Sunday, November 11, 2012

Money Matters: Drawbacks of the Air New Zealand OneSmart Card

[Added 28 March 2018: This post is very old. OneSmart now has instant debit loads, for instance.]

In a previous post, I compared using the Air New Zealand OneSmart card as a travel wallet against other options, such as changing cash at a bank, and getting money out overseas using your credit card.  I found that this branded Mastercard debit card was a good choice, with no commission fees, no ATM withdrawal fees while overseas, and no offshore service margin/currency conversion fee if changing between supported currencies. Although I do still recommend using this card on your holiday, it does come with its share of frustrations as well.

Drawback 1: You can only spend what you have in your account.

The most obvious disadvantage of the OneSmart card is that, unlike a credit card, you have to plan ahead.  Debit cards work like prepaid phone cards: you need to put money on it before you can use it.  If you only have $29 in your OneSmart account, and you want to buy a $30 item, then—surprise, surprise!—that transaction will be declined.

What might be unexpected behaviour is that if you do not have enough money in the local currency wallet, but you have money tucked away elsewhere (e.g. you are making a purchase in Europe, and you don't have enough money in your EUR wallet, but you do have further funds in a USD wallet), then an automatic currency conversion from the other wallet will occur to allow your transaction to proceed.

What to do about it: Make sure you have loaded more than enough money for your use.  Yes, that does mean planning ahead.  You could also keep a credit card handy.  There is the issue of what to do with your leftover money when you have loaded too much - see the solution to Drawback 7 below.

Drawback 2: It takes a business day for the money you have transferred to show up on your OneSmart account.

If you transfer money to your OneSmart account on Friday night NZ time, chances are you won't be able to access that money until Tuesday morning.  That's waiting three and a half days before you can use it.

What to do about it: Keep an eye on what day of the week it is and how much money you have left to spend.  Top up if you have to before you hit the weekend, or you could find yourself using your credit card more than you intended to.

Drawback 3: The transaction history page is difficult to understand.

If you check OneSmart online (and I recommend that you do so regularly), you will see your current balance, your pending transactions and your transaction history.  Technically, you have everything you need: how much each transaction was, in what currency, and whether it was for loading cash, an ATM withdrawal, or a purchase, etc.  But it can be confusing for a number of reasons:
  • You can only see your current balance, not what you had in each wallet when a transaction was made.
  • Transactions can appear out of order (this is also true on your normal credit card, but there you are shown a running balance).
  • Each transaction is shown with a processing date, but this is not necessarily the date when you made the transaction.  Often you will find multiple transactions from the same day being processed at the same time.
  • Transactions can change currency from what was shown when they were pending, e.g. if you made a purchase in Euros, but had no money in your EUR wallet, the money will be converted from the first wallet you have money in, so the pending transaction could be shown in NZD (in this case, you will not be able to see the price you paid in Euros while the transaction is pending).  If you transfer money to your EUR wallet before the transaction is processed, the final transaction will be shown in EUR.
  • The same purchase can appear as multiple transactions.  I once had a payment split across three different currencies, because I did not have enough money in the first two wallets
  • If an automatic currency conversion occurs, you are shown what amount in the original currency was converted to what amount in the final currency, but you don't get to see the exchange rate.
  • Often an automatic currency conversion is not exact.  You end up paying a few cents more or less, leading to your balance occasionally showing something like EUR -0.03.  For instance, I withdrew 100 pounds from an ATM in London when I had no funds in my GBP wallet.  To pay for this, OneSmart automatically converted 200.98 NZD to 100.03 GBP.
What to do about it: If keeping a tab on your money in each wallet is important to you, make your own spreadsheet of running totals. I found this especially useful when I began using multiple currencies and suspected errors in the calculations (it turns out I had simply spent more money than I realised). It also allowed me to make notes on transactions when the default descriptions were not very enlightening.

Drawback 4: If you present your OneSmart card for authorisations and deposits, that money will be locked from use.

For deposits (e.g. on a rental car) and authorisations (e.g. for a hotel booking, in case you don't turn up), credit cards have an advantage, because you can still continue on as if nothing had happened.  When you have returned the car or shown up for your hotel stay, the pending transaction is simply cancelled.

On debit cards like the OneSmart, however, these transactions will put a certain amount of money on hold.  And simply returning the car or paying for your hotel does not mean you have access to those funds again.  You have to wait for the pending transaction to expire, which, according to a hotel that authorised the first night's stay without really warning me, would take 10-14 working days (that's 2-3 weeks of not being able to use the money, by which time your holiday might be over!).  The actual pending transaction I saw in my OneSmart account was marginally better, expiring after 9 days.

