Has any one had any of their MBNA SonyCard Pulsebeats taken away?

A question about : Has any one had any of their MBNA SonyCard Pulsebeats taken away?

Has anyone else out there got an MBNA SonyCard credit card?

I have had one of these almost since they were first launched around 2000/2001. They were originally operated by The Bank of Scotland who were very easy people to contact and get on with. The card is now operated by MBNA who are exactly the opposite in my view.

I had, up until last month, accumulated nearly 28,000 Pulsebeats. These are reward points that you get for every Ј1 you spend using the card. They can be redeemed against various Sony products that feature in the Pulsebeats catalogue. Obviously some things are well out of reach - a Sony PS3 would require you to spend going on for Ј100,000 to achieve the points needed. But at the lower end of the scale, you can trade 1500 points for a DVD.

There as always been a clause deeply embedded in the Terms & Conditions (T&C) that states that any points that are 3 years old will expire. In the 7 or 8 years I have had the account, not once have any points been taken away, Idon't know why that is.

I always kept a check on the how many I had, but I just let the points accumulate. It never really entered my mind to check if any points were going to expire, because for those first 5 years or so they didn't - it was nigh on impossible to do anyway because I don't keep statements going back that far, but I would have thought that it would be well in MBNA's capability to tell me, but evidently they can't. The strange thing is in those years no points have ever been deducted, until now.

MBNA have seen fit to take nearly 13,000 points off me in one foul swoop. It's as though they felt that they had some catching up to do. I wasn't given any advance notice of this which would have given me a last fighting chance to redeem them. To get those points back, (which I can't), I would have to spend around Ј13,000.

They did it without warning or notice. I accept that it is a T&C, but the manner in which they have done it I find absolutely appalling. They could have given me a month's notice by letting me know on the previous statement but they didn't. They just did it. I have spoken to them and sent them a letter, but they just keep repeating back to me that it is in the T&C and hiding behind this clause. Absolutely no customer care has been shown whatsoever, and no sign of returned loyalty for the 7+ years I have been with them. They can't even tell me how many points are going to be expiring on my next statement, (because they are now obviously operating on a rolling month by month review).

Has anyone else got one of these cards and have you experienced the same as me? Do you feel aggrieved? Do you feel that they should reinstate your points and give you a last chance to redeem them? You must write to them and show your displeasure.

I will be very interested in all of your views.
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Sony Card have responded to the comments and postings made by many contributors to this forum who are all aggrieved customers of Sony Card/MBNA and have all had cause to raise issue as a result of having Pulsebeat reward points removed in or around December 2008.

The response is favourable to all Sony Card customers. I have copied the text content of that response below but for any new comers to the forum who wish to find out more I direct you to Post #40.

Here is Sony Card's response:

We are obviously concerned by the anger caused by the recent expiry of points and wanted to address / resolve the issues raised.

Firstly, under the Sony Card terms, points expire three years after they are received. This has always been the case.

However, the points which expired last month relate to those earned prior to November 2005. This was the date that administration of the points passed from HBoS to MBNA. For simplicity and to avoid confusion in card member's minds we decided to reset the point's age to zero from that date.

The effect was that, as a token of good faith, we extended the life of these points to allow card members more time to accumulate and redeem even better rewards. Sadly, we cannot allow points to continue in perpetuity, so from now on points will expire after their three year life is completed.

As a result of feedback, we are looking at ways in which we can make redemption even easier so that members will not have to wait to redeem. We will also be looking at how points expiry is communicated in the future.

In the meantime, as a token of our good faith to our members we are actively reviewing individual cases with a view to finding a mutually beneficial resolution.

If you would like to contact us directly you can do so at sonycard@eu.sony.com and we will happliy consider your case.

