Halifax - Without Doubt the Worst Customer Service i've Ever Received.

ianianian_2

Morning all,

Looking for some help with the Halifax as they have 'not accpeted my complaint'. I didn't even know someone could do this.

I've been with them for 20 years and have compained a few times. Whilst other companies take things on board or provfide some sort of compensation, the Halifax do not.

I'll post my complaint in a minute for anyone who has the time to read it, but basically it goes along these lines:

- I passed in a letter to my local branch addressed to head office to close my bank. They lost this.
- As part of First Directs moving serive I closed down a standing order of £550 in the Halifax. They still paid this despite it saying it was deleted online leaving my £550 out of pocket for some time.
- I rang up to sort this out and after speaking to someone for 5 minutes that appreciated my problem I was left on hold until i had to return to work with no explanation (over 10 minutes on hold).
- They made no attempt to call me back despite having all of my details.
- It took 3 compaint letters before they even replied

To this they basically replied:
-They haven't received my complaints or closure letter.
-They have no notes from my phone call (i provided them with the exact time)
-They have received no correspondence from my new bank (how would they know to close down my standing orders if this was the case?)
-My notification in regards closing down the standing order was received too late to action (they say the day before, it was more like a month before)
- They therefore do not accept my complaint

Any ideas of where to go? Do i respond to their joke of a response? Do i have any rights?

The bank is incredibly hard to get through to, there is no secure email service (the only bank i know of that employs this tactic) and you can always expect a long time on hold.

Thanks

Ian

ianianian_2

This is the third attempt I have made at sending this letter to you (other copies below). This first must have been lost by the post, whilst the second has been lost by the Headingley (Leeds) office or by your internal post system. I find this somewhat ridiculous when I am trying to make a delivery to your Leeds office which is probably less than five miles from my home and your Headingley branch and it appears that you do not accept complaints.

In addition to this, I sent a letter some months ago to your head office via your Headingley branch asking for my account to be closed. This too did not reach its intended destination. Even the manager of the branch had to admit that it appears that you do not wish to accept these letters and I am not prepared to accept an offer to leave this letter with the branch again and instead am paying for a recorded delivery.

I appreciate that you normally take a certain amount of time to reply fully (i.e. not just the automated response and the provision of the Financial Ombudsmen details), however I expect this letter to take priority over others as it is one month since I originally sent it.

Regards,

November 7th 2009

I must first state that I sent the letter below by first class post on October 16th, however as with most complaint letters it appears ‘not to have arrived’ at your offices. I have therefore sent this letter via your Headingley (Leeds) branch.
Whilst I can forgive a missing letter, I cannot forgive the fact that I handed in a signed document to your Headingley branch asking you to close down my accounts. This was well over a month ago and has also never arrived. It has just taken me 13 minutes by mobile phone on your premium rate number to discover this. I expect compensation for this call.
Regards,

October 16th 2009

I have been concerned with your service for some time. It is often impossible to get through by phone and seeing as you are not contactable by email for matters associated with bank accounts (which is somewhat ridiculous for any bank) I have decided to switch banks.
To talk you through the most recent chain of events leading to this complaint:
· First Direct (my new bank) contacted you some time ago on my behalf in regards switching my direct debits and standing orders.
· I checked my Halifax account last week in order to make sure the switching process was moving along correctly. I noted that the standing order for my rent had been deleted as requested (as First Direct would now be paying this standing order). I have confirmed this with First Direct and have proof in this vain.
· First Direct paid this standing order as intended.
· I checked my Halifax account again on the 16th October and noted that you had paid the £550 rent despite you stating that the payment had been deleted. It is a good job I had money in my account to cover this mistake, however I am now £550 short, I am unsure whether my landlord will charge me for the inconvenience caused in returning my money and as he is on holiday I will struggle with my finances in the mean time.
· I rang Halifax on the 16th October (at 12:06) to try to rectify this issue. After 5 minutes on hold I got through to a very nice woman who was fully appreciative of your error. She stated that another team would be best placed to address my concerns and so put me on hold. I was left on hold for approximately ten minutes with no hold courtesies before I had to hang up and return to work. In total I spent 16 minutes and 19 seconds on the phone and was no closer to a resolution.
· I have since been ignored despite you being aware of the issue.
I am dumbfounded by the service you provide. In essence:
· You have sent £550 of my money to someone without my permission.
· I spent over 16 minutes on a call which provided no help. As you provide a 0854 number I have to pay a premium rate from my mobile phone and these calls to you are costing me a considerable amount. In fact last week I spent almost ten minutes on the phone and didn’t actually get to speak to anyone. I recently enquired with my mobile phone provider why my phone bill was so high considering I hardly use the phone and they have stated that it is through 0854 numbers such as your own.
· Despite you having all of my details and being fully aware of my issue, you made no attempt to contact me after leaving me on hold until I had to return to work.
I have been with your bank for about 20 years and despair at this poor service. I frankly cannot believe that despite being aware of my problem combined with the fact that I did not end up speaking to someone after a ridiculous time on hold, not one person thought it might be worth giving me a call back. In fact, this clearly goes beyond poor service and shows poor policy all round. One gets the impression that you do not wish your customers to be able to contact you. For example, you are the only bank I know of that does not provide secure emails in regards account issues to customers, which should be a must as you are clearly struggle to deal with phone calls. (Incidentally, what can you actually email Halifax about and expect a response? What non account issues do people want to talk to a bank about?)
I now ask the following:
· An apology for the mistake with my account and the service I have been provided with.
· A refund for the wasted phone calls I have had to pay for. Calls cost up to 30p per minute.
· Compensation for your error in giving someone £550 of my money. I expect to be credited with whatever charges and administration fees you would charge a customer if it was I that had spent £550 of HBOS’s money requiring numerous phone calls and letters to resolve.
I expect this to be carried out quickly or I will make as many people as possible aware of your poor service and I will not hesitate to take this matter to the financial ombudsmen or further.
I expect all further correspondence to be in writing for my records.
Regards

