'I lost my rag in a Lloyds TSB branch' blog discussion 19 July 2010 at 12:44PM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 137 replies 31.9K views

Former_MSE_Penelope

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's "I lost my rag in a Lloyds TSB branch" blog

Please click reply to discuss below.

vraptorchick

This is nothing to how Abbey dealt with me in branch when I moved house - I went into my branch with my card, driving licence and passport and asked to update my address. They said no. I asked them to just stop mail going to the old house then. They said no. I asked them to hold the mail in branch then as I was due for a new card shortly. They said no.

Their reason for saying no ? I couldnt prove my new address as all my documents were still registered at the old address. Lloyds by the way were excellent and changed my address immediately with no hassle.

So I finally in desperation told Abbey I would have to close the account if they couldnt guarantee the safety of my mail by not sending it to my old address. They allowed me to close the account and withdraw almost £2000 in cash there and then over the counter - but they couldnt just update the address - unbelievable.

haselgre

I agree - Lloyds TSB have the MOST awful customer service, and it's only getting worse. I've had several (mainly current) accounts with them since I was about 14 (so over 20 years) - however, I'm now going to be switching to someone else asap.
About a year ago, I had some fraud on my Lloyds credit card, which took about 6 months to sort out with them. But that's another story altogether.
Since the fraud, they hadn't been updating my credit file with Experian, which of course messed up by credit report. As I'm in the process of setting up my own business, I needed to get everything smoothed out asap so that I could apply for credit etc. After several weeks of me calling them (and by "them" I mean several different departments each and every time), asking them to simply update my credit report with the correct information, them promising to do that and then nothing happening, I decided to get a bit more insistent. I was fobbed off with the usual "we'll send an email to the correct department, then give it a week for the confirmation that it's been done to come through the post". I explained that they had said this to me 3 times already and NOTHING had been done, so I was going to be calling them every day to make sure that it was moving.
6 days, dozens of phone calls, 5 instances of the manager I had been dealing with was "in a meeting" and would "call me back", many tears, lots of shouting, lots of pleading, two official complaints and they FINALLY wrote "account up to date" on my credit report. Hallelujah.
Disgusting - it was THEIR mistake that messed up my credit report and stopped me from being able to start up my business for over a month.
My advice would be to lodge a formal complaint asap as then they are legally required to respond and resolve within a couple of days, and it is all reported to the government watchdog who are keeping an eye on them at the moment.

katiepatie

you should have contacted the fraudsters that manage to change my address and phone number at lloyds, then increased my credit card limit and removed 6000 from it.....all in the same day! now that's fast service lol

Sceptic001

Am I being perverse in being reassured that Martin is subjected to the same crap service from banks as the rest of us mere mortals?

Or is he going to tell us that when they worked out who he is that they quickly and courteously dealt with his problem?

lucylucky

I take Martin has no accounts with them now?

minerva_windsong

Martin, if it's not a personal question, can I ask why you have a Lloyds TSB account as it's not and, in my memory, has never been a 'best buy'? (Obviously you don't have to answer if you don't want to.)

I've still never forgiven Halifax for not being able to understand that you can be 18 and not be at university yet (they used it to effectively hold my interest to ransom), and also for not telling me that the time period on my student account was up and I now owed them interest on the overdraft. Still banking with them though, if only for the £5 reward and the boost to savings rates. And their customer service has got much better in those seven years.

peterbaker

Martin losing his rag? I can hardly believe it ... I had long ago decided our esteemed leader was far more patient and circumspect than most ... just goes to show, doesn't it ... the banks sorely test the best of us.

I am sure you are forgiven, Martin. Those bank staff are pretty thick-skinned ... they have to be in order to soak up the pressure dished out daily from their bosses to make sales targets. A few disgruntled customers a day are nothing compared to a boss threatening to sack you unless you sell enough kitchen sinks and grandmothers.

@minerva ... possibly going for a Lloyds Advantage account to use as a second stream savings account at 4% was it? I tried to apply onlne as an existing CC customer, but gave up recently

bylromarha

Sceptic001 wrote: »

Am I being perverse in being reassured that Martin is subjected to the same crap service from banks as the rest of us mere mortals?

Or is he going to tell us that when they worked out who he is that they quickly and courteously dealt with his problem?

I have had this experience in Abbey, Halifax and Barclays.

Sadly, all high street banks seem much of a muchness now.

It's why I cling to First Direct like a limpet. Never had this sort of experience with them.

Did the Lloyds TSB employee ask for any tips after identifying Martin I wonder?! :rotfl:

joegw

Lloyds have always been great to me and I've never thought about changing. I recently had to change my address details, so I phoned customer service they explained I needed to take proof of address to any branch.
I went down the next day with a phone bill and it was sorted, no hassles!
Maybe they are poorly trained at other branches?

airtrack12000

This is an experience not just indicative to banks, but to most customer service centres with other companies too. My pet hate is BT who I have found to be the most useless, frustrating and inept company have had the unfortunate pleasure to deal with and although I have for the most part kept my temper under control, if they had a branch I could walk into I would probably do as Martin did with Lloyds.