'Which is the worst customer service bank?' poll discussion

Former_MSE_Lee

Poll between 3-10 August 2010:

Which is the worst customer service bank?

With the launch of Metro bank promising top customer service – how do you rate your bank.
Find your bank – then rate it (you can only choose one)

A. Barclays – Great - 3% (531 votes)
B. Barclays – OK - 4% (709 votes)
C. Barclays – Poor - 5% (851 votes)
D. Co-op - Great - 4% (630 votes)
E. Co-op - OK - 1% (130 votes)
F. Co-op - Poor - 0% (82 votes)
G. First Direct - Great - 6% (1011 votes)
H. First Direct - OK - 1% (109 votes)
I. First Direct - Poor - 0% (75 votes)
J. Halifax/Bank of Scotland - Great - 2% (385 votes)
K. Halifax/Bank of Scotland - OK - 4% (683 votes)
L. Halifax/Bank of Scotland - Poor - 6% (976 votes)
M. HSBC - Great - 3% (578 votes)
N. HSBC - OK - 4% (663 votes)
O. HSBC - Poor - 4% (713 votes)
P. Lloyds TSB - Great - 3% (530 votes)
Q. Lloyds TSB - OK - 5% (836 votes)
R. Lloyds TSB - Poor - 5% (956 votes)
S. Nationwide - Great - 3% (561 votes)
T. Nationwide - OK - 3% (461 votes)
U. Nationwide - Poor - 2% (401 votes)
V. Natwest/RBS - Great - 4% (688 votes)
W. Natwest/RBS - OK - 5% (804 votes)
X. Natwest/RBS - Poor - 5% (924 votes)
Y. Santander/Alliance & Leicester - Great - 3% (459 votes)
Z. Santander/Alliance & Leicester - OK - 5% (816 votes)
Z2. Santander/Alliance & Leicester - Poor - 12% (2113 votes)

Total Votes: 17675

This poll has now closed, but you can still click ‘post reply’ to discuss below. Thanks



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sarahc1964

Why have the Alliance changed such a good automated system?
Three time now i have called over 5 days and each time i am on hold for 30 mins!! is this to make money out of us??
I asked the guy in customer services and was told it was because of the change over and parts of the automated system being down:mad:

daveandstella

I've had excellent service from First Direct for 15 years now but was lured to Santander by the £100 and interest on credit. BIG MISTAKE !!

I waited 2 weeks for three separate lots of security to arrive - then registered on the website. Then I got logged out (they said I must have clicked on the wrong thing !!) and had to go through it all again. 2 weeks later when I queried why my standing orders still hadn't been set up by their 'easy transfer' team and was told - wait 3 weeks. I waited 3 weeks and was told the request had never been received !! - Now another 3 weeks and some have been done but not all, and I still havent seen my £100 yet. I also agree with the post above, every time I ring I wait..and wait...and wait.... What a total mess. Wish I'd never bothered to be honest, once i've fulfilled the minimum to keep my £100 I'll be going back to first direct.

definitivefreak

Santander is definitely the worst. I was Abbey and had no trouble in 20 odd years. As soon as it became Santander..... Bah.

My card was swallowed by a cash machine nearly a month ago, supposedly cos it had a stolen marker on it. They sent a reissue to the wrong country. It was destroyed and another one was issued, but they sent it to the same place. It was then forwarded to my local branch, where I'd had it for 90 seconds before it was swallowed by their own machine. Supposedly because it also had a stolen marker on it. That incident was 11 days ago, and I'm still waiting on my new card. Every time I've been in touch with them, I get given supposed local branch phone numbers, but they're the number I've just dialled and got through to a call centre. In the branch, the folk just look terrified of me, probably because they don't know how to fix my problem. They have tried, even the manager has got involved, but it's the computer system itself that's causing the problem. It's very hard to cope without having a bank card. I live out in the countryside, so the branch isn't exactly in walking distance, and there's usually mad queues when I'm in there just to make a withdrawal with nothing but my driving licence. I haven't had any contact from the CRM about this (I've requested compensation), but I'm guessing it won't be long before I've found a new account with a smaller bank and said byebye to Santander for good.

BlueCow1975

Been with first direct for well over 10 years now and I have to say I cannot fault them. Polite helpful staff, easy phone banking, excellent online banking and they were superb when I had unauthorised use on my bank cards (twice!) - no fuss, immediate refund and new cards delivered within 3 days.

Simongw

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=34302955#post34302955

with 200 postings and nearly 10,000 views in about a month- re Santander. A lot of reading...but if you are considering them as your bank, well worth the trouble to check out current customer views!

roddydogs

Wheres Intelligent Finance?........yes i do know its part of Halifax, but shurely it should be separate.

bouncydog1

Vote here for HSBC - not everyone will agree by the comments posted on other bits of the site - but they have been really flexible over the years on mortgage arrangements - we still have local branches where you can go and chat to someone!

richardvc

Where are my lot, Citibank ?

gezzs

I'm still trying to close my Alliance & Leicester account after they charged me £225 in a week (£25 for nine different DD's), then a further £80 for being overdrawn FOR A WEEK - which only happened because A&L paid the DD's! I was in the process of moving accounts to First Direct (who have been EXTREMELY helpful). I'd advised my employer to pay my salary into my new FD account, then got a call from FD to say A&L had not sent my DD details through to them - after nearly three weeks! I tried to get my salary paid into A&L, but as I found out on a Saturday afternoon (on a bank holikday weekend) I had been too late. I phoned A&L as early as I could, and advised them of the issue, and that I would get enough money paid in that day to cover the DD's. They SAID they would make a note on the system. When I returned from holiday a week later, I had nine letters from A&L (one for each paid DD that had no funds) informing me I would be charged £25 for each one. One of the DD's was for £5 !!!

My case is currently with the ombudsman, so I'm hoping to get something back eventually - but I will moving my mortage from A&L as soon as possible and will NEVER use them again!

Fair charges...PAH!!!! :mad:

UPDATE: Big thanks to the Financial Ombudsman. After refusing A&L's first offer of £85 they fought on and got me a full refund - £335!!!

misterfish

We've been with Girobank, then A&L for well over 30 years and always had good service with quick access to online and telephone banking.

But, with the transfer to Santander the service has plummeted. As Simongw says, have a look at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=2566263 - currently 238 posts from people having problems.

Not only are there problems with the transfer to Santander, but the once excellent phone system is now abyssmal, usually being on hold for half an hour only to be told that they can only see Santander accounts and transferring you on with another long wait to someone that can access the A&L details.

How a major transfer of accounts can be so poorly planned and implemented, with what seems like little or no trapping and rectifying errors beggars belief.

I'm now into my fourth week of no access to my mother's accounts that I run under a registered Enduring Power of Attorney. It took me an hour and a half to ascertain that payments had been made into her account that would allow me to pay her specialist care home fees.

Misterfish