At last, an apparent crumb of comfort for we beleaguered West Ham United fans.
We’re sitting in the relegation zone, having not won a league game since the opening match of the season on 15th August. The squad is looking decidedly thin; the transfer window is shut, and we haven’t got a brass farthing to rub together in any case. And now we’re about to get clobbered by the FA in the light of crowd trouble at the Millwall game.
But lo, an ad on the home page of the West Ham website invites visitors to sign up to the club’s credit card. In return, the club will give you a free home shirt. A not particularly nice free home shirt (maybe they haven’t been selling too well?). But a free home shirt nonetheless:
£60 for a free shirt anyone?
But, hang on, what’s this? Ah, the smallprint:
“All you have to do is transfer £2,000 to your credit card in the first 90 days of your account opening. (3% handling fee).”
So that would be 3% of £2,000. Or £60. So not free. And not even discounted. If you had taken leave of your style senses and were so inclined, you could buy a new home shirt from the club shop for £40.
And it’s not just the shirt which is unpleasant – at 15.9%, the typical variable APR isn’t particularly attractive either.
[...] The Price of Loyalty …) [...]