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Abbey - the most useless bank in the whole world
Snooze
Posts: 2,041 Forumite
in Credit cards
:mad:
I've only get myself to blame, you will say. Some of you may recall my ranting about Abbey on here about 6 months ago when some good friends of mine had an absolute nightmare with them, ATM issues, account issues etc, and I told everyone to avoid them.
Fast forward a few months and having some credit card balances to move to a new 0% deal, Abbey was at the forefront of those currently offering it and had the longest 0% deal. I umm'd and arr'd for some time thinking it would be a bad idea because of their reputation but then thought about it some more and came to conclusion of "what could possibly go wrong with a direct debit set up for the minimum each month?" and decided to go for it.
The fact that the card took EIGHT WEEKS to arrive is a bit of a non-event in comparison to the chain of the events that followed.
Firstly, because of the time it had taken to set up the account and get the card out, I'd had to pay 2 months of silly interest rates on my cards that I was wanting to transfer the balances from. However, eventually it was done but that took another 3 weeks for the BTs to go through. A couple of weeks later I received a letter from one of the CC company's that I'd transferred from telling me that they don't allow in-credit funds on the account. !!!!!!? I looked at the account and it was in credit by the same amount that it was in debt before the BT took place.
I phoned Abbey up and asked !!!!!! was going on, only to be told that they'd made the BT twice instead of once and that had now taken me over my credit limit :rolleyes: and a fee would be payable plus instantly losing my 0% privileges :rolleyes: . 20 minutes arguing later pointing out their !!!! up got me through to a "team leader" :rolleyes: who sounded about 2 years old, but in fairness he did get it sorted out and my 0% back on again.
Fast forward to this month and my first bill arrives with a £150 minumum to pay by 23 Dec. No problem, thinks I, I'll just set up a direct debit for the minimum and all will be hunkydory. Not so, the direct debit takes 28 days to set up (which I kinda knew so not blaming them there) so this month I'll make a debit card payment for the minimum and the DD will start next month. So the guy transfers me through to the payments bit and then I get cut off. So I phone up again, key in my card number :rolleyes: and DOB again :rolleyes: and press the correct number and then the call ends :mad: . Third time lucky I get through to someone who then tells me I've come through to the wrong department and transfers me back to direct debit setup :rolleyes: who then transfers me back to card payments where I have to type in my card number :rolleyes: and DOB :rolleyes: a 4th time.
The woman asks for my account number and I tell her I don't have an Abbey account so she asks for my debit card number. Hurray! At last, we're getting somewhere!
Then I gave her the card number and she says the system can't recognise it. !!!!!!? :mad: And promptly ends the call before I got chance to say anything other than "oh". :mad:
By this time I've had enough of this !!!! so decided to look at the back of the bill for alternative (read: simpler) payment methods and that was when I discovered that Abbey do not allow debit card payments (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) unless you have an Abbey currect account with them! WTTTTTTF ????
What kind of 2-bit institution are we dealing with here? Have we suddenly gone back in time 30 years or something?
The only options available to pay are direct debit, transfer from Abbey current account, cheque, or pay in person at a bank using the bank giro slip but fees apply if it's a non-Abbey bank.
How pathetic is this? I've probably had the vast majority of common UK credit cards in my time and this is the only bank that haven't accepted debit card payments. !!!!!! is wrong with them?
Without a doubt the most useless bank in the whole world and I repeat again - avoid them at all costs (and yes I should follow some of my own advice :rolleyes: ).
Now I have to find some time to go into the town centre and find a brand of Abbey to pay at. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Rob
I've only get myself to blame, you will say. Some of you may recall my ranting about Abbey on here about 6 months ago when some good friends of mine had an absolute nightmare with them, ATM issues, account issues etc, and I told everyone to avoid them.
Fast forward a few months and having some credit card balances to move to a new 0% deal, Abbey was at the forefront of those currently offering it and had the longest 0% deal. I umm'd and arr'd for some time thinking it would be a bad idea because of their reputation but then thought about it some more and came to conclusion of "what could possibly go wrong with a direct debit set up for the minimum each month?" and decided to go for it.
The fact that the card took EIGHT WEEKS to arrive is a bit of a non-event in comparison to the chain of the events that followed.
