Barclaycard - anyone else getting tired of their security?

Andrew_McP

Andrew_McP

Andrew_McP

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I know it's hard to complain about credit card companies being *too* cautious, but in the last year or so I've had my card replaced because of an unspecified security risk, and locked down twice when I made transactions which didn't fit "my usual pattern". That means wading through their increasingly tedious phone menus and eventually chatting to their Indian security bods (once you've noticed there's a problem; they don't email or phone you). I don't particularly mind the Indian thing, but I do mind the annoying call lag and jumping through all the hoops again.

Today my transaction was with a retailer I've ordered from before with Barclaycard, and who uses the second tier of protection (Barclaycard Secure) and the gits still bounced the transaction because it was for £750.

Oh well, they've saved me some money I guess. It took me a while to fight off premature buyer's remorse, and I've now cancelled the order in a huff... just to deprive them of their tiny slice of the action. :-) And I'd cut the poxy card up now if it wasn't tied to several online accounts I use regularly.

Right, ok... I think I've vented enough now. Maybe. Perhaps I should go punch something, or make some bread? That might calm me down to the point where I realise how stupid I'm being.

Repeat after me: they only have our best interests at heart. And it's impressive that we can do all this stuff online. Blah, blah, blah... this isn't making me feel any better. :-)

Andrew McP
 
Andrew_McP said:
Repeat after me: they only have our best interests at heart. And it's impressive that we can do all this stuff online. Blah, blah, blah... this isn't making me feel any better. :-)

Andrew McP
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I think you'll find that their best interests are at the heart of it ;)
 
minor inconvenience and one day it could go in your favour..I know its a pain sometimes to log into the online banking but generally I find thier service quite good and secure.
 
Mikoyan said:
minor inconvenience
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Obviously, and such pathetic ranting has no place in the world when there are people slowing dying under rubble in Haiti. But I still want to punch something. Any volunteers? :-)

I guess the serious point for me is that I increasingly resent being treated like a criminal... whether that's with spot checks at work, transactional stuff like this (despite the extra tier of security that's password protected and the track record at that retailer), or just in general life where you need to prove you are who you are so often these days. It's just... I dunno. Maybe I'm just getting old & grumpy.

Make that older and grumpier.

Andrew McP
 
It's like a lot of things really. They inconvenience and sometimes harass innocent people.

Over zealous security measures that those who want to overcome, will do so easily; "where there's a will there's a way".

Though I suppose they're actually acknowledging those people and taking steps to ensure that their life is a little bit harder.
 
Andrew_McP said:
Obviously, and such pathetic ranting has no place in the world when there are people slowing dying under rubble in Haiti. But I still want to punch something. Any volunteers? :-)

I guess the serious point for me is that I increasingly resent being treated like a criminal... whether that's with spot checks at work, transactional stuff like this (despite the extra tier of security that's password protected and the track record at that retailer), or just in general life where you need to prove you are who you are so often these days. It's just... I dunno. Maybe I'm just getting old & grumpy.

Make that older and grumpier.

Andrew McP
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Easier to blanket restrict or ban for everyone than it is to deal specifically with criminals. That's one significant reason. The other is the level of control it affords.
 
I get this a lot too, does my head in when they block my card for ordering a Pizza when if they check I order one more or less every week.
 
hmmm, seems a bit off that you have to wait until something's up, with hsbc if they query your payments the first point of call is to phone you and check them out.
 
As much as you can say it's a "minor inconvenience" I too am getting rather annoyed of them stopping my card without trying to contact me every time I try and purchase something from one of my regular retailers. The last two orders I've made from here have both had the payment refused because it was "unusual". I'm pretty sure they've just stopped my card now in fact. Sigh :(
 
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Had the same problem with an Egg credit card. It got to the stage where it was almost useless. On serveal occasions it resulted in a very embarassing situation (could not pay Hotel bill). In the end I just cnacelled the card. No amount of talkin gto egg made any difference. I came to the conclusion that for some reason they just did not want me as a customer.
 
I've never had any problems with Barclaycard they seem to let me do whatever I want and have never blocked me. However, my barclays debit card was blocked once after i bought one of those online cd keys from a company registered in Singapore but i sorted that out quickly.
 
I've had my Visa card 'blocked' a couple of times for suspicious transactions (Megabus and cinema tickets) but MBNA have phoned me in each case. The first time it was 'blocked' I used it without a problem at the supermarket and got home 10 minutes later to an answerphone message saying not to use my card in case of embarrassment :confused:.
 
Barclays is a bit of a pain, logging into the current account, needing that gizmo to make any sort of payments, I guess that bit I can live with the added security. Most annoying thing thats happened to me in the past is them blocking transactions of trivial things. They wouldn't let me order a dominos pizza online even though I have done in the past. They queried a payment to bethere for my broadband even though I've been paying them via the current account on a direct debit for the last 3 years.

Now though it seems better, I usually get an phonecall which is all automated and it lists the last few transactions, if its correct I press a button to confirm or dont do anything.

HSBC you can do quite a lot with the online banking without too much hassle, which is good, but maybe bad if compromised. I've sent money to someones bank account in a different country, very convenient and simple. But if someone hacks your account..
 
shmacks said:
I've never had any problems with Barclaycard they seem to let me do whatever I want and have never blocked me.
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Maybe I should pay them some interest once in a while. I suspect that as someone who always pays off the full balance, and has repeatedly told them I don't want more than the 3k limit I've had for about ten years, I'm not a valuable customer. That's certainly the impression the last 12 months have given me.... perhaps falsely.

Still, I shouldn't complain. They saved me £750 today, and I'm seriosuly reconsidering £450 of that now. Maybe they should freeze my card more often, not less? :-)

In an ideal world an immediate txt or email saying "please confirm this transaction" would save a lot of grief. However I thought the whole point of the additional security stage (where you enter random letters from a password) is that it's there to confirm you're definitely in control of the transaction.

Mmm... better stop. I'm getting wound up again. ;-)

Andrew McP
 
I have a part-time job in a supermarket and when customer's cards get declined (due to the block that the companies have put on it), I get it in the neck! Some people just don't seem to understand that it's their card provider and not the retailer!
 
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