Best answers:

• Hi Shanker,
  Welcome to the world of frustration, I just got my statement today and sonycard have wiped over 70,000 points from my balance . I was all set to order a new TV this month but no longer have enough.
  I rang them mid november to see if I could do the deal there and then, but I needed just a few more points to get the tv I wanted. They wouldn't update my pulsebeat balance with my recent purchases in November and they said I would have to wait until after 4th December for them to be added. Low an behold my statement comes today and all these points have been removed. I suspect this phone call has alerted them to my points level and they wiped this huge chunk off me that they deem to be expired.
  However I have rang sonycard and put in complaint, but it's a long wait on the phone to put through to someone who will only say 'it's in the T&C's' and that 'they can only send off a complaint form off to their marketing dept to see what can be done'. (the marketing dept will be the people make a decision on whether or not to reinstate my points).
  The current T&C's state this:
  Any Pulsebeats held on your Pulsebeats account will expire 3 years from the date on which they were credited to the Pulsebeats account. When redeeming Pulsebeats, the oldest points will be deducted first.
  There is no way i spent £70,000 in one month 3 years ago in order for them to expire all at once at the end of november 2008 and the existing point tally has been ever growing until this month.
  To say I'm upset is an understatement, i feel duped, there is no way I could afford to buy a new tv outright as I have a young family to feed. I wanted the TV as a surprise for my two boys for christmas as our other is rather decrepid and faulty.
  It would be good if we can keep in touch regarding this.
• Hi,
  I read your posting today, and it prompted me to join up to the Forum, just so I could reply! I received my December statement today, absolutely shocked of having had 41,000 points expired off the card. After a 45 minute hold on the phone to Customer Services, I finally spoke to someone who advised there is nothing they can do and the expiry is part of the T&C's. I eventually got hold of the the address for the marketing department, whom I am scripting a letter to this evening and will be sending Recorded Delivery to tomorrow.
  I will be giving MBNA 2 weeks to reply and then will proceed to contact Sony and VISA who are obviously the card issuers and promoters behind the scheme, failing that I will continue my pledge for point re-instatement by contacting the Ombudsman.
  There is no note on the account when online, paper statement or even pulsebeats website, the only document of this is within the T&C's and realistically when was the last time you read the 5 pages of bank T&C's????
  This is an absolute disgrace, I am appalled at Sony being involved in this exceptionally bad customer service and underhand misleading promotion and furthermore that up until now have not had any points expire on my card (which I have been a loyal SonyCard customer for over 5+ years), where is the consistency in expiring points??
  Talk about waiting for a Credit Crunch and then claw back every promotional offer you can from your customers... if MBNA think I am staying a customer after this, they have got another thing coming, unless they get my points re-instated, even if just for a month so I can select some DVD's... unfortunately I had my eye on the 32" TV which I was only a few hundred points from achieving!!!
• Wow, you have my sympathies dear friend, I can see a big pattern about to emerge here!
  Do share your knowledge of the marketing dept address.
  It will be interesting to see who has the highest amount nicked I am leader so far and I'm an average spender there must be people higher.
• I am another Sonycard customer who is feeling very betrayed. We had nearly 50,000 points wiped from our account on our last statement. We have never redeemed any points and were almost at the 115,000 we needed for a television.
  Lengthy calls to Sony has resulted in the same answer - it is your responsibility to read your terms and conditions. We have had the account for 7 years, so don't understand why no points have been removed before now if they expire every 3 years!
  Last Friday I was told that the marketing department (apparently no-one there is allowed to speak to members of the public) were responsible and they would be contacted on my behalf. I have just had the response - they will do nothing at all about it.
  We are now going to write to Which? and to Sony at this address:
  Sony Pulsebeats Team
  Complaints Department
  Po 1004
  Chester Business Park
  CH4 9WW
  Obviously they have no regard for customer loyalty at all.
  If all attempts to get our points reinstated fail then, we will spend the points we have left immediately and cancel our card.
  I will keep checking this thread to see what responses people receive.
  Good luck to everyone trying to get their valuable points back!
• Hi CGH,
  Sorry to hear that,
  I think everyone needs to write to the same organisations, so they hear multiple voices.
• Is it possible to alert Martin Lewis about this? The more people who complain the more likely we are to get something done about it. I imagine there must be a lot of people who were expecting to redeem their points before Christmas who have had a nasty shock.
  Another thought - all loyalty points which are transferred into paper vouchers (Tesco Clubcard, M&S, John Lewis, Debenhams etc) all have expiry dates on them, which immediately and rightly transfers the responsibilty to the customer. I wonder if Sonycard should be putting expiry dates of points on our statements?
