Loan Rate Rip-Off?

I recently tried to apply for a personal loan from Liverpool Victoria as they were offering 5.9%APR. I tried several times to put through an internet application for a loan but on every occasion, upon submission, I received an error message that told me to try again or to apply over the phone. After several, unsuccessful, attempts I called the phone number to find that the rate for phone applications was 7.2%.
I then tried the same thing with Lombard finance - with exactly the same result. I may be too cynical but it did occur to me that the internet applications are made to fail deliberately so that you are forced to apply over the phone and hence pay a higher rate.