AARP Online Community and Discussion Forums - Re: Chase-Barclay transition is a mess

valbeer · ‎09-01-2021

I only found out about the transition about the AARP Chase- Barclay credit card today (2 weeks before the cut-off) when an email and postal mail message arrived. I've going to be traveling during the transition period, my new card probably won't arrive before I leave, and I can't use my Chase card after 9/16 --- but the new card can't be activated until 9/20. What am I supposed to do for those 4 days between cards? All of my hotels, rentals car, etc. are booked to the Chase card, and I have to present that card at check-in or my reservations will be canceled.

Barclays won't take calls from AARP members until 9/20. I called AARP, and the rep said that all she had was the same brochure I got in the mail. This is a customer-service nightmare. I applied for a new credit card today from another organization and will close the Barclays account as soon as I get the new card. Shame on AARP for creating such a dismal and costly situation for members.

jw14956293 · ‎09-21-2021

HORRIBLE experience with Barclays... just hung up after 90 mins on hold... 45 mins yesterday .. trying to reach them to correct a problem... just about DONE with this..

NancyS537724 · ‎10-04-2021

I agree with jw, so want all my fellow AARP members that Tonite at 11:30pm, after reading all posts shared w no Corporate AARP coming to the online community with a text to convince us our terrible scary experience was a decision that threw our lives into turmoil, rather than put a few kind souls working to pass on our msgs to Barclays with no results other than to cause another problem to arise, & another....like one poster said Try again tomorrow is not an answer. With such a poor transition, I had real concerns about trying to use the card, embarrassment in front of others when card maybe not accepted, false info on my history because of system problem, etc etc. So decided to cancel card I was never able to activate, by phone or online. Approved quickly for new Chase Visa, which I prefer, Freedom+, got smaller Credit Line than had w AARP Chase, but sufficient to help me with large unexpected bill for sewer line replacement. Surprise!! Call was immediately answered by computer voice, gave last 4 digits of card, it was found quickly, I was asked my birth date which was accepted immediately, asked if wanted to activate, I said no (it even told me Amt of my CL was same had w Chase!!) Gave me a spoken list of what I wanted about 6th down list was Close Account, I said close account, next said reason, about 5 choices, last was "another reason" but never let me say poor transition. Told before I closed, could Never have acct with Barclays again!! That was a real Relief for me, no matter how high CL amt would be!! Said would I like letter confirming I closed acct? I said yes. Then computer said if you are done, you can hang up. I called the 866 number on back of card. Nan

@jw14956293 wrote:
HORRIBLE experience with Barclays... just hung up after 90 mins on hold... 45 mins yesterday .. trying to reach them to correct a problem... just about DONE with this..

NormaS567291 · ‎10-01-2021

AGREED! I have an outstanding refund to be credited to my account. I am still waiting for it. I called Barclays and got a woman who could barely speak and understand English. The next called put me on hold for 45 mintues. No one ever answered!

I called a third guy and basically told me the transfer of the accounts is slow. IN THE MEANTIME, THESE banks ae keeping all the money and gaining interest.

I am furious and will contact AARP and blast them for this STUPID CHANGE.

aruzinsky · ‎09-21-2021

@jw14956293 wrote:
hung up after 90 mins on hold

And they didn't give you an estimated wait time or tell you your position in the queue. That's not an accident. It is premeditated incompetence.

I bet that decision makers who are that careless and stupid will continue to screw up at your expense in the future.

AARPJanelleM · ‎09-21-2021

@jw14956293 Barclays has been experiencing an outage that is causing unusually long hold times. We genuinely apologize for this inconvenience and we recommend that you keep trying. They are working hard to get this issue resolved as soon as possible.

NormaS567291 · ‎10-05-2021

YOU ARE LITERALLY TAKING US ALL FOR A RIDE. I CALLED THE AARP HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON, DC WHO BASICALLY BLEW ME OFF EVEN THOUGH I WAS IN TEARS!

I DO NOT BELIEVE A WORD YOU SAY. YOU HAVE PUT ALL OF US THROUGH LIVING HELL AND YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE AN ORGANIZATION THAT HELPS SENIOR CITIZENS. IT IS DISGUSTING.

aruzinsky · ‎09-21-2021

@AARPJanelleM wrote:
We genuinely apologize for this inconvenience

Then, pay me $10 for my inconvenience.

