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I’m disappointed to discover that after downgrading my Capital On Tap card that I’ll now only earn 8 avios points to every 10 Reward points.
I’ve found the customer service to be somewhat lacking with this company and not even close to that received by AMEX. And the other benefits appear to be a bit of a joke to me. A metal card? Who on earth cares about that? The lounge access is of no interest to us either as it’s poor and the second person needs to pay to use it.
So, I’ll be using an alternative card very soon. The £300 fee is very poor value for money. Capital On Tap really need to get their act together and consider how uncompetitive they are right now. They need to try harder and do better. 🙂
At £300 you get 1:1 conversion. It’s only the free card that has dropped by 20% and you used to have to pay £100 a year for that.
So it’s only really a loss for those earning between 10k and 30k Avios p.a. surely?
They’re not perfect but I’m sticking with them.
You won’t be paying £300 when you downgrade, it’s free and you can still get 1% cashback if you want it.
8:!0 is not the worst conversion rate and probably better than any other non-Amex business card.
Pro is also only £199 for first year but still not worth it for 0.2 Avios extra per £.
If you can point me in the direction of a more competitive, free business rewards card I’d like to see it.
Oh dear, another click-baity-shouty thread title *sigh*
But I’ll take the bait to provide an alternative viewpoint. I’m actually perfectly happy with CoT. As @danimal says, where else can you find a free business rewards card?
It’s great for “one-man-bands” like me who don’t have a huge expenditure to justify paying a large annual fee. The £99 fee I paid in the first year was offset by the SUB, but I would struggle to justify a £300 fee given my spend, though I agree the benefits could be better for Pro.
I have had no CS problems – on the contrary, I have found them to pleasant and easy to deal with. I’ll be keeping my free card until anything else changes. 0.8 Avios/£ on a free card suits me, but of course YMMV
You won’t be paying £300 when you downgrade, it’s free and you can still get 1% cashback if you want it.
8:!0 is not the worst conversion rate and probably better than any other non-Amex business card.
Pro is also only £199 for first year but still not worth it for 0.2 Avios extra per £.
If you can point me in the direction of a more competitive, free business rewards card I’d like to see it.
Where did I say I’d be paying £300 when I downgrade? That’s the fee for future renewals. And that really isn’t worth it to me. A metal card is just a gimmick in my book and the lounge access for one person no use as we have One World status. To us the AMEX business cards are a better deal. I know not everyone takes AMEX, but thankfully our suppliers where we earn the majority of our points do.
I’ve found the customer service to be very poor also. YMMV. I think they really need to up their game if they’re going to insist on fees of up to £300 per annum.
So, I’ll be using an alternative card very soon. The £300 fee is very poor value for money.
– you could have been a bit clearer in your language so people did not think you were confusing the free and paid-for card. But again you’ve said:
“I think they really need to up their game if they’re going to insist on fees of up to £300 per annum.”
Nobody is INSISTING you pay £300. CoT have been transparent about the new offering and made it super-easy to downgrade to the FREE card which still pays REWARDS.
I too put any spending through Amex where available but where it’s not I’m very happy with a FREE CoT card paying me 0.8 Avios / £
It’s a shame this thread is now stuck with the subject “Capital On Tap is pretty crap IMHO” when most people’s experience is the opposite.
I’m only responsible for what I write. Not your lack of understanding I’m afraid.
Since I started this thread I’ve tried to empty our savings account in preparation for closing this account.
That didn’t work on the website and their customer service rep couldn’t help believe it or not.
So I’ll say again, Capital One Tap is pretty crap IMHO.
So you downgraded the card without understanding the implications?
Sounds like a lack of understanding on your part.
So you downgraded the card without understanding the implications?
Sounds like a lack of understanding on your part.
I think the lack of understanding is on your part.
They’ve only just announced the reduced Avios points. They were not clear about this initially.
I did take out a second card for another ltd company I own to earn the referral bonus. So that’s one positive. 7500 for one single tiny transaction for the second company and the same for the referer. But I’ll also cancel that card too and apply for another AMEX.
Their customer service just isn’t good enough for me. On the other hand I’ve only ever had positive experiences with American Express.
I don’t understand.
What other non-AmEx cards are there, for business, that cost nothing and you can get .8 Avios for every pound spent?
Are you saying this is a crap deal?
For me, i would rather stick to £99 annual fee and keep 1:1 with no other benefits rather than get 10:8 on a free card or 1:1 plus some other useless stuff for £300.
