Virgin Atlantic charging annual fee well before renewal

[Harrier25]

I received an email from them the month previous warning me that the fee would be taken. Have you consented to allow communication from them?

[Robm]

@Harrier25 – I did get the email – part of why this was my fault for not closing it well in advance! I only remembered because my statement came today and had the £160 fee appeared on it – told too late as the new year started yesterday and I’d made a transaction.

[Robm]

One thought I had is that “waiting until the £160 fee hits, then stop spending” 100% does not work – with the way they are now applying the annual fee – based on how my fee was applied. I say this as it was mentioned in the Ombudsman article. The way they applied my fee was waiting until day 1 of the new year – I stopped spending the same day the fee was visible as a transaction on the app – however it was too late.

It is great they seem to be applying the fee later – however, waiting until the fee hits (to stop spending) does not work.

This is the quote from the article:
keep a daily watch on your statement once you get into Month 12 and stop spending on the card as soon as the £160 fee for the second year appears

[Robm]

(Emphasis on “month 12” from the article – again – I do accept some fault as it would be a lot easier if I had simply cancelled it well before the renewal date)

[Robm]

Interesting FOS decision where the £160 wasn’t refunded – a key part was there had been 7 transactions after the fee was applied.
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-3342363.pdf

[Robm]

Whey – I’ve had the £160 refunded – Virgin didn’t uphold my complaint, however kindly refunded it as a matter of goodwill. It helped that the only transaction I made was the same day as the fee was applied (day 1 of the new card year). I would recommend cancelling the card well in advance of this and the end of month 12 to avoid the hassle.

I was told it was a business decision to be this rigid with the rules – which is their prerogative.

[points_worrier]

Robm wrote:

Whey – I’ve had the £160 refunded – Virgin didn’t uphold my complaint, however kindly refunded it as a matter of goodwill. It helped that the only transaction I made was the same day as the fee was applied (day 1 of the new card year). I would recommend cancelling the card well in advance of this and the end of month 12 to avoid the hassle.

I was told it was a business decision to be this rigid with the rules – which is their prerogative.

Whilst I understand their position, this will end up costing them £thousands in FOS fees if they end up charging annual fees early. It would make a lot more sense if they published the date the fee would be charged on each of your statements. If they did try and charge me early, I would still be complaining about the unused portion of the fee from the previous year I was unable to use. And would take it to the FOS, knowing I would probably win, and if enough people did it, it would change their practice.

[JDB]

points_worrier wrote:

Robm wrote:

Whey – I’ve had the £160 refunded – Virgin didn’t uphold my complaint, however kindly refunded it as a matter of goodwill. It helped that the only transaction I made was the same day as the fee was applied (day 1 of the new card year). I would recommend cancelling the card well in advance of this and the end of month 12 to avoid the hassle.

I was told it was a business decision to be this rigid with the rules – which is their prerogative.

Whilst I understand their position, this will end up costing them £thousands in FOS fees if they end up charging annual fees early. It would make a lot more sense if they published the date the fee would be charged on each of your statements. If they did try and charge me early, I would still be complaining about the unused portion of the fee from the previous year I was unable to use. And would take it to the FOS, knowing I would probably win, and if enough people did it, it would change their practice.

This has been tested at the FOS as reported here and to the extent people have won it has been on very specific/narrow points. It’s not ideal but the terms say that the fee is charged at the anniversary of opening the account, not on statement date, activation of card etc. so you might well not win.

[ms]

Requested to cancel the Card on Saturday via app with a null balance.

Today received an email that they can’t close my account as there’s an outstanding balance. Of course, it’s the card fee.

[Pointsamateur]

Positive update from me, having started this thread. After many months of delays, they have accepted our complaint about the fee being taken early, and said they will refund it, and close the card. We had left it open in case they needed to refund to the card first, then credit to the bank.

And that’s after my wife had some accidental spend on the card, with it still being linked to her Amazon account. She spent around £9 after the complaint had been logged, but that has not impacted the claim for a refund. They even gave us £75 as a goodwill gesture !

[Olly]

Just wondering if this is still an issue? My card year is up in a month so guessing I should be looking to cancel as soon as I’ve cleared this month’s statement?

[HampshireHog]

Well they took the fee at least a month early and before I’d hit the 10k spend. Didn’t intend to cancel it but obs sharp practice. 2 weeks after year end and still waiting for the cc voucher. Sigh, if only there was a better airline points earning card, oh yes BAPP….