bank customer service

[consumer done over]

Hi all,

I'd like to know your experience of customer service at your bank.

I have a savings account with Abbey B and this has been the most atrocious experience ever!!

I am considering moving to Skipton BS.

any suggestions in terms of customer service?

I'm not after a business account, just an account that does not get screwed up by the bank!!!

 

[JohnD]

RBoS runs like clockwork, for me. I use a big business office in the City but have my personal accounts there.

but no doubt everyone has dissatisfied customers.

"Which" said:

High-street banks
Most high-street banks aren’t up to scratch...

Satisfied customers
Internet and telephone banks got high customer satisfaction ratings in our survey, leaving many high-street banks trailing in their wake.

Alliance & Leicester, Cahoot, First Direct, Intelligent Finance, Nationwide and Smile, all Best Buys in 2006, are top dogs again this year, along with new entrant Halifax.

Our survey shows that customers of Smile are the most satisfied overall. Smile also received a Which? award for being the UK’s best current account provider in 2007.

BTW A&L has a good ISA and Savings accounts this year.

 

[Shytalkz]

I have to agree with JohnD, as a fellow happy-with-RBoS customer of many years' standing, stemming from the days of Williams and Glynns.

But I'm equally aware that, if it ever came to the crunch, they would have the shirt off my back and still come back for more.

One thing that is inevitable is the passing of "free" banking facilities for personal accounts, thanks to the muppets who've complained about getting stung by the banks when they go overdrawn (and having copped charges for doing the self-same thing on more than one occasion, I'm not making that statement from a holier-than-thou-always-in-the-black viewpoint). No doubt that passing will influence people's opinions of their bank in a negative manner.

 

[JohnD]

One thing that is inevitable is the passing of "free" banking facilities for personal accounts...

I don't think it is inevitable.

banks charge as much as they can get away with.

they don't offer "free" banking out of an altruistic desire to redistribute the proceeds they've snatched from other customers. They do it because they can get us to deposit huge amounts of money at 0.001% interest so they can lend it out to some other poor mug at 25% interest and make a fat profit.

they do it because in a competitive market, no-one wants to pay for a simple, low-cost, highly-automated service.

If they thought they could get us to pay for current accounts or savings account, they would do it (most actually offer "premium" accounts as a tax on stupidity, where they charge customers for add-ons of doubtful value).

The banks might pretend that they have some kind of right to make profits of £Xbillion per year from their retail customers, and that if they are deprived of the "right" in some way that are "entitled" to make it up by overcharging , but that isn't true.

They are quite capable of ****ing £billions up the wall with stupid expansionist schemes or by lending it to people who have neither the ability to the inclination to pay it back.

When they made vast profit increases, did we think it was because their "entitlement" had increased? No, we knew it was because they were operating to maximise their profits in a changing economy.

Barclays EPS
View media item 1059
HBoS EPS
View media item 1060
Lloyds EPS
View media item 1061
RBoS EPS
View media item 1062

 

[consumer done over]

i'm not really fussed about bank charges.
Customers know they are there so why take the chance and go overdrawn?


I'm not even bothered about that extra 0.5% interest i could get in some banks.
As said before i've had terrifying experiences with Abbey, namely:

1) had to threaten legal action for 200k as Abbey would not let me make a chaops transfer on my house buy 4 days before completion due to the lack of staff / system problems. Note that systems have had issues for months now.

2) Failed to act on my request of address change. When I found out, I was told that Saturday staff don't know how to process forms on the new system. I then asked for someone to retrieve the origin form submitted but after a 30 seconds search they stopped looking for it as they were "too busy".

3) I went in on a Thursday to request 1300 pounds in cash for the day after and was told that I had to give 48hrs notice. (I was previously told 24hrs was enough).
This money was for a spark who had finished our rewire so was waiting for his money.

Enough is enough.
No point having fancy tv ads with lewis hamilton if they cannot get the basics of customer service right.

 

[seco services]

don't mention the abbey.
i just spent 2 yrs claiming bank charges back which ended up with the solicitor sending it to the ombudsman to sort it.

now ombudsman is sorting another problem with a bank charge issue.

 

[JohnD]

I used to work for Sh Abbey.

i think they started going downhill the day I left.

