Aliance & Leicester

joewa

hi,i am in the process of changing current acs to the above.I have started to hear -ve stories about them
Is anyone a customer or experience of using them

adamc260

I was with A&L for a short period of time, the fact it takes like 24 hours for their internet banking to update anything drove me insane because I'm not a branch banker... I do everything online!

Their call centre is friendly enough (in liverpool) but they're joining up with Santander and.... i've heard nothing but bad about them!! Best steering clear if you ask me.

When I tried to close my account the guy tried to get me to stay with them 5 times saying 'honestly I can change it to just a basic account in just a few clicks and then you have it incase' and i was like 'No thanks, please close it' and just kept getting 'Are you really sure you wont find a use for it' so I was glad to leave by the end!

I've gone back to HSBC and they've been brill.

dzug1

They seem to get a bad press but I've never had any problems with them that were not easily resolved. You do need to understand the way they work - some people have trouble with it.

It remnians to be seen whether Santander will wreck them

Mrs_Ryan

Dont touch them with a 50 foot barge pole :mad:

System

I think they are ok if you don't expect anything too fancy/complicated from them.
My brother changed over to them from BOS and doesn't want to move back.
The only problem he faced was trying to change his address when he moved.

Plus Points

• Their rates are normally good - both credit and overdraft.
• UK based Customer Service, I've found them ok, others haven't.
• Full use of the Post Office Network for deposits / withdrawals.
• Faster Payments - Unlimited incoming.
• Topcashback / Quidco / other incentives for moving.

Negative Points

• Will be integrated with Santander (Abbey) in the coming months.
• Internet banking easy to use, but slow at updating transactions with 3/4 balances.
• Sparse / Overworked branches.
• Faster Payments - only £250 outgoing.
• All numbers 0844 (5p per minute) and they try to block normal numbers.

jamesd

OK as a secondary account, I wouldn't want them as my main account. Remember that you don't actually have to close the account you're transferring from. At some point I'll get around to ditching my A&L account and using them only for their periodic offers.

Bloomberg

adamc260 wrote: »

I was with A&L for a short period of time, the fact it takes like 24 hours for their internet banking to update anything drove me insane because I'm not a branch banker... I do everything online!

Their call centre is friendly enough (in liverpool) but they're joining up with Santander and.... i've heard nothing but bad about them!! Best steering clear if you ask me.

When I tried to close my account the guy tried to get me to stay with them 5 times saying 'honestly I can change it to just a basic account in just a few clicks and then you have it incase' and i was like 'No thanks, please close it' and just kept getting 'Are you really sure you wont find a use for it' so I was glad to leave by the end!

I've gone back to HSBC and they've been brill.

HSBC and First Direct are streets ahead.

JCB2020

Been with them for over a year
Internet banking only
No issues so far

I suspect the problems only arise when they !!!! up!
It appears, from most respondents who have had problems, that getting things back on track can be a tad exasperating!