• If anyone can offer up suggestions on where our voice can be heard please share.
  Shanker offered up a good one...
  Personal Financial section in the Mail on Sunday
  Tony Hetherington
  The Reader's Champion
  Financial Mail
  2 Derry Street
  London
  W8 5TS
• I have also lost 7k points, I have also spoken to both Sony pulse beats on 0870 036 2444 & MBNA today, who both have said that they will not be reinstating the lost points.
  I have been with them for ~7 years & this has been the first time they have removed points.
  Is this an annual event or will this happen monthly once points reach 36 months?
  I also will be writing to Sony highlighting this disappointment.
  Martin HELP!!!!
• Sorry to hear guys, kinda sucks to say the least, best get in touch with Watchdog as well and maybe they can look into it.
  With MBNA myself with the Liverpool FC visa loyalty card but will think about canceling it as when I applied for the card was promised a LFC shirt.wallet,subscription to LFC magazine & days training with LFC star but the only thing I got was the shirt, called MBNA a few times to question this but they don't seem to care. MBNA does seem like a very dodgy outfit.
  Hope you guys get the result you wanted. Guess anyone else thinking of taking out a MBNA card best beware.
• I fail to see how you can complain when its in the T&Cs? Thats all MBNA will say
• How do we get the information to Martin Lewis - isn't this the guy who features on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 on a Friday afternoon?
  We need to go very, very public with this. We need to shame these shysters immediately.
  If anyone knows how to do it - then do it as soon as you can.
• I know when he appears on radio1 they request people to send in questions to an email address prior to his piece, i presume they will do the same on Jeremy Vine.
• Jimmy and all of you aggrieved contributors.
  It is great that you are all getting involved - it is what is needed, so keep it coming and if you can post threads and posts on other websites. I have put one up on Yahoo! Answers, so go there and start causing a storm!
  I have thought about this logically and I believe that what they have done is play catch-up initially and now they are going to remove any points that were earned exactly 3 years ago on a month by month rolling basis. So do not be surprised to see another reduction on your next statement.
  The other thing is you must not be tempted, having set targets on what you were going to redeem the points for, to try and spend, spend, spend to regain those points. I fear for the worst - they are lost. And whilst you are spending at the front end gaining the points you thought you lost, at the back end they are removing them as fast as you are earning them. You will be entering their web of financial deceit.
  The best we can all hope for is that through a class action we all get our lost points reinstated so that we can have one last chance of redeeming them. Whilst this is going on - because the demand on the Sony stock will be high, we should be asking, nay demanding a reasonable period of amnesty in which to do it until we have all had a chance of redeeming our expired points.
  Both organisations hould be told to stick their T&Cs where the sun don't shine and start giving back a bit of loyalty and customer care.
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/vine/
  contact form here, he is on somewhere between 12 and 2pm, get emailing.
• Yes I have done it.
  Also send a text to 88291 alerting the show.
  Do it as soon as you can preferably now if you can!
  I have tried phoning the number - 0500 288 291 but as expected it is busy but keep trying - it is free!
• Bigstevex,
  What else can we do but vent our anger?
  We are being robbed by people who hide behind unreasonable terms & conditions.
  We actually help to keep these people in employment by using this card.
  We were all attracted to this card because of the Pulsebeat scheme, now they have made it less attractive it makes it easier to move on doesn't it?
  There are plenty of cards out there with no deals on just like this one has become. I have 2 other cards that I can use and there's nothing stopping me from getting another if I want. I don't have to feel ny sense of loyalty to these shysters.
  I am going to give it a week and then I'm going to redeem what I've got. I'll keep the card live but won't use the card again. When and if things settle down, if they don't come up with a reinstatement and they flatly refuse to do so, despite all the pressure that will hopefully come to bare from us and the media, I will cancel the account.
  I recommend that you all follow suit, vote with your feet. We don't have to put up with this and I for one will not.
  If everyone threatened to cancel, then the person/persons who made this sly minded decision will hopefully be dragged over the coals by his/her employers - I wish! It would be even better if we could get a letter of apology from the CEO but I doubt that will happen - he will probably be off spending his fat cat bonus in the Caribean.
• Hello again all of you aggrieved SonyCard users!
  regarding a contact with Martin Lewis, I have attempted, using the Contact Us facility in this website, to send a email. You have to send it twice because the first time you send it goes to a FAQ area with a last resort contact, so make sure you can copy the contents of any email you send initially so that you can send a repeat to the second address.
  A lot of hard work I know, but we have to try don't we.
  If you guys do the same, it may force them into taking notice.
  Here the addresses in order:
  Martin@moneysavingexpert.com
  and
  furtherhelp@moneysavingexpert.com
  Get emailing and Good Luck!