A & L Poor Attitude

NH2004

I have been an Alliance & leicester account holder for over 20 years now. I rang them today to inquire about switching my exisiting current account to the newer Premier Direct account, as the interest rate on my existing account has dropped to a pathetic level over the last few months.

With the Premier Direct account they offer 5% AER. I was told this was only for new and not exisiting customers.

I asked that as a loyal existing customer of over 20 years and with nearly £50k invested in them in various accounts could they not offer me a better rate. The answer was a firm no!

I reasoned that I could easily get a better rate elsewhere by opening a new account. They agreed and basically said I should do that if that's how I felt.

I find it staggering in the current climate that they are not interested in keeping existing customers.

I shall be looking to move all my money elsewhere as soon a possible.

I know all banks will probably have this attitude, but I still find it staggering in the current climate.

Kavanne

A call centre operative has no power. They cannot override locks put in place to only allow new custs to open these accounts. The big wigs decide that and they decided against you. Hard luck. Other banks are offering switching incentives so check out martin's current account articles

withnell

The majority of people will just say "OK" and stay with the existing account - I'm sure they don't make much profit on the current accounts and they're mainly to draw customers in anyway

Lansdowne

That's quite odd because a couple of months ago I managed to convert my long standing A&L account into the Premier, and it was done over the phone with no problem. And a few days later I received a welcome letter with the number of the linked savings account.

NH2004

My existing current account is the Premier Current account.
The one with the free European annual travel insurance, but paying only 0.5% Gross interest.

The one that pays the best interest is the Premier Direct current account. This pays 4.89% Gross for the first year.
It is this one they say is only available to new customers.

ray123

http://www.firstdirect.com/
100 pound for opening a new account. It is the same situation in most organisations, new customers are seemingly more important than existing one's.

Rustvaar

It's quite bizarre, I worked in an account opening facility for a large bank - it was a non-customer facing role. We'd occasionally get customers phoning up RE: Fixed Rate Bonds (how they got our number we had no idea) and how they felt they should be entitled to a little something extra given their years of banking with us. A quick e-mail or two back and forth and the product owner would dutifuly agree. (We are talking large sums, £250,000+; forty years of banking with us, etc.)

A few keystrokes later and they're getting an extra 2.00% on their interest for the next year.

I was then duped into working in their call centre - power removed. I can't e-mail product owners to confer about what this customer should really be getting, just have to offer a lame apology that we can't do more. Being totally honest, whenever I got a call from someone like you (seeking a proper deal for being an existing customer) I often knew about better rates in other banks and would often recommend customers switch. I know it sounds ridiculous but I would rather someone got the better deal than be lumped with my sh- ... uh-ahem ... shoddy ... bank.

My bank was all about retaining customers, but they failed miserably at it because their rates were low and we wouldn't budge for anyone, certainly not through a call-centre anyway.

pupsicola

I invested a large sum of money with A&L a couple of years back and they kept my loyalty for all of 1 month. They are a sham and the most unproffessional, rude people I have ever dealt with.

Customer service agents cant okay everything but they can empathise and listen and flag up your request with someone who can assist. Most bank staff are just jobsworths who couldn't care less and put no proactive practice into their job.

Sarah