Ryan Powell’s Blog

This is a rant aimed at Customer Service Directors of British Banks and Credit Card providers… I suspect you are all playing the same game, but perhaps readers of this blog can share their own stories on the subject so we can see.

There was a time, not long ago, when I used to travel to mainland Europe and further afield, comfortable in the knowledge the Visa and Mastercard symbols meant I did not need to buy cash currency before travelling as I could use my plastic at cash dispensers and in shops and restaurants without a second thought. If my card provider, be they Bank or Credit Card company, suspected fraudulent behaviour on my account, they would contact me by phone or email to check.

I travelled to Hong Kong in December 2006 and all went well. However, when I returned in September 2008, little did I know how much things had changed. Duly, I took no cash with me whatsoever. I visited a cash dispenser just after arriving in Hong Kong to find first my Bank card and then my Credit card were refused at the cash dispenser. With no cash to my name, I ended up having to walk for an hour from my hotel to get to my mate’s stag party, which we were celebrating the night of my arrival. Thankfully, my friend was able to lend me a few dollars until I had a chance to speak to the card providers and sort out the situation.

That is where the experience got a whole lot worse. First there was the challenge of actually getting through to the providers in the UK. The credit card provider had a UK-only phone number on the reverse of the bank card, which I couldn’t ring from overseas. I tried using Skype, I bought a calling card, I eventually had to ask a relative to call the card company for me and get hold of a telephone number that I could legitimately dial from outside the UK.

The Bank card provider made things even more disagreeable for me. I was rather miffed to find out that the monthly premium I pay to them for their so-called Premiere service means bugger all anymore. I used to have a relationship manager based in my area at the end of a local UK phone number. It was at this point I learned that particular phone number is no longer in use and my calls are routed, along with those of I suspect all the rest of the Bank’s customers to an Indian call centre, where the service I received was actually over-polite and under-empathetic.

To be clear, I do not remember having received ANY communication from my Bank telling me they were changing the service and giving me the option to continue or stop paying for a so-called premium service.

After this very annoying experience, I decided to pre-empt the same issue with my cards in advance of a four-day trip to France in December. I called my credit card provider to let them know of my intentions. They were helpful and took a note of my travel dates, though they did tell me I may still need to call them when overseas if I encountered a problem.

Upon ringing the aforementioned Bank, they told me I could now inform them via their website, though they did take down the details over the phone. Needless to say, I felt less than certain I would not encounter any problems during the trip - though thankfully I did not.

My gripe is that neither the Bank nor the credit card company has made me aware of the fact it is now MY responsibility to remember to tell THEM whenever I am going to travel outside of the UK. How customer-friendly is that? Is this just another step along the road toward the impersonalisation of customer service in the UK?? Either way, it sucks in my opinion! Your thoughts?