Delay opening Abbey postal ISA

swebber

I'm trying to take out a Isa with them, but have had to book three weeks in advance at my local branch.

Not really a problem, but I guess it demonstrates they are still V busy.

beebutterfield

Just to let you know I went in to our Abbey branch on Thursday last week, opened an abbey postal isa with £20 and it was all sorted in half an hour. You can put in anything from £1 to £3000 in the branch and they give you your account number there and then. I really didnt have any problems with them what so ever. I am now hoping to move my previous ISA balance over and all I have to do is give them the exact balance and account number and sign and they do the rest. Can't fault the service so far, they have been great. I will let you know if I have spoken too soon!

Lychee

thanks for the replies I can't believe one would need to book an appointment with the bank... ! and I'm not too trusting when it comes to asking banks to transfer balances from a different bank account :P hope everything goes smoothly for you beebutterfield but yes, please do let me know if you have any problems with the ISA transfer!

oscarhugo

Had virtually no problems opening up Monthly Saver accounts - both self & wife.

Postal ISA was another matter entirely however.... There was a ****-up initially regarding which existing account the funds should have been transferred from and, as a result, from originally going in-branch at Ludgate Circus at the end of July, the a/c was finally up-and-running - with the aid of friendly & helpful "Maz" in-branch - by the beginning of November... (With interest backdated to end-July of course). In the meantime, I had seen that others had written to financial "problem pages" with similar problems & Abbey had given them £100 compensation. I had to write a letter [to address given to me by the branch] requesting same. Some weeks later Abbey wrote to me with a £50 cheque. When I found time a coupla weeks later, I wrote again saying I thought I deserved £100. This produced another £50 cheque! Try try again..

oscarhugo

That **** in my previous post was not as rude as it looks! It's obviously an over-zealous editor -- it was only the word for a male chicken & not a euphemism for sexual intercourse as might be thought. (also what's all that "I'm a farmer, I farm crows" stuff? It's nothing to do with me. Funny new software, this!

Reaper

Yes the software is certainly over-zealous. In the past I quoted a user called "Wallet watch" but it changed his name to "Walle****ch" because it thought the 4 letters in the middle were rude! (There is not a space in his name but I had to add one or it would have done it again).

As for the crows business, lots of people have ended up with other peoples signatures. Click on the "User CP" above and then you can edit your signature and remove it.

moneyandmountains

Lychee wrote:

is everyone still having problems with Abbey?

I've just found out about their Fixed Monthly savings account but it won't be worth the hassle everyone else has been experiencing!

Abbey opened my Fixed Monthly savings account at the branch when I turned up with no booking. Think I had to wait 5 minutes!

It is generally better to open the Postal ISA at a branch if you can, after all Abbey do have reasonable Saturday hours for those who work. That way your application will be dated from the opening day at the branch. I think that Abbey was recommending this to people who phoned up before Christmas. 15 minute wait to open my Postal ISA.

[Deleted User]

This is not a recent problem, it must be two or three years since I had the same problem opening my ISA. I handed the cheque in at the branch and they sat on it for over a month before opening the account. And NO, I didn't get the interest backdated. That's about £50 I lost!

oscarhugo

As mentioned before, my advice to anyone with long delays in opening Abbey Postal ISA is to WRITE AND ASK FOR £100 COMPENSATION !! * And if they try & fob you off with £50, write [or it's cheaper by fax on 18866 ! ] again and say you deserve £100. This is what i did & I got £50 & then another £50 [as well as interest backdated to time of first application].

Good luck. Go for it !

*Ask at your branch for the address to write to. Or, if someone wants to ask me, I may be able to trawl up the address from my records.

davidcampbell

we did have lots of problems with our postal isa.

man reason being we launched the product at 5.35% and at that time, there were 2 products on the market of a similar rate (marks and spencers were one, cant recall the other) - i think we were marginally better. within 10 days of our launch both these products were withdrawn and as a result we got swamped

this is no excuse for the delays we have caused people, but hope it helps to partly explain them.

depending on the size of the branch, some wont need you to book an appointment but cant hurt to do so. call 08457654321 or 08459724724 during branch opening hours and it can be booked in for you.

if you want to write to our isa dept ........

Abbey national PLC
Abbey House
287-301 St Vincent Street
Glasgow
G2 5HN



DC