In reply to a post by Oliver341:

They should just credit the account in all instances and forget about these problematical reward cards. When under contract it's not like people can escape paying that £70 to BT at some point.

There are a few reasons why they do this I reckon:

1) Not everyone will claim it because it's a hassle
2) They don't pay £70 for loading the £70 worth of credit
3) There is potentially some form of tax benefit / avoidance going on applying credit in this way
4) Could be some form of kickback / other incentive from the company(ies) involved

£70 credit is surely more useful than the card as you could call them up and ask for it back via BACS.

In reply to a post by sparky_paul:

In reply to a post by CJT:

Also be warned, the card may not last 12 Months.. so check it's expiry date!

Mine was ok, expiry is 12 months from date of issue.

They must have changed that, as my card had a specific expiry date, and it didn't arrive 1st time, so had to be resent which meant it ran out before the 12 months from the date I got it...

In reply to a post by CJT:

They must have changed that, as my card had a specific expiry date, and it didn't arrive 1st time, so had to be resent which meant it ran out before the 12 months from the date I got it...

Yes, strictly speaking, it will be 12 months from the opening of the account, so 12 months from the issue of the first reward card. Any replacement card will have the same expiry date.

In reply to a post by gary333:

There are a few reasons why they do this I reckon:

1) Not everyone will claim it because it's a hassle
2) They don't pay £70 for loading the £70 worth of credit
3) There is potentially some form of tax benefit / avoidance going on applying credit in this way
4) Could be some form of kickback / other incentive from the company(ies) involved

£70 credit is surely more useful than the card as you could call them up and ask for it back via BACS.

As you say, there must be some advantage to issuing these cards - I think the main reason for it is 1) above, that many will not bother claiming it, and I understand that any (forgotten) residual money on the card at the end of the 12 months is returned to BT. I would have thought that there would have been a small cost to BT for buying these prepaid cards, but it must be worth their while.

I absolutely agree that I would have taken the money as an account credit, every time.

I remember when I got a reward card from BT I immediately spent it all on crediting my BT account!

I received my Reward Card but it was a shame that I had to complain to get it.