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Forums Payment cards Barclaycard Avios Downgrade via app – “no options available”

  • ed_fly 388 posts

    You’ll have to help me with your logic here, @Tom2 and @JDB.

    If I downgrade the card, I expect Barclaycard will eventually resolve the issues I am having with it. I would then expect to have a long and (presumably profitable for Barclaycard) relationship with them. Who knows, maybe it will one day get to a point where I am happy to pay £20pm for it because it actually works as advertised.

    Alternatively, I could, as you suggest, cancel the card now, bag the bonus and say goodbye to this organisation. Apart from the loss of future business, I would have cost them the referral fee to Rob, all the set-up fees, all the times they’ve had to speak to me and the 25k Avios. How on earth would this be the preferable outturn for Barclaycard?

    The free card is a loss making product for Barclaycard. Why would they make it easy for a customer who has CLEARLY played the system in getting the 25k Avios bonus to then downgrade?

    Allowing you to downgrade turns you into an even bigger loss making customer.

    the difference between free and paid cards is 20k Avios, probably £100 for Barclaycard. By the time a few monthly fees have been paid, a lot of that is chewed up. Their budget for acquiring and retaining customers is not going to be zero. So I don’t think it’s as clear cut as you like to make out. But realistically, none of us really know.

    ed_fly 388 posts

    You’ll have to help me with your logic here, @Tom2 and @JDB.

    If I downgrade the card, I expect Barclaycard will eventually resolve the issues I am having with it. I would then expect to have a long and (presumably profitable for Barclaycard) relationship with them. Who knows, maybe it will one day get to a point where I am happy to pay £20pm for it because it actually works as advertised.

    Alternatively, I could, as you suggest, cancel the card now, bag the bonus and say goodbye to this organisation. Apart from the loss of future business, I would have cost them the referral fee to Rob, all the set-up fees, all the times they’ve had to speak to me and the 25k Avios. How on earth would this be the preferable outturn for Barclaycard?

    The free card is a loss making product for Barclaycard. Why would they make it easy for a customer who has CLEARLY played the system in getting the 25k Avios bonus to then downgrade?

    Allowing you to downgrade turns you into an even bigger loss making customer.

    does beg the question of why they’ve offered a 10k sign up bonus to it? They obviously value having customers on their product

    Tom2 116 posts

    I’ve already addressed that in a previous reply. They will hope people signing up to the free card won’t be paying off the card in full each month, will use their card abroad, may see Barclaycard/Barclays in a positive light and use their other products. The likely hood of this with customers who immediately downgrade is much less.

    Just because Amex make it easy to play the downgrade game shouldn’t mean Barclaycard should.

    Tom2 116 posts

    You’ll have to help me with your logic here, @Tom2 and @JDB.

    If I downgrade the card, I expect Barclaycard will eventually resolve the issues I am having with it. I would then expect to have a long and (presumably profitable for Barclaycard) relationship with them. Who knows, maybe it will one day get to a point where I am happy to pay £20pm for it because it actually works as advertised.

    Alternatively, I could, as you suggest, cancel the card now, bag the bonus and say goodbye to this organisation. Apart from the loss of future business, I would have cost them the referral fee to Rob, all the set-up fees, all the times they’ve had to speak to me and the 25k Avios. How on earth would this be the preferable outturn for Barclaycard?

    The free card is a loss making product for Barclaycard. Why would they make it easy for a customer who has CLEARLY played the system in getting the 25k Avios bonus to then downgrade?

    Allowing you to downgrade turns you into an even bigger loss making customer.

    does beg the question of why they’ve offered a 10k sign up bonus to it? They obviously value having customers on their product

    I have already addressed this in a post on this thread.

    Barclaycard will hope that they can make some money out of these people in other ways – hope they don’t pay off their card in full each month, aren’t savvy enough to not use the card abroad, think favourably towards other Barclays/Barclaycard products in the future etc.

    The chances of this happening with someone who signs up for the bigger bonus and immediately downgrading is almost not existent.

    I have no problem with people playing the game and maximising their points haul but just because Amex have made it very easy to play doesn’t mean that Barclaycard should.

    marks7389 561 posts

    Downgrade option has now appeared in the app for me. No other cards showing – just the free Avios.

    Will probably keep the paid card in the short term, but given the restrictions on the voucher it is probably not a long term keeper for me.

    orudge 11 posts

    It’s appeared for me too now, coincidentally just after I’ve opened a Barclays Premier bank account (well two of them, because the app glitched and said it had failed, while apparently actually completing successfully…) – I think it makes sense for me to keep the premium card assuming the £5 discount does come through when I join the Premier Avios Rewards scheme.

    can 506 posts

    a quick question: once you downgrade, do you retain the physical card and the card number. I already put the avios plus card in many online vendors. Will I need to change them once I downgrade?

    The downgrade option also just appeared for me.

    Olly 311 posts

    Do you think if downgrading now, we’ll lose the 5k for the ‘poor service’? Only a week or so before it’s due to credit so perhaps worth holding on a little longer to be on the safe side

    kitster 10 posts

    Has anyone seen the 5k extra for ‘poor service’ actually credited yet?

