Rubycard - new Irish pre-paid card

ferga_com

I note the recent launch of Rubycard, a pre-paid Mastercard. According to the website the issuer is Newcastle Building Society but this launch is to the Irish market. Website is www.rubycard.ie

BuffyBot

Got mentioned the other day on here. Shame the website is a complete mess - seems a real competitor in the market!

BuffyBot

So I tried 3 times to register for this as a test.

Site links not working much of the time. Some lead you back to their site developers test site. Sometimes, when the "buy" option does work, you can register - but during registration the process fails and they expect you to ring a premium rate number to enquire about it. Who on earth makes a potential customer contact a premium rate number? That alone would put off many people.

They don't want to make it easy to get a card - that or they launched WAY too early without proper systems/processes in place.

rubycard.ie = phail in my opinion!

ferga_com

Yeah it looks like they need to do a lot of work.

RubyCard (Mike)

Hi Buffybot,

Thanks for your feedback on the site. We were aware there were still some bugs on the site with the application process and we're trying to fix these. Everything should be working okay now. You may have seen the site during the time we were making some fixes, which is why you would have seen the developer's test url.

We completely take on board your comments about the premium rate phone number. You're not the only person to say this! We're looking into another solution for this and this is one of our priorities.

Thanks again for your comments, this is all really valuable to us and it's certainly been taken on board.

BuffyBot

Mike - welcome to boards.ie Good to have you on board!

We have some specific policies for company reps who want to use boards.ie. You should drop hello<at>boards.ie for info.

Re: the premium rate number. I've no problem with that as a post-sales customer care option as you offer email customer care (although, ideally a cheaper one would be great!), but there should be a cheaper pre-sales option!

stepbar

MikeRubyCard wrote: »

Hi Buffybot,

Thanks for your feedback on the site. We were aware there were still some bugs on the site with the application process and we're trying to fix these. Everything should be working okay now. You may have seen the site during the time we were making some fixes, which is why you would have seen the developer's test url.

We completely take on board your comments about the premium rate phone number. You're not the only person to say this! We're looking into another solution for this and this is one of our priorities.

Thanks again for your comments, this is all really valuable to us and it's certainly been taken on board.

I'm curious as to why you would launch a website without ensuring it worked!!!? Whose bright idea was that?

If your company has any credibility at all, you'd go off and take that website down until it's propertly tested. Surely you have an environment to do this without resorting to "live" testing.

RubyCard (Mike)

Hi Everyone.

Below is a link to a free RubyCard application form. Usually €12.95.

The link is active untill Monday 28th @ 23.59.

www.rubymoney.ie/ruby-card-application-form/

Mike

BuffyBot

Freebies, yay!

(I've given Mike permission to post this, as it may be of interest to some folks here).

parsi

Hmm.

Give all your details to a site that operates out of a UK postbox and can't even format Irish telephone numbers.

Notice that customer care is 1euro per min.

RubyCard (Mike)

Hi Parsi.
Thanks for the comment on the phone number I will look into it on Monday morning.
We a a fully Irish owned company based in Cork. Prepaid Cards Ireland LTD.
With regards to the English post box we could not source an Irish bank to issue prepaid cards for us so we had to use a UK bank.
No Irish bank issues prepaid cards in Ireland at present and probably wont in the near future.
With regard to €1.00 per min customer care number, with effect from Monday morning we have a new sales line call save 1850 234234 we wish to advise that all queries can be answered by our website and by email customercare@rubycard.ie
We appreciate your comments and hope you will apply for a free card and let us know your thoughts afterwards.

Mike

Nevyn

Your site is incredibly hard to navigate and get any answers out of.

If you have a card how do you put funds on it?
What are the transaction charges?

BuffyBot

From what I've read:

Loading cards is done by PayPoint machine (immediate, but with a 3% commission), or if you have an upgraded card you can do it by bank transfer (3-4 working days).

Fees depend on card type (PAYG or Pay Monthy). They've put them up here - seems to be a bit easier to read that it was the other day (that, or I was reading a different page)

http://rubycard.ie/page_970.html

dudara

I am confused about purchasing. You mention a €12.95 fee and then talk about PAYG/Monthly tariffs. Is the €12.95 a joining fee and how much do these tariffs cost?

EDIT: Ah, just saw BuffyBot's post. Question withdrawn.

