Fed up with receiving piles of junk mail every day?
Well sometimes it pays to have a closer look to see what they can do for you rather than just looking at the negative and seeing what the banks / loan companies / insurance companies want to squeeze you for.
An example of this is the new Sony Visa card, which is run by the Bank of Scotland. As a card it’s not the worst on the market but with a promotional rate of 3.9% for the first six months which then hikes up to 17.9% it certainly doesn’t qualify as the best on purely financial grounds.
The perk on this card is that it offers “pulsebeats” which can be redeemed against a range of Sony products. You earn 1 pulsebeat for every pound that you spend (or 3 pulsebeats if you’re buying Sony products). A catalogue is provided which shows the products you can redeem the pulsebeats for; and the going rate is 1300 pulsebeats for a cd, 2000 for a dvd and up to 90,000 for a stereo. This may look a bit steep but the perk on joining is that they will give you 1300 free pulsebeats so you can claim a free cd straight away. The other perk is that you are entered into a dream draw to win prizes if you spend any money on the card in that period – but since I haven’t won I can’t comment.
The pulsebeats scheme is not the best on the market as looking at the redemption values one pulsebeat is the equivalent of 1p (1% of your purchase value) and there is a limited range of choices. Whereas several other VISA companies already offer a 1% rebate in cash, and additionally some of these companies such as Egg also offer lower interest rates.
I’m not sure what the customer services are like as the only time you use them is to make a complaint and so far (touch wood) this hasn’t happened.
Therefore my recommendation is that you take out the card and get the free cd, don’t use it anymore and cut it up after a couple of months.
If you’re interested you can join online at www.sonycard.co.uk
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Advantages: Free Pulse Beats, exclusive monthly competitions to win amazing prizes, efficient and friendly customer service Disadvantages: APR could be more competitive
tanga 22.02.2001 (23.04.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sony Card
Advantages: Reward points (for some), flexibility in APR choice, and options to change your APR at any time Disadvantages: High(ish) APR rates, Internet and phone based only (some may not like that).
indiegirl 25.11.2002 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
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