Alliance & Leicester are useless

TheShorties_2

Just a quick note to reinforce the message that although A & L are listed as the "best" current account they are not always. I had a Premier Direct account with them and the transfer process was fast, simple and accurate. Their on-line system was easy to use and accurate. However, their branch service was appalling - they were unable to carry out the simplest transaction in branch and told my wife, who refuses to use on-line or phone banking, that to carry out any of the transactions she required she would have to use one of the electonic methods - even though she was standing in front of a cashier. The local manager was entirely unhelpful. I complained to A & L and said I would close the account unless they corrected the situation. I heard nothing after the first response saying they "would need more time" so I instigated closure and transfer of the account - at which point they disabled my user account, leaving me with no access to my own money. Eventually they said they would provide me with a hard copy statement and were proud that they wouldn't charge me for that. I would never use them again.

DrScotsman

A&L...

At the moment, I've switched all of my bill-related direct debits from Natwest to A&L (so I have one current account for billing, one for spending), and it's made me realise there are many reasons not to like A&L when they're not even screwing up!

a) £250 faster payments limit. Wouldn't bother me as much if BACS was 3-5 days, but of course it's 3-5 working days. Still, gotta feel sorry for Nationwide.
b) "Recent transactions" is heavily delayed. I paid £300 IN to my account last night. My balance and available balance have gone up but the recent transactions STILL doesn't have it on. Same problem in reverse, paid money out of the account and it takes days to appear.
c) A month ago I paid money into my account, then paid money out. However when these things finally appeared in recent transactions, it re-orders them so my account actually went negative (no overdraft) at one point. How misleading is that!
d) Finally, what's with their security? It's the only bank I've banked with where just one session with a keylogger (or someone looking over your shoulder) allows someone to steal your details. Most ask you at least TWO questions (password/question, PIN/special date) and only ask you to enter PART of your answer. A single 5 digit PIN is just pathetic.

beefturnmail

Finally lost patience and wrote today to close the account (2 months after opening it), as they still cannot send me all the details and I'm fed up with constantly phoning them. A shame becasue I wanted the good interest rate, but if it takes them this long to sort anything out, I can just imagine the sort of hassle there will be down the line and 6% interest is not worth my time and I'd rather have a current account that operates smoothly.