BuffyBot

So, my RubyCard arrived in the post. (After a mail to customer service, a canned response that didn't answer my message or indicate it had even been read. A stern reply back got the problem sorted quick smart, however).

Activation was a breeze.

Will run it through some tests next week as I'm out of the country and going somewhere I don't want to carry my regular credit/debit cards around the streets - so I decided to put some spending money on it to pay for food/occasional purchase when out and about.

Got strange looks at local PayPoint merchant ("but it's a credit card") while trying to top-up. Not altogether surprised as I had many similar experiences when I had a pre-paid card in the UK and tried to top it up via PayPoint agents. Just had to convince her to swipe it, and off we went. Ruby might want to do some merchant education

For some reason the PayPoint could only load €100 at a time, which was slightly annoying so had to do multiple loads. I will report how it works as a "travel money" option next week..

Some bad points, some good so far..

Nevyn

Ongoing Features Pay Monthly Pay As You Go
Transaction Fees FREE and unlimited 2.95% (min 75c, max €2)

So everytime I use it to pay for something it will cost me between 75c and 2 euro?

Top-up fees and limits

€1650 limit card

* 3% (max load €500) at PayPoint

It charging me 3 euro for putting a 100 euro on it?

And

Other fees

* €5 - Stamp Duty per annum (this will be deducted from first top-up)

the first time I pay to put money on it I loose 5 euros on it in tax.

So if I want to use it to subscribe to boards for 50 and link it to a pay pal account
it is going to cost me 5 euros tax, 2 euros transaction fee so I need to put 57 eruo on
it and I will be changed 1.71 bringing using the cards to subscribe to boards costing 8 :71.

8:71 on 50 is pretty steep.

BuffyBot

Thaedydal wrote: »

So everytime I use it to pay for something it will cost me between 75c and 2 euro?


It charging me 3 euro for putting a 100 euro on it?

Yup and yup - but neither are uncommon with pre-paid cards. The one I had in the UK was much the same (bank transfers were commision free, same as Ruby..though why you need to be verified to do a Bank transfer top-up, I haven't quite figured out...)

the first time I pay to put money on it I loose 5 euros on it in tax.

That struck me as odd. It hasn't disappeared off my card and I would have thought as the card isn't issued by an Irish bank, it shouldn't be subject to Stamp Duty - the Payzone pre-paid Mastercard doesn't seem to - or I can't see it mentioned anywhere on their site. Anyone question for Rubycard to clarify..

RubyCard (Mike)

Sorry it’s been so long since my last visit, I will try to answer all questions now.
Our pay as you go transaction charges are based on 2.95% capped at €2 the other card payzone charge 2.95% of the total amount.
We also have a pay monthly card which is €6.00 per month for unlimited transactions.
Loading is based on 3% capped at €5.00. Our max load through PayPoint is €500. It is necessary to verify (upgrade) cards to accept loads by bank transfer because of anti money laundering rules put in place by our issuing bank.
Stamp Duty: We were informed by the financial regulator to take €5.00 from every card.
The payzone card does not do this yet as they market their product as a gift card not a general use prepaid card which it is. It’s only a matter of time before they will have to take the stamp duty as well.
Buffybot: Glad you got a Rubycard And I hope you have a great holiday. I am sorry about your loading experience. Paypoint have sent detailed information on loading Rubycard to its entire retail estate. Some of these retailers are unfortunately not great at training their staff. The information has been resent today with a cover letter to instruct retailers to train staff to stop other Rubycard customers having the same problems. I have a copy of the information but cant find how to upload a file here so I have crudely cut and pasted it to the bottom of my post.
I hope I have answerer all questions to everyone’s satisfaction.
RubyCard (Mike)
Dear PayPoint Agent,

To top up Rubycard MasterCard® prepaid cards you must swipe the card through the slot on the right hand side of the PayPoint terminal

Rubycard is a reloadable MasterCard® which customers order online and top up with cash exclusively at PayPoint.

Customers simply load cash onto the card at PayPoint and then use it straight away to make purchases wherever they see the MasterCard® acceptance mark.

Important information about topping up a Ruby MasterCard®
· Customers can top up any amount between €10 and €500. All payments up to €500 must be processed as one single PayPoint transaction.
Retailer, if you are presented with a RUBYCARD
To top-up, simply
1. Take the customers cash and swipe the card through the right hand slot on your terminal.
2. Enter the amount paid.
3 Hand the customer their Ruby card
and PayPoint receipt.