NormaS567291 · ‎10-13-2021

I have been waiting for 2000 US DOLLARS in refunds from Europe for one month! I just got another call from AARP with STUPID APOLOGIES!

LakeishaT901230 · ‎10-14-2021

@NormaS567291

Hi there, AARP Member Benefits Team here to help. We certainly understand your concern regarding the service provided by Barclays. We’d be happy to forward your concern to the Escalation team we work with at Barclays for their thorough review and investigation if you’d like. To do this, we will need more information. Please send me a private message in the AARP Online Community by clicking this link and entering my username, “AARPLakeisha” into the “Send to” box https://community.aarp.org/t5/notes/composepage. Please provide the following details in your message:

Your first & last name
AARP membership number (or home address)
Best contact phone number

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate you informing us of your concern. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

OldVulture · ‎09-23-2021

We have been charged a $10 non-payment/late fee by Comcast despite activating the card and notifying Comcast of the card change on September 20, at 0635 CDT. Reminds me of the "Affordable" Care Act rollout.

AARPAngelaC · ‎09-23-2021

Hi there, Barclays sent out several mailers advising customers to make alternate payment arrangements for any payments scheduled between September 16th and 19th due to the transition. Also, Comcast/Xfinity's late fees are assessed 30 to 45 days past a bill's invoice date, so it may not be caused by lack of a payment between September 17th and 19th. However, we recommend contacting Comcast/Xfinity (or any other vendor that may apply a late fee) to ask if you can be accommodated. In this particular case, Comcast/Xfinity may be able to waive that fee, you'd just need to contact a customer service rep via their website, app, or phone to ask. Barclays will be flexible with the AARP Credit Card late fees that occur as a result of the conversion (updating payment acct, etc) but not late fees from other vendors. I hope this information is helpful.

NormaS567291 · ‎10-08-2021

I have just received a postal letter from AARP requesting a donation. ARE YOU DREAMING?

FOR THE PUBLIC, I have demanded outstanding refunds and will not back down until I get them. I WILL PAY NO BARCLAYS BILL FOR A CREDIT CARD THAT I NEVER ASKED FOR, before receiving my money.

NormaS567291 · ‎10-05-2021

ARE YOU COVERING UP FOR THIS FIASCO???? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF AARP FOR PUTTING ALL OF US THROUGH LIVING HELL!

YOU SEND ME A LINK TO CONTACT YOU IN A PRIVATE MESSAGE AND TYPE IN YOUR NAME. HOW THE HELL DO YOU DO THIS??? I AM SO UPSET AND DISGUSTED BY THIS AND WORRIED I WILL NOT RETRIEVE MY MONEY FROM REFUNDS!

jw14956293 · ‎10-07-2021

yup! same problem.. have decided that if they don't fix this I'm dropping BOTH Barclays AND AARP... who needs this! Besides.. Who decided that I wanted another Mastercard, when the previous card was a Visa... I have vendors that only take Visa.

jw

NormaS567291 · ‎10-08-2021

I totally agreed. AARP MEMBERS are being treated like OLD JERKS.I am not that old at all and it is still disgusting. UNDER ANY CONDITIONS, will I pay a card bill from Barclays WITHOUT recupering money due.

OldVulture · ‎09-23-2021

Neither card was either available or valid at the time of their paperless billing. That's why we were charged.

AARPAngelaC · ‎09-23-2021

Your cards were not available for bill pay between September 16 and 19. When providers send out their paperless bill, it allows for time to make a payment - payment is not due the same day the bill is generated and provided. So if the billing went out on the 16th, they would have provided more than 3 days to pay the bill. I hope this makes sense, but again, we recommend reaching out directly to Comcast/Xfinity.

OldVulture · ‎09-23-2021

Quote: "Electronic payments scheduled to post on your AARP Credit Card from Chase after September 16th will be cancelled." My electronic payment was due September 20th. When Comcast billed the account, they found it closed and they responded accordingly, a delinquent account. Simple.

