Metro bank - new customer review

anthonylees

Decided to open a joint current a/c with my wife, as the new Borehamwood branch had opened down the road from us. Like the idea of a new player, want to support it.

Seated with a worker at a nice new desk - no screens - horrible smell of poo coming from the mulch on the plant holders. Freexing cold as the automatic doors into the branch stayed open throughout the nearly 2 hours it took to open an account.

Offered a coffee - said worker then went away to make it herself, came back 15 minutes later with it. It took 90 minutes to open the account - staff clearly very customer focused and extremely pleasant, also clearly hopelessly trained in the PC systems. On finally opening the account, both debit cards had incorrect details on (additional initial in both names). Immediately offered £20 account credit due to the c**k ups.

Internet banking - set up my own passwords in branch - didn't work when I got home. Three calls over the weekend to get this sorted - no-one available to reset passwords - so will have to go into the branch again to do this and get new debit cards sorted.

First time I tried to use debit card it was declined - retailer's system apparently couldn't recognise a Mastercard debit card. Nice people, but a bunch of spanners, really.

Need I go on?

27col

Just so long as it was a bunch of spanners and not a bunch of spammers. Lets hope they improve with experience.

Olipro

anthonylees wrote: »

Decided to open a joint current a/c with my wife, as the new Borehamwood branch had opened down the road from us. Like the idea of a new player, want to support it.

Seated with a worker at a nice new desk - no screens - horrible smell of poo coming from the mulch on the plant holders. Freexing cold as the automatic doors into the branch stayed open throughout the nearly 2 hours it took to open an account.

Offered a coffee - said worker then went away to make it herself, came back 15 minutes later with it. It took 90 minutes to open the account - staff clearly very customer focused and extremely pleasant, also clearly hopelessly trained in the PC systems. On finally opening the account, both debit cards had incorrect details on (additional initial in both names). Immediately offered £20 account credit due to the c**k ups.

Internet banking - set up my own passwords in branch - didn't work when I got home. Three calls over the weekend to get this sorted - no-one available to reset passwords - so will have to go into the branch again to do this and get new debit cards sorted.

First time I tried to use debit card it was declined - retailer's system apparently couldn't recognise a Mastercard debit card. Nice people, but a bunch of spanners, really.

Need I go on?

Can't say I had any of the problems you described, everything was fine.

the fact it didn't work in a shop is the shop's fault, not theirs, if they aren't keeping BIN numbers up to date then it's their fault.

johnmoney05

Well, when I opened my account, the advisor insisted me log in once on his PC...so everything worked fine before I walked out the bank, yes, it took an hour, but I think it was acceptable. I had once just waited an hour to meet an advisor that was booked in advance with Abbey.

bubieyehyeh

A relative opened an account in about 20mins at the Holborn branch last weekend. When I opened mine at Holborn a few months ago it took about an hour. So they have definitely improved probably due to practice, though I would have prefered they more fully trained the staff before opening a branch.

Olipro

johnmoney05 wrote: »

Well, when I opened my account, the advisor insisted me log in once on his PC...so everything worked fine before I walked out the bank, yes, it took an hour, but I think it was acceptable. I had once just waited an hour to meet an advisor that was booked in advance with Abbey.

Well, at the end of the day, you're getting absolutely everything on the spot, so even if it's not as quick as 20 minutes, what other financial institution is going to give you that sort of experience?

RobertinHerts

Heard about the first Metro branch outside Greater London over on the Nationwide discussion here. OK so Borehamwood is still inside the M25. Rather keen to open an account there however I believe that they've not got 'Faster payments' yet. Is there any indication when they might have it set up?

What's their Internet banking service like to use?

Thanks.

Baldur

RobertinHerts wrote: »

I believe that they've not got 'Faster payments' yet. Is there any indication when they might have it set up?

Accordingto one of their CS reps, with whom I spoke yesterday, inward FPs are currently supported but outgoing ones are 'a work in progress', which they eventually hope to offer as their 'stores' increase in number.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

I know I risk being a bit controversial with this question, but why is anyone banking with this bank? Their rates are not competitive and the only thing I can see being a bonus is the extended opening hours.

They just seem like the Today newspaper. It seemed revolutionary at the time, a full colour newspaper when our papers at the time only printed the front page in colour at best. People eventually realised it was a load of hype and stopped buying it until it collapsed.

I would sooner have my money work for me and be in an account where I am getting a good return.

opinions4u

I think it will fail if it continues with its current pricing strategy.

There's a novelty factor and it's great if you take your dog for a walk in central London.

But beyond that, I don't get it.

adindas

People are mainly interested in their overseas Spending or Cash Withdrawal, as there is no charge for it.

It is the replacement of their Nationwide Flexi Account.

ADINDAS

CitySlicker wrote: »

I know I risk being a bit controversial with this question, but why is anyone banking with this bank? Their rates are not competitive and the only thing I can see being a bonus is the extended opening hours.

They just seem like the Today newspaper. It seemed revolutionary at the time, a full colour newspaper when our papers at the time only printed the front page in colour at best. People eventually realised it was a load of hype and stopped buying it until it collapsed.

I would sooner have my money work for me and be in an account where I am getting a good return.