Barclaycard - action required!!!

[Wardy]

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Incase anyone hasn't just received this from Barclaycard.

Dear ***,
I am writing to inform you that the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) have just instructed Barclaycard to discontinue using our forever creative concept as from Friday 14th November 2003.

I must stress that our balance transfer proposition will remain the same, and that the Barclaycard program will continue to offer a valuable source of income for your site.

Our existing champion banner creative and new links will be loaded onto the interface shortly. Hence, all links and banners displayed on your site should start to reflect these changes. Please ensure that ALL these banners and links are served to your website via the interface to ensure that this is the case.

Selected banners and text links will been updated on the interface shortly. We will email you as soon as they are available.

Copy for more detailed explanations of the proposition on your site will also be emailed to you shortly, and should be incorporated in your site where appropriate.

www.barclaycard.co.uk will reflect these copy changes by Friday.

Thank you for your co-operation, and apologies for the short notice.

Regards

Barclaycard Publisher Manager

Cheers
Wardy

[Flightmapping]

A fair judgement imho. The offer was misleading a lot of people.

[Flightmapping]

Just trying to work out how this change affects our existing sites. The same offer is still there on their own home page.

A few words from their t's&c's

*This offer may be at risk if you do not stay within the terms of the agreement. 2% cashback on purchases until December 2004, if you have the balance transfer and provided you are being charged interest on your standard balance, a cashback cheque with be issued in 2005. Terms and Conditions apply.

[Shane]

tis well scary that barclaycard's compliance (ok farce) department couldn't ensure that the ads were OFT approved etc aint it..

who would commit thousands of pounds in advertising online and offline to a campaign that wasn't 100% compliant..


like......DOH

[Flightmapping]

It is quite common for an advert to be created first, and then withdrawn if complaints are made - that is what bodies like the ASA, the ITC and Trading Standards / the OFT are there for.

If an advertiser has an idea, they will want to see if they can get away with it. Also, no publicity is bad publicity, and the controversy can get a lot more attention to the company - even if in this case it is clearly negative

[ashagplz]

controversy can get a lot more attention

what the FCUK you talking about?

[John]

Not been the best couple of weeks for Barclaycard... what with Matt Barrett's "Ratner-esque" admission a few weeks ago, and now uproar over the 0% deal.

Just noticed another article regarding a disgruntled customer who felt conned by Barclaycard - http://www.thisismoney.com/20031112/ht70417.html

Conversion has got to suffer as a result of all this negative publicity. What can Barclaycard do to turn it around?

[Shane]

What can Barclaycard do to turn it around?

Offer a fair deal !

when you think of the level that the base rate is at then it aint hard to imagine how much these companies are making at 17.9% or more is it, even allowing for all the 0% rate surfers who come and go, they are still coining it in.

oh and they should pay us more to push the card for them