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The woes of opening a high st. bank account
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FiscalFox
Posts: 49 Forumite
Okay this is a rant.
I needed to open up a separate, bog-standard, no thrills bank accounts for the purpose of tying it up to some accounts i have on the internet.
I walked into my local HSBC and explained what i was after...and never again.
The bank manager there was nice...but a robot. I told her exactly, to-the-tee what account i wanted (their zero-thrills bank account with a cheque book).
Instead she decided to ask me some questions to see what account i would be 'better suited for'. I listened to her sales pitch and continually cut her off; reiterating my desire for their bog-standard affair.
Fifteen minutes later she got flustered and decided to get her manager involved to 'double check' that i didn't want an account i had to pay £12 a month for.
I held my ground. "I just want a boring no, thrills account". The bank began to close and she gave in. She then spent another 15 minutes of her own time (the bank had now closed) filling out my details and opening my account. She was late her for afterwork her classes.
She told me i would be contacted in 2 months to recheck if i wanted to switch accounts.<sigh>
Clearly she was sniffing for some commission on upselling me some useless account. If she knew anything about sales surely she would know that customer service would bring me back through the door, not her eagerness to pinch my money.
I am never opening another high street acount again; they are operated by idiots!
I needed to open up a separate, bog-standard, no thrills bank accounts for the purpose of tying it up to some accounts i have on the internet.
I walked into my local HSBC and explained what i was after...and never again.
The bank manager there was nice...but a robot. I told her exactly, to-the-tee what account i wanted (their zero-thrills bank account with a cheque book).
Instead she decided to ask me some questions to see what account i would be 'better suited for'. I listened to her sales pitch and continually cut her off; reiterating my desire for their bog-standard affair.
Fifteen minutes later she got flustered and decided to get her manager involved to 'double check' that i didn't want an account i had to pay £12 a month for.
I held my ground. "I just want a boring no, thrills account". The bank began to close and she gave in. She then spent another 15 minutes of her own time (the bank had now closed) filling out my details and opening my account. She was late her for afterwork her classes.
She told me i would be contacted in 2 months to recheck if i wanted to switch accounts.<sigh>
Clearly she was sniffing for some commission on upselling me some useless account. If she knew anything about sales surely she would know that customer service would bring me back through the door, not her eagerness to pinch my money.
I am never opening another high street acount again; they are operated by idiots!
Need a cartoon? ...PM me!
0
Comments
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You should have gone with Nationwide. I opened an ordinary flex account – and another for bill payment – at a branch and had no problem with them trying to sell me something.
I moved to Nationwide from Lloyds after I got fed up with Lloyd constantly pestering me with unsolicited phone calls trying to sell me something – despite the fact that I expressly told them many times to cease their activities.0 -
Nationwide can make opening an account difficult as well:/ (though not as difficult as Lloyds once tried to make it for me!)
One of the advantages of HSBC, is that they don't try and flog you products whenever you use their counters.. unlike most of the other banks.
However, back to the originakl post.. if you know what product you want and from where, I always find opening it online easier and normally quicker!
Regards
Sunil0 -
Okay this is a rant.
I needed to open up a separate, bog-standard, no thrills bank accounts for the purpose of tying it up to some accounts i have on the internet.
I walked into my local HSBC and explained what i was after...and never again.
The bank manager there was nice...but a robot. I told her exactly, to-the-tee what account i wanted (their zero-thrills bank account with a cheque book).
Instead she decided to ask me some questions to see what account i would be 'better suited for'. I listened to her sales pitch and continually cut her off; reiterating my desire for their bog-standard affair.
Fifteen minutes later she got flustered and decided to get her manager involved to 'double check' that i didn't want an account i had to pay £12 a month for.
I held my ground. "I just want a boring no, thrills account". The bank began to close and she gave in. She then spent another 15 minutes of her own time (the bank had now closed) filling out my details and opening my account. She was late her for afterwork her classes.
She told me i would be contacted in 2 months to recheck if i wanted to switch accounts.<sigh>
Clearly she was sniffing for some commission on upselling me some useless account. If she knew anything about sales surely she would know that customer service would bring me back through the door, not her eagerness to pinch my money.
I am never opening another high street acount again; they are operated by idiots!
I don't think you'll find any bank/BS where upselling isn't tried on. It's part n parcel of todays banking life. Banks invest millions in training their staff to sell their products. That expense has to be recouped and targets have to be met and therefore c/s agents have to do it. Obviously, there will be comissions/incentives involved as well. A BIG generalisation here, but the days of banks offering the customer what's really best for them or what they want are long gone. Sad, but true !
Yes it's annoying and I've had it before, but you just have to be very firm and adament in telling them (as you were).0 -
It's branch-specific, I opened a Barclays account with no problem but then my friend opened one in another town and had all kinds of sales techniques thrown at her. All branches and companies are going to try to sell you something but as with any sales people some are more persistant, read annoying, than others.___________________There is no such thing as a stupid question, knowledge is power.0
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