The British Airways Prepaid Mastercard thread

[the_real_a]

I’m now also stuck not being able to activate the card – with a large balance “stuck” unable to see or manage.

Has anyone found a work around? Clearing cache/reinstalling doesn’t seem to work on android. I’ve raised a ticket with support who repeat its a known problem.

The agent said i was about caller 20 today with the same problem!

[The Urbanite]

I didn’t receive a new card. The old card has been deactivated and I’m not going to bother chasing it up, total balance was £0.01. Not really worth the hassle!

[Richie]

The Urbanite wrote:

I didn’t receive a new card. The old card has been deactivated and I’m not going to bother chasing it up, total balance was £0.01. Not really worth the hassle!

Just out of interest, what was the total number of Avios you got from having this card?

[The Urbanite]

Richie wrote:

The Urbanite wrote:

I didn’t receive a new card. The old card has been deactivated and I’m not going to bother chasing it up, total balance was £0.01. Not really worth the hassle!

Just out of interest, what was the total number of Avios you got from having this card?

1300 a month since it launched in May 2022 (more in the first couple of months when limit was higher) plus the sign up bonus and another random bonus, so around 12-15k.

[Bill]

I’ve just been charged the monthly fee despite not being able to use the card due to being unable to activate it.

Told them over a week ago that I had this problem and have heard nothing since.

Went into chat to tell them to close it and there’s no one available.

Perhaps I’ll reconsider when I’ve calmed down. But this is unacceptable. Even though it’s a trivial amount to charge it cannot be justified

[Bill]

I told live chat I was unhappy about the fee being charged when I cannot use the card. They’ve told me to email complaints@prepaidfinancialservices.com

[ankomonkey]

I cancelled my card through the app Chat function yesterday. Had to wait about 40 minutes for an advisor, but took around 10 minutes after that.

[BuildBackBetter]

Anyone received a replacement card after cancelling? Is there a way to check if the new card is still valid?

[Indy500]

Well it’s finally over. After another points chase, I’m told [after 2 months of promises] that I don’t qualify for any bonus because of “Incorrect use of the card”. I apparently paid my tax with it. I’m paye and have never paid HMRC anything. Case closed and no discussion. In reality? I’m please it’s over. Still, that the last one of these crap sign up bonus I bother with. Utterly dreadful. Upside is at least I cancelled the card 🙃

[xenole]

Tried activating my card just now and that’s failed as well.
No idea what was left on it, but £7.xx or so last time I looked. Can’t see the balance unless it’s active, so no idea if they’re taking £2.99/month off it or what.

I have found it handy for Sainsbury, Boots etc. shops. Bonus Avios here and there for purchases I’m making anyway is a good thing.
Had a few 1000 Avios off it (lost a few hundred this week as I can’t activate it and have made some transactions in shops / online that had to be paid with other cards)

[chrism20]

xenole wrote:

Tried activating my card just now and that’s failed as well.
No idea what was left on it, but £7.xx or so last time I looked. Can’t see the balance unless it’s active, so no idea if they’re taking £2.99/month off it or what.

I have found it handy for Sainsbury, Boots etc. shops. Bonus Avios here and there for purchases I’m making anyway is a good thing.
Had a few 1000 Avios off it (lost a few hundred this week as I can’t activate it and have made some transactions in shops / online that had to be paid with other cards)

The monthly fee comes off the debit card you have linked to the prepaid one even if you have enough on the prepaid one as cover it.

[QFFlyer]

chrism20 wrote:

xenole wrote:

Tried activating my card just now and that’s failed as well.
No idea what was left on it, but £7.xx or so last time I looked. Can’t see the balance unless it’s active, so no idea if they’re taking £2.99/month off it or what.

I have found it handy for Sainsbury, Boots etc. shops. Bonus Avios here and there for purchases I’m making anyway is a good thing.
Had a few 1000 Avios off it (lost a few hundred this week as I can’t activate it and have made some transactions in shops / online that had to be paid with other cards)

The monthly fee comes off the debit card you have linked to the prepaid one even if you have enough on the prepaid one as cover it.

I had a credit card linked to mine, and have since removed it (so it’s linked to nothing and unusable), wonder what they’ll try and do, since they never bother answering in chat. Got the signup bonus 5x times though and 1,300 Avios each month from spend, so it’s not been the worst product in the world (although a £3 fee and £2.6k monthly spend limit makes it a useless one ultimately).

