A&L current account switching problems

LankyMoneySaver

Hi all,

I'm in the process of switching current accounts from nationwide to A&L to take advantage of the £100 switching offer they had a while ago (just applied in time).

Pretty much everything has been transferred across now but I've had a few problems and wanted to know if this is common with account switching (since I'm planning on doing again to take adavantage of another £100 switch offer once I get this one) or if I was just unlucky this time?


I had the following issues:

1) I have a 'regular payment' set up in nationwide online banking to be paid out to another person's nationwide account on the 1st of each month. This was not shown on the list of arrangements to be moved across so is still at nationwide, presumably because nationwide don't consider it a standing order even though in effect thats what it is.

Solution: Had to cancel the existing arrangement and set up a new standing order in A&L account.

2) Direct debit to pay my TV License was moved across to a&l and is showing under arrangmenets in online banking with no last payment date. Howevere this was not paid from either account for the month of November. Had a letter from TV Licensing saying my bank had cancelled the DD. Spoke to A&L transfer service (0844 561 9604) and say they always have this problem with TV Licensing. Claim they sent the details but TV Li never tried taking the payment.

Soloution: Spoke to TV Li, they say they never got the details so they took them from me to set up a new DD and will take double payment next month for the missed month. - One of them is telling me fibs!

3) A standing order was not paid from either account for November. A&L say they wrote to nationwide at the end of October telling them to cancel it after the next (Novembr) payment but it seems it was done before this.

Solution: A&L are going to make a one off payment for it tomorrow. It is set up in A&L so should work from next month.


All of this was pretty easy to do but I was under the impression that it was a pretty much automatic process so was a bit peeved to find out I had to phone up to get some stuff sorted and manually fix some myself. Is this comparable with other people's experiences?

DaPhenom

Yeah, in a similiar state at the moment, my o2 DD was missed completely even tho it was listed on IBanking with A&L, i phoned on the day and o2 said it had gone, got an email through days later to chase the payment, it had actually been rejected and had to make a manual payment. Also my gym DD and loan DD are still active on my old account, meaning i'm playing a juggling act at the moment!

masonic

Yes, it is fairly common for switching services to cause problems. The solution, if you have to use one, is to deal with anything important yourself first (there is usually time between opening the account and the switching service kicking in), then shortly after you confirm the details of the remaining payments to be switched, deal with those yourself as well. That way you get confirmation each company has your new details and whether or not they have received them in time for your next payment.

dmonkey82

Hi,

wonder if any one can help me on this subject of the £100 switching offer with Alliance and Leicester.

Basically, I heard of it through one of the emails from MoneySaving.com.
I am positive I switched my account within the specified closing date, but have not heard anything about it since(I guess they are not going to pipe up!).

Will I still be able to claim it from them and how should I go about it?

p.s. I switched from a Barclays basic cash card acc(with the required D/d's), would this affect the situation?

prettybird_2

I havent heard anything either...makes me wonder if theres a set period you have to hold the account with them before they put the £100 in?

Wouldnt have changed if it wasnt for the £100 incentive! Thought it might be a nice little contribution to Christmas.

Anyone know who we can ask about this? Help!

masonic

IIRC, they pay out after about 15 weeks.

Mullington

masonic wrote: »

IIRC, they pay out after about 15 weeks.

Seems they are trying to wriggle out of this £100 bonus in numerous cases :mad:


Has anyone else had the £100 yet from A&L? I'm just about to start writing several complaint letters about being told I don't now qualify for the £100-even though they did the lot for me and I fit all the criteria.

Cheers

Mully

johnchap_uk

I also setup an A&L premier current account using the switching service to take advantage of the £100 offer. I don't have a copy of the original terms and conditions of the offer because they are not shown on the A&L website anymore. I'll be sure to contact them when the 15 weeks are up if I don't receive the £100.

On the subject of switching direct debits I have also had problems. Most of them were transferred over ok although It took quite a while and the came over in dribs and drabs.
I did have problems with 2 of them that weren't tranferred properly. The old direct debits had been removed from my old LloydsTsb account but they had not been set up on my new A&L account. This was my council tax payment and my egg money card.
When i phoned the premier switching team (after they first ignored the question i sent through their secure messaging system) they told me that it would be faster for me to sort it out myself as the payments were due soon. I was also told that I would still qualify for the £100 even if I did switch those direct debits myself. I have got the council tax one sorted out even though I had to get A&L to add it the online system manually as it wasn't showing up. I'm still trying to get the egg money payment set up and egg seem to be messing me about on this one as well.

All I can say is the "Hassle-free" premier switching service is far from hassle-free!
I sent them a strongly worded email this morning and hopefully they will pull their finger out.

Stoneman_2

Out of the 9 DD & SO's that I switched, they only managed to mess up 1 (M&S Credit Card DD).

The first payment that I expected to come out of my A&L account didn't (it came out of my old account which is still open), so I phoned them to say that I couldn't see it on the list online and was told that sometimes they don't appear, but confirmed that it was set up.

I still couldn't see it on the list a few days before the next payment was due and was worried about losing my 3.9% LOB, so I phoned M&S and was informed that they still had my old account details and it was too late to change them as the payment was already being claimed from my old account!! They took my new details and confirmed that I wouldn't be charged a late fee or lose my 3.9% as they know that things go wrong with switching! Strangely enough, the DD showed on the A&L list a couple of days later, but then disappeared! I've set up a SO and will watch it like a hawk for the next few months to make sure it works.

Worth the hassle for the £100 and 0% Overdraft

Can't fault M&S, but as for A&L........

bristolleedsfan

Mullington wrote: »

Has anyone else had the £100 yet from A&L? Cheers

Mully

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1332979