CoT are pushing pro hard and this feels like an after thought to force more people to upgrade as the take up must be pretty low. But there is no denying it is a weak product offering for those already in the rewards game.
The question i have to ask myself is 60-80k Avios worth £300. If i preload the card thats 75-100k Avios for £300. In the first year at £200 its a no brainer – of course these costs will be lower after tax write-offs.
However i wasn’t going to upgrade and cancelled the automatic method but i think i have just talked myself into it.
what does pre-load mean here? You pay off the card then spend?
For me, i would rather stick to £99 annual fee and keep 1:1 with no other benefits rather than get 10:8 on a free card or 1:1 plus some other useless stuff for £300.
80000 for £300 is probably worth it if you are comparing it with 0 Avios.
But 60000 Avios for £0 is definitely better value which is what you get with the free card on the same spend.
So you’d be spending £300 on 20000 extra Avios which is not good value.
What is the point of starting a thread, and then being really aggressive to respondents who don’t share your opinion?
What is even the point of this thread at all; your customer feedback would be better directed to CoT.What is the point of starting a thread, and then being really aggressive to respondents who don’t share your opinion?
What is even the point of this thread at all; your customer feedback would be better directed to CoT.The thread should be renamed – CoT are quite good actually – free Avios!
I don’t understand.
What other non-AmEx cards are there, for business, that cost nothing and you can get .8 Avios for every pound spent?
Are you saying this is a crap deal?
Yes I’m saying it’s a crap deal. Clearly I’ve upset a couple of CoT cheerleaders who don’t understand our situation.
initially I received a umber of emails telling me I’d automatically be upgraded to Pro. I have no issue with this, but when I looked at the benefits I realised that none of them were any use to me. I also found the idea of a metal card a bad joke! Maybe some people see this as worth paying for? But not me.
Secondly after recently opening a second account with them and having both issues and a poor experience with their customer service staff (This isn’t the first time) I’m of the opinion that their service is crap.
But more importantly, to me an Avios point is worth 1 pence. They are not free as implied above as there are other cards which offer 1% cask back. So in real terms I’m paying one pence per Avios point. Remember too that when you’re spending hundreds of thousands of pounds with a credit card company they are profiting from you.
When I called CoT I was told that if I downgraded I would still be able to convert points to Avios at some point in June. I was not advised that this will be at a poor rate. At best I find this disingenuous. And I would have waited longer to downgrade so that I could have converted existing points at a 1 to 1 ratio. When mentioning this via email to their customer services team I received what I consider to be quite a rude reply.
So there isn’t another Avios collecting business card other than Amex as far as I know. But fortunately my suppliers do take them. They offer a 1 to 1 ratio and for the fees offer rewards that are actually worth bothering with. Not only that they offer significant sign up bonusses. We’ve just earned 40,000 points for a free card from them etc.
So I appreciate if your suppliers don’t take AMEX you have limited choice. But the fact remains, that their future fees (Some people are only focussed on the discounted initial year in this thread) card offers a bad rate of conversion. And the fees simply make no sense to me when you consider the benefits.
You’d possibly be better taking the cash back OFFER and spending that on boosted Avios points at 0.92p each if your personal situation allows you to do that.
So my gripe is crap customer service. Issues with both the app and website. These are not new. A poor Avios offer and I think the paid cards offer poor value for money. They should go away, look at what their competition is offering and consider if they can be more competitive or not. IMHO.
But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your Avios are free. Take a look at cash card business credit cards and you’ll see what I mean.
And for the second time in this thread YMMV. 🙂
Oops – wrong thread
I forgot to add that they are still advertising 1 Avios per £1 on their website as I type. There is no mention that this only applies to the new Pro product.
And interestingly enough they don’t mention the new low conversion rate anywhere on their website.
But more importantly, to me an Avios point is worth 1 pence. They are not free as implied above as there are other cards which offer 1% cask back. So in real terms I’m paying one pence per Avios point. R
No you’re not. 1p cashback received by the business pre-tax is not at all the same value to you as 1p worth of Avios in your pocket (unless your business is a bit rubbish so doesn’t pay any tax OR you have Jimmy Carr’s accountant so don’t pay any tax)…
@thesavagesquirrel makes a very good point – I never took the cashback from CoT, always the gift voucher as the cashback would go back into my business and onto my balance sheet. Gift cards and Avios do not feature on your balance sheet.
