Waiting to lose my virginity

Following UK business maverick Sir Richard Branson`s style of dogged determination, I have now been waiting for about 168 hours for my Virgin Money credit card to be approved. I know this because - when applying online - I accidentally hit 'save` instead of 'submit`, and received an e-mail with my saved password.

Having completed the transaction following on from having hit the wrong key, I am still - at the time of writing - waiting for the application to be approved. A far cry from the 48 hours approval turnaround time promised in the television ad.

First National Bank (FNB), in one of those chicken and egg moves, is offering a credit card approved in nanoseconds, delivered three days before you applied, or something like that.

I already have an FNB card, so could not put the bank to the test, instead choosing to test Branson`s promises of better service, lower fees and all round greatness.

On the site, it says: "Virgin Money offers financial services in plain English. Our mission is to give you: A super deal, fantastic financial products, brilliant service. Now we`re in South Africa, continuing our quest for great service and value for money. We think you deserve better! Up until Virgin Money arrived you have been ripped off with obscene interest rates, bank charges, expensive reward schemes and poor service."

I`m still waiting to find out why my money is not good enough for Virgin Money.

Nicola Mawson, senior journalist, ITWeb

My laid-back husband points out that South Africans are so used to bad service, that anyone promising service levels of, say, 12% is 20% better than their next rival at 10%. It`s a cynical outlook, but it still indicates that, as consumers, we expect very little.

So, let`s squeeze into the driver`s seat and see what sort of service this consumer received while attempting to apply for SA`s latest credit card.

It takes about five minutes to fill in the online form, asking all the usual personal questions about my spending habits.

Once that is complete, you wait. On the second day of waiting I sent a polite e-mail indicating that I was aware that Virgin was busy, but could someone come back to me. I sent a mail instead of using the online form as that did not work. My Wednesday response, by Monday, had elicited an automated response. "At Virgin Money applying is easy..."

Day three, Friday, another e-mail, this one less polite.

Day four and five fell over the weekend, so I gave Virgin the benefit of the doubt. Day six, by now Monday, I called the shared-toll line and a customer service representative offered to "physically go over there and find out".

Apparently, only approved applications are notified in 48 hours. Referred and denied are dealt with in batches and then a response is given.

And over 13 000 applications had been received in the week since the brand had launched.

My application, apparently, had been referred. And I wanted to know why.

I still don`t know; the customer service representative first suggested that maybe my name was captured wrong (it wasn`t), then opined that perhaps it was because I was a journalist. I pointed out that not all journalists are freelancers, and no, I don`t work for myself.

So, she offered to call me back by 8pm, and didn`t. I`m still waiting to find out why my money is not good enough for Virgin Money.

Anyway, I don`t want the card anymore. I have enough debt. And nothing in the service I received suggests that I should migrate.

Related column:
Virgin`s marketing coup