The Monzo Premium card looks and feels cheap

Hi folks!

So I think this may be a matter of my own opinion, but I expected the monzo steel card to be all steel.

It’s arrived and it’s got quite a cheap looking white plastic sheet over the top of the steel, and I don’t plan on activating it because the design looks and feels cheaper than my normal card…

Any other premium members feel the same?

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It can’t be fully steel because contactless wouldn’t work.

The rest of the stuff I can’t comment on because I don’t have one but I hope that helps with part of what you’re asking :slight_smile:

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I guess its subjective, I’ve seen one irl and I thought it looked really neat. Not for me, but I did think it looked/felt ‘premium’.

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I think mine looks really nice I just wish it was hot coral!

There are a few threads and posts complaining about the new white metal card.

A couple for starters:

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People sure do enjoy complaining on this forum. :man_shrugging:

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They certainly do :man_facepalming:

And then we get those threads where originators believe that they are chatting to Monzo themselves :man_shrugging:

I mute so many threads now that very little worth reading appears any more.

I think giving negative feedback is always great - it’s all opinion and is something Monzo can take forward.

Being a fanboy of everything wouldn’t be constructive, and will lead them to not being able to innovate their service as to what their wider consumer base want. :slight_smile:

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I’ve subscribed to Premium. The metal card wasn’t the driver, but I think I was expecting something cool and smooth. This one isn’t - it has a coating over it so just feels a touch heavier than normal cards.

It’s nice and all, but I wouldn’t consider it an important factor in keeping the account. Shame it doesn’t have the wow factor for me, though.

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Revolut Metal is fully metal, with no plastic backing!

How does it compare to the Amex metal card, that’s the only one I’ve really tried.

Unfortunately it’s nothing like the Amex one, it’s just a heavier than normal card with a cheap looking white sheet of plastic on the outside.

Making the sheet black would have probably looked a lot nicer. I feel like in the pictures of the steel card, they have made it look like it is full steel, which is a little misleading…

Has Monzo used photos or illustrations? Could you post the pics you’re referring to please?

Being as steel isn’t brilliant white, I’m not sure how you expected something metal without any treatment whatsoever?

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The Amex one is metal. I don’t care about it being treated; it’s not treated, it’s covered in plastic.

This picture also just looks heavily edited, and when someone says a card is steel, you wouldn’t look at that and go “oh yeah I can see it’s actually a sheet of plastic on the outside”. You would go “oh it must be treated metal so that the MasterCard and monzo logo stick out, god, that’s beautiful”.

Here is another example:

I’ve had a monzo account since the first in 2016. I’m a massive fan. One thing I have always respected about Monzo is their transparency, so I’m just a little surprised at how this was marketed considering that.

It’s etched isn’t it?

I’m going to ask a really stupid question, but there’s not a protective film or anything over the card that you haven’t peeled off yet is it?

I thought it was metal on the front and plastic on the back so that it can still be used for contactless?

Are you sure there’s plastic over the front? as @Revels says, I was under the impression it’s a single piece of metal bonded to a single piece of plastic on the back.

I’ve felt one of these cards - a friend subbed to premium, and it felt metal to me. As @Peter_G says - I didn’t particularly get the wow factor with it either though. But it definitely felt like metal.

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How about a photo of the actual card to compare it with the publicity photo?

Tbh, metal cards are just a trinket to attract people who are attracted to such things.

With ApplePay etc, I’d have thought it would be less likely to need to get a card out of a wallet? …unless one is the sort of person who likes showing off at the pub. Oh, the pubs are closed so you can’t so that.

Each to their own, I suppose. If you want to pay for a metal card and it’s not up to a decent quality that that’s not good.

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Nah it’s not etched unfortunately.

And no I completely agree with points about Apple Pay, and I did get it mainly for the custom categories if I’m honest, but I just think it’s a little disappointing and misleading.

I’m not going out anyway to flash it, I don’t have client dinners or whatever other reasons people would want to do that. It’s more the impression from its marketing, how beautiful it looked as an etched metal card, then it turns up, and it’s not what it says on the tin.

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I can’t see etching in either of those photos. Might just be my eyes/monitor though.