Ryanair Pre Pay – A look at the terms and conditions…

Initially I was excited to read about Ryanair’s prepaid card.  4 free flights!  As I’m looking at getting my family to Sicily for my upcoming wedding, that looked like a great idea.  But of course one should always read the small print if one doesn’t want to end up being an ass.

08. Just gotta whup some ass

Originally uploaded by sean.casaidhe

And despite Sinead Finn boasting about how clear and simple the fees are, they still NOT ON THE WEBSITE.  Oh no, that’d be too easy, instead you have to find your way to the terms and conditions page and download the PDFs, which I’ll list here;

The Membership Terms and Conditions;

• €85 per year membership fee
• Which automatically renews unless you tell Ryanair to cancel.

So God forbid that you should throw this card away and forget about, because in 12 months time, Ryanair are going to hit you for another €85.

• They need FOUR weeks notice to cancel the card…

…which is bullshit because all they have to do to disable a card is flip a flag on the user account.  Active, or Inactive.

The Card Terms and Conditions;

One of the things that jumped out at me in these is the phrase “A Load/Reload Fee shall apply for each load/reload that
you make”.  This is because in the “Fees” section, it clearly states that there are no Top-Up fees, but it’s clear that they are slipping under the radar the fact that there ARE fees, they’re just not being applied RIGHT NOW.  And in fact, the fees section clearly states “The Information contained in this table summarises key product features and is not intended to replace any terms and conditions” (my emphasis).

Other points include;

• €7.50 cancellation fee.  So if you have any money on the card, and decide that it’s crap, they’ll charge you €7.50 for getting rid of it.  If you don’t cancel it, of course they’ll charge you €85 for the next annual renewal.  What a scam they’ve got you coming and going!
• €0.75 for every transaction in the Euro zone.  So you have to PAY to use your OWN card (after you’re already paid to join, and then paid to put money on the card).
• 2.75% if you’re outside the Euro zone, like the UK.  So that’s 27 cents for every tenner you spend.
• €3 for every ATM withdrawal!  WTF is that all about?  I didn’t think they were allowed to charge for Euro-Euro ATM transactions – ah, maybe because this isn’t a normal ATM card they can get away with ripping people off like that.
• Balance Inquiries are free – right?  Er, no.  A whopping €0.33 a minute to call.  It’s not even PER CALL, it’s PER MINUTE!  So God help you if you’re left on hold for a while…  and why wouldn’t they leave you on hold, for 33 cent a minute.
• €7.50 for a new card, if your old one gets nicked.  At least they’ll refund any dodgy transactions after you’ve reported it stolen – but then, they HAVE to.  The least they could do is throw in a free card.

Another interesting point is disputes with retailers – they’re refusing to take the cardholders’ side in disputes, instead “you should settle these with the person you bought the goods or services from”.  So forget it if you’re hoping to use this card to buy stuff online, because when that Hi-Fi arrives broken, you’re screwed.

Finally, this card is authorised by the Financial Ombusdman in LONDON.  So if you don’t get satisfaction from the company, you can always get a cheap Ryanair flight to London to take a case 🙂

Ryanair, ripoff, credit card, prepay card, terms and conditions, scam

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