What to do about it: Watch out for authorisations and deposits, i.e. where merchants ask for your credit card details with little intention of taking the money.  Where these are requested, give them your normal credit card instead.  You can still pay for your hotel or car hire using your OneSmart though.

Drawback 5: Credit and debit cards do not work everywhere.

The OneSmart card has served me well.  It has worked with every ATM I have used it with, and I have never been charged fees by an ATM provider either.  However, a workmate was not so lucky.  He loaded his OneSmart up with all the money he planned to use, and went to Japan with no cash.  Too late, he discovered that Japan is a very cash-based society, and most ATMs there do not accept Western credit cards, including Visa and Mastercard; ones that display the logo often work only with credit cards issued in Japan.

What to do about it: This is not a problem with the OneSmart card, but with foreign credit cards in general. Do your homework. Research your destination ahead of time, and bring some cash with you just in case.  Eventually, my workmate worked out that in Japan he could get money out at ATMs in the 7-11 convenience stores between certain hours, and this seems to be true of ATMs in postal offices as well. [Added 27 January 2013: having returned from Tokyo recently, I can say that 7-11 ATMs work even at 9pm at night, whereas the ATMs at another convenience store (Lawson's) clearly stated that foreign credit cards are not accepted.  A random ATM I found at a subway station let me get out as little as ¥1,000 (around NZ$15), which was better than the 7-11 ones which had a minimum of ¥10,000 (~ NZ$150).]

Drawback 6: Those pesky fees...

As with all banking products, there are fees involved with using your OneSmart card.  I think they are entirely reasonable compared to, say, using your normal credit card overseas, but you should still acquaint yourself with them so you can avoid them as much as possible. [Added 8 May 2013: The new fees schedule effective 23 May is less attractive than it used to be.  I take another look in a newer comparison.] [Added 22 May 2013: And I vent by displeasure at the lack of notice given for the changes.]

What to do about it: Read through the OneSmart fees schedule. To avoid the Monthly Account fee, do not leave money in your NZD wallet for more than a month.  To avoid the Account Inactivity fee, make a transaction at least every three months, for instance by moving a small amount of money from one wallet to another.  Don't query your balance at an ATM, but rather check it online.  And so on and so forth... [Added 22 May 2013: The new changes removes the Inactivity Fee, but applies a reduced Monthly Account Fee regardless of where your money is sitting, so you cannot avoid it simply by moving your money to a foreign currency.]

Drawback 7: You can't transfer money back to your bank account.

The thing that people seem to be the most surprised or frustrated by, when they first use their OneSmart card, is that when they return home from their holiday, there is no easy way to get the leftover money out again.  You can't transfer the money back to your bank account.  There's a fee for getting cash out at an ATM in New Zealand using your OneSmart, and you can't withdraw less than $20 anyway.  And unless you are going to use it soon, your money is wasting away there, not collecting interest, not to mention there is the potential for fees to be charged unless you do something about it.

What to do about it: Depending on your situation, you could deal with your leftover money in a number of ways...

1) No trips planned anytime soon:
After your holiday, use your money up with your OneSmart card wherever you normally use your credit card.  Use it to pay for your groceries, your petrol, your online purchases, dinners with your friends.  At the Countdown supermarkets, the self-service kiosks have a "split payment" function, where you can specify the exact amount to charge to a card, so you don't even need to go to the trouble of trying to make your items add up to a particular number.

2) Friend is about to go on holiday:
Alternatively, if you have a friend who is about to go on holiday, who is planning to use their OneSmart card, you could give your money to them (click on the orange "Send Money" button underneath your balance in the top right corner).  All you need to know to do this is either their OneSmart account number or their mobile number. This not only saves you the trouble of having try to use the money up yourself, it also saves your friend the (pretty minimal) $1 load fee.  Currently, there is no fee for OneSmart account to OneSmart account transfers done online.

3) You are planning to go overseas again soon-ish:
If you purchased foreign currencies at a very good exchange rate, or if you can't be bothered getting your money out because you are planning another trip soon, you can, of course, opt to simply let your money sit in your OneSmart account.  See my solution to Drawback 6 about avoiding fees.

Drawback 8: You probably know more than the customer service staff.

It's sad but true: half the time I have rung up the customer service centre, someone has given me the wrong information.  This is true of many other organisations too, of course, so if I'm not in a hurry, I tend to write them an email.  It gives them time to think, you don't have to spend hours on the phone, and you have a written record of what was discussed.

