hard sell from the banks

Inactive

opinions4u wrote: »

The key for you is to opt out if you don't like it.

Surely the customer should be given the right to opt in, not need toopt out of a service, those are the tactics of some budget airlines that have recently been admonished for doing just that.

dwsjarcmcd

BarclaysManager wrote: »

That's not an answer. You implied I was wrong about the role of UK banks in sub prime lending. So, quantify.

eh.....Bradford & Bingley and Northern Rock

dwsjarcmcd

I have mixed views on this;

On the plus side

1. It's not just the banks, it's also the Building Societies
2. If they stop/reduce selling and therefore earning income, branches will close down with all the usual moans about that.
3. They do sometimes offer decent deals on the savings side, which are better than those the customer holds.

On the down side

1. Traffic in branches is reducing, and it is the same customers (mainly) who come in week after week, so they feel bombarded
2. I feel some products are really, really poor value, particularly life assurance and b & c - in most cases.
3. Because branch customers tend to be older, more financially niave and loyal to the organisation, they have a tendency (in my view) to be taken advantage of.

opinions4u

Inactive wrote: »

Surely the customer should be given the right to opt in, not need toopt out of a service, those are the tactics of some budget airlines that have recently been admonished for doing just that.

Are you also suggesting that staff in department stores shouldn't draw their customer's attention to product, or the chap in Currys shouldn't mention buying a TV stand that the new telly would look nice on?

What would you do if a cashier accidentally mentioned a higher paying account to a customer without checking for the opt in? Sack them? Should their contract of employment state "do not speak to a customer until spoken to"?

I repeat again, one of the most common complaints of bank customers is that products are targeted at new customers only. It's ironic if those same customers are here complaining that their banks do try to tell them about new products that are available.

Inactive

opinions4u wrote: »

Are you also suggesting that staff in department stores shouldn't draw their customer's attention to product, or the chap in Currys shouldn't mention buying a TV stand that the new telly would look nice on?

What would you do if a cashier accidentally mentioned a higher paying account to a customer without checking for the opt in? Sack them? Should their contract of employment state "do not speak to a customer until spoken to"?

I repeat again, one of the most common complaints of bank customers is that products are targeted at new customers only. It's ironic if those same customers are here complaining that their banks do try to tell them about new products that are available.

(1) Yes, I am suggesting the same applies to Curry's, they are as bad, if not worse, than the banks with their sales ploys, a very good reason not to shop there.


(2) A Cashier's job should be just that in my view, just carry out the service, and move on.

(3) I don't need to be " told " about ( read flogged ) new products from the bank, I can find out for myself, thanks very much, not that my bank has ever had anything on offer that cannot be bettered elsewhere.

You simply cannot accept that customers get so !!!!ed off with this continual barrage of sell...sell.. sell.

scooby359

Inactive wrote: »

(1) Yes, I am suggesting the same applies to Curry's, they are as bad, if not worse, than the banks with their sales ploys, a very good reason not to shop there.


(2) A Cashier's job should be just that in my view, just carry out the service, and move on.

(3) I don't need to be " told " about ( read flogged ) new products from the bank, I can find out for myself, thanks very much, not that my bank has ever had anything on offer that cannot be bettered elsewhere.

You simply cannot accept that customers get so !!!!ed off with this continual barrage of sell...sell.. sell.

I work in a branch and saw a customer today who'd been invited for a review.. His current account was paying no interest. I switched it to one where he got more. Simple. He hadn't bothered looking into it. Had a "cashier" not asked him, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to change it for him.

Another case I overheard yesterday was a "cashier" telling a customer her savings were on a low rate and she should see an advisor and see if there's anything better. She got quite upset that no one had told her the rates had dropped.. The fact that he was telling her didn't click in her head, but regardless, it shows that not all customer research their account.

You may not like being asked in shops / banks / whatever, but unfortunately business is business and companies are going to try and sell things. And from a banks point of view, a sale is a sale, and if it makes a customer better off, then it's good for both sides.

Also bare in mind that even though you might have the sense to look up different products and make the effort to find what's best, there are many people who don't make that effort, maybe because the can't be bothered, maybe they don't understand banking as well as you. The "cashier" doesn't know what sort of person you're like, so they're going to ask.

A polite, "no thanks" is sufficient.

Kavanne

Inactive wrote: »

(2) A Cashier's job should be just that in my view, just carry out the service, and move on.

(3) I don't need to be " told " about ( read flogged ) new products from the bank, I can find out for myself, thanks very much, not that my bank has ever had anything on offer that cannot be bettered elsewhere.

What if, month in month out, a customer comes in and pays their £1000 cash wage into a basic account? Should a cashier not mention that there is a different account for people who pay in £1000+ per month which would give them more interest/other benefits for free?

Not everyone has time to make themselves aware of new bank products, that is what the bank staff are for.

Inactive

I am sure that you can find a couple of good examples, what about the majority I suspect like this;

A prime example of " bank selling " stuff that is not in the best interest of the customer;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7775496.stm

ShelfStacker_3

Inactive wrote: »

...what about the majority I suspect like this;

A prime example of " bank selling " stuff that is not in the best interest of the customer;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7775496.stm

You suspect, i.e. you've just made it up.

That and Egg's PPI misselling relates to them systematically outright lying about the product and/or applying it to an account without the customer's knowledge, which happens (if at all) rarely with the big high street banks. For example, if someone wishes to upgrade to the HSBC Plus account in-branch, we need their signature on a disclosure form in order to do so, precisely to stop instances like that. Egg didn't.

Really, you can't just take one sh*tty doing by a bank (not even a bank in the sense of a high-street bank with branches and such) like this, or Household Finance's nasty predatory lending tactics (which, after reading the site ahai linked in another thread, apparently stopped after HSBC took them over) and then apply it to all banks. Generalisations simply don't work over such a diverse and expansive industry. I'm sure it's very very tempting just to see anything as the fault of evil "banks" in general, but it simply isn't the case.

Inactive

ShelfStacker wrote: »

Really, you can't just take one sh*tty doing by a bank (not even a bank in the sense of a high-street bank with branches and such) like this, or Household Finance's nasty predatory lending tactics (which, after reading the site ahai linked in another thread, apparently stopped after HSBC took them over) and then apply it to all banks. Generalisations simply don't work over such a diverse and expansive industry. I'm sure it's very very tempting just to see anything as the fault of evil "banks" in general, but it simply isn't the case.

Well A & L were also fined for the same offence, so not just Egg, nor just Online Banks.:rolleyes: