My experiences with Accucard (Accucard)

Member Name: nwmadden

Product:	Accucard
Date:	22/08/03 (274 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 0.8% Cashback

Disadvantages: Randomly not accepted, Pushy card insurance salesmen, Website doesn't link in with Egg Money Manger or moneysupermarket.com

I signed up for an Accucard when it was newly launched, specifically to get the promotional "double cashback" rate of 1.6%. My intent was to pay for every thing I could with Accucard to generate cashback, which I did. Every bill, purchase, meal, present and glass of beer that I could pay for by MasterCard, I did. Each month I spent between £300 and £1000 on my Accucard, which was always paid in full each month by direct debit. This generated about £40 of cashback, which I'm looking forward to getting at Christmas 2003. So far so good? Not so!

Two or Three months into this scheme trying to make a retail purchase using Accucard, *Boing* - my card was rejected. Slightly embarrassing in the store, so I made alternative payment. Full of rage I rang Accucard, and ask why they didn't allow this transaction even to go through, even though I was about £5000 away from my credit limit! They explained that a computer problem was to blame and this wouldn't happen again. I was persuaded, and continued using my Accucard. A few months later, trying to pay for a meal in a busy PizzaHut, it all happened again, much worse this time though.

I gave the waitress my card, and waited for the bill. 5 minutes later she came back, and explained rather suspiciously that the card machine in the main part of the restaurant wasn't working correctly and that was why the manageress was disappearing towards the backdoor of the restaurant with my card so she could try a different card machine. Read into this "The card machine in the restaurant flashed up, please ring Accucard regarding the owner of this card".

5 minutes later (Although it seemed like 10), the manageress arrived back at my table wanting security details from me, mother?s maiden name, date of birth, etc ... which I gave her. She disappeared again.

By this time, my girlfriend had had to leave, because the movie we were going to see upstairs had begun. Incidentally
, I'd bought the movie tickets about 30 minutes earlier using Accucard without any trouble. I knew that the current balance on my Accucard was around £900, with a credit limit of £5500 so I wasn't sure why I was having problems using my card again. I had always paid my balance in full every month; I was a perfect customer surely? Apparently not.

5 minutes later (Although this time it seemed like 20 minutes, in a packed restaurant, with all neighboring tables privee to the security checks and questioning that the manageress was giving me), the manageress returned. This time she said that Accucard had refused to accept payment, could I pay for the meal using a different means, so I paid by cash.

Missing the beginning of the film, and unable to concentrate on the film because of the rage building up inside me, I contemplated on the situation, and decided to phone Accucard at the first opportunity to discuss the evening.

Getting back to my flat at around 11pm, I tried phoning Accucard, the recorded voice on the other end said "Sorry, we don't have 24hour customer service, please ring back during weekday office hours". By this point, my blood pressure must have been off the scale.

When the morning came, I had calmed down. I realized that if I wanted my £40 cashback at Christmas, I couldn't cancel the credit card. Was it worth loosing the £40 cashback by canceling the card, just so I could vent my spleen at some poor person at Accucard? For I while I thought it was, but then the thought of this company putting £40 in my back pocket right at Christmas time got the better of me. I would just stop using the card, and wait for my cashback, then close the account. And that's what I'm currently doing.

Last week, Accucard rang me.. "As a valued customer of Accucard..." he began explaining, they thought it wise that I should pay for Payment Protection on my Accucard. After politely explaining
why I didn't want it, i.e. I always pay my bill in full each month, I have a stable career, my personal finances are thoroughly optimized (Thank you Alvin Hall), he decided to give me the hard sell. Bad move. The floodgates opened, and I thoroughly blasted him with how bad my experiences with Accucard had been. He even tried to blame PizzaHut for not accepting my card. But why would PizzaHut want my mothers maiden name?? He soon saw he wasn't going to get a sale from me, so he sheepishly ended the phone call without any apology.

All I want from a credit card, is that it is universally accepted and has some reward scheme that I can get wrapped up in. The 1.6% offer from Accucard was a great attraction, but now it's down to 0.8% it's not that much of a pull

I now have an AMEX Blue as my main credit card (Still at 2% cashback), and my Egg VISA Card as backup (0.5% cashback), in case AMEX isn't accepted (Which is surprisingly frequently). I've had my Egg card since it was launched, and not once has it been rejected.

The Accucard credit card is issued by Lloyds TSB, and is identical to some other cards on the market, like EasyMoney and the MoreThan card. I am giving all these companies a very wide birth now, just incase they have shared customer services with Accucard. (Which, they may not have).

Paying with my Accucard was like a game of Russian roulette, and I never want to experience again. I realize I might have been unlucky with Accucard; I might be the 1 person in 100 that has had a bad experience with them, but that is no consolation.

I associate Accucard with Stress and Embarrassment now, and unsurprisingly, I don't want to face these emotions when using a credit card.

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