HELP! Tesco Visa nightmare

DrPhilG

I've mentioned this briefly in another thread about Tesco Visa cards but it has gone beyond madness now.

I applied for a mortgage a few weeks ago and as part of the process I cleared my Visa card and told the bank that I had closed the account. Tesco Visa were supposed to send me a letter confirming the closure and I was told that this was done on the 29th of September.

Fast forward 3 weeks and numerous calls later, still no letter. They initially told me it would take 7-10 working days for the letter, then when that passed they said it could take 10-14 days.

That 14 days passed today so I called them again and they said that all they can do is request another letter which will take another 10-14 days!

Meanwhile the mortgage has been accepted subject to Tesco Visa's letter and everything is now at a standstill waiting for it.

Is there anything else I can do? I'm at my wits end talking to TV on the phone and getting the usual barely bothered "nothing else we can do" lines over and over.

What if this latest reorder doesn't show? They'll order another? And another? They can drag this on as long as they like and I'm powerless to do anything about it!

I've emailed the financial services regulator and the bank who have offered the mortgage to see what else can be done but this is very frustrating!

chris85

DrPhilG wrote: »

I've mentioned this briefly in another thread about Tesco Visa cards but it has gone beyond madness now.

I applied for a mortgage a few weeks ago and as part of the process I cleared my Visa card and told the bank that I had closed the account. Tesco Visa were supposed to send me a letter confirming the closure and I was told that this was done on the 29th of September.

Fast forward 3 weeks and numerous calls later, still no letter. They initially told me it would take 7-10 working days for the letter, then when that passed they said it could take 10-14 days.

That 14 days passed today so I called them again and they said that all they can do is request another letter which will take another 10-14 days!

Meanwhile the mortgage has been accepted subject to Tesco Visa's letter and everything is now at a standstill waiting for it.

Is there anything else I can do? I'm at my wits end talking to TV on the phone and getting the usual barely bothered "nothing else we can do" lines over and over.

What if this latest reorder doesn't show? They'll order another? And another? They can drag this on as long as they like and I'm powerless to do anything about it!

I've emailed the financial services regulator and the bank who have offered the mortgage to see what else can be done but this is very frustrating!

Noting the regulator can do at this point. Make a complaint immediately.

Do you normally have postal issues in your area? Have you ever had issues getting post from Tesco Visa before?

tenchi-fan

Phone customer service, briefly outline the matter to the csr who takes your call, then immediately ask for the matter to be escalated ("I want to speak to a manager").

Say that you want the letter couriered to you immediately.

DrPhilG

tenchi-fan wrote: »

Phone customer service, briefly outline the matter to the csr who takes your call, then immediately ask for the matter to be escalated ("I want to speak to a manager").

Say that you want the letter couriered to you immediately.

Done this, they refuse. Spoke to complaints manager, they refuse. All they will do other than repeat letter requests is escalate to the complaints escalation team who will acknowledge my complaint within 5 days, and beyond that there is no timeline on resolution.

I've dealt with many awkward companies before and usually when you push far enough you can get a solution but I've never before found such firm resistance on something so straightforward.

I don't have issues with their post normally. Statements etc are always on time. The fact is that anything other than regular statements just dont get sent a lot of the time.

Random

have you tried having the letter sent directly to the mortage people with your reference on it? have you tried having it delivered to another address? this might solve your short term issues.

Toots

Might be a long shot but ask them could they fax the letter to your bank and then stick the original in the post? The bank might not be happy with a fax and original to follow, they might want original or nothing.

DrPhilG

They won't fax it.

They won't send it to another address.

The bank would be perfectly happy with a fax and I would have no issue with them sending the letter directly to the bank, or to a N Ireland address to reduce the postage time as I have family in the North.

They will do absolutely nothing to help or to speed this up. They basically confirmed that even if the second letter or a third letter don't appear, they will still do nothing other than keep making repeat requests.

DrPhilG

Spoke to them again today, poked and prodded til they admitted that they didn't send any letters at all.

Seemingly there is a €30 a year stamp duty on credit cards, and because I closed the account before the end of the tax year they have to apply it to the card even now that it's closed.

I don't have a problem with that in theory, but my problem is that if they had just told me this when I called to cancel I'd have lodged more money to cover it and all would have been fine. Instead they have strung me along for over 3 weeks with promised that the letter was sent, but now they tell me it was requested, but not sent due to the added charge needing cleared first. Also they only applied the €30 yesterday.

Have lodged the money via the post office today, once it clears I'll call again to request the letter.

Horrible lying deceitful bunch though.