Natwest charges... GRrrr!

natweststaffmember

Kavanne wrote: »

Haha i love how only past/present rbs group staff have posted in this thread. OP, if I was you I would ignore all the posts so far, including mine!!

cheaky git

stclair

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Since I don't understand the OP and I don't understand the banks' view as was stated then I can't form an opinion as to whether they were negligent, whether they made a mistake or such like.
Stclair, have you worked in a branch? And have you lost hair dealing with a customer?

Yes I worked in a branch for 2 years. But Ive lost more hair by working in lending lol

stclair

zigzagzen wrote: »

Telephone the lending department - through the Actionline telephone banking service. They have the power to refund these charges. Be nice to the person you are dealing with. It helps.

If you have an existing claim for charges it can be added to that - if not just say this is silly - half the time NW lending officers agree and refund.

Branch managers have zero power in lending these days .. it's down to the computer's decision ... with the lending officers having a small amount of leeway.

M

Haha good quote zigzagzen "be nice to the person you are dealing with it helps"

I must admit it does go a long way...

MichelleM

Goodness me! You would have thought that I was speaking another language... for those that didnt understand...

I posted quickly, just wanted some quick advice regarding who to speak to about a charge. I didnt want the other comments... "the OP was negligent..." etc!

As it turned out, Kavanne and ZigZagZen were very useful...

I had recieved 2 charges this month (last charge I recieved was 4 years ago during my uni days) and was shocked. This first, sort of knew about- I went on holiday and didnt realise i'd gone 5.60 overdrawn- I put money into my account as soon as I knew.

The second was a shock...
I recieved a cheque guarantee charge of 35 pounds- I checked my statement but around this time I always had enough funds to pay for the cheque. I went to the bank and was told that it was, in fact, a charge for the wrong cheque number and that another cheque created the charge as there werent enough funds in my account. I pointed out to her that during this period of time I had even put EXTRA funds in my account (even though there was still enough in the account to cover the cheque)... she toddled off, came back again, and told me I was charged because I'd paid the money in at 4:20. I knew I wasnt getting anywhere and asked her if there was a number I could ring.. she suggested ringing the SAME BRANCH I went to the next day... mmmm?

So, I rang Natwest's main number and eventually discovered after a little chat that the charge was actually a computer error- I did have enough funds and for some reason the Natwest Computer decided to dip into my account this month. Lovely, super, smashing, great. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I got the charge refunded... and I am sooooo changing my bank. The main desk service has always been a bit dodgy, I've often been given the wrong advice or told something isnt possible... etc etc... I really do think it's because you never see the same face there for at least a month. They train them up and then they disappear...

And I can say that I also worked in this bank during my student years and it was pretty much the same on the main desk then...

natweststaffmember

thanks for the update but there is good and bad in all banks dependent on the experience of the person you are speaking to. Furthermore, lending can be pretty liberal

zigzagzen

Michelle,

Glad you got it sorted .... I wouldn't move from NatWest over this .. I'd just stop dealing with your branch. Since some years they are useless. The "Actionline" team and speaking to lending direct is much better banking service. They actually have the power to make some decisions !

@stclair .. yes it does help to be nice. ... a lot ... though sometimes one needs to play hardball and nice at the same time in order to get results. That's what it took for me (see post 714 and 710 in the Hardship success stories).

ZZZ

grrr how long til you can link ...... and for the webmaster ... linking to a thread in the forums can not lead to spam ..... could you consider letting newbies post internal links? Not hard to parse and would make life simpler.