conceptus

Just go to the financial ombudsman, that might make them play ball. Have a read through the information on their site. Or call the number for a chat:

"But if you don't know who to complain to at the business, or you're unsure about anything, get in touch with us" We will contact the right person for you, telling them that you have a complaint they need to look into.
phone our consumer helpline on 0300 123 9 123 "

Anihilator

SO's take time to delete.

When did it get deleted, when did it get paid?

As for not recording hung up calls and calling back, unfortunate but the call centres receive thousands of calls a day.

dmg24

Your letters are not well phrased, which may be why you have had a poor response.

What do you want out of the situation? If all of your requests have now been fulfilled, would it not be best just to forget about it and move on?

tbw

dmg24 wrote: »

Your letters are not well phrased, which may be why you have had a poor response.

What do you want out of the situation? If all of your requests have now been fulfilled, would it not be best just to forget about it and move on?

I don't think the OPs requests have been fulfilled though - as I read it, there is still the matter of the double paid rent (£550). The phrasing of hi/her complaint letter may well not be perfect (some of us are better at writing letters than others ) but that certainly does not excuse the crass ignorance of the Halifax in their handling of this affair.

Go to the ombudsman and raise merry hell!

dmg24

tbw wrote: »

I don't think the OPs requests have been fulfilled though - as I read it, there is still the matter of the double paid rent (£550). The phrasing of hi/her complaint letter may well not be perfect (some of us are better at writing letters than others ) but that certainly does not excuse the crass ignorance of the Halifax in their handling of this affair.

Go to the ombudsman and raise merry hell!

I'd given up reading by that point!

The OP still needs to complete the bank's complaints procedure before going to the Ombudsman.

tbw

dmg24 wrote: »

I'd given up reading by that point!

The OP still needs to complete the bank's complaints procedure before going to the Ombudsman.

Agreed - but a little difficult if the bank is refusing to accept the complaint and apparently won't even speak to the OP about it all.

hollydays

If I am dealing with a difficult company,belt and braces.
I would establish the correct complaints procedure, (contact the banking ombudsman?)for escalating a complaint,establish email address and name.
Send the complaint by email asking for an immediate response to the email,and recorded delivery by mail.Chase up immediately if they have received the email.Make a nuisance of yourself to get the initial acknowlegement.Double and triple check,getting names,(or by email),that the addresses you are given are correct.Don't assume ANY information/address/name is correct until it has been checked several times.

ianianian_2

Sorry guys, appreciate the letter wasn't too well written it was more of an angry rant. I just can't believe they don't answer phones, provide a secure email facility or 'accept complaints' i.e. they are clearly setup to provide as little customer service as possible.
As for what i want, i'm not bothered about money/ compensation, i just want some achknowledgement from the Halifax (or something to be done so they have to provide this). I don't think they should be able to pay an old SO, leave me on hold for 10 minutes without explanation (i didn't even know whether someone was comig back to me) and ignore my letters whilst thinking that they are acting within the bounds of good customer services. By the sounds of your responses the FO is the way forward.

Hollydays - Thanks for the reply. FYI Halifax provide a hidden email service (i.e. it takes 20 minutes to find on the website even when you know where it is!), but they 'do not deal with any account related matters (i don't know who would contact a bank for a non account related matter?!)

Thanks for your responses

ian

hollydays

Then I think it is either the banking ombudsman or the fsa,perhaps someone else can confirm,that will be able to tell you their official complaints procedure