I was in Edinburgh last Tuesday and I went in to Jessops to buy a digital camera for my daughter. Cost: £168. I produced my BOI Mastercard and expected the transaction to be completed in a few minutes. As the assistant was processing it he received a phone call. A security check by BOI. I had to confirm my branch and current account details plus date of birth. This apparently was not good enough. The transaction could not be approved.
I phoned BOI credit card services from the shop and I was put through to their security section. I was quizzed about various recent transactions including several that I had already paid for last week. Other transactions had only appeared on my account in the last couple of days and I confirmed that I had indeed been the person who initiated them (all of them were online purchases - flights, hotels and the like).
I wanted to know why I was put in the embarrassing position of having a low value transaction refused given that (a) I have been a BOI customer and credit card holder for more than 30 years (b) there has never been a payment issue with my card (I pay each monthly account in full) and (c) there has never been any fraud issue with my card.
I was given some waffle about the need to have good security in the interests of all customers - I have no issue with that but see above - and that a security flag would remain on my card for the time being. Did this mean I might have further problems with transactions while in Scotland? Yes.
Whereupon I saw red and gave the unfortunate agent full force of my venom. What the hell was the credit card good for if I couldn't use it while abroad? Why did they single my card out given it's excellent payment record? And why in the name of all that's holy should they get worried about £168 when I had recent transactions (paid for) for several thousand Euro?
I was put through to a manager who apologised profusely and assured me the security flag would be lifted forthwith and that I could transact the camera purchase without any further problem. I had her wait on the phone while this occurred.
All this took up about 45 minutes of my time. I was feeling profoundly embarrassed and angry and I think I was shoddily treated by BOI. I am well aware of the level of credit card fraud and I appreciate that ongoing security checks have to be done. In this instance however and with my card in particular I fail to see why they should have felt the need to suspect that something was amiss.
I asked why they didn't phone me if they ever had doubts about a transaction and it transpired they didn't have my mobile number in their database. That was the first I knew about that. It would be a simple matter for BOI to write to all credit card customers for whom they don't have mobile contact numbers and invite them to submit them. Instead, I had to find out the hard way that they had concerns.
The whole episode has left a very sour taste and I feel very hard done by by BOI given my long years as a good customer. I am seriously considering switching to another provider as a result.
Regards,
Fnergg
I phoned BOI credit card services from the shop and I was put through to their security section. I was quizzed about various recent transactions including several that I had already paid for last week. Other transactions had only appeared on my account in the last couple of days and I confirmed that I had indeed been the person who initiated them (all of them were online purchases - flights, hotels and the like).
I wanted to know why I was put in the embarrassing position of having a low value transaction refused given that (a) I have been a BOI customer and credit card holder for more than 30 years (b) there has never been a payment issue with my card (I pay each monthly account in full) and (c) there has never been any fraud issue with my card.
I was given some waffle about the need to have good security in the interests of all customers - I have no issue with that but see above - and that a security flag would remain on my card for the time being. Did this mean I might have further problems with transactions while in Scotland? Yes.
Whereupon I saw red and gave the unfortunate agent full force of my venom. What the hell was the credit card good for if I couldn't use it while abroad? Why did they single my card out given it's excellent payment record? And why in the name of all that's holy should they get worried about £168 when I had recent transactions (paid for) for several thousand Euro?
I was put through to a manager who apologised profusely and assured me the security flag would be lifted forthwith and that I could transact the camera purchase without any further problem. I had her wait on the phone while this occurred.
All this took up about 45 minutes of my time. I was feeling profoundly embarrassed and angry and I think I was shoddily treated by BOI. I am well aware of the level of credit card fraud and I appreciate that ongoing security checks have to be done. In this instance however and with my card in particular I fail to see why they should have felt the need to suspect that something was amiss.
I asked why they didn't phone me if they ever had doubts about a transaction and it transpired they didn't have my mobile number in their database. That was the first I knew about that. It would be a simple matter for BOI to write to all credit card customers for whom they don't have mobile contact numbers and invite them to submit them. Instead, I had to find out the hard way that they had concerns.
The whole episode has left a very sour taste and I feel very hard done by by BOI given my long years as a good customer. I am seriously considering switching to another provider as a result.
Regards,
Fnergg