    Can i ask what the earliest time anyone has seen the downgrade option appear?

    flyertalk29 9 posts

    Still no downgrade options in the app for me, and I applied for the card on Day 1 so I’ve had it around 7 weeks now.

    Aston100 1,727 posts

    Still no downgrade options in the app for me, and I applied for the card on Day 1 so I’ve had it around 7 weeks now.

    Same here.

    marks7389 561 posts

    Has anyone seen the 5k extra for ‘poor service’ actually credited yet?

    Can i ask what the earliest time anyone has seen the downgrade option appear?

    Not yet. I applied for mine when the card first launched at the end of February. First I noticed the downgrade option had appeared was 20th April.

    rum 297 posts

    My second statement for the premium card appeared late last night and along with it the option to downgrade the card.
    Going to wait for the sign up bonus to be safely in my avios account before downgrading. Barclays don’t deserve the £20 a month from me given their pathetic service so far. But at 1 point per £1 on the free card I can just about live with that.

    StanTheMan 264 posts

    My second statement for the premium card appeared late last night and along with it the option to downgrade the card.
    Going to wait for the sign up bonus to be safely in my avios account before downgrading. Barclays don’t deserve the £20 a month from me given their pathetic service so far. But at 1 point per £1 on the free card I can just about live with that.

    ditto. option is finally there – even offering me a 1,000 bonus for a £1k spend. Definitely not touching a thing till all Avios transferred over next week.

    Blindman67 156 posts

    First statement arrived today, along with the option to downgrade (in the app)to the Free Avios card.

    Opened the card 30th March -received 8th April-Spend limit reached 12th April

    Will wait for Avios to transfer (2nd working day of May) then will downgrade.

    Aston100 1,727 posts

    Still no option to downgrade in the app.
    Rang customer services and the first person denied that there is a free version of the card – great start…
    Second person had to go check her documents to find out more about this card. Eventually told me to call back next week as her ‘specialist team’ were unsure what to do and needed to talk to someone who is off this week.

    So unprofessional.

    slliw 16 posts

    Still no option for me to Downgrade card. 1st statement has been generated and I’ve hit the bonus spend. Where abouts in the app should the downgrade option appear? I assume under the card details section.

    Aston100 1,727 posts

    How exactly do you downgrade this card?
    I don’t have a suitable option in my app.
    The customer service people are beyond useless – again I was met with denials that there is anything other than the plus / paid version of this card (see above).
    Customer services telling me I should cancel and wait 6 months and then apply for the free card “if such a thing exists”.
    Refusing to log a ticket to get the lack of downgrade option investigated.
    Putting me through to other clueless Barclays agents who were unsure why I was put through to them and who kept thinking I wanted to switch to Premier.
    Being told to reinstall the app to see if that fixes it (the equivalent of the “turn it off and back on” suggestion from every IT helpdesk ever).

    Just spent over an hour this afternoon wasting my time with various personnel who seem to have little knowledge of the Avios card.
    This is addition to a couple of other unsuccessful calls last week to try and get the card downgraded.

    So please, can anyone kindly confirm where they found the downgrade option, and if anyone has used it yet.

    Thanks.

    PeteM 917 posts

    You’ll need to wait for the downgrade option to appear in the app, @Aston100 – it would appear it usually shows up after the second statement is produced.

    Aston100 1,727 posts

    You’ll need to wait for the downgrade option to appear in the app, @Aston100 – it would appear it usually shows up after the second statement is produced.

    Hi Pete, I applied for the card on Feb 28th – I suspect I was one of the few people who managed to get the application through on that first day of launch.
    Card turned up (standard ripped envelope) about two weeks later.
    So I would have assumed I’d have the option to downgrade by now, if others already have it?

    EDIT: I’ve got March and April statements. Just awaiting May statement.

    • This reply was modified 55 years, 1 month ago by .
    PeteM 917 posts

    Interesting – I can definitely see it now, after the second statement. Maybe your account is particularly messed up, so to speak?

    Just to confirm I can see it in: main app menu –> Cards –> Change to a different card –> View your options –> Barclaycard Avios.

    Aston100 1,727 posts

    Interesting – I can definitely see it now, after the second statement. Maybe your account is particularly messed up, so to speak?

    Just to confirm I can see it in: main app menu –> Cards –> Change to a different card –> View your options –> Barclaycard Avios.

    Thanks Pete.
    That is exactly what I have been doing for some time. I just get a full screen message (with a big exclamation mark) telling me “no options available”.

    Do you by any chance have some other Barclays products?
    Wondering if the option you are getting is for moving away from a different Barclaycard to this Avios plus card?

    NorthernLass 10,465 posts

    I’ve got it when I click on “More” at the bottom right in the app.

    PeteM 917 posts

    No other personal products, although having access to business banking did mess up the card when I opened it…!

    I wonder if the May statement could be what makes the difference?

    Aston100 1,727 posts

    I’ve got it when I click on “More” at the bottom right in the app.

    Thanks, but that seems to be another way to get to the same place as PeteM described, with the same outcome for me.

    I’m a little bit annoyed by the lack of product awareness from Barclaycard CS.
    Thus far, THREE agents have denied that there is a free version of the card.

    Ridiculous.

    • This reply was modified 55 years, 1 month ago by .
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