Here are some untruths I have been told over the phone...

  • Myth 1: To avoid the Account Inactivity Fee when you have $0 in your NZD wallet but a positive balance in another wallet, you need to load some money at least once in a three-month period.  Reality: You just need to make a transaction, whether that is loading cash, purchasing goods or changing money from one wallet to another.
  • Myth 2: If you see a pending transaction disappear without going onto your transaction history, you are no longer liable for the purchase you have made.  Reality: In the unlikely event that the pending transaction expires before it has cleared, it looks as though the value of your purchase is returned to you and there is no record of the transaction visible anymore.  You can spend the money that you see (including the amount that was released from the pending transaction), but when the expired pending transaction finally clears, your account will go into a negative balance.  Unfortunately, if a currency conversion had to be done automatically (e.g. you made a purchase in NZD but you only had money in your HKD wallet), then the exchange rate will be calculated anew, possibly using a less favourable rate.
  • Myth 3: You would have received an email letting you know when your account was activated.  Reality: I keep all my important email, and I never received such a notification.  I did however work out my activation date based on when I presented my ID at an Air NZ Holidays Store as part of the activation process, and the fact that I had managed to load money into my account two days later.  It turns out you don't need to know what your activation date is anyway, as you will see in Myth 5.
Amazingly, what you read on their official website might not be true either.
  • Myth 4: You can only load up to $1,000 at a time. Reality: This has now been corrected to $10,000 on their FAQ page, but for the best part of a year, their old FAQ page displayed the mistaken value.
  • Myth 5: You will be charged a Monthly Account Fee if you have not loaded at least NZ$500 in the last month, and it is now the end of your activation month.  According to footnote 1 in the fees page, "month" means "each period of one month starting on the date you Activate your OneSmart Account. For example, if you Activated your OneSmart Account on the 7th of the month, you would need to load NZ$500 or more between the 7th of this month, and the 6th of the next month to qualify for the Monthly Account fee waiver." Reality: The Monthly Account Fee appears with the description "Subscription Fee" in your transactions. I was charged this fee on the 28th, and challenged it as my activation date is actually on the 16th, and I had made sure I had no money in my NZD wallet, until a refund came through just on the day the fee was charged. I had to fight for a refund, and a CSR tried to convince me that the fee is charged in monthly periods from the Account Creation Date (which he claimed was on the 30th) rather than the Activation Date.  I have subsequently been told by a different CSR that all accounts are charged on the 28th, regardless of when you activated.
  • Myth 6: There is a 2.5% currency conversion fee charged for unsupported currencies. Reality: I have not yet seen this charged [Added 8 May 2013: however this fee will be applied in the future according to the new fees schedule].

What to do about it: You can take the conservative approach, e.g. make sure you don't keep money in your NZD wallet for more than a month without loading more money, or you can learn how things work by trial and error, as I did.  If there is a problem (e.g. you were charged a fee when you shouldn't have been), then write an email to the help desk if you are happy to wait for a response.  Otherwise, make sure you have all the relevant information when you ring up, so you can argue your case effectively.  If that still fails, try calling again later.  A different CSR may be more clueful.

---

So was it worth it using the OneSmart card, given the issues I've mentioned above?  Well, I can't tell you exactly how much I've saved, but from my twenty cash withdrawals from overseas ATMs alone, I have avoided paying 20 x $7.50 = NZ$150 in fees already (yes, that credit card cash advance fee has gone up at my bank!)  True, I would have gotten cash out less often otherwise, but I liked the fact that the OneSmart card made me feel free to withdraw smaller amounts of money more frequently. [Added 8 May 2013: according to the new fees schedule, only 3 international ATM withdrawals per month will be free.] Whether the extra time investment you need to use the OneSmart card is worth the savings it provides, is up to you to decide for yourself.  Happy travels!

38 comments:

  1. I had a run in with One Smart a while ago. I was charged a currency conversion fee when in Australia even though all the money was taken from my Australian wallet.

    Most credit cards don't charge advance fees if you are in credit so I have found sticking to the credit card heaps easier.

    The only thing I liked was the paypass ability.

