Barclays student account eiugible

Hi. I already have a current account with Barclays. I want to get the Perlego 12 months free with a student account. It says if it’s the first current account then you get it. Does that mean I’m not eligible because I’m a loyal customer? Bearing in mind their overdraft is not great, what is the incentive to bank with them. I tried to ask them this but they won’t answer the phone or web chat and my local branch is closed.

Reply 1

Googley_eyes

I’ve been trying to talk to them for almost three hours now. Every time I get through to someone they vanish and I get disconnected and sent to the back of the queue. It’s abysmal customer service.

Reply 2

Sammydemon

Original post by Googley_eyes

You prolly won't get it because you're not a new customer. Just forget it and do something more useful than sit on the phone with a crappy bank.

Reply 3

Googley_eyes

Original post by Sammydemon

You prolly won't get it because you're not a new customer. Just forget it and do something more useful than sit on the phone with a crappy bank.

I don’t understand how I can’t get it though, like I’m a loyal customer and have never been with another bank. It’s not fair to only give it to new customers.

Reply 4

Googley_eyes

Original post by Sammydemon

You prolly won't get it because you're not a new customer. Just forget it and do something more useful than sit on the phone with a crappy bank.

Now they have completely shut down all of my chats.

Reply 5

Sammydemon

Original post by Googley_eyes

Now they have completely shut down all of my chats.

Now is the time you learn the cold hard truth that banks do not give a damn about your loyalty.

Reply 6

Googley_eyes

Original post by Sammydemon

Now is the time you learn the cold hard truth that banks do not give a damn about your loyalty.

Yeah. I guess I’m just really frustrated that I made this bank account and they can’t tell me if I’ll get the reward or not. That’s why I chose them as I don’t want a shopping voucher and won’t use an overdraft.

Reply 7

Reality Check

Original post by Googley_eyes

Not being rude, but you've literally answered your own question within three sentences.

Reply 8

Googley_eyes

Original post by Reality Check

Not being rude, but you've literally answered your own question within three sentences.

I know but I didn’t realise when I signed up as it was tiny tiny print. But I guess I was asking if it’s really strict as I can’t find another bank that only gives rewards for student accounts to new customers only and screws the loyal customers, especially as their overdraft is much lower than the others.

Reply 9

zcacmxi

Perlego costs £96 per year...

HSBC is giving £80 + £20 ubereats voucher if you open a new student bank account.
Santander is giving a 4year Railcard worth ~£100 which could also save you even more money if you use the train regularly...

If Barclays can't/won't give you the Perlego membership, and have demonstrated poor customer service in the process, you could consider the other options which will save you the money required to pay for the membership?

Reply 10

Googley_eyes

Original post by zcacmxi

I definitely will. After 3 days I got an answer but they ended up making me do the wrong thing and now I have to delete an account they made me make before it charges me, and wait 4 weeks for them to send me a code. If I don’t get a code I will go elsewhere and get the 25% off through UCAS. If I do I’ll stay with them this year and look at leaving the year after as there has been a whole saga I haven’t written on here but they’ve lost me as a customer with how useless and rude they’ve been, along with wasting 8 hours of my life and almost £96 of my own money.

Reply 11

martin7

Original post by Googley_eyes

It's fairly clear on the page https://www.barclays.co.uk/current-accounts/student-account/ -- it's not in tiny print:

If Student Additions is your first current account with us and you open it by 30 November 2021,...

Yes, it sucks that Barclays are treating a loyal customer worse than a new customer, but the days of banks (and financial institutions generally) rewarding loyalty are long gone. If Barclays won't give you this perk as a gesture of goodwill, then the answer to this is simply to close your Barclays account completely and tell them why. (Obviously don't do this till you have a replacement account in place, as you don't want to end up without an account, even temporarily.)

Reply 12

random1981208

Barclays do give you the membership but the code to access the free membership doesn’t get sent out until the 20th of September, I’m assuming because that’s around the time most people actually start uni. Hope that makes it a bit clearer for you