'I lost my rag in a Lloyds TSB branch' blog discussion

Barnetbear

m5rcc wrote: »

What does one expect from LloydsTSB.gov.uk? Theyre a bunch of civil servants who havnt got a clue

But the same staff at the same branches had a clue before they became 40% or whatever it is civil servant. Do the men from the ministry come round and perform a mandatory scooping out of their brain once HM Treasury becomes their paymaster?

Have to say, at one of my near branches the young lad on the enquiries desk was so pleasant and bright that I thought to myself things must be bad in the economy if his calibre is reduced to working there. His sort of level of IQ one normally finds in a lab or acclaimed scientific research environment.

peterbaker

BB wrote:

I omitted an "of" in my post but you were too polite to say. I like that kind of professional loyalty, and so I may well hire you in to deputise as my substitute sub-contracted sub-editor if Martin gives me his business! Frankly, I like the stuff you're made of, young sir!

I was rather hoping you might see it that way. I know my position and was very much trusting you might enrol me in your semblance class

DAVIDGORDONORR

How did I keep my cool. Please help!
Dear Mr Lewis,
I am a customer of Santander as a result of its recent acquisition of Alliance and Leicester. I was formally a customer of HSBC for many years. For several reasons I decided it was time to move on. I trawled the market for the best bank for my personal circumstances. I found what I was looking for on Martin Lewis website moneysupermarket.com. The headline advert for the best deal was Alliance and Leicester’s Premier Current Account. It offered an excellent interest rate and had a local branch and a fine online banking facility. The cherry on the cake was the promise of a £100 incentive deal with a free direct debit switching service.

I subsequently applied online on the 2 nd of February 2010. My application was processed and accepted. My first Salary went in on the 10th March 2010. I had noted that a condition of the new deal and the £100 incentive payment was to put at least £500 per month into the account.

I have complied with this condition putting in five salary payments into my account since March 2010.

I had not received my £100. Therefore I contacted you to find out why. I wish to state in the strongest terms that I have never been treated so appallingly by any organisation at any time in my life. I was lied to. Kept on hold many times during the 78 MINUTE telephone call. Past between four people and was told I was not eligible for the incentive payment . Two of the three people I spoke to flatly refused to put me through to the complaints department. One refused to put me through to their supervisor. Claiming initially that they were not in and then that they did not deal with customers calls in any case.
This is how I was treated. At 1.18 pm I contacted Santander on 08459724724 and I spoke to Sue. I thanked her for the letter I had received from Santander and the for the quick response I had had in regard a minor issue. I told Sue that I did not wish to make a complaint about anything but that I had an enquiry into why I had not received my incentive payment. Sue told me she was Santander not Alliance and Leicester and had not been fully trained in all their products etc. I fully explained the incentive scheme and how I had come to join A & L. I told her when the account was opened and how I had complied with the £500 per month condition request. As she could not answer my query I was put on hold while she spoke to someone at switches department. I was on hold for twenty minutes at least and Sue came back to me twice stating she was still trying to sort out the issue.

I was then put through to Dipul Mehta. Mr Mehta to my surprise asked me what my enquiry was about. I asked him what Sue had told him. “Nothing” was his reply. I was puzzled as to why I had been on hold for 20 minutes if Sue had not spoken to Mr Mehta. I had to explain the whole thing again. Mr Mehta then informed me I was not eligible for any payment as I had applied before the incentive had begun! This was utter nonsense. How would I have known about it. Besides which it was advertised at the time on the aforementioned website and at A & L branches. I had also received some confirmation correspondence following my online application . Mr Mehta’s attitude was that I was at best mistaken at worst stupid. He kept asking when I had opened the account and then asked me whether I had yet activated the account! Four months after opening the account and having deposited 5 salaries into the account I found this question insulting. I was being fobbed off. I asked to make a complaint. I asked to be put through to customer services or the complaints department. Mr Mehta put me on hold.

About ten minutes later I was passed to Mr Sajid Ali . I had to explain all over again what my issue was. He said he thought I may be eligible but that he would pass the enquiry to the administration department. I asked why? I asked which department he belonged to, thinking he was customer services or complaints. When he told me he was switches I was very annoyed as Mr Mehta had simply passed me to his colleague rather than through to the complaints department. Mr Mehta had simply refused to do what I had asked.

I then asked Mr Sajid Ali to put me through to his supervisor/manager. He said “ She is not in today, besides managers and supervisors do not take calls.” Knowing this to be incredible in any organisation I asked again to speak with his supervisor. He again said “managers and supervisors do not take calls” I then asked “Is she standing next to you refusing to speak to me?”

He said she wasn’t and again said managers and supervisors do not take calls in any case.