AARPAngelaC · ‎09-24-2021

That is correct. Mailers were sent advising customers to make alternate payment arrangements so that they could avoid a late payment due to the transition. Since the new cards were to be activated on the 20th, it would be a good idea to use an alternate account. If that isn't possible, then as you mentioned doing, you'd need to reach out to Comcast/Xfinity to make payment arrangements. They should have a record of you informing them of this change and possible errors with your account through no fault of your own, which may warrant a removal of the late fee. Also as mentioned previously, Comcast/Xfinity's late fees are assessed 30 to 45 days past a bill's invoice date so if your bill was due on the 20th of September, you should not be getting a late fee until at least 30 days after that date. Please reach out to Comcast/Xfinity to request removal of the fee. Thanks!

aruzinsky · ‎09-21-2021

I activated my card online yesterday and then, per Barclay instructions, tried to update my reoccurring online accounts. At first, all of the accounts rejected the new card. After a couple of hours, Netflix and Amazon accepted it. Paypal still rejects it. After numerous attempts, Paypal locked my account for suspicious activity and required me to upload an image of my credit card bill and driver's license. Then my scanner software broke. Ha, ha!

Thank you, AARP, for putting senior citizens, with one foot in the grave, into error fraught positions. How much did Murphy, of Murphy's Law, pay you? .

valbeer · ‎09-20-2021

Update from my 9-01 post: I got spooked by the lack of communication from AARP and Barclays, so I got a new credit card from my brokerage firm, transferred all of my auto-payments to it, and then sent the new AARP card back to Barclays as soon as I received it, requesting that they close my account.

And WOW am I glad I did that! Reading all the frustrated comments today from people who have been on hold with Barclays for hours and can't get their account activated is heart-breaking. AARP, you really blew it on this transition.

BarbaraL682263 · ‎09-20-2021

I've been on hold for over 3 hours now. Still waiting. I activated my card online and it took forever but I got it done. It said I could use it right away. I've been trying to change my old Chase card to this new Barclays on my auto pay accounts. Three different companies (i stopped at 3) declined the Barclays card. They wouldn't recognize it. This has been a joke in this transition. How could Barclays not anticipate these problems? This transition is such a joke and a freaking mess.

BarbaraL682263 · ‎09-20-2021

I just got a real person at Barclays after 4-1/2 hours on hold. It turns out I have to wait 24 hours after activating the card before I can use it. Maybe they should have mentioned that before because I was told I could use it right away after activation. I'm not mad at the customer service person. She told me that overnight they converted for 500,000 AARP members. And ,yes, she agreed it is a mess.

BarbaraL682263 · ‎09-20-2021

talk about adding fuel to a house fire, I got 3 account alerts about 3-4 hours ago. I've been on hold for 3+ hours. The first one was about changing my security options. The second one (20 minutes later from the first) was changing my telephone. The third one (6 minutes after the second one) was changing my pin. I didn't do any of these changes so my account is already hacked! Can't get through on the phone for hours even though I'm suppose to contact Barclays ASAP. This is unbelievable!

BarbaraL682263 · ‎09-20-2021

I just got thru with a customer service person. I seems I got these account alerts because I activated my card online. So people who activated their cards online with get these alerts and give them heart attacks. This procedure is soooo stupid.

PatriciaR647027 · ‎09-20-2021

Still waiting on line after 4 hours. Can't activate on line. Apparently Barclays doesn't have my information yet.

markhoza · ‎09-20-2021

We have not been able to activate my wife's card either. Not sure what the problem is. We tried to activate via online and phone.

AARPJanelleM · ‎09-20-2021

@markhoza This is part of a reported outage within the Barclays system. Some customers cannot service any of their requests online or via telephony, including AARP Credit Card activation requests. We apologize for the inconvenience, please try again tomorrow.

AARPAngelaC · ‎09-02-2021

Hi there, AARP Member Benefits Team here to help. We certainly understand your concern regarding the service provided by Barclays. We’d be happy to forward your concern to the Escalation team we work with at Barclays for their thorough review and investigation if you’d like. To do this, we will need more information. Please send me a private message in the AARP Online Community by clicking this link and entering my username, “AARPAngelaC” into the “Send to” box https://community.aarp.org/t5/notes/composepage. Please provide the following details in your message: