposed to be a rate of 0% for balance transfers.

When I rang Egg on 17th July to register my complaint about this, I also queried the change in my June statement on their site. The format has been changed and there is now an alert to the fact that interest will be payable the following month. ‘Daniel’ checked with the Customer Relations Office and was told that the website was changed ‘a couple of months ago’ despite my evidence to the contrary.

I have in the past accepted judgements from Egg on the basis that they should be a reputable company but I am finding it increasingly difficult to believe that my recent experiences with them are due to incompetence or honest mistakes. For instance; last year during the 0% on balance transfers period, I made a transfer of £11,500 to my bank account in June. No fee was charged although Egg have told me that a 2% fee was introduced in June. In September I transferred some of the debt to another credit card and then made another transfer to my bank account. An interest charge was shown in the 14th September statement, which I then queried with Egg. They said that the 0% rate only applied to transfers made in the first month of the period and that interest would now be applied to the whole amount. I took this at face value and paid off the balance, incurring transfer interest of £5.23 and merchandise interest of £22.41. I can only show a loss in terms of the interest I could have made on the money but I think Egg should reimburse this interest.

At this point I should tell you that I have increased the number of credit cards I hold to 26 over the last three years, mostly to take advantage of introductory offers. Nearly all of the introductory offers involved little or no balance transfer charges and I did not use the others (their charges were not apparent until after I had received the cards). I also had an Egg savings account with a healthy balance during this period.

Egg offered me a credit card on terms and conditions extending over a 2½ year period presumably hoping that I would be tempted by the 0% offer and wouldn’t be able to clear the debt within the six month period. They could then generate substantial income from the interest charges. When this ploy failed to work they employed dubious and possibly illegal tactics to try to provide the required income stream.

I am a black and white person and having not broken any rules expect a professional and reputable organisation to treat me in a professional and reputable manner. If the offer they made did not provide the expected returns, they should look to themselves for the answers, not prey on their customers. Even if I am not due any compensation for all this messing about, it wouldn’t do any harm for somebody at a senior level in Egg to write a handwritten letter of apology.

 

Stig, I know what you mean about the link thing - it's my first time at this.

[caro]

Same has happened to me folks. No mention of fee until I saw statement which had put me over my limit so £20 charge as well. Emailed complaint, found email about change in T's and C's which stated changed from 2% capped at £50 to 2.5% no cap. I pointed out that I had no BT fee before so could not have changed from 2%. They sent a really stroppy letter today saying if I don't get back in limit they will charge £20 a month until back in limit and may ask for all the money back. I have told them that I dispute the charges so that should hold them off for now.

 

I have a few other things to sort at the moment, but just thought I would have a quick look to see if others had the problem too. Will be back in the next few days or weeks with a thread, but they have not heard the last of me.

 

Let's crack on with this one. (sorry)

[gerryw]

Hi again

 

I've had a reply from the FOS (Sunil Patel); they'll be in touch as soon as they can. Normally, I would only use outlook but I found some e-mails in express covering the first six months of the Egg account. One of these is about a change in Ts and Cs and contains the paragraph -

“Great anniversary balance transfer offers guaranteed until 2006. You'll get 0% fixed for up to five months on balance transfers made in the month of your anniversary.”

What impression does this create in your mind?

I've put this to the FOS.

[The Stig]

Just wondered if you ever got a reply from FOS?

 

My 5mth '0%' Aniversay Offer is now over & debt repaid in full. Therefore I can now provide FOS full details of all interest charges applied over this short period.

 

Any further tips appreciated

[funkyparott]

Companies such as Egg love it when you complain to the Financial Ombudsman.

 

For the most part, the claim is dragged on and I don't see many people have had results.

 

What companies such as Egg don't like is being sued in the County Court; which you are perfectly at liberty to do.

 

Its interesting how Egg and other companies always tell you of the right to make a complaint to the FO. They don't seem quite so keen to plaster over their literature that you can serve a court summons on them. I wonder why ?

 

FP