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    1. Hi LeadBelly, sorry to hear the OneSmart card doesn't work for you. I do find it very frustrating sometimes, but I have never been charged a currency conversion fee (unless you count the difference between the Buy and Sell conversion rates), even though I have used 6 supported currencies (NZD, USD, EUR, GBP, HKD, JPY)and 3 unsupported currencies (CHF, TRY, MOP) in 10 different countries. My bank (ASB) will charge me a $7.50 fee for a cash advance even if my credit card is in credit, which is why I switched to the OneSmart. Funnily enough, I have never tried the Pay Pass functionality that you like. What appears as the description for the Conversion Fee? Maybe you should contact customer support and query the charge, if you think it is incorrect.

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    2. I noticed in Europe many machines there try to charge a conversion fee even when drawing Euros on a pre loaded card !! and a very unfair rate too.. They are all called Euronet ATMs stay clear of them ! Other machines were charging $2 euro per transaction.. These ATMs should not be legal

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  2. Hi,

    Very useful info in the two posts about the One Smart Card thanks - best info I've yet found on the web.

    One question regarding the Japanese ATM withdrawals - did the 7-11 charge (or add) a ATM withdrawal fee?

    Thanks Graham

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    1. Hi Graham, thanks for the compliments! I have yet to come across any ATM which charged an ATM withdrawal fee, but I will update this post if I do find one in the future!

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  3. Hi floydieman, thanks for doing these comparisons. The rates do change, so it's definitely worth checking them out yourself. I notice the numbers on the BNZ website have not been updated since before 5pm though (I only saw your comment about 10 minutes ago, at 8:20pm), while the OneSmart rates are presumably updated more frequently. I would have hoped that a few hours wouldn't make much difference, but I wonder if you would get the same result if you checked again during bank opening hours. Wouldn't be surprised if you were right and the rates have diverged somewhat though.

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  4. hi nom nom, great posts. I have been using onesmart since it came out but have recently discovered that their exchange rates are really bad - at least 1.7% and easily over 2% worse than loaded for travel's rates for instance. obviously with loaded for travel you get stung putting money on and withdrawing so whether you are betting off or not depends on what you do with the money and how much you're intending to put on. In general if you're doing over about $1500/$2000 in a single load you'll be better of with loaded, if doing smaller amounts you'll be better off with onesmart. It looks like the 1% bonus airpoints dollars are just coming off the 2% worse exchange rate. Overall i do like onesmart but i think it is quite deceptive on their part to say they don't charge forex commissions just the "onesmart conversion rate" which just happens to have a set margin added to the decent rate of exchange at any time, so is pretty much a commission. I haven't finished looking into the other travel card options so would like to find out more about those. If only we could get loaded's exchange rate with onesmart's everything else...

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    1. You guys are right - the OneSmart exchange rate is really rather poor these days! Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I stopped checking after the first few trips overseas, which is exactly what they were hoping we would do, no doubt! I'll have to investigate a bit more...

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    2. yeah i have had a brief look at anz/westpac and travelex but pretty quickly ruled them out as worse than onesmart and loadedfortravel, so at the moment it is between those two for me. At a glance loaded's rate looks a lot more attractive that onesmart's but loading and withdrawal fees remain an issue, particularly if you load $1000 or less at a time, thus paying the full 1% load fee. Also the card expires after 3 years at which time you are forced to pay another $12 for a new card or withdraw any remaining money for a fee. I have also looked at XE and their rates are even better than loaded's but you need a foreign currency account in another country and you run into $25nzd wire fees which quickly negates any savings you make on forex. I guess everyone has to make their money somehow but I am still holding out hope for a solution that will somehow get a great exchange rate and low fees for withdrawals etc :) if you find any other alternatives out there let me know.

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    3. Hi telica, I've made a comparison of exchange rates in my latest post, as well as looking at the fees and limits for the three travel cards I know about. As you say, there isn't a perfect option out there. You just have to decide which aspects are more important for you.

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    4. Oh wait, there are some new OneSmart terms and fees to take effect from 21 May (e.g. only 3 free international ATM withdrawals per month), which will make the card less attractive. Will need to take another look again!

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  5. The latest from Japan is that Mastercards with an EMV chip on them will not work on ATM machines in Japan (see http://www.mastercard.com/jp/personal/jp/cardholderservices/atmlocations/notification.html). This would seem to cover the OneSmart. I guess it can still be used like a credit card, so I'm still hoping to use the money I've changed into yen for paying hotel bills etc.

    On the exchange rate, I've been happy with the rate for changing into yen. I got some yen cash recently, and compared rates at every trading bank and Travelex. The fee added on top of their exchange rate really alters the deal. Maybe if I was changing larger sums of money, it could be worth it.

