Alliance & Leicester Switching Solution!

simonkirkland · 24 March 2005 at 3:17PM

Lolyaya wrote:

Take note!

After clicking on the teeny tiny link at the bottom of the information page about the acocunt, I clocked that you'll only receive the £50 if you also apply, are accepted for AND use an A&L credit card. If you don't want the credit card, they'll deposit £25 into your account within 8 weeks...and that's it.

Yeap thats what I said here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=38719

£50 is only if you take the credit card...

Simon

daisymay_4 · 24 March 2005 at 3:42PM

I switched to an A&L Premier Plus last month and they lost my first direct debit switch form & then advised me that I had no direct debits set up with my old bank (I had several). I then received their original letter 3 days ago thanking me for opening my account (almost 2 months ago!) and advising that they were doing the necessary to switch my DD's! By that time I had received several letters from companies unable to claim their money and I changed them all myself. Aside from that the internet banking is very good but the staff who man the phones could be a little more cheerful but on the whole I'm glad I made the change!

dannyboy_3 · 24 March 2005 at 9:49PM

A & L premier plus current account is only if you are paying 1000£ each month in to it,if you are not getting paid this amount each month then you have to choose the premier current account,which has a lot less interest etc etc with this account.
But there is a simple away around this for people who are not getting £1000 per month paid in to there account.e.g if say you are only earing £800 per month,so you are short £200 to qualify for the premier plus account,then you could have a diff account with another bank etc,i.e savings account with for example £250 in it,well take out £200 from this account each month and deposit it into your premier plus account to meet the min £1000 mark on the day before you get paid into the premier account,and then simply with draw your money and put back your £200 to your savings account or mattress or what ever,and simply repeat the procedure each month.

Its worth the hassle for the extra interest with the premier plus account!

gemini_john · 24 March 2005 at 10:33PM

Just a point on the FREE TRAVEL INSURANCE from Alliance & Leicester. This applies ONLY to those under 65 years of age. If one decides to have a joint account the free insurance is given to each account holder. Have been a customer of A&L ever since they took over Girobank from the Post Office. Alas, being turned 65 I do not receive the free travel insurance. Gemini John :j

lazy_worker wrote:

When switching to A+L Premier Plus, would doing so as a joint account simply to take advantage of the included travel insurance for a partner be a reasonable enough reason to get financially linked again.
Their terms as i read them said i would become financially linked with my partner anyway even as an individual account ! Which Martin's book says is to be avoided
I really am confused on these T&C's
Can anyone throw some light on this for me
Thanks
Lazy Worker

glen1 · 24 March 2005 at 11:07PM

last August i opened acurrent account with a&l, it took me 5months to sort out direct debits,they had sent the companys i have direct debits with my bank account sort code, and someone elses account number,for a couple of months they had been taking money out of the other persons account.<P>
After countless telephone calls to no avail, i wrote a letter of complaint to head office i heard nothing from them, then i phoned them they said that they had not had my letter, eventually she put on a direct line to a man that gave me a direct phone number to him because mine was an isolated case supposedley, now it seems not to have been the case.<p>
I have obviously been waiting in vain for a letter of appolagy.

ED · 25 March 2005 at 11:50AM

dannyboy - unsalaried people apparently also manage to open & maintain the Premier Plus Current a/c in a manner similar to your description.

This can work in favour of A+L because the customer is then encouraged to use the account (rather than a competitor's) for writing cheques. Customers are keen to earn up to 5.37% gross interest on their funds before the cheque debits their a/c. When replenishing the A+L a/c (as dannyboy suggests, from an external savings a/c) this counts as part of the £1,000 per month minimum required deposit.

(5.37% earned if the PPC a/c opened pre end-Dec '04.)

moneyandmountains · 25 March 2005 at 2:28PM

A post to warn you that even if you think that your DD switch has gone ok, then this may not be the case.

Having recently switched from a Lloyds-TSB account to an A&L account it looked like everything had gone painlessly.

Then I started getting payment requests from Hutchinson 3G, who I have a DD with. Speaking to several of their telephone operatives (having been cut off) they denied that the DD change had taken place. In fact they categorically stated that the only way to change the DD is for the customer to directly contact them. They also denied that there was a customer complaints department that I could speak to.

Now, here the A&L have been quite helpful. They checked the details whilst I was on the phone, and have sent me written documentation of what has happened. Hutchinson 3G, being quite obviously numpties, and lieing numpties at that, changed the DD to my new A&L account, on instruction from the A&L account switching service. However, they neglected to confirm the receipt of the instruction with the A&L. Therefore, for security reasons A&L refused the DD payment.

I will be writing to Hutchinson 3G, in order to sort out this mess.
What I am concerned about though is them marking my credit record with late payments. Does anyone think I can prevent them doing this, or get them to correct their error?

jimjoeray · 25 March 2005 at 9:16PM

I have been an A&L Customer for about 6 years and find there customer service to be extremely poor. I would not reccomend anybody to transfer to them even for £50. I am currently looking at alternatives.

gavhen · 25 March 2005 at 9:59PM

moneyandmountains wrote:

A post to warn you that even if you think that your DD switch has gone ok, then this may not be the case.

Having recently switched from a Lloyds-TSB account to an A&L account it looked like everything had gone painlessly.

Then I started getting payment requests from Hutchinson 3G, who I have a DD with. Speaking to several of their telephone operatives (having been cut off) they denied that the DD change had taken place. In fact they categorically stated that the only way to change the DD is for the customer to directly contact them. They also denied that there was a customer complaints department that I could speak to.

Now, here the A&L have been quite helpful. They checked the details whilst I was on the phone, and have sent me written documentation of what has happened. Hutchinson 3G, being quite obviously numpties, and lieing numpties at that, changed the DD to my new A&L account, on instruction from the A&L account switching service. However, they neglected to confirm the receipt of the instruction with the A&L. Therefore, for security reasons A&L refused the DD payment.

I will be writing to Hutchinson 3G, in order to sort out this mess.
What I am concerned about though is them marking my credit record with late payments. Does anyone think I can prevent them doing this, or get them to correct their error?

interesting as ive just got off the phone to 3G, wish i had looked here first. this was the only DD not to go through under the switching service and i automatically blamed A&L. the lady in calcutta couldnt tell me which bank account they had tried as they automatically remove any refused bank details - i will see if it goes out on the next attempt.

theplumster · 25 March 2005 at 10:57PM

Have had terrible experiences switching my current acount from Barclays to Alliance and Leicester.

I made the initial application at the start of the year, and by the end of Februarythe A & L acount had ben opened and my Barclays account had ben closed. However, none f my direct debits had been switched and my employer had not been informed of the change of account.

I have had to make numerous calls to the A & L switching dept. and on one occasion they suggested that I had somehow notified my old bank to close the account so this wasn't they're fault. On another occassion, I was told there had been a lot of casual staff in the dept. and that one of them may have messed up.

I have managed to do most of the direct debit switching myself and things are just about OK, but I would make 2 recommendations following my experience.

1) Do not give A & L (or any other bank) the signed authority to close your old account. ( Do this comfortably after everything has gone through.

2) Think carefully about switching. If your present account offers good service you might be better off without all the potential hassle

Alliance & Leicester Switching Solution!

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