@Mynki – which non-Amex cashback biz card are you recommending. The best are offering 1% as far as I can tell.IMHO & YMMV I’d rather a 8:10 ratio on Avios where I usually get far more than 1p value, than 1% cashback which once it goes back into my accounts will be worth 19% less.
I’m not recommending any cards because as you say, everyone’s situation is different and YMMV.
However, after receiving a rather rude and curt reply from a low level customer services rep at CoT, I escalated to management.
They’ve very graciously offered a token of good will in lieu of the appalling customer service I have received and acknowledged that it fell short of their standards.
They have also admitted that their web site page I posted above is misleading. They tried to claim that it referenced their own CoT points. When I pointed out that the Advertising Standards Agency would never accept that and explained why it was misleading, they escalated internally and it’s now been updated.
I respect the fact that they and any other company can change their reward programs at any point. But they should have communicated the changed better. They also need to respect that customer can change suppliers if they deem their reward programs of little value.
I was also informed that they have received push back from a lot of customers who are unhappy with the new low level conversion rate and this is currently being discussed. I have a call later today with one of their customer service managers, but I am not hopeful that anything will change. I expect to be closing both of my CoT accounts in the next few days and will stick with AMEX going forward.
I’m deliberately ignoring the trolls on this thread, but would suggest to any forum members who have been impacted negatively, that you feedback to CoT. Their offers will only improve if they receive enough constructive feedback after all.
You can email them at contact@capitalontap.com
Nobody is trolling you – from my perspective I’m trying to offer an alternative view of CoT.
I’m glad you got an offering from CoT after their “appalling customer service” but thus far nobody else shares your experience, suggesting you might be an outlier.
Nobody is trolling you – from my perspective I’m trying to offer an alternative view of CoT.
I’m glad you got an offering from CoT after their “appalling customer service” but thus far nobody else shares your experience, suggesting you might be an outlier.
There’s definitely some pointless replies to my opening post whether you can see them or not.
And I have it in an email directly from CoT that they have had customers complain. Who should I believe? One of their managers dealing with pushback or you? That could well be the easiest question I answer this decade fella…. And if you take time to check their online reviews, there’s definitely room for improvement. Why else would I also be told that one of their staff has been “retrained”? You need a reality check if you think everyone thinks there perfect. Cheerleaders can shake their little pom poms all they like, but their customer service isn’t perfect.
What is glaringly obvious, is that there is space for another credit card provider to offer a visa or mastercard and offer Avios points aimed squarely at small to medium businesses like CoT.
Although I like the idea of supporting a small (comparatively speaking) British based business, their new £299 offer won’t appeal to many as is. If it didn’t, their staff wouldn’t be dealing with the pushback that they are.
I would guess that @danimal is referring to your experience of “appalling customer service” as the outlier object, not customers complaining. In that respect, the easiest question for you to answer doesn’t seem to be aimed at the right reference.
I get the impression you came here angry at the loss of quite a good deal from your perspective, then (from re-reading your posts) got more and more cross with the responses from others who didn’t quite share your view… phrases like “I’m only responsible for what I write. Not your lack of understanding I’m afraid” and “I think the lack of understanding is on your part”
CoT had an offering that was pretty good for most people as it was – not that it suited everyone, but those that it did were happy. They made a business decision to change that offering, likely due to costs or missed opportunities, which happens in all industries.
If they had started out with the £300 and £0 products, would either of those offerings have been of interest in their current guise? If not for you, it doesn’t make them necessarily uncompetitive in the market any more, just not so appealing to you.
Myself and others don’t really seem to mind getting .8 Avios per pound that is spent using a card where AmEx isn’t accepted (like HMRC, for example) that costs nothing in fees. Would I prefer the old option? Possibly. But it’s not available any more.
And I’m not aware of any other free business cards, that can be used where AmEx can’t, that will give me free Avios – or any rewards without tax implications – for the purchases I have to make. So I’ll take the £0 fee option and be, frankly, quite grateful.
If you hadn’t received the poor response to your initial query, would you say the same? I’ve no idea. But I do know calling people ‘cheerleaders’ because they don’t share your point of view is, at best, a tad inflammatory.
Hopefully @Rob will do an article on the new look CoT offering, which will put all this in perspective.
I imagine if there is a company out there able to offer the moon-on-a-stick for no annual fee, then they would have already entered this crowded, competitive space. As it is, CC companies exist ultimately to make money, not to service each customer’s specific reward requirements.
As @sayling says “I’ll take the £0 fee option and be, frankly, quite grateful.”
Points are a bonus not a right.
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