Nevyn

So how long should it take for a card to arrive out?

RubyCard (Mike)

It would normally take 3 to 5 days but there is a delay because of such huge interest and it is taking 7 to 10 days at the moment. This should be resolved within a week.

Nevyn

So those that applied for one using the link above on the 28th of sept should be getting thier cards any day now?

zztopper

can it be used on gaming sites?

ddub

Now it takes alot for me to get frustrated but i think this is probably the poorest and most half baked attempt at launching I product I've seen.

Got the card (looks pretty and thats where it ends), your Paypoint merchants (i've tried two in Dublin city) haven't a breeze what to do with the card and refuse point blank to even try.

Your 1560 customer care line answers, plays music and then says try again later (am sure there must be some regulations against doing this on a premium rate line - will find out from Comreg on Tuesday).

I actually dont mind the high charges this comes with if it bloody worked. All of the above coupled with the amateurish website suggests this a one man band who's taken out an NBS reseller agreement and thinks that customers don't need to be supported and merchants trained.

One to avoid - if only payzone would start putting a chip on their cards because it's the easiest thing going to use.

**Timbuk2**

ddub wrote: »

One to avoid - if only payzone would start putting a chip on their cards because it's the easiest thing going to use.

Why would it matter if it doesn't have a chip in it? Most places that accept chip 'n' pin cards will accept non-chip cards also - as most forgeign cards are non-chip.

There are disadvantages to it, such as having to sign or not being able to use the card at unattended point of sales, but it should be accepted in most places.

breakologybeats

Which shops have you tried? I got this card a few weeks ago for a weekend trip, loaded it twice since I got it and didn't have any problems doing it...

BuffyBot

your Paypoint merchants (i've tried two in Dublin city) haven't a breeze what to do with the card and refuse point blank to even try.

To be fair, they aren't Ruycard's merchants. I noted my difficulty above, but that's down to the training recieved by the store employees from their local management. Rubycard (and any other provider) could post instructions and information to the Paypoint machine holders until they are blue in the face - but unless the merchants use that material to train their staff, there isn't much Rubycard can do.

It's not dissimilar to how it was when pre-paid cards came out in the UK: I had one and it was a nightmare to get them topped up initially as merchants didn't have a clue/were skeptical etc. It's just how it is with a new product.

wackjob

Clicked the button on my online account to upgrade the card and heard nothing from them.

spent 20 minutes trying to upgrade the card by phone, got through to some one in India. Not a breeze, read the terms and coditions that came with the card over the phone to them.

They told me that it was no longer possible to scan and send a passport, even though it says it in the pack. Now saying that they needed a notorised passport and utility bill? That € 30 with a solicitor.

Constantly speaking £'s, dont think they even know the card is issued in Ireland. If I get a 20 euro bill for this on my phone I'm not going to be happy.

BuffyBot

20 minutes to the 1516 number? That's going to cost quite a bit I'd imagine.

wackjob

will post actual cost when I get the bill

RubyCard (Mike)

Apologies for the confusion over the Upgrade process for Ruby Card. Below are
instructions for those of you who wish to take advantage of the upgrade and start
receiving the additional benefits.



There are two pieces of documents required to upgrade:

• If you post your documents to us then we need to see a copy of the photo ID. and original of proof of address.
• If you email your documents then we still need to see both forms of ID, but it eliminates the need for the proof of address to be an original ID.

Documents provided as proof of address need to be dated within the last 3 months and include:
• Mortgage/bank/credit card statement
• Evidence of entitlement to state funded benefit
• Utility bill
• Valid car registration document
• Council tax demand



A“At times the Customer Care line will get extremely busy. During these times you
will continue to hear a ring tone until an agent is free to handle your call. Please
be advised that you will only incur the call charge once the call is connected to an
agent or alternatively, you can contact us for free by emailing:
customercare@rubycard.ie <mailto:customercare@rubycard.ie> ; You email will be dealt
with within 24 hours during normal business hours”.

I have also asked PayPoint to send their loading agents instructions on loading Rubycard for the third time.

My personal email is mike@prepaidcards.ie and feel free to contact me directly with any issues and I will deal with them myself.

wackjob

good to hear that about the phone charges, because I was holding for 15 minutes. Will confirm the charge when I get the bill.

I'm confused however, do I need to get the documents notarised as instructed by the helpdesk or just mail them off?