1 How would you respond to this letter? Executive Bank plc is a bank that attracts premium customers, usually international travellers.

As part of its exclusive, and expensive, Gold Chargecard Service it offers its customers the opportunity to join, for a small additional annual fee, its card protection scheme, the Gold Card Protection Service.

The card protection scheme simply provides insurance against the theft and misuse of its customers’

charge and credit cards (the cards may be issued by any bank, credit company or store).

In addition, this service also provides a wide range of benefits that are not dissimilar to the card protection schemes run by other companies.

These include:

● a 24-hour worldwide freephone number

● a single call to cancel all cards and order replacements

● £1,000 insurance against misuse prior to notification

● unlimited cover after notification

● £1,250 interest-free emergency cash if the customer is stranded abroad

● a lost key and luggage retrieval service

● help in the emergency replacement of driving licence and passport

● payment of emergency hotel bills up to £500

● emergency airline or ferry tickets up to £1,000

● emergency car-hire assistance The Gold Card Protection Service boasts that it provides a ‘friendly, efficient and thorough service to all its customers’ and that it will ‘answer calls within an average of 10 seconds, generate loss reports to the card issuers, by fax or telex, within 20 seconds after the call, and always send prompt confirmation of action taken’.

The following is a letter sent by a customer after having experienced the service.

6 February Mr Daniel Payne Customer Services Manager Gold Card Customer Services Executive Bank plc London Dear Mr Payne I am writing to express my profound dissatisfaction with the service provided by your organisation.

At 9.30 a.m. on 17 January I was robbed whilst entering a bus near Warsaw railway station on the way to Warsaw airport. My wallet, containing all my credit and charge cards and a number of personal items, was stolen. I reported this loss to your Gold Card Protection Service at 11.00 a.m. on my arrival at Warsaw airport. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to make a reverse charge call.

I was told that all my cards would be stopped immediately and replacements requested. The operator asked if there was any cash in the wallet. I told her that there was about £20 in the wallet. She asked me if I had cash with me and I confirmed that I had. The operator asked for a number where I could be contacted that evening.

This was provided.

I was impressed by the arrival of my replacement Executive Gold Card on 19 January.

By Wednesday 24 January all the replacement cards had arrived with the exception of my Standard Bank Cashline Card. This was an important card as it was my main means of obtaining cash. Having been without the card for a week, this was becoming a problem!

On returning home from work at 8.00 p.m. on 25 January I found that the card had still not arrived. I rang the Standard Bank’s telephone banking service to ask when I should expect to receive my card. I was told that the card had been stopped but no replacement ordered. I was told they would notify my branch, but that I should ring the branch the following day. I then rang your organisation to try to discover why the replacement card had not been ordered. I spoke to James Creek who informed me that the Standard Bank did not accept orders for replacement cards from anyone but the customer and that I should contact my bank directly. I complained that I had not been told this – indeed one week had gone by during which I had assumed it was on its way. James apologised and said the operator should have told me. I then asked James if the small amount of cash that I had in my wallet was also covered.

James told me it was and he offered to send me a claim form. I asked why the operator had not checked this with me at the time. James said she should have done so and again apologised and promised to send me a claim form immediately. I felt very dissatisfied with your service at this point. One of my card issuers had sent me, with their replacement card, information about their card protection scheme which I noticed provided free cover for family members.

I pointed this out to James and asked him to send me information about your card protection scheme so I could make a comparison.

He agreed to do this and also offered me free cover for my spouse for one year to make up for the inconvenience I had suffered. James told me that he would contact my bank to try to sort out the replacement. He sincerely apologised for all the errors.