Jaja launched its app-based credit card in 2019, but it received poor response
The smartphone-based credit card provider that bought the Bank of Ireland and Post Office accounts last year has been inundated with complaints from disappointed customers.
Jaja’s credit card holders, many of whom had no idea their cards were getting started until problems struck, have been closing in on the company in recent weeks.
Complaints have poured in since the company moved Post Office cardholders into its own systems at the start of October, and things seem to have gotten worse.
Those who spoke to This is Money reported having to wait nearly six hours on the phone to report a £10 fraudulent transaction, technical errors resulting in hundreds of pounds being lost and thousands of pounds of credit card refunds not received. It is deposited into the account. their bank account.
In one case, a customer who wanted to cancel their card after receiving appalling customer service was told that they would have to write a letter to the app-based credit card provider, and that they would be contacted after a wait of up to six weeks.
Jaja began migrating customers to its credit cards at the start of October, having bought credit card accounts from AA, Bank of Ireland and the Post Office in June 2019.
Post Office cardholders who apply for accounts thereafter have their cards provided by Capital One.
Jaja purchased Bank of Ireland and Post Office credit card accounts in June 2019 and migrated them to their own systems at the beginning of October
But while Jaja has paused new apps for its own cards to focus on those existing cards, the start-up, which lost £8m in 2019, has been mired in complaints ever since.
Of the 682 reviews left on Trustpilot, 95 percent are rated “poor,” with the company averaging just 1.1 stars out of 5.
One reviewer called the service “the worst I’ve ever experienced”.
Our sister address Money Mail reported customer problems with the company last month, with some experiencing unexplained late payment fees, and the problems seem to be mounting.
“The overpayment of £500 was lost.”
Problems with the Jaja app led Daniel Robinson to bill his credit card by £1,000. The company still has £500 of his money and he can’t get it back
Northwest native Daniel Robinson had no idea Gaga had taken his post office card until he started having problems with it this month, since he had no prior issues in the six years he’s been with the post office.
When he tried to settle his credit card bill of about £500, his Jaja app took the payment three times but said it never showed up on his statement.
Although he initially claimed £1,000 in overpayments after a transaction dispute through his bank, Gaga challenged one of the claims to recover £500 of his own money, which Daniel said the company later lost track of.
He was down by £500 when he spoke to This is Money on Tuesday.
He said: “I have a girlfriend who works on the NHS frontline and now we have over £500 out of pocket, which is a lot of money because we just got a new home.”
He added, “I did not choose to deal with them and I was not warned either. I was still using my post office card not knowing that Gaja had taken charge, and the statement had been transferred without my consent.
“The Post Office was great, Jaja is awful.”
It seems a far cry from the fintech it claimed to offer a seamless experience, no complicated forms and approvals in less than three minutes when we profiled it ahead of its March 2019 credit card launch.
“ I can’t take back £2,900 of refunds”
Another customer, Gemma, from Northern Ireland, is trying to get her own money back from Gaga after four refunds for two canceled holidays totaling more than £2,900 were deposited onto her new card last month.
However, even though the refunds from Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic are clearly visible on their in-app statement, Jaja’s customer services have repeatedly told her they can’t see them.
Gemma, from Northern Ireland, received £2,900 worth of refunds from the airline into her Gaja account last month but has not been able to get her money back.
She said: ‘Since then I’ve spent hours trying to contact Gaga. When you finally get there, you’re told the refunds have nothing to do with customer support, then you’re asked to call a different number, and then they tell you there’s no reason the first person can’t do business with you.
After she made eight phone calls of up to 50 minutes each, she said the staff on the phone were passing the amount and said, ‘I’ve never tried a credit card like Jaja’ and the experience completely turned me off.
“I have stopped using Jaja for any purchases and will cancel them in the future.”
“I had to write a letter to request that my account be closed.”
However, even the cancellations seem to prove a problem. Mark Davison, 53, of Berkshire, was forced to write a letter to the company last week asking for his card to be cancelled, and that it would be 4-6 weeks before someone who could help him get in touch with him.
He had not used the Post Office card that Gaja had replaced him with since last February. He had noticed a suspicious £10 transaction made to Mangopay which he did not recognise, but had to wait hours on the phone when it was reported.
The company has received terrible feedback on Trustpilot, with 95% of reviews rated “bad”
But even when the app-based credit card provider told it the transaction was canceled, it still showed up in the list of transactions within the app and the removal was only confirmed in a December statement.
He told This is Money his experience with the company was “bad,” while it was also echoed by one of Truspilot’s recent reviewers, Scott M, who wrote: “All I want to do is close my account, I haven’t used the card in three months and the balance is zero, but they They won’t shut it down.
In response to the three cases we highlighted and the negative reviews of Trustpilot, a spokesperson for Jaja said in a statement: ‘Following the recent transfer to Jaja and the subsequent issuance of new credit cards to our customers, some have had difficulties registering with our app and online service.
This has led to an increase in the number of calls to customer service centers, causing longer than usual waiting times for some customers.
We are also aware that there were some delays in processing, which are resolved. We have significantly increased our staffing to improve the situation and would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused. We are working hard to set the record straight for affected customers.
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