Card eaten while abroad, phone number issue.

mahamageehad

Hi folks,

I'm putting this here as a warning for folks rather than something that BoI can really help me with as I don't think anything can be done. Maybe it will help other people in future. Tl;dr - current and credit accounts are dealt with completely separately and you must update your mobile number separately with each team for some reason or risk them cancelling your card without telling you. 

Some background on me first- I'm an BoI customer for about 10 years. I have 3 accounts- 2 current (only 1 with a card) and 1 credit. I'm Irish, but currently living in Germany. I spend a lot of money online, especially on crowdfunding websites. These transactions are made on whatever card I have handy at the time. I also travel quite a bit.

I've had some issues recently with my credit card- I preloaded the card with about 1,000 a few months ago to book a holiday to the Dominican Republic for a special occasion. When I tried to book flights, my card was declined. BoI had put a hold on my credit card due to unusual activity. That's actually fair enough, the fraud team were doing a good job. I had never changed my mobile number with BoI so the team couldn't contact me. Luckily I noticed and was able to get the issue solved by contacting BoI. The card was unblocked and I was able to proceed (at personal loss to me by the way as the flights had gone up, but I sucked it up as I hadn't changed my number.)

A few weeks later, I got a call from the fraud team on my new number. They wanted to confirm some unusual transactions. The lovely guy I spoke to started listing off online purchases and clothing shops in Ireland that were definitely not from me. They contacted me within 2 hours of these transactions taking place. I was actually amazed at how efficient the team were, I highly recommended them to everyone I was telling the story too.

Now, about a month or 6 weeks passes. My new credit card has arrived and is working grand. I take a work trip to London for a few days, then I start packing. I arrive in the Dominican and withdraw pesos with my credit card. I'm waiting for a lump sum to enter my current account. About half way through the holiday I try to withdraw money on my Visa debit card. The machine eats the card "for security reasons".

I called BoI at this stage panicking. I'm out of money and this is the only ATM in the town I'm in. I'm afraid to put my credit card in the machine now. The lady I get through to tells me that my debit card was cancelled on March 20th. She says that I called to cancel it and there's a recording. I did no such thing. She transfers me to another colleague. Her colleague says that my card was cancelled automatically as per the policy as I didn't reply to the texts from the Fraud squad. I told him that I received no texts. I ask what number they contacted- he says my old irish number. At this stage I'm furious. I explain that I've had issues with my credit card before and had changed the number. He says that I have to change the number separately myself on 365 online, it's my responsibility. He says that they are separate departments and that they don't collaborate. I have now done this, but unless I'm mistaken, there's no way of doing it through the app? I only had access to a computer today.

To add insult to injury, I ask what the suspicious transactions were. He says he can't give me details but the transactions were in pound sterling. Ok, I was in London. I ask if anyone had looked at my account history before cancelling the card. I spent money online in $ and £ almost every month. Plus my hotel in London was charged to my credit card. He says no, he doesn't know why it was cancelled but it was. He repeats that if they had been able to contact me they wouldn't have cancelled it. I asked him about my credit card, and if it was safe to put in the machine now. He said it's not his department that checks that but I guess he hears how frustrated I am and he puts me on hold and finds out about the card. He confirms that my card is active and fine. My credit card worked for the rest of the holiday but I spent a good few days panicking that the card would be eaten and I'd be screwed. I was treating my partner to the holiday so he had no card with him. It really took the shine off the holiday for me. Many ATMS in the Dominican have a daily limit of 5,000 pesos (about €100) so I was forced to use the ATM often rather than taking out one big chunk. On top of that, I assume I'll be charged cash advance fees on all of those transactions that would have otherwise been avoided. 

Long story short, I'm really considering leaving BoI over this. It's really scary as a young woman to be constantly worrying about money in a country where almost no-one speaks the language. I've always been happy with BoI- I've been there a long time and find the online and mobile banking very smooth. Over the next week or so I'll be auditing my account and the charges I pay and comparing it to competitors. It's a pity, but I think it's best. As I mainly use online banking I've a feeling that some of the newer banks might make more financial sense for me. I'm still astounded that there appears to be no centralised CRM system for contact details or an overall view of a customers full account history across accounts.

 

Bank of Ireland: Sarah

Hi mahamageehad, 

Thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback here. We're sorry you're unhappy with our service and are considering closing your account.  Should you wish to make a formal complaint about your experience, please see our Customer Complaints process here

When you go abroad we would always advise you to give travel notice of the dates and destination for both your current account Visa Debit card and your Credit Card. We will ensure to forward your feedback and comments to our relevant teams. 

If there is anything else we can help you with please let us know. 

Thanks,
Sarah

mahamageehad

Bank of Ireland: Sarah wrote: »

Hi mahamageehad, 

Thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback here. We're sorry you're unhappy with our service and are considering closing your account.  Should you wish to make a formal complaint about your experience, please see our Customer Complaints process here

When you go abroad we would always advise you to give travel notice of the dates and destination for both your current account Visa Debit card and your Credit Card. We will ensure to forward your feedback and comments to our relevant teams. 

If there is anything else we can help you with please let us know. 

Thanks,
Sarah

Thanks for the response Sarah. I will be making a formal complaint. Your online service allows me to notify you of travel in the case of my credit card, should I take it to mean that I am also expected to call BoI and tell them that my debit card will be abroad with me too? My problem with the cancellation is how random it was, as I said based on my history I travel a lot and buy things every month in multiple currencies. Should I call before I do that too? It's just a bit frustrating that I'm supposed to take on so much work here, especially when I bet the fees I'm charged are significant over time. I've never switched banks before and I imagine it'll be an absolute pain but staying with BoI seems risky at the minute.

Bank of Ireland: Evie

mahamageehad wrote: »

Bank of Ireland: Sarah wrote: »

Hi mahamageehad, 

Thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback here. We're sorry you're unhappy with our service and are considering closing your account.  Should you wish to make a formal complaint about your experience, please see our Customer Complaints process here

When you go abroad we would always advise you to give travel notice of the dates and destination for both your current account Visa Debit card and your Credit Card. We will ensure to forward your feedback and comments to our relevant teams. 

If there is anything else we can help you with please let us know. 

Thanks,
Sarah

Thanks for the response Sarah. I will be making a formal complaint. Your online service allows me to notify you of travel in the case of my credit card, should I take it to mean that I am also expected to call BoI and tell them that my debit card will be abroad with me too? My problem with the cancellation is how random it was, as I said based on my history I travel a lot and buy things every month in multiple currencies. Should I call before I do that too? It's just a bit frustrating that I'm supposed to take on so much work here, especially when I bet the fees I'm charged are significant over time. I've never switched banks before and I imagine it'll be an absolute pain but staying with BoI seems risky at the minute.

Hi,

Sorry to hear you are unhappy with this service, you can use the Online Service Desk 'Ask A Question' service to give notice on your account for your Visa Debit card. Please include a contact number which we can reach you on so we can send a text to confirm the transactions. 

We do hope you reconsider this, all banks would have security measures in place for the security of their customers. We do value you as a customer however, and will be passing this on to our feedback department. 

Thanks, 

Evie