Barclay frustration

[disdreamin]

Earlier this week I was reading posts about how unhappy some people have been with Barclay's customer service, and I'm thinking "wow, I've found them to be responsive and helpful when I've called". Yeah, they shut down the AU card at one point for no particular reason - I got a frantic call wondering if I'd forgotten to pay the bill because the card had been declined. Yeah, um...NO!  But other than that one snafu, all had been well...until today.

Yesterday I had to call Barclay because my SO lost his Arrival+ credit card at work. Thankfully we had already been mailed replacement cards due to some suspected issue (not just us, but apparently a number of replacement cards were sent out to various users). The csr I spoke with was helpful and seemed knowledgeable. I explained that I had just received the cards in the mail that day and wasn't ready to have my account number changed - I still needed to contact a number of places I had used the card for autopay with, and some of them bill right around this time so I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get the changes in place in time to stop them going through this month. The csr assures me that she can activate only the AU card (different account number than primary) and mine will still work until 11/1/2015. I thank her, give my SO his new card, and jump on getting those autopays switched over to a new card. FWIW, I decided to use the DC which is SD'd since I'm less likely to run into issues using it at a vendor that is hacked...I've done that dance with Target and Home Depot and want no part of continually having to change auto-pay for a bunch of accounts.

So today I go to Wally-world and try to buy ~$50 worth of stuff, and my freaking Arrival+ is declined. I'm like WTH?! There was a huge line behind me at the express register as they waited for me to try the card, the cashier to try and swipe it, insert it, and finally type in the info - every time, declined.   I call Barclay and they're like "oh, that account is CLOSED". WHAT??!?!?!?!?  Come to find out, the "old" account is closed and I have new account numbers - meaning, they activated BOTH cards yesterday, despite *specifically* assuring me that mine would continue to work. What a fiasco. When I ask pointed questions and get specific answers, I need them to be correct - I expect that, and customers deserve that. Not impressed with this interaction at all. It really makes me contemplate whether keeping this card is worthwhile, especially as the nerf it.

[Skye12329]

I didn't know AU cards had different numbers for any lender. I thought cards with AU had the same numbers and everything? I could be wrong. But that's probably what happened then, where the rep activated the card and it actually does both. That's no good though about Walmart.

[disdreamin]

Nope, Barclay Arrival+ definitely has different account numbers for primary and AU, and so does AmEx Delta Skymiles. Not absolutely sure about others...but those are a definite as I've checked them. Lets just say my SO has a history of losing cards. 

[ddemari]

Op sounds frustrating but i dont know who I would be more annoyed with in that situation lol. CSR or someone constantly losing a card and causing me to deal with the ramifications, ya know. 

Id tell SO this is the last one! that's just me. but anyways, barclays is either great or they are lacking in greatness. 

[dethkultur]

Hmmm... Barclay noticed some issue that required sending out new cards... probably fraud? Numbers stolen? Hack?

Of course they are going to close the old account numbers. That is why they sent you new cards. Maybe the CSR and you were on different wavelengths, but that sounds like a reasonable situation to me. It will happen from time to time. It's frustrating dealing with the places you'll need to change your numbers, but I wouldn't get upset at Barclay's about this particular issue. I think every card company would handle it the same way (that is, if something is serious enough to automatically send you new cards, they aren't going to just wait and let you decide when to turn your old ones off.) I don't see any CC company anywhere that would have agreed to let your old compromised number still work because you asked to.

[morgacj2004]

I have no love lost for Barclays as of late however I think what they did here is correct. If they suspect fraud they will automatically close your account and expedite sending the customer new cards. I am an AU on my wife's acct and vice versa and they are different acct #.  The customer really cannot pick and choose when they want their acct closed if it is suspected the acct has been compromised.

[disdreamin]

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@dethkultur wrote:

Hmmm... Barclay noticed some issue that required sending out new cards... probably fraud? Numbers stolen? Hack?

Of course they are going to close the old account numbers. That is why they sent you new cards. Maybe the CSR and you were on different wavelengths, but that sounds like a reasonable situation to me. It will happen from time to time. It's frustrating dealing with the places you'll need to change your numbers, but I wouldn't get upset at Barclay's about this particular issue. I think every card company would handle it the same way (that is, if something is serious enough to automatically send you new cards, they aren't going to just wait and let you decide when to turn your old ones off.) I don't see any CC company anywhere that would have agreed to let your old compromised number still work because you asked to.

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I received a letter and email prior to the cards being received. There was NO fraud detected on the account whatsoever. Their letter and email stated that they were reissuing cards due to a "potential merchant data breach" and that account information may have been compromised. This wasn't just my account, it's many people - although they won't release what merchant the issue was with. The letter and email both clearly stated that the current accounts would still work until 11/1/2015, and that was reiterated by the rep I spoke with. I was actually told that, due to the delay in sending out cards to all accounts involved (apparently some people didn't even GET cards even though they should have) they were actually going to honor the old accounts until mid-November. I said I'd call by the end of the month and activate my card - that I didn't need more than a few days. Here it is still October and they shut my account down. NOT what was explicitly stated on the phone - I clarified this carefully.

My rant about Barclay wasn't really about having to change auto-pay info. My choice to use a SD'd card was with the thought this: the fewer merchants I use the card at, the lower the likelihood that there will be another data breach requiring card replacement. I've done this dance three times in the past short while. It's a time sink, and some of the autopays are harder than others to get changed (they require phone calls and email follow-ups).

Again, Barclay's own communications stated that the old account info would be good through at least the end of the month. If they weren't going to do that - and the rep reiterated that it WOULD be good until I called and let them know I was ready to switch my account number over - then why not just tell me? It would have saved a lot of hassle.

[disdreamin]

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@ddemari wrote:

Op sounds frustrating but i dont know who I would be more annoyed with in that situation lol. CSR or someone constantly losing a card and causing me to deal with the ramifications, ya know. 

Id tell SO this is the last one! that's just me. but anyways, barclays is either great or they are lacking in greatness. 

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To be honest, it's probably been over a year since the last time this happened. But also to be fair, it happened a LOT before that. Like a lost wallet once annually. And he always used to make a habit of carrying every *single* card he has. At this point, I've stripped his arsenal down to the Sallie Mae, BCP and Arrival+ to limit the pain if it happens again - oh, who am I fooling...WHEN it happens again.   The rest of the cards are filed, and he knows where they are if he needs them.

[Anonymous]

So sorry it worked out badly OP and I feel you about getting bad info from CSRs.  I work in a call center myself.  Always remember if you're asking for something that seems to good to be true and they say yes you have to be skeptical.  Looking back activating one new card but leaving the old one in place seems to be a challenge, or an impossibility.  But they said they could do it at the time so your natural instinct is to trust that.  Don't ever feel like you can't/shouldn't call back and get the info confirmed by a 2nd person or a supervisor.