 

[Alison556]

1) had to threaten legal action for 200k as Abbey would not let me make a chaops transfer on my house buy 4 days before completion due to the lack of staff / system problems. Note that systems have had issues for months now.

3) I went in on a Thursday to request 1300 pounds in cash for the day after and was told that I had to give 48hrs notice. (I was previously told 24hrs was enough).
This money was for a spark who had finished our rewire so was waiting for his money.

Don't go to the Nationwide then!!! I went in on Friday to organise a transfer of funds for my deposit on our house. Now I didn't know how to do it, so asked the best way. CHAPS transfer. OK can I organise that please? Did I have ID with me? Photocard driving licence. Did I have the paper part? No, I don't carry that about with me. They needed the paper part. But I've got six accounts with you. Surely that plus my driving licence is enough. No it's not. So, I need to go home and get the other bit of my driving licence. That's gonna be a hassle. The teller says she could write me a cheque. What? Without me needing ID? Yep (work that one out). But a cheque needs days to clear. When did I need the funds transferred for? Monday. No chance. Monday's a bank holiday plus I need to do the CHAPS thiing before 1pm (it was 1.10pm).

So had to go back Saturday morning to organise it. Funds got transferred today (a day later than should have been) and I got charged £20 for the priviledge!

Then I asked to withdraw £900 and got told I needed to give them 48 hours.

It'd have been easier to go in with a mask and a shotgun and rob the flippin place than it was to try and withdraw MY MONEY out of MY ACCOUNT.

 

[heatingman]

Been with Abbey/Satander for 30 years, always been brilliant, never had cause to complain, well handy when went spanish as have prop abroad.

 

[Bilioustrumpstaine]

Banks are a law unto themselves and generally are after as much dosh from you as possible. I don't think that they vary much from one to the other in this respect.

Day to day customer service as given by the guys behind the counter is generally quite good I have found. I have accounts with Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC and have good service out of all of them.

They are all stuck with the system that their bank operates though.

Why does it take so long to clear a chq in this comptuerised day and age, I banked a chq on sat just gone and it won't clear until next Monday (10days) "5 working days sir" yeah right

Re bank charges, why do banks think that they are helping peeps who are having financial difficulties by charging them loads of money that they don't have in the first place

 

[AndersonC]

To be honest I am sick and tired of general incompetence in all manner of areas of the "service industry" as it calls itself. In the last 2 weeks:-

1. Insurance company wrote me a letter with a monthly payment plan on it, even though I had paid the premium in full. A telephone call later, I was told it was clear. I asked for confirmation in writing and nearly 2 weeks later have received nothing. £300 insurance payment taken within a day of paying it.

2. Home office furniture - "due to be delivered week ending 9th May", my missus was told when she rang them 10 days ago to enquire of it's whereabouts. They said they will ring to update, and arrange a delivery date, then make a final confirmation call 24 hours before delivery. This week ends tomorrow and we've heard nothing and we're making all the calls to them. £550ish cost taken from card account within a day of ordering.

3. Local council - not emptied bins, no communication, when I phoned and asked the operator took me through three different reasons for the problem none of which had any kind of corrective action identified, then says "if the bin is overfilled it is a prosecutable offence" even though it is their fault for not emptying them! Last written comm from them was a £1100 council tax bill which is getting paid on time every month.

What the hell is wrong with companies providing the service level they merrily advertise and we not-so-merrily pay for? Incompetent staff, useless operating procedures, why?

 

[Bilioustrumpstaine]

I see a man who needs a hug

 

[AndersonC]

I certainly need a pint!!

 

[Shutpa]

When I decided to leave Mrs B No1, I took our bank passbook to our local branch intending to withdraw exactly half. I was told that this would amount to just under £3. "But we've saved £500 a month for years I explained". "Yes" replied the teller, "but that £500 is transferred to another account at the end of each month". The ex new that sooner or later I would leave and feathered her nest very nicely. That was 18 years ago and I still smile when I think about it.

 

[JohnD]

High street banks have put up fees for millions of current account customers after their High Court defeat over penalty fees for overdraft charges. Monthly fees for packaged accounts at Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest will rise by up to 20% this month. The banks said the rises were unconnected with Judge Andrew Smith's ruling on 24 April that unauthorised borrowing charges were subject to legislation on unfair contracts, writes the Independent.

unconnected hahahahahaha!