The Banking Rant Thread

re-rewind

Thought it might be a good idea for people to vent their problems with banks when they've had them and I'll start.

Bank: Halifax

I have been less than happy with the halifax for a number of years now but due to hassle, I haven't changed them, but I have finally decided to bite the bullet and do it. There have been many minor incidents that have annoyed me, but the two most major ones that bug me are When I went into a branch to speak to someone at the customer service desk about something. You sometimes get those people who come up to you in the line and say 'Can I help in anyway?' Anyhow I told her my problem and she saids, Ok give me your card and Ill have a look into your account. I gave her my card and instantly she stopped and said 'Sorry, your account doesn't have the priveledges to be dealt with in branch, you can use an ATM over there if you need to get cash out or ring telephone banking. So basically, because I hold an account whichis just what I thought to be a cashcard account, I am completely devalued as a customer and don't have the right to speak to anyone face to face. This is disgusting in my opinion for a business and the right sort of attitude that would put people off. It just shows you what they think of their 'lower-class' customers.

The second major incident was a few years back when I tried to cancel my card because it had been stolen and payments had been made on it by the time I rang up to cancel. I contacted the fraud dept of online banking to state that money had been taken out of my account and gave them the time that I noticed the card had been stolen. The cashier then proceeded to tell me that The payments off the card hadn't happened within the timescale I'd given them for when the card had been stolen and reported. I knew that I hadn't used the card in a day or two, she then proceeded to tell me that I wouldn't be valid to claim the money back or get any reimbursement from the halifax as the payments were clearly made by me.

Not happy to say the least as it was about £450 they nabbed.

I rang up later in hope to talk to a different person and eventually copnvinced them that my money had in fact been stolen. I did get my money back in the end, however I was considerably annoyed that they wouldn't believe me and tried to fob me off on the first phone call.

These are the two most major incidents as I say but there have been many other minor things and now its time to cut myself away from the Halifax.


Anyone else got any horror stories about banks? im sure there are a few:)

opinions4u

So you had this account:

You won't be able to:

• earn interest when your account is in credit
• have an overdraft or chequebook
• use a branch counter to pay in money, withdraw less than £300 or make a routine enquiry

You can:

• get a Visa Electron debit card - pay for your shopping and withdraw up to £300 cash from any cash machine that shows the LINK sign
• access your account day or night with our 24-hour online and telephone banking service
• arrange standing orders and direct debits and set up bill payments
• have your salary or benefits paid straight into your account
• pay cash notes and cheques into your account using our Immediate Deposit Machines and Express Pay-In boxes.

• Does exactly what it says on the tin then.

re-rewind

Its still a shambles plus Ive had this account for years and that policy must've been recently introduced because I've been using the counter for years. All of a sudden it changed.

opinions4u

re-rewind wrote: »

Its still a shambles plus Ive had this account for years and that policy must've been recently introduced because I've been using the counter for years. All of a sudden it changed.

2006, if I'm not mistaken.

(I think the T&Cs changed at that stage, and customers were notified in writing. The actual implementation may have been hit and miss at branch level).

re-rewind

I had been using that feature up to at least 2008 I can assure you

Bloomberg

re-rewind wrote: »

Thought it might be a good idea for people to vent their problems with banks when they've had them and I'll start.

Bank: Halifax

I have been less than happy with the halifax for a number of years now but due to hassle, I haven't changed them, but I have finally decided to bite the bullet and do it. There have been many minor incidents that have annoyed me, but the two most major ones that bug me are When I went into a branch to speak to someone at the customer service desk about something. You sometimes get those people who come up to you in the line and say 'Can I help in anyway?' Anyhow I told her my problem and she saids, Ok give me your card and Ill have a look into your account. I gave her my card and instantly she stopped and said 'Sorry, your account doesn't have the priveledges to be dealt with in branch, you can use an ATM over there if you need to get cash out or ring telephone banking. So basically, because I hold an account whichis just what I thought to be a cashcard account, I am completely devalued as a customer and don't have the right to speak to anyone face to face. This is disgusting in my opinion for a business and the right sort of attitude that would put people off. It just shows you what they think of their 'lower-class' customers.

The second major incident was a few years back when I tried to cancel my card because it had been stolen and payments had been made on it by the time I rang up to cancel. I contacted the fraud dept of online banking to state that money had been taken out of my account and gave them the time that I noticed the card had been stolen. The cashier then proceeded to tell me that The payments off the card hadn't happened within the timescale I'd given them for when the card had been stolen and reported. I knew that I hadn't used the card in a day or two, she then proceeded to tell me that I wouldn't be valid to claim the money back or get any reimbursement from the halifax as the payments were clearly made by me.

Not happy to say the least as it was about £450 they nabbed.

I rang up later in hope to talk to a different person and eventually copnvinced them that my money had in fact been stolen. I did get my money back in the end, however I was considerably annoyed that they wouldn't believe me and tried to fob me off on the first phone call.

These are the two most major incidents as I say but there have been many other minor things and now its time to cut myself away from the Halifax.


Anyone else got any horror stories about banks? im sure there are a few:)

I have said it before and I will say it again, the Halifax is not a proper bank. It is one of the wannabe banks along with Santander. Do yourself a massive favour and leave the Halifax and then join one of the big four. The general consensus is that out of the big four HSBC/First Direct is the way forward but do your own research. All the best.

rb10

re-rewind wrote: »

I had been using that feature up to at least 2008 I can assure you

That was pretty good of them then, to allow you to use the counter when your Terms and Conditions didn't allow it.

Bloomberg wrote: »

I have said it before and I will say it again, the Halifax is not a proper bank. It is one of the wannabe banks along with Santander. Do yourself a massive favour and leave the Halifax and then join one of the big four. The general consensus is that out of the big four HSBC/First Direct is the way forward but do your own research. All the best.

There are still some people who do believe, like the above poster, that the 'traditional' banks are somehow 'better' to have your current account with. However, unless you regularly need to make large withdrawals (i.e. several thousand pounds) in cash with no notice, and happen to live near to a large enough branch of a 'big four' bank, there are few (if any) actual reasons why this would be true.

Note that the original poster has a basic Halifax account. If s/he had a full account, then they would be able to use the counter with no problems. The 'big four' also restrict the service that they give to basic account customers: Lloyds TSB don't allow them to use Link ATMs, and HSBC do not give a debit card. Offering a smaller range of services to basic account customers is not something that is unique to banks such as Halifax and Santander.

suga49950

There appears to be more and more people complaining about something stated in their terms and conditions, and the usual response rather annoyingly is 'no one reads those'. That really is your choice but please do not blame the bank or customer service assistant for you deciding not to.

pmduk

The Halifax became awkward about letting cashcard customers use counters back in the 1990s