A&L Direct ISA issue 2 closing 11/4/06

eels_2

I am really ticked off with A&L, having tried in vain to get their Direct Mini ISA for 2005/2006. See letter below.
Luckily I trotted down to the Woolwich on the 3rd of April as already guessed how useless A&L were and stuck £3k in their ISA, which I now presume I can transfer onto the A&L one (which only reached me in time for this tax year).

Mr Chris S RhodesManaging Director, Retail BankingAlliance & Leicester plc

Dear Mr Rhodes,

Ref: Direct ISA Number ***-******-**

I feel that you should be aware of the extremely disappointing service I received whilst trying to become a brand new customer of Alliance & Leicester plc, especially bearing in mind the company’s claims on the web site.

On the 15th of March this year I applied for a Direct ISA Issue 2 via your retail web site https://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk. This was mainly due to the excellent advice available on the unrelated site operated by Martin Lewis, https://www.moneysavingexpert.com, which alerted me to your favourable interest rate.

As promised on your site I awaited an email confirmation. I received nothing so I called Alliance & Leicester the same evening to ensure that my application was being processed. I was told there were system problems and I should get an email the next day. Here is a direct quote from your site “If you apply online, and we require confirmation of your identity, we will email you and then write to you with details of what to do.” I did not receive an email.

On the 17th of March I received a letter dated 15th March, requesting certified proof of identity documents. Said documents were stamped and certified by a bank employee and mailed to you in the noon post on 18th March.

Having heard nothing by email, telephone or letter by the 27th of March I called the Alliance & Leicester. The advisor I spoke to confirmed that you had my proof of identity documents. I was told that they were being processed and that I would be sent an email with details of how to transfer funds to the account as soon as ‘processing’ was complete.

I mentioned that I had not so far received any emails in connection with this application and said I was concerned about the impending deadline for the 2005/2006 tax year. I was assured that if all was OK I would receive an email in time to either transfer funds from my current banker or make a payment at a branch.

The advisor I spoke to even read my email address to me over the phone to check that the correct one was on file, it was.

On the 6th of April (the first day of the 2006/2007 tax year), I received a letter dated 3rd April thanking me for opening a Direct Mini Cash ISA for the tax year 2005/2006.

This was…………………………….

§ 22 days after applying for the account where Alliance & Leicester specify “we will email you and then write to you with details of what to do”
§ 19 days after sending certified proof of identity documents
§ 10 days after being assured that my application would be processed in time for the 2005/2006 tax year
§ 10 days after being assured that you would notify me by email
§ 1 day after the end of the 2005/2006 tax year

It is extremely disappointing to find that a company of your size and reputation cannot keep promises made on your web site. All the staff I spoke to tried to be helpful, but obviously constrained by your processing systems.

How can it take weeks to ‘process’ proof of identity documents? Surely when someone enters them on a computer system to say they have been received, they could be checked at the same time?

Why are emails not sent when this is a promise made on your site and by your staff?

Why can’t someone pick up a telephone and make a call that close to a well-publicised and well-known deadline?

My entire experience has been dissatisfactory, time consuming and costly. Especially as the Alliance & Leicester take advantage of the revenue-raising 0870 numbers and refuse to deal with UK customers who call geographical telephone numbers.

I look forward to your comments.

Please reply within 14 days so that I can make a decision whether to use my tardy Alliance & Leicester Direct Mini Cash ISA for the current tax year.

meanmachine_2

MarkyMarkD wrote:

How are you transferring money in a way which takes 8 working days? I presume you mean by a new direct debit from an external bank? This 8 working days is a feature of the automated DD system and not A&L's choice. The same applies to an initial DD deposit to ICICI about which much has previously been posted.

It'll actually be 12 days, and it isn't a new direct debit, it's a new account within my portfolio of existing A&L accounts, all linked to the same bank balance.

Deduct 12 days' interest and you begin to question whether switching to another bank really is worth the effort.

ING were MUCH faster, if memory serves.

sashacat

I have just transferred £3000 from my on line saver to my premier direct account and then to my isa ...it was instant. I opened my A&L ISA about 4 weeks ago with £0 and transferred money from another bank's ISA. It took about a week for the whole thing and I got my account number through the post. I have just added this year's allowance. I rang them and asked them about the interest rate cut and they say they know nothing about it. I told them it was their press release and they said "Oh!".... a bit worrying really!
But the press release says from the 12th

mr_fishbulb

I was thinking of going with A&L as Halifax droped their rate to 4.75%

I think I'll just stay with Halifax then.

ioscorpio

I applied on the 6th and got an email to say my application had been accepted on the 10th, I wrote to them because the money had not been transferred from my premier direct account and this is the reply, any other internal transfer have been instantaneous.

Thank you for your email

The transfer has been made and is on the way to your Direct ISA now. The transfer will take 4 working days to credit.

Alliance & Leicester Direct ISA is operated using Internet/Telephone Banking. *It takes 24 hours to transfer money between your Direct ISA and an Alliance & Leicester current account, or 3 working days following the date of transfer for transfers between an account held with another financial institution.

ioscorpio

I opened a direct ISA last year at the beginning of the tax year, will it be the same rate as the current issue 2 ISA, I can't find on their website the rate for last year's ISA, just a cash ISA which was superceded by the direct ISA

YorkshireBoy

iomexico wrote:

I opened a direct ISA last year at the beginning of the tax year, will it be the same rate as the current issue 2 ISA, I can't find on their website the rate for last year's ISA, just a cash ISA which was superceded by the direct ISA

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/savings/index.asp?page=closed-rates

MarkyMarkD

meanmachine wrote:

It'll actually be 12 days, and it isn't a new direct debit, it's a new account within my portfolio of existing A&L accounts, all linked to the same bank balance.

Deduct 12 days' interest and you begin to question whether switching to another bank really is worth the effort.

ING were MUCH faster, if memory serves.

If you have many A&L accounts, all linked to the same external bank account, EACH one will have its own DD mandate as the DD mandate includes the other party's reference. So each time you set up a new A&L account, you will be setting up a new DD mandate, and the 8 WORKING days AUDDIS set-up time will apply.

Transfer the money by BACS and it will take 2-3 working days. It's your own delay by using DD in this case.

MarkyMarkD

sashacat wrote:

I have just transferred £3000 from my on line saver to my premier direct account and then to my isa ...it was instant. I opened my A&L ISA about 4 weeks ago with £0 and transferred money from another bank's ISA. It took about a week for the whole thing and I got my account number through the post. I have just added this year's allowance. I rang them and asked them about the interest rate cut and they say they know nothing about it. I told them it was their press release and they said "Oh!".... a bit worrying really!
But the press release says from the 12th

It's not an interest rate cut. The account has a 4.5% rate and a 0.7% bonus, making 5.2%. The bonus has been withdrawn for new accounts opened after 12 April, but the underlying rate remains the same as it always was. I think that explains their apparent confusion.

ioscorpio

Thank you for your e-mail.

All transfers to internal accounts are instant. You have transferred from the online saver to current account instantly, however to transfer to your isa, you have set up a bill payment using a sort code and account number, rather than doing a straight transfer. This will take 4 days. In future if you are making a payment, always check that you are doing a transfer and not a bill payment to avoid this happening again

Yours sincerely
Internet Banking Helpdesk

I did that cos that's what the instructions were to do!!!!!
The new ISA was not listed as one of my accounts so I could not do a transfer.