At this point I very firmly demanded to speak to someone in the complaints department. I was put on hold again. After what seemed like an age I was connected with Claire Hudson. After explaining yet again what my query was about I was initially again told I was not eligible and asked about when I had opened the account. I was then asked if I could prove I had received a letter about the incentive payment! Confused as to why someone from complaints would asked such a question I asked Ms Hudson what department she was with. To my horror I was told she was with switches and was in fact Mr Ali’s supervisor. I informed her what Mr Ali had said about managers and supervisors not taking calls. She said I must be mistaken. Fortunately my wife was present and had heard the entire conversation. Ms Hudson from then onwards became very helpful. Although still did not put me through to the complaints department when I asked she did speak to them for me and assured me I would receive the payment by the 15th of August 2010. Ms Hudson apologized for Mr Ali’s misleading advice. A fine euphemism for lies. I asked that the recording of the call be examined so that I would be vindicated.

SEVENTY EIGHT MINUTES after the call started, ( Most of which time I spent on hold) the call was ended. I went out. When I returned I had a message from Ms Hudson asking me to call her back on 08456090010 (her office direct line) between 8 and 4 on Tuesday 20th July. Guess what? It was not her direct line. I had to go through all checks and when Adam answered the call he told me she wasn’t in today!! When I told him she had to be in as I had been asked by her to contact her today. At which point he found her. Amazing. I asked my wife whether it was possible the Staff in that office were trained to mislead customers.

I was not surprised that when I spoke to Ms Hudson she informed me that my call was not recorded. Any evidence of the way I have been treated is gone. I feel that the staff I dealt with yesterday are already in the process of closing ranks. At no time did I raise my voice or use any sort of threatening or abusive language. Part of my occupation is dealing with complaints and I am therefore very guarded about losing the high ground by becoming abusive in any way. Although upset ,bewildered and very frustrated I remained calm. I have spoken to Virgin. The phone call cost me £7.92.

Can you confirm that your website ran this add. Have you had any other similar stories of A & L not paying out the incentive payment. Thanks for your time and patience in this matter.

gingergirl72

I would argue that RBS are amongst the worst for customer service...I had a student current account with them from age 17, in my maiden name. I got married at 29 and changed my name over to my new one, as you do. Sadly I got divorced five years later and asked RBS to revert my current account to my maiden name. NO was the answer. I said that I could supply copies of my divorce decree and my marriage certificate. RBS were insisting on seeing my original marriage certificate. I explained that when you get divorced in England, you have to send your original marriage certificate into the court and you don't get it back. RBS accused me of lying about this! I had a copy of my marriage certificate which had been certified by my solicitor and they still wouldn't accept that. I wouldn't mind but I was only asking them to revert the account back to its original name - not something new! In the end I'm afraid, like Martin, I also lost my rag and told RBS to get stuffed. Now banking quite happily with Alliance and Leicester...

peterbaker

DAVIDGORDONORR wrote: »

How did I keep my cool. Please help!
Dear Mr Lewis, ..... etc. etc... ...Martin Lewis website moneysupermarket.com. The headline advert for the best deal was Alliance and Leicester’s Premier Current Account. ....etc. etc ...
etc...
etc...

(granted it all sounds like the kind of thing that makes many of the rest of us lose our rag occasionally:p)

...Can you confirm that your website ran this add.

First of all commiserations DGN !

Second, I think you find that moneysupermarket.com is more Peter Jone's and Omid Djalili's website than it is our friend Martin's

Take a peek in the browser address window here and you will see that Martin's website is a slightly different cup of tea

A quick browse around the home page will confirm that MoneySavingExpert.com does sport some paying links but it don't advertise, so whilst avid MSE'ers understand your frustration perfectly (and where better to express it than this thread :money:) you might have blasted a barrel or two in the wrong direction

Barnetbear

Well, I got my £100 incentive from A&L, no trouble at all, something actually went smoothly for me for a change. I was truly amazed, I can tell you!

DigitalJedi

I used to bank with LloydsTSB years and years ago and I ended up leaving because of their stupid IT systems.

One of the reasons I banked with them was their sales spiel about "total transparancy" ie. you can go to any branch rather forced to your local one. Except anything out of the ordinary....you have to go to your local branch! Even changing addresses which I had a very similar experience to Martin. In fact, to date think my TSB account is still open (albeit prob. dormant) because I couldn't be bothered to drive the 100 miles to my "local" branch to tell them about my address change.

DAVIDGORDONORR

Thanks. I was full of fury so I did not check. Martin's is one of two e-mails I get MoneySavingExpert etc and Moneysupermarket etc. It was the former rather than the latter I am sure. Anyway I use his advice and I am p"£$%d off with A & L and Santander.

DAVIDGORDONORR

Lucky you. However you may be able to help. I applied on 02/02/2010. The morons yesterday told me it only applied between April 2010 and June 2010. Can you contradict their nonsense?
Thanks David O.

indierocker85

Another reason why i switched from them