Curve card ‘pauses’ Amex functionality

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• Gabriel says:

  24 May24 May 11:47

  Hard to believe they will still be around 3 months from now. Their business proposition from my perspective was:
  – using Amex in not-accepting places – gone!;
  – getting points for cash withdrawals- gone!;
  – using a credit card as a debit one – rarely working!

• Paul says:

  24 May24 May 11:54

  Ok now really not happy have just found the following on their web site….Looks like the £75 card will only get £50 unless you can send back the Tumi Wallet unused. That is frankly scandalous as it was free gift and is still advertised as limited offer on their web site

  “How do I send back the wallet to get a full refund?
  Please send your wallet to:
  Curve ℅ Idea London
  69 Wilson Street
  London
  EC2A 2BB
  It needs to be sent in a jiffy bag minus the original packaging, and must be in saleable unused condition. Please also include your name and 8 digit account number with the order. Once it is received we can process the remaining £25 refund, which will take up to 10 working days to refund from when we receive the wallet.

  • Nick says:

    24 May24 May 12:01

    Good point.

    That’s the final nail – I’ve cancelled my order. They just don’t seem to know what they are doing.

    Such a pity, it really did look like a great product even without the amex thing.

  • Mike says:

    24 May24 May 13:05

    £25 is a bargain for that wallet no?

    • Paul says:

      24 May24 May 14:12

      Yes quite possible however it was a free gift. The black card is still today £75 on its own not £50. The black card with wallet is the same price so reasonable to assume the wallet was a free gift. To now remove the primary benefit of the card and then suggest I have to pay for the wallet seems like sharp practice and pretty scandalous

      • Mr Dee says:

        24 May24 May 19:01

        I feel the only difference of the black card is its colour as this outfit is breaking promises every time I hear about them

• Oscar says:

  24 May24 May 12:03

  Raffles, you will not be ” in the same financial position as taking a refund” if Curve go bankrupt! I’m out. This whole launch has been a mess from start to finish. Agree with Nick: no advantage in being an early adopter on this one.

• Joseph Heenan says:

  24 May24 May 12:19

  If the company folds I think you could make a chargeback for the original card cost so wouldn’t be out of pocket.

  It seems like their business model still works without amex, but to experience massive growth they will need to resolve the amex issue. If they get their rewards program started soon that will help.

  • Mr Dee says:

    24 May24 May 18:40

    Yes but when people just use the card for taking cash out its going to start costing them money along with there regular overheads.

• Mark says:

  24 May24 May 12:21

  Too many unmet promises. My Black card arrived last week (applied on the day Raffles first promoted it) but without the (brief) instructions and no Tumi wallet. There has been no response to my e-mails about this. They did at least refund the double charge made for the card and wallet. I’ve cancelled today (not sure if the wallet has arrived at home as I’ve been away) and look forward to seeing what refund eventually appears – they have stated it will be 7-10 working days.

  • Mark says:

    24 May24 May 18:32

    Interestingly they have now replied (a week later but 2 hours after I cancelled) to say that I never received the wallet because I never ordered one – so I signed up on the day it went public and selected to pay £75 for the Black card alone rather than for the Black card and wallet worth £60??Certainly not my recollection and not very likely I feel.
    (And somebody I referred who applied after me received both card and wallet last week so it wasn’t that I missed out on the opening offer).
    Interestingly the confirmation e-mails at the time I received did not appear to specify any details of what I had signed up for.
    The charitable explanation is that they are completely disorganised…..

• AC says:

  24 May24 May 12:31

  Sounded great on paper, but like most things reality bites you on the rear!

  Only had my card a week and with only 3 transactions totalling a massive £30 it was all working so well…

  I have cancelled and hoping to get my £35 back before Curve vanishes in a cloud of smoke.. No Amex, No business..

• needroos says:

  24 May24 May 12:35

  From Curve on Twitter:

  To our users who have got in touch with support queries today – thanks for reaching out. We’ll be in touch with you shortly.

  • Leo says:

    24 May24 May 13:54

    Now you see I was quite ready to give Curve a chance and not cancel but now I know they use the phrase “reaching out”….I really have to bin them.

• Edward says:

  24 May24 May 13:00

  This is an email back from them this afternoon:

  “Hi Edward,

  Thanks for getting in touch and it’s good to hear your positive remarks about Curve.

  I understand that it is a blow to lose a popular feature like this. However, using your Amex everywhere is just one of the features Curve launched with – we also enable you to connect up your other bank cards so you can keep them safe at home and remember just one pin, track your transactions in real time, manage your expenses on the go and save money when you travel with zero FX fees and rock bottom currency exchange rates.

  We are building in exciting new features on the near horizon – the ability to change which funding card you charge after you’ve paid, bespoke loyalty rewards and cash-backs, peer-to peer payments and much more.

  We’re also continuing discussions with the management at Amex, and hope that American Express decide to bring Curve back soon.

  With regards to our rewards system – Curve rewards will be coming this summer, however in terms of details it’s still very much in the ideas stage, and we’d actually appreciate feedback in informing what we decide to bring out in the summer. One of the benefits of working with a start-up like Curve is that you get to help shape how Curve looks, help us test and improve it, as well as calling yourself a Curve Beta user.

  We also have a new 3 month reward programme: reward-collecting begins on 1st July and ends 31st August, during which time if you spend £1000 you’ll get £50 rewards points, valid anywhere which accepts MasterCard.

  Of course, if you do wish to leave us, we understand and you can cancel your card and receive a refund, either using the email link we sent you or by asking me to send you another link.

  Please do let me know if I can help you with anything else and I do hope you decide to stick with us.

  Best wishes
  Jonathan
  Curve support”

  • Lord Horse says:

    24 May24 May 13:07

    “in terms of details it’s still very much in the ideas stage”

    Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight….

    So £50 of magic beans on offer to anyone who keeps the card they spent £75 on…

  • Keith says:

    24 May24 May 13:42

    Great – so there are now three different dates for the reward points! The email reply quoted above says “…reward-collecting begins on 1st July and ends 31st August…”. There’s one that says 25th May and another that says June to August. All are in this thread.

    I just received my card in time for my Asia trip – arrived in BKK today. Not sure whether to try to make the most of it, or throw in the towel now.

    • lucinda says:

      24 May24 May 21:07

      You’re in bangkok and whining on here about a 35 quid card?

      • Keith says:

        25 May25 May 13:07

        I don’t think I was whining – I said I was unsure whether to make the most of it. I’m on a business trip, and like all business, I have to make sure I don’t waste money to stay alive.

    • Axel Heyst says:

      24 May24 May 21:15

      Dont use it for room deposits or at ATMs in BKK you’ll be charged 200 baht at the ATM’s. Unless you use Citibank ATMs which are free – there’s one at asoke station.

      My curve card was declined mostly in bangkok but worked fine in Jakarta.Most card machines in jakarta are on 3G mobile connections so less likely to time out than over traditional landlines

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