Veni, Vidi, Visa (Barclaycard)

Name: collingwood21

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Product:	Barclaycard
Date:	30/05/04 (719 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, Nectar points

Disadvantages: High APR, Poor customer services

● Barclaycard was set up in 1966, making it the UK?s first credit card.

● Barclaycard was a founder member of the international VISA system in 1977 and the first credit card company to go online in 1995.

● Barclaycard is Europe?s leading issuer of credit cards, with some 11 million in circulation ? 8.4 million of those are in the UK. That makes 1 in 5 UK credit cards a Barclaycard.

● Barclaycard can be used at over 22 million places in 200 countries.

● A recent survey by ?Reader?s Digest? found British consumers rated Barclaycard the most trusted credit card brand in the country.


OK, so I think we can establish that Barclaycard have a big brand image (so big that their name is even recognised by my spellchecker, in fact). They are trusted and used by a lot of people. They have a history of innovation and moving with the times. So why is it that the good people of Dooyoo have seen fit to give Barclaycard an average rating of just 3 out of 5? I think perhaps that there aren?t many Dooyooers out there who regularly peruse ?Reader?s Digest??or if they do, they certainly didn?t vote in this poll. My own experiences with Barclaycard certainly fall short of what I expected from such a glowing image, but then, as Shakespeare himself once said:

?Friends, Dooyooers, Countrymen, lend me your eyes;
I come to bury Barclaycard, not to praise it.
The evil charges that credit card companies do lives after them;
The good often hidden amongst dodgy customer service.?

Or something.

My own relationship with Barclaycard began back in the mists of time, at the tender age of 18, when I was just about to embark on my university career. Having just emerged from a
n abusive relationship with HSBC (Midland Bank, as they were then), I was easily seduced into taking out a Barclay?s student account that came complete with a student Barclaycard. Application was effortlessly easy - it probably still is, as you can now get one online. I have no idea what sort of credit rating you need to get your hands on one, I should add, but I daresay it is not too challenging if so many people have one. There was no annual fee; a spending limit of £500 (which sounds an absolute fortune if you?re 18), and above all, the chance to appear a proper grown-up. I was immensely proud of my little piece of plastic, although our bond began to sour on the day I innocently took £10 out of the bank on my card and found myself charged £1.50 for the privilege. Ouch.

Things remained fairly stable until the summer of 2000, when my student Barclaycard graduated to, well, a graduate one. The APR (annual percentage rate or abominably priced rip-off: you chose) stayed the same and I was still paying no fee, yet overnight the amount of credit I had leapt to around £3000. I felt somewhat uncomfortable about this; I was no nearer being gainfully employed than I was when my card had a more modest limit, and my income was in fact less as I was no longer getting my student grant. Knowing I suddenly had the ability to indulge my bibliophilic tendencies was good. Knowing that I would be landed with a charge approximately equivalent to the national debt of a small Third World country if I did was not. I phoned Barclaycard and politely requested that my credit limit be reduced to a more sensible sum ? the customer services assistant I spoke to seemed to think I was a little odd for asking for this, but dutifully lowered my credit limit back to £500.

At some point not long afterwards, my Barc
laycard mutated again to become the proper grown-up version (or Classic Barclaycard if you must). My credit limit soared up again into the thousands ? and in fact continued to do so every time I phoned and asked to have it put back down again. Having to phone about this roughly every other month had a further negative impact on my relationship with Barclaycard. Why could they not follow a simple instruction at the first (or even second or third for that matter) time of asking?

The final straw came about 6 months ago, when my regular monthly statement failed to arrive. I followed the now familiar procedure of phoning ?customer services? to find out what was happening, and was put through to a very bored assistant whose grasp of English was not entirely brilliant. Twenty minutes of laboured discussion later, I had established that the statement had been sent to me as usual; that there was a bill to pay that month; that I would have to pay a charge as I was now past the payment deadline, and that a replacement statement would be sent to me ASAP (at another charge, of course).

Another week later, and still no statement.

I rang again, and was this time connected to a rather charming lady who saw fit to speak to me as if I was especially dim and needed things explaining to me s-l-o-w-l-y. Well, of course I hadn?t had a statement - I hadn?t used my Barclaycard in the previous month, so there was nothing to show on it! Aha. So I was just imagining what the first assistant had told me, then? Yes, apparently I was. In the same way that Barclaycard imagined that I wanted a higher credit limit on my card, I dare say. Now, I hate being made to feel stupid, especially by people who are supposedly there to help me, so it was time to stop putting up with it all and break up with Barclaycard. They may be
?Fluent in Finance? but they were certainly never learned the language of good customer service.

Looking back now, it is only fair that I state the positive parts of being with Barclaycard before pouring more scorn onto them. First of all, Barclaycard was the most reliable piece of plastic I have had; in the 7 years that I used it, it was never once rejected anywhere. Other cards I have had have been spat out of machines for no good reason, but Barclaycard never let me down, either in shops or online. The statements I had were always correct; I got a free extended warranty for a year on my purchases; I got internet delivery protection; I never paid any fees to have my cards, and I had the satisfaction of knowing my hard earned pennies were going towards supporting the under-paid and overworked heroes that slave away in the Barclaycard Premiership every week. There were even occasional prize draws for customers to win tickets to a Premiership game, but needless to say I never beat the 1 in 8.4 million odds. Of course, Barclaycard has now signed up with Nectar (a multi-shop loyalty scheme whereby you get 1 point for every £2 you spend on Barclaycard), although I never benefited from this because I didn?t use any of the other retailers in the scheme. Oh, well.

You may well have picked up on some of the bad things about Barclaycard by this point. I have hinted at the expense of running one of these cards ? the APR is currently sitting at a whopping 17.9% for the 3 cards that I owned (and the not much better 14.9% for the Gold Barclaycard, although nowhere can I find what you have to do to qualify for it). Is this so very bad? Actually, yes. You can easily find plenty of other cards with standard rates of under 10%, and there are a growing number out there with limited period 0% de
als on them if you are willing to be a card whore and change around a lot. In fact, a quick look around seems to indicate that this is one of the highest rates available at the moment. I always paid of my bill in full, but it always worried me how much I would be charged if for any reason I couldn?t do this. What else? Well, how about the dodgy customer service for another reason? Or the fact that they continually changed my credit limit without consulting me? Or the large amount of junk mail for loans and additional credit cards that they kept on bombarding me with? Or the fact that by going elsewhere I could get cashback on my purchases?

I?m sorry, Barclaycard, but I am now in a much more fulfilling relationship with my More Than credit card. I would rather have real New English Pounds back on my spends than arbitrary points I can only spend in a limited range of shops that are inconveniently far from me.

I would hesitantly recommend Barclaycard if you want a reliable card that you know you can pay off each month in full, but to the majority of people out there I would definitely suggest that you look elsewhere, as there are plenty of better deals and better service on the market. Even if it means forgoing your contribution to the good work of subsidising the Premiership.


● Details?
You may want to visit:
For full details of the Barclaycards currently on offer: www.barclaycard.co.uk
For information about the Nectar scheme: www.nectar.com

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