Firstly, because of the time it had taken to set up the account and get the card out, I'd had to pay 2 months of silly interest rates on my cards that I was wanting to transfer the balances from. However, eventually it was done but that took another 3 weeks for the BTs to go through. A couple of weeks later I received a letter from one of the CC company's that I'd transferred from telling me that they don't allow in-credit funds on the account. !!!!!!? I looked at the account and it was in credit by the same amount that it was in debt before the BT took place.
I phoned Abbey up and asked !!!!!! was going on, only to be told that they'd made the BT twice instead of once and that had now taken me over my credit limit :rolleyes: and a fee would be payable plus instantly losing my 0% privileges :rolleyes: . 20 minutes arguing later pointing out their !!!! up got me through to a "team leader" :rolleyes: who sounded about 2 years old, but in fairness he did get it sorted out and my 0% back on again.
Fast forward to this month and my first bill arrives with a £150 minumum to pay by 23 Dec. No problem, thinks I, I'll just set up a direct debit for the minimum and all will be hunkydory. Not so, the direct debit takes 28 days to set up (which I kinda knew so not blaming them there) so this month I'll make a debit card payment for the minimum and the DD will start next month. So the guy transfers me through to the payments bit and then I get cut off. So I phone up again, key in my card number :rolleyes: and DOB again :rolleyes: and press the correct number and then the call ends :mad: . Third time lucky I get through to someone who then tells me I've come through to the wrong department and transfers me back to direct debit setup :rolleyes: who then transfers me back to card payments where I have to type in my card number :rolleyes: and DOB :rolleyes: a 4th time.
The woman asks for my account number and I tell her I don't have an Abbey account so she asks for my debit card number. Hurray! At last, we're getting somewhere!
Then I gave her the card number and she says the system can't recognise it. !!!!!!? :mad: And promptly ends the call before I got chance to say anything other than "oh". :mad:By this time I've had enough of this !!!! so decided to look at the back of the bill for alternative (read: simpler) payment methods and that was when I discovered that Abbey do not allow debit card payments (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) unless you have an Abbey currect account with them! WTTTTTTF ????
What kind of 2-bit institution are we dealing with here? Have we suddenly gone back in time 30 years or something? The only options available to pay are direct debit, transfer from Abbey current account, cheque, or pay in person at a bank using the bank giro slip but fees apply if it's a non-Abbey bank.
How pathetic is this? I've probably had the vast majority of common UK credit cards in my time and this is the only bank that haven't accepted debit card payments. !!!!!! is wrong with them?
Without a doubt the most useless bank in the whole world and I repeat again - avoid them at all costs (and yes I should follow some of my own advice :rolleyes: ).
Now I have to find some time to go into the town centre and find a brand of Abbey to pay at. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Rob
0
Comments
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Thanks for sharing your horrific experience with Abbey, Rob. I've been hearing nothing but HORRORs about Abbey. Will steer clear from them. They're already a stigma to me anyway.
Hope you get your credit limit and fees sorted. The double BT thing is unacceptable and so is the call centre and loads of other rubbish.0 -
No you don't. The internet/telephone banking payment details are given in this thread...Now I have to find some time to go into the town centre and find a brand of Abbey to pay at.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1330769
If you're cautious you could ring them to check. If you're ultra cautious you could send a £1 test payment first.0 -
I'm sorry to hear about your awful experiences but I'm not surprised. We had a cheque stolen and cashed illegally and the Abbey could have stopped it in plently of time and refused to do so. It then went to the Crime team and they were a nightmare, and the Branches were awful and the call centre even worse. A truly awful and very stressful experience as it was our Wedding budget and were getting married 4 months later!
We moved our account as soon as we could as we just couldn't take anymore of the Abbey!0 -
YorkshireBoy wrote: »No you don't. The internet/telephone banking payment details are given in this thread...
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1330769
If you're cautious you could ring them to check. If you're ultra cautious you could send a £1 test payment first.
Aha! I saw that on the back of the statement and was wondering whether it would work or not. I came to conclusion that because they don't specifically say anything about bank transfers that it probably wouldn't work. I see now plenty of people have tried it and it works so will try it myself in a few mins, thanks.
They're still a !!!!!! bank though!! :beer:
Rob0 -
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YorkshireBoy wrote: »You were just unlucky. I applied in branch one Saturday morning, and my BT had been COMPLETED by the following Wednesday.
I even had my card, PIN, and online access by the following Saturday.
I wish I had brown nosing capabilities like you obviously do!
Rob0
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