Which bank has the best retail branch counter services?

MattyNeth

From my experiences in Bournemouth/Poole Halifax simply don't seem to have enough counter staff in their branches. Ditto Nationwide.

HSBC are a disgrace,normally 1-2 counterstaff with huge queues.
Barclays always have a good number of counter staff as do Lloyds

On a Building Soc level - very impressed with portman, not so with Britannia.

Any other thoughts?

Slayerx

Avoid Natwest and HSBC like the plauge!

Moggles_2

I've banked with the Halifax for more than 10 years. The larger branches have separate information desks and the counter service is good. In smaller branches where the cashier deals with everything, service is indifferent.

Iona_Penny

I live in a 'small town' and use the branches of HSBC and Coventry BS on a regular basis. Only 2 tills in bank, but the cashiers recognise you and usually only a couple of people in a queue. Likewse BS sometimes a short queue, but I love the personal feel about it (main guy in there knows I read and research on here before I ask for something) Many local people use both these.
I also go into local Natwest for DH...nightmare. 3 tills but usually one cashier and towards closing (when I usually go in) a queue and then people visible behind the scenes; I am sure they have things to do, but it is a huge branch in terms of size and there are always grumbles from people waiting.
I don't think it is possible to generalise about any of them nationwide.

_Andy_

Expect HSBC to get worse - massive issues with understaffing and morale in branches. The way forward is (according to senior management) 'megastores', a few of which will be open soon. But of course these are about sales rather than service.

anniecave

Depends entirely on where you are. The barclays near where I work is really slow. The HSBC is really quick. Never been in the Lloyds TSB. Halifax seem quite quiet but have given me incorrect information. One of my two local post offices is really good (if you use a post office for banking services) but the other one I avoid like the plague.....

Gordon_the_Moron

Two Natwest's near me, one is excellent (for service, not account rates, before anyone comments) one is crap as one is about half the size of the other but both are about as busy as each other (the smaller one has about 10% less custom and about 50% smaller)

Walk along your nearest high street on a weekend and look into all the branches see how things are going.

rio

Natwest are really short of staff at the moment, and most branches are running at about 75% of the staff numbers they should have. A friend of mine works at a small branch. They were having to close for half an hour a day so that the staff could have lunch, as they do not have enough staff for one to go to lunch and for the others to have adequate security cover. Not surprisingly this caused uproar in the town, with articles in the local paper etc. Nat west's solution was to send someone over from another branch 15 miles away for an hour and a half a day at lunchtime to provide cover - when what they really need in the correct number of staff to work there in the first place!

pin

I think this is a highly subjective question, and would really have to depend on the specific branch, as i'm sure EVERY bank will have both good and bad branches.

Mark7799

Don't think you can answer generically for any banks - it would largely depend on a few local factors. You're probably more likely to get a more personal service in a smaller branch but would they be able to cope with any large or unusual transactions? You're also more likely to get stuck behind someone for a long time as there are pro rata fewer tills and fewer staff to man them (spent 15 minutes behind one person in a local PO yesterday but only one member of staff working so nothing could really be done)

Larger branches may give a faster service but less likely to be personal, greater turnover of staff and more likely to try the hard sell on you.

regularsaver1

Yes i agree it depends

but now not a lot of people have to use branches anyway as prefer the internet or phone?>

many people do this?