Natwest/RBS 2.85% esaver

atypical

castle96 wrote: »

NW e-savings account is 1%. How long before the e-saver drops,, and will we find out ? Do you really have to look each day ?! You wouldn't know otherwise !

You're talking about the same account. Their online instant access account is called 'E-Savings'. The 2.85% rate applies to those who opened an account when the promotional bonus of 1.85% was running i.e. 1% standard rate + 1.85% bonus.

The standard rate is 1%. If that drops obviously everyones rate is reduced by the same, bonus or not. I doubt they would reduce though and if they did I'm sure you'd heard about it on this forum first!

h176

Sky News @ 11.40am today (Tuesday), & also on AOL news;

"Financial Services Authority fines RBS and it's subsidiary NatWest £2.8 million for it's poor handling of complaints, and inadequately trained staff."

Well, at least the FSA have done something about NatWest, I wonder how much (if any) of this relates to the E-saver fiasco?.

£2.8 million doesn't seem that much in relation to the bonuses that NatWest are now dishing out to themselves.............

Edit; "The group (NatWest & RBS) has come under renewed criticism over plans to award a £2.5m bonus to it's Head, Stephen Hester"....

Rollinghome

The story is on Reuters. It seems to relate to problems in 2009:

"The FSA said its investigation found an unacceptably high risk that customers may not have been treated fairly due to multiple failings in 2009 in the banks' approach to routine complaint handling." : http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE70A27E20110111

If so, despite the investigation being progress, they seem to have learned nothing.

This recent episode has been an astonishing demonstration of incompetent management. If instead of immediately resorting to lies and deception, they'd just admitted their error they could have impressed their customers by apologising for a "misunderstanding" and offering the expected interest at only a fraction of the eventual cost.

But, as a customer of many years, it's disappointing to see evidence of a culture of dishonesty that will probably need an change of management to eliminate. Must be frustrating for any honest staff at RBS to witness.

SnowMan

Lots of news items now including this BBC news item

I agree it does seem to be a failure of management in creating that culture of dishonesty although that doesn't come out in some of the news reports. You only have to look at Phil Sheehy's treatment of h176's complaint to realise the problems are high up in the organisation. That's not poor staff training that is inherent dishonesty of a senior employee. Agree it shouldn't reflect on the honest staff at RBS.

SimonM_2

Just heard about the FSA fine and thought I'd come here to see what sort of comments it had in this topic - pleased to see that there are already a few, and no doubt more as people get to hear the news.

Admittedly it isn't about the same complaint or time period as this complaint, but it shows to me that NatWest are still just as bad as when the FSA investigated them - something that my own personal experience of complaining since late 2009 had confirmed to me long ago, and has gone as far as a final response and to the FOS as I'm completely dissatisfied with the way that NatWest repeatedly mishandled my complaint.

I've got numerous other complaints with NatWest currently, some that have dragged on for months and seem no nearer to being resolved. I look forward to receiving £1000 goodwill payment from NatWest (after all they have to treat their customers consistently and fairly...) in relation to the e-savings complaint, which I now learn has been passed to the Customer Relations team as the team that were dealing with it seem unable to resolve it. Round we go again, I've been through all this before...

SimonM_2

h176 wrote: »

As the complaints dept's would not admit to the website being revised, I suggest you go straight to 'the top';

Mr Phil Sheehy,
Head of Savings,
RBS/NatWest Retail Products, Savings,
Level 2, Bankside 2,
90-100 Southwark Street,
LONDON,
SE1 0SW

Telephone: 020 3361 0190

Thank you for these details. I have previously requested that my complaint be raised to Phil Sheehy and was told that it isn't possible as it was being dealt with by the team who I raised the issue with originally. But now it's being dealt with by the Customer Relations team instead, so clearly I was just being fobbed off by a team that didn't want to raise it higher as I was requesting.

I'm sure the ombudsman will enjoy this, along with several other complaints from the 13 months (and counting).

SimonM_2

SnowMan wrote: »

Lots of news items now including this BBC news item

I agree it does seem to be a failure of management in creating that culture of dishonesty although that doesn't come out in some of the news reports. You only have to look at Phil Sheehy's treatment of h176's complaint to realise the problems are high up in the organisation. That's not poor staff training that is inherent dishonesty of a senior employee. Agree it shouldn't reflect on the honest staff at RBS.

There shouldn't be training issues with how the complaints process works with complaint team leaders, staff dealing at a higher level with complaints in the customer relation team, and even staff in the ombudsman response team at head office. Yet at all levels I have experienced "delays, shoddy investigations and inadequate explanations" (to quote the BBC article).

I believe it is intentionally "deliberate or reckless" and a culture of the bank at the level that complaints are handled. I'm sure that the customer facing staff (branch, call centres) are doing their very best. They seem to agree that things are wrong when you phone or visit a branch, but when it gets to the complaint handling (fob-off and deny) team it seems to be where this issue becomes all too obvious, time and time again.

h176

SimonM, with my case the NW Customer Care Team used to pass me up to the NW Customer Relations Unit. They would then discuss my complaint with me in a very gentle, soothing voice & make out that everything would be sorted without any further problems. I would then simply get passed back to the Customer Care Team, & back to square one!..... I went round this circle about four times.......

Go straight to the top!......

miller

h176 wrote: »

Go straight to the top!......

It's in their interests to get it sorted before 8 weeks is up, but they probably know most people will walk away at that point and not go to the FOS.

All too often letters from banks come from addresses and departments far and wide (the same with telephone numbers). Another distraction?

SimonM_2

The full "final notice" issued to RBS/NatWest can be read at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/final/rbs_11jan11.pdf

There is also further information, beyond what the major news websites have reported, at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2011/003.shtml

Seems to me that they're still breaching the areas that the FSA have fined them for. And that's not acceptable.