Alliance and Leicester switching

Inforapennyinforapound

My input for what its worth.

I have a premier current account with A&L and 5 days ago went to Branch to change to a Premier Direct current account.The lady said it would only be a couple of days to go through as i am alraedy a customer.

Anyway,5 days later it still has not happened.Their contact centre said to 'give it 7 more days'(seems to be a standard reply).

In November 2009 i 'referred a friend' to open a current account with them in order to gain £25.00 each.......and yes,we are still waiting.
The nice lady at contact centre has 'submitted a form' and said 'give it 7 days'....

Hey ho life goes on.I have been pleased with A&L on the whole but have found they are very quick to try and sell you something in the branch but slow to implement it and cause you to have to chase them forever.

YorkshireBoy

Inforapennyinforapound wrote: »

In November 2009 i 'referred a friend' to open a current account with them in order to gain £25.00 each.......and yes,we are still waiting.

Has your 'friend' met the account conditions? And...

Once your friend opens their account using the link from our email and meets the funding requirements, we'll credit both your accounts with £25 within 8 weeks of account opening.

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/current-accounts/recommend-a-friend.aspx

...have 8 weeks elapsed?

Inforapennyinforapound

Yorksboy, good points.

My 'friend' (partner) has complied with requirements and from beginning of Nov 2009 to now is slightly more than 8 weeks so fingers crossed.

YorkshireBoy

Inforapennyinforapound wrote: »

My 'friend' (partner) has complied with requirements and from beginning of Nov 2009 to now is slightly more than 8 weeks so fingers crossed.

You have more patience than me! I wouldn't mess around ringing the normal call centre staff. After 8 weeks and a day I'd be going this route...

http://www.alliance-leicester.co.uk/customer-service/complaints.aspx

Inforapennyinforapound

I suppose as you get a bit older you learn to be a little patient.banging my head on my desk and shouting at people sometimes doesnt help.

Thanks for the link.I will show a bit more patience and then i will go for the jugular!

fif85

Being a heavy overdraft user I read MSE's article on the top accounts with low interest overdraft, and decided to switch to A&L's premier current account. After applying online I was accepted, and began to receive paperwork confirming my new account.

All fine until a letter arrived telling me I had an overdraft of £250 with my new account. I was expecting them to match my £1,500 overdraft with HSBC. I called switching department (after being on hold for about an hour for 2 consecutive days) and finally was told that in order for them to consider matching my old overdraft I'd need to send them 30 days of bank statements which showed my current overdraft limit. They also confirmed that the criteria for being offered a matching overdraft was being in credit for 2 separate days over the last 30 days.

After further questioning (having got hold of a human I didn't want to let her go) I found out I could pause the switching process whilst a decision was made over the overdraft matching. Once I have received written confirmation that they can match my overdraft, I will call back to reinstate the switching process.

I wanted to share this in case anyone else is terrified of the relentless onward march of this process and has a similar dilemma. The fact that it's all done via letter, without regular voice contact, and the fact that their call centres are ALWAYS jammed full makes consumers feel like they are powerless to object or halt the process once it's started.

I guess I should have scrutinized the small print before I signed up but as ever, it wasn't easy to find out or access.

Anyone know how to cancel this process entirely if you're not happy about switching?

fif85

Oh - and you absolutely cannot discuss anything about switching accounts in branch - it all has to be done of the phone, which means being held in call queues for hours.

ses6jwg

I opened an A&L Premier Direct on the 12th "application was being assessed", rang last night and said it had been approved, rather abruptly, and that stuff was in the post.

No confirmation by email or anything though to say I'd been accepted.