A&L internet helpdesk - has this happened to anyone else??

maccy_d_2

Woohoo! My first post in any forum, EVER!!

I've been following this site for roughly three years now and I love it (used to just go for the freebies but now I've got older I base all my financial decisions from info off this site!!). However, I've never felt strongly enough about something to warrant posting on a forum, but I feel this needs to be said.

I just rang up Alliance and Leceister today regarding my new Premier Direct current account. It's been open for four weeks and I still hadn't received my internet banking details. Being a good lil' moneysaver, I used the saynoto0870 website to get the geographical number (I refuse to give banks more of my money than they need). Whilst talking to the man on the phone he asked me to confirm my home telephone number, which I did. He then goes on to say that I was NOT ALLOWED to ring them using the geographical number as it is meant for callers from outside of the UK and I may have had to wait longer for them to answer my call!!! He said I should have used the 0845 number instead! When I asked him why I wasn't allowed to call the geographical number he couldn't give me a straight answer. He was helpful and did sort out my query though.

Has this happened to anyone else??


PS - Sorry if this is in the wrong forum but I thought this one was the most suitable.

crawley_girl

LOL! How funny!

Not for you I'm sure, but how dare they tell you that and then not give you a straight answer!!!

I have recently opened the same account and had to phone up for some reason. I didn't have my telephone banking password and then woman I spoke to got grotty with me. When I said that I didn't have the said password, she was insistant that it had been sent out and I must have lost it... rude madam!!!

But you know what, I'll continue to use saynoto0870 to call whoever I want too and A&L or anyone else can't stop me!!!

:heartpuls CG :heartpuls

masonic

They seem to insist that those numbers go though to different locations.

IIRC, they have a freephone number for credit card applications that you can use to get through to telephone banking. They will transfer your call to the internet helpdesk. It obviously takes a little longer, but it is free.

maccy_d_2

Thanks for the replies.

To be fair to the man he wasn't rude with me, but I don't see how they can tell me what number to ring either. It turned out that I was already registered with the A&L internet banking, but from when I signed up to their Direct ISA in April (which I then immediately cancelled as the rate dropped). I would have thought that the internet banking would have been cancelled as well... apparently not though.

crawley_girl: I too will carry on using saytonot0870, I'm not gonna give my hard-earned pennies to a bank who earn more than me in a minute than I do in a year... no matter how good their current account is!!

regularsaver1

I thought that 0845 wasn't a bad price?

masonic

regularsaver1 wrote:

I thought that 0845 wasn't a bad price?

It depends when you call. It's 3ppm at peak times; more if you are not calling from a BT landline. A corresponding geographic call might cost you nothing.

YorkshireBoy

masonic wrote:

IIRC, they have a freephone number for credit card applications that you can use to get through to telephone banking. They will transfer your call to the internet helpdesk. It obviously takes a little longer, but it is free.

If you're happy to play with the "press 3 for..." etc, you can navigate your own way through the (0800 freephone) automated system. Just make a note of the 'sequence' for future use.

maccy_d_2

Thanks yorkshire boy, might try that, I don't mind talking to a machine if it's free!

Dagobert

maccy_d wrote:

I just rang up Alliance and Leceister today ... I used the saynoto0870 website to get the geographical number ... He then goes on to say that I was NOT ALLOWED to ring them using the geographical number

Has this happened to anyone else??

Yes. If you want to use the geographical number, you need to prefix it with 141 to hide the caller id. When asked where you are calling from you need to pretend that you are abroad. They even ask which country you are calling from.

You can save the hassle though if using their credit card freefone number as has been pointerd out before.