Barclayturd (Barclaycard)

Member Name: computer_xpert

Product:	Barclaycard
Date:	01/10/06 (825 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: First time card users given a chance

Disadvantages: High APR, Poor Customer Service

Only a few months ago I turned 18. I couldn't wait to get my first creditcard because for years i've been wanting to order stuff online but from American website, which didn't take my UK only solo card.

So I came online, visited a few websites and asked for a credit card from a few companies. A week or so passed and the rejection letters started to pile up. Nobody wanted to give an 18 yearold his first creditcard. Then one day a letter from Barclaycard turned up. They had rejected my request to have a creditcard with a low APR of about 12% but would give me one with a 29.9% APR. The card came with interest free until September 2006 and a credit limit of £625 so I thought "Why Not?".

So my credit card came in the post a few days later and I got that baby straight to work. Me and my girlfriend had been doing up my bedroom so I decided to order a lovely new king size bed. Now beds don't come cheap and I didn't really have £500 in my wallet to buy one. So I thought buy it on my card and repay about £100 a month or something like that.

I visited the Argos website and found a great bed. It was going for about £500 - £600 but I liked the look of it so I placed my order. Card Declined. So I tried again, same thing. And gain and gain until I just gave up. So ten minutes passed and my mobile phone rang!

"Hello is that Mr xxxx" Said the voice. Yes I said. This is xxxx calling from Barclaycard someone is trying to use your card on Argos.com. I said I know thats me. He said ok, unblocked the card and hung up. So I decided to place a different order for some other stuff but I used my bank card.

A week or so later my stuff turns up but they've billed me wrong. So I call Argos up and it turns out one of the orders for Argos, which they said was declined, had been accepted, they charged my credit card and the goods would be with me soon. So I told them to refund me.

So I've got all my money back.. I'm a happy guy. Few weeks later the phone rings at dinner time. Hello is that Mr xxxx. It's xxxx calling from Barclaycard. Did you know Mr xxxx that you can get card protection and on she went. Then a few days later another call.. did you know Mr xxxx you can get unemployment cover. Well I knew I might be leaving my job so I took it up at a cost of about £5 a month.

I then lost my job but I took one quick look at the paper work for the unemployment cover, which means Barclaycard will make your payments, and decided to cancel it. There were so many forms to fill in and letters and signatures I needed.. shocking really..

One good thing about Barclaycard is you can make payments online via your debit card or by post, cheque or postal order, or using a Giro slip, which they post to you, via your local bank.

The call centre staff are ok but not fantastic. Sometimes they can be rude and don't really care about your problems. The security questions are pointless, e.g. how old will you be on your next birthday.. Most people can find that out!

Barclaycard are ok but nothing special. I'm sure there's better companies out there!

Summary: Barclays answer to a creditcard.