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    1. Thanks for the update, Denise. How unfortunate that "as of April 19th 2013, all Maestro cards with EMV chip technology will be temporarily disabled at MasterCard/Cirrus ATM acceptance network in Japan" when you've just changed money! Hopefully it won't last long.

      It would be nice to have a graph comparing money exchange across the various institutions, but even if you had instant access to all their rates, I don't know how you could take the various fees (& lag times where you have to wait for money to come through) into account as well. Sounds like you are on top of things though - hope you have a great trip!

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    2. I've just heard from Air New Zealand that the OneSmart card will not be affected. The Mastercard website now refers to cards issued outside the Asia/Pacific region, and I guess that makes the difference.

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    3. Good to know - thanks for reporting back, Denise!

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    4. I just tried to use my card at a Japan post office ATM that accepts MasterCard however it rejected it. I am waiting to hear back from the card issuer now. I suspect this will be the last and only trip I use (or rather not use) this card.

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    5. Hi batchjr, sorry to hear you are having trouble. What message did the machine display? Were you able to use the 7-11ATMs? Japan seems to have a funny banking system and I suspect that if you are not able to use your OneSmart at a particular machine, you would not be able to use your normal credit card there either. Some just don't accept cards issued outside Japan.

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  6. I've returned from Japan, and successfully used the OneSmart card at post offices in Kyoto and Tokyo. There was a heart-stopping moment at the first ATM in Kyoto where the card got rejected, but I thought I'd try another machine before getting too worried, and it worked fine from then on.

    I also used it like a credit card in shops, and found that everywhere I was asked to sign, rather than use a PIN.

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  7. Great post thanks!!! I'm still making up my mind on whether or not I should be using My one smart + cash over in Hong Kong, or simply take cash and use my credit card for the rest. The fee structure seems to be the thing that is what I'm trying to get to grips with. Either way. Great post.

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    1. Thanks, Joshua. As readers pointed out earlier this year, the OneSmart exchange rates aren't so good anymore. I tabled the differences in a post in April, and the rates have diverged even more since then! The OneSmart rate for HKD is 6.1910 right now, while it is 6.4334 at TSB. Say you want to change $1000 NZD into HKD. With OneSmart, 1000 NZD would get you 6190.10 HKD. If you go to TSB on Queen St, you would change 990.10 NZD (minus the 1% commission) into 990.10*6.4334 = 6369.71 HKD. You would get more money (a difference of just under 180 HKD) by going to TSB! I found the same with paying by credit card when I visited Hong Kong in May - my Visa had better exchange rates than my OneSmart. I could be tempted to use OneSmart for a different kind of trip, but for a short break in Hong Kong, where many places accept credit cards, I would choose to exchange some cash and pay by credit card where I can.

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  8. I plan to sit down and look at the numbers this week, but do you have any thoughts on keeping the Onesmart card post-travel? We're pretty unlikely to be doing any travel abroad having spent all our savings on the big OE so am thinking I'll probably close down my Onesmart/airpoints account.

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    1. There is no need to close your account post-travel. The monthly account fee does not get charged if you have no money in any of your currency wallets. I was worried I might go into negative when I had only 45 cents left, but all that happened was that I was charged a fee of 45 cents. I had no further fees once my balanced reached zero. If you load too much money onto your card all at once, you might have a hard time trying to use it all up before the monthly fee gets charged though.

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    2. I just realised I forgot all about the annual Airpoints fee! I was considering the benefit of keeping it to build up Airpoints, or getting an Airpoints credit card... but that basically makes it totally not worth bothering with. We rarely fly and we don't put THAT much on our credit cards, so I doubt we would earn enough to make it worth it.

      (I have $0 left on my card as I craftily used the remaining amount, something like $40.08, to donate to the typhoon appeal)

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  9. Thanks heaps, really helpful.
    I've been keeping a close eye on OneSmart exchange rate (to Aussie dollars) for a couple of weeks, and is really poor.
    Another funny thing is I just used the OneSmart android app to exchange NZD into AUD, but the amount I got was lower than what was shown on screen when I made the exchange--1.19% lower, to be precise. Not sure if I was charged for a commission. Then I tried again on the website, and it went well and I got the correct amount.
    Maybe it's just an isolated case, or AirNZ/BNZ really charge extra currency exchange fees for mobile app users (iOS and Android). It's certainly another major drawback if they do.

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    1. I've never tried doing an exchange on the app, but it sounds wrong if they are showing you one number and giving you another. You should contact the service centre and find out what is going on.

