More Nationwide frustration

will-in-estoril

I hold an account in trust for my godson, not a huge sum. It was initially opened with Lambeth, who were taken over by Portman, who then 'merged' (ha ha) with Nationwide.

It took Nationwide 18 months to migrate the account from Portman; the Smart Account now pays a pitiful 0.75% so I decided to transfer it to a 5yr fixed rate bond paying 4.15%.

Got over hurdle 1: the account can be held in trust; failed at the second. Nationwide wanted to see fresh ID for my godson: ironic, as they were quite happy to let me continue depositing money into the newly-migrated Smart account, but not to transfer the proceeds of this account to a bond which does not allow further deposits.

ID was shown at the time of opening. Nationwide is the (apostolic) successor to Lambeth.

I fully understand the money laundering regs; the fact remains that there is no new money being invested.

I closed the Smart account: no problems getting a counter cheque made payable to me. Today I have complained to the Area Manager (apparently I was attended to by the branch manager.) I doubt I will get anywhere.

If I am to be treated as a new customer I might as well go somewhere else, probably to the Cheshire (yes, I know, now part of Nationwide, but at least using my local helps to preserve jobs.)

Yet another poor experience I have had with Nationwide; a shadow of the organisation they were two years ago.

emc

I have also been on the receiving end of dreadful Nationwide branch level service, and on a couple of occasions the dreadful service has actually been from the branch manager at the time, and on one occasion from the customer service (!) manager.

There is little point in wasting your time complaining, as the branch manager is usually part of the area management team. Therefore your complaint is likely to be handled by the person you complained about, even if the reply to your complaint is in the name of the area director.

All you can do is to avoid saving with Nationwide.

I have a number of fixed rate accounts with Nationwide that were started years ago, and as each account matures, I am moving the funds to places with a much better level of customer service.

rb10

The trouble here is that the anti-money laundering regulations apply to new accounts being opened. So, some time ago, ID wasn't recorded on the computer system, but just shown when the account was opened. But now, the regulations say that for any new account to be opened, either ID must be shown, or the bank/BS must have a record of the ID previously seen.

So I doubt that complaining will get you anywhere, as Nationwide are just following orders.

emc wrote: »

All you can do is to avoid saving with Nationwide.

All banks and BSs have to follow the same regulations. It would be the same anywhere.

But the rate they are giving is pretty good so worth doing, Halifax for example is only marginally higher at 4.3%.

Andystriker

emc wrote: »

I have a number of fixed rate accounts with Nationwide that were started years ago, and as each account matures, I am moving the funds to places with a much better level of customer service.

Where are the places with a much better level of customer service?

will-in-estoril

rb10 wrote: »

The trouble here is that the anti-money laundering regulations apply to new accounts being opened.

Nationwide cannot have it both ways: when they migrated the old Portman account they opened a new Nationwide account (equivalent but different to the Portman version) with a new account number. No ID requested.

I think that the general point I was making is that there has been a decline in the level of customer service from the Society. Two years ago I could not rate Nationwide highly enough. However, problems trying to operate former Portman accounts, a betrayal of the 'no free bubbly for shareholders' principle (abolition of fee-free use abroad), a complete !!!! up when Nationwide ended its relationship with Comic Relief and messed my credit card payments up, the society's failure to make faster payments available to existing members and finally the latest disappointment have led me to lose confidence in an organisation which was 'proud to be different'.

Customer service at the Cheshire (now part of the Nationwide group) is still absolutely fantastic, and it is there I shall now open a fixed rate bond, 4% fixed for 3 years.

ray123

Nationwide are now a waste of space. A few years ago, they offered some of the most compeititive mortgage and savings rates, but now they have gone to the dogs. I have also seen a couple of very damaging articles and will be moving my money out like emc!

emc

Andystriker wrote: »

Where are the places with a much better level of customer service?

I am still using postal accounts with Cheshire, who offer reasonable service and interest rates. They will not be integrated with Nationwide for some time, thank goodness.

On a local branch level, I find Halifax offer good service and reasonable savings rates. They used to be very poor like other big places such as Abbey and the main banks, but the Halifax staff have become noticeably more helpful. Nationwide have gone totally the other way, as they used to be fine, but now offer the worst service of the local branches.

The staff at the smaller societies, such as Chelsea, Leeds, Skipton and Northern Rock, have always been very helpful, although Chelsea, Leeds and Skipton were downgraded recently, so don't save more than £50,000 in those societies. Northern Rock are safe, and their branch staff are great, but their savings rates are not so competitive now.

The staff at Bradford & Bingley give good service, but unfortunately they are being absorbed into Abbey and Alliance & Leicester, both of which provide abysmal customer service.

emc

rb10 wrote: »

emc wrote:

All you can do is to avoid saving with Nationwide.

All banks and BSs have to follow the same regulations. It would be the same anywhere.
But the rate they are giving is pretty good so worth doing, Halifax for example is only marginally higher at 4.3%.

I was referring to avoiding Nationwide because of their poor customer service in general.

One aspect of their poor service is where they have big posters in each window in a branch, advertising what appears to be a very good savings rate in enormous characters. However, in much smaller letters, are the words 'Up to', and in even smaller font, is the statement that the headline rate applies only to balances of £50,000 or over. People would be advised not to save more than £50,000 even in a place with good customer service!

I have seen that Nationwide are now at last offering what seems to be a genuine competitive rate of 4.15% on a minimum of £1. However this is for a 5 year fix, and with the state of this country's finances, it would be very risky to fix savings for more than 2 years in case interest rate start spirally upwards, and this assuming you are prepared to put up with the poor customer service from Nationwide.

Andystriker

will-in-estoril wrote: »

problems trying to operate former Portman accounts, a betrayal of the 'no free bubbly for shareholders' principle (abolition of fee-free use abroad), a complete !!!! up when Nationwide ended its relationship with Comic Relief and messed my credit card payments up, the society's failure to make faster payments available to existing members and finally the latest disappointment have led me to lose confidence in an organisation which was 'proud to be different'

Otherwise Ok?