[xenole]

I got through on the chat after about 5 mins this morning to moan about the card not being able to be activated.
Took about 15 mins to get to “I’ll let our tech team know. You can’t use your card for a few days whilst they look into it”.
Really? Can’t activate it, so how would I use it?

[lambshank13]

I tried activating my new card in the app on my Android phone, which repeatedly failed. But today I downloaded the app on my iPad and activated it on there which seems to have worked.

[cska]

I cannot emphasise how poor the customer service is for BAs Prepaid card services. I too am still yet to receive the 3000 bonus avios as is P2. I have chased this up over chat/phone multiple times with no explanation for why these have still not been credited other than them persistently saying ‘we are escalating this issue, please allow 20 working days’ stock response each time I chase.

I have also submitted 3 times now a complaint to the email address they provided, no response to that either. I replied to the auto reply which says if you do not get an initial reply within 3 working days, please contact us – each time, received a response to say they have no log of my initial email, please could I re-send the complaint. Ridiculous.

I am now in the ludicrous situation whereby I will start paying a monthly fee for the card whilst I am waiting for a bonus that should have been credited months ago!

@Rob @HfP Team surely you can flag this up using your powers, especially as it was a joint BA – HfP promotional partnership?

[Alex G]

Just called PFS again, to see if they can activate my card for me over the phone. They can’t!

They have no idea when the issue will be resolved.

The person I spoke to said it is not just an Android problem, but is affecting IOS/Apple as well.

What a shambles!

[Bill]

This just worked for me…because a new android version of the app has been released today. It’s version 4.2.1

Uninstall the old version on your device. Then go to the Goolge play store and install the version released today.

You can then activate your card

[Alex G]

Bill wrote:

This just worked for me…because a new android version of the app has been released today. It’s version 4.2.1

Uninstall the old version on your device. Then go to the Goolge play store and install the version released today.

You can then activate your card

Thanks for the heads up! Just updated the Android App and activated my card.

[xenole]

I got logged out yesterday for the second time in a week or so. Took a few days to be able to get back in the first time. Usual “bad gateway” etc. errors.

Have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, but the same thing.

[tw33ty]

I just called up and cancelled the thing.

Never got the 3000 welcome avios for the hfp joining thing, never got a new card, so pointless having it.

I know people have slated the product, but I truly think that if it delivered on the basics, lifted the monthly cap to something better, and was run / administrated correctly, it would be a cracking product.

Instead it’s been a rushed half arsed product.

[Indy500]

tw33ty wrote:

I just called up and cancelled the thing.

Never got the 3000 welcome avios for the hfp joining thing, never got a new card, so pointless having it.

I know people have slated the product, but I truly think that if it delivered on the basics, lifted the monthly cap to something better, and was run / administrated correctly, it would be a cracking product.

Instead it’s been a rushed half arsed product.

Well put. Decent product let down by abysmal IT and service. I never got the 3000 either as I mentioned above. Last crap ‘sign up bonus’ I bother with.

[BajiNahid]

I never got the 3K either and the agent on the email sounds like a right …. with no help whatsoever. But I am determined not to give up.

[Will]

cska wrote:

I cannot emphasise how poor the customer service is for BAs Prepaid card services. I too am still yet to receive the 3000 bonus avios as is P2. I have chased this up over chat/phone multiple times with no explanation for why these have still not been credited other than them persistently saying ‘we are escalating this issue, please allow 20 working days’ stock response each time I chase.

I have also submitted 3 times now a complaint to the email address they provided, no response to that either. I replied to the auto reply which says if you do not get an initial reply within 3 working days, please contact us – each time, received a response to say they have no log of my initial email, please could I re-send the complaint. Ridiculous.

I am now in the ludicrous situation whereby I will start paying a monthly fee for the card whilst I am waiting for a bonus that should have been credited months ago!

@Rob @HfP Team surely you can flag this up using your powers, especially as it was a joint BA – HfP promotional partnership?

Agreed – very much radio silence on this from HfP..

[Richie]

HfP can’t force IAG loyalty to do anything, if IAG loyalty want feedback, it’s obvious what they need to read.
I’m just relievd I avoided this one.

[xenole]

Managed to log into the app just now and activate the card.