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  10. Thanks for all the advice and info! Very helpful and well written! Just about the jet off to Cambodia with US $$ loaded on my OneSmart card - am glad to have it even if the rate isn't great, just as a back up card as I have a horrible tendency to lose cards in foreign countries (classic leaving them in the ATM normally!)!!!

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  11. Thanks for this very informative post and the comments assist as well. Having yet another card to check seems a bit excessive and if the exchange rates are not great that is a drawback. I will keep watching.

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  12. Heya,

    A few months ago, I personally joined the OneSmart team, if you've got any inquires feel free to ask them on the 0800 number as there's been some changes recently. I'd also love to get the names of any agents you've had correspondence with, especially since I personally like to make sure that everyone knows what they're talking about, if any misinformation is given the Team Leaders take it very seriously. If there's any issues with the site that you'd like me to pass on to Air NZ's webdevs just note them in your reply so we can ask the webdevs to get them sorted out.

    Alternatively, if you've got any general questions now, I'm more than happy to give you answers to the best of my ability. I can't give out anything account specific as I'd need to access an account, I'm not at work (where blogs are normally blocked) and obviously, sharing ANY account information would be a serious problem.

    Thanks for bringing these issues to us, I eagerly await your response!

    Kind regards,
    Greg

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  13. Do not use this card. It eats your money in fees. $10 to withdraw $100 at Aussie ATM. Other charges just appear. Only works at half ATMs in Aussie. A bad exoperience

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  14. Can I put money on my OneSmart card and pay off my credit card with OneSmart, thus getting airpoints on one and reward points on the other

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  15. Onesmart isgood in that - a family member just arrived back from a big trip in Brazil,Argentina- onthelast week there theywenttobank of rail,as advised by trip advisor- theatre there kept giving the messages that it could motto p,eye the transaction- after trying 3 cards and getting half what they wanted they went back totheirhotelandweretoldto try the Hong Kong bank- that worked- but less than an hourlatertheir name inNZ contacted the to telltale they hadbeenscammed they knowitwas and of Brazil as that is the on,y bank they used 3 cards - moralofstory if they used a one carrot would it of been connected to thierbankaccounts,thousands attempted to be stolen but luckily it hasahappy ending- I have decided Iwill use a grave card notconnectedto my normal accounts and carry some cash

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  16. it is really onesmart or onestupid??? I was sent a onesmart card sometime ago and only recently thought of using it so i got it activated and loaded $1000 on it and then realized I had a wrong airpoints number loaded on it (not sure where that number came from). I called airnew zealand and asked them to cancel that airpoints number which they did. I then asked Onesmart to issues me with a new one smart card with the new number and apparently they cannot because the correct airpoints number was linked to ANOTHER onesmart account which i never knew I had until today. The CS staff told me either to withdraw the total of $1000 and pay a $2 transaction fee or apply for a refund which would cost $10 but they said they would request for the fee to be waived. I then asked them to let me know if the fee was going to be waived or not and they said the refund section handles that and they did not know so I asked them to find out but they said they could not. So i asked them for the call centre managers name and they said they could not give it I asked for the contact details of the refund department and they would not give me that, i asked them for the name of their managing director and they would not give me that either. I have never seen an organization that is more difficult to deal with than this one

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  17. Only 32 comments! Anyone tried the process of transferring funds to the new card they have been sent and then activating the new card. Major fail. The system transfers the fund at the push of a button (after I have logged in) and then wants me to re supply personal data and verify my identity...which never completes (on any browser)..and after 1.5 hrs on the phone waiting for customer support I have given up. A complete fail. Am going to get a refund on funds owed and drop this card. Great marketing but actually you don't need it. Just use your regular credit card.

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    1. I got stuck to the same situation asking to re-supply the personal data without prior notice, the CS is useless and pushed away to go to AA to get the activation process completed, completely fail new process, once I got this shitty card activated I will for sure spend the funds and close that card out

      Delete
    2. Hi Shunternz - I has a similar issue and tracked it down to using Firefox as my browser. Swapped to Internet Explorer and managed to complete the verification process.

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  18. Tried ringing customer support. After a VERY long time, I got through to a call centre in Manila - the customer service representative was difficult to understand, and she could not answer my questions. This is poor customer support in my view.

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  19. I use my OneSmart card at Countdown in my home town, however it does not work in any other business in my home town. I tried to use it in Masterton at Countdown and that failed too. Any suggestions?

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  20. Since the onesmart card has changed to remove flybuys and gone to the new website the load time can now take up to 2 days initially from 1 and also the overseas conversion rate is now quite bad.....Not sure if I am going to stick with it anymore

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