Metro bank - new customer review

alanq

I opened a current account. One hour waiting for an agent to become free. I can see why they provide toilets for customer use - they need them if they take up all the offers of drinks while they wait.

Printer wasn't working so everything had to be written out by hand. Surely a BRANCH (I refuse to call it a store) should have more than one printer. Account opening seemed efficient enough otherwise. As I didn't have photo ID I was informed that I could not have my card issued on the spot. It would have to be posted. I expected the card within the next couple of days but instead the PIN arrived a few days later and the card after a week. The letter with the card said that before I could use it I would have to activate it either by phone or by revisiting a [BRANCH] .

On arriving the greeter informed me that if I had a PIN that was all I needed as the card was already active. I told him this was contrary to what the letter said but tried to check my balance at an ATM to humour him. "Unauthorised Transaction Attempted". Went to the counter and made a small deposit and asked the teller to activate my card. "All done". I went to the ATM again the card was still not active. Returned to the same teller. Puzzled teller offered no explanation nor apology for not doing as I had requested. Asked to try the card in the ATM again so that she knew all was OK. It was OK which was just as well because in the minute it took me to do the requested check she had disappeared.

I had read here bad reports of Metrobank online banking. It doesn't seem that bad although I have lost my connection once. Beginner's luck?

Nothing about Metrobank says to me that it is providing a superior customer service experience to that of other High Street banks. I opened the account despite the gimmicks not because of them.

Metro_Bank_Representative

alanq wrote: »

I opened a current account. One hour waiting for an agent to become free. I can see why they provide toilets for customer use - they need them if they take up all the offers of drinks while they wait.

Printer wasn't working so everything had to be written out by hand. Surely a BRANCH (I refuse to call it a store) should have more than one printer. Account opening seemed efficient enough otherwise. As I didn't have photo ID I was informed that I could not have my card issued on the spot. It would have to be posted. I expected the card within the next couple of days but instead the PIN arrived a few days later and the card after a week. The letter with the card said that before I could use it I would have to activate it either by phone or by revisiting a [BRANCH] .

On arriving the greeter informed me that if I had a PIN that was all I needed as the card was already active. I told him this was contrary to what the letter said but tried to check my balance at an ATM to humour him. "Unauthorised Transaction Attempted". Went to the counter and made a small deposit and asked the teller to activate my card. "All done". I went to the ATM again the card was still not active. Returned to the same teller. Puzzled teller offered no explanation nor apology for not doing as I had requested. Asked to try the card in the ATM again so that she knew all was OK. It was OK which was just as well because in the minute it took me to do the requested check she had disappeared.

I had read here bad reports of Metrobank online banking. It doesn't seem that bad although I have lost my connection once. Beginner's luck?

Nothing about Metrobank says to me that it is providing a superior customer service experience to that of other High Street banks. I opened the account despite the gimmicks not because of them.

Hi Alan,

Thanks for this. I'd like to look into this further. Would you please email [EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL] with details including the date you went in and the store you visited?

Thank you

Doc_N

Metro_Bank_Representative wrote: »

Our customers are extremely important to us and we’re very sorry to hear of some of the issues you’ve experienced. We’d really like the opportunity to resolve these as quickly as possible for you all.

Please send full details, along with your name, customer number and any store details to [EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL] and we will contact you individually.

Many thanks for all your feedback.

Doc_N wrote: »

Thanks - though I (and many, many others) have been complaining directly to Metro Bank for a matter of years about these issues to no avail. The answer is always the same - we know the problems, and we're trying to resolve them.

Unfortunately, though, nothing ever changes. Metro Bank never has the resources needed, and the problems remain.

Three key issues for me (others will doubtless add their own):

1 Faster Payments - a matter of seconds with most banks, but hours with Metro Bank.

2 The website - just awful. Slow, amateurish, looks and feels several years out of date. I do wonder just how secure it is, too.

3 Customer service - the staff are not properly trained. They do their best, but they are frequently unable to answer basic questions.

The gold standard is First Direct. Metro Bank is right at the other end of the scale, I'm afraid, and not even approaching the poor standards set by Santander.

Metro_Bank_Representative wrote: »

Hi Alan,

Thanks for this. I'd like to look into this further. Would you please email [EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL] with details including the date you went in and the store you visited?

Thank you

Hi Metro Bank Representative!

This whole thread is a pretty bad advert for Metro Bank, isn't it? Particularly for a newish bank that tries to claim that it offers better customer service than other banks. It must be losing you a lot of potential customers.

I posted some major concerns for you some time ago (see above) but you didn't bother to answer them, which unfortunately seems to be par for the course with Metro Bank.

Would you care to comment, please?

alanq

Metro_Bank_Representative wrote: »

Hi Alan,

Thanks for this. I'd like to look into this further. Would you please email [EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL] with details including the date you went in and the store you visited?

Thank you

I have sent an email as requested.

Metro_Bank_Representative

Doc_N wrote: »

Hi Metro Bank Representative!

This whole thread is a pretty bad advert for Metro Bank, isn't it? Particularly for a newish bank that tries to claim that it offers better customer service than other banks. It must be losing you a lot of potential customers.

I posted some major concerns for you some time ago (see above) but you didn't bother to answer them, which unfortunately seems to be par for the course with Metro Bank.

Would you care to comment, please?

Hi Doc

Thank you for this. We take customer feedback seriously and would like to talk to you about this further. Please would you email your details (including name, customer number and contact details) to [EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL]? One of our team will be in touch.

Thank you

Doc_N

Metro_Bank_Representative wrote: »

Hi Doc

Thank you for this. We take customer feedback seriously and would like to talk to you about this further. Please would you email your details (including name, customer number and contact details) to [EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL]? One of our team will be in touch.

Thank you

Thanks for the offer, but I've already been down this route some considerable time ago and achieved nothing. Things are as bad now as they were then.

The specific points I raised in this forum (along with many others) were these:

1 Faster Payments - a matter of seconds with most banks, but hours with Metro Bank.

2 The website - just awful. Slow, amateurish, looks and feels several years out of date. I do wonder just how secure it is, too.

3 Customer service - the staff are not properly trained. They do their best, but they are frequently unable to answer basic questions.

Can you not provide answers so that we can all see what's going on, and what's being done to improve things, please?

Metro_Bank_Representative

Doc_N wrote: »

Thanks for the offer, but I've already been down this route some considerable time ago and achieved nothing. Things are as bad now as they were then.

The specific points I raised in this forum (along with many others) were these:

1 Faster Payments - a matter of seconds with most banks, but hours with Metro Bank.

2 The website - just awful. Slow, amateurish, looks and feels several years out of date. I do wonder just how secure it is, too.

3 Customer service - the staff are not properly trained. They do their best, but they are frequently unable to answer basic questions.

Can you not provide answers so that we can all see what's going on, and what's being done to improve things, please?

Of course. We hope this provides some clarity but please do let us know if you have any further questions.

Faster payments from all banks can take up to 24 hours. All banks that are part of the Faster Payments scheme confirm on their websites that the payment will usually arrive on the same day, and that some payments will be available more quickly than others.

We’ll shortly be relaunching our internet banking for personal customers. If you’d like to be involved in the preview period then please let us know - we’d welcome your feedback. Regarding security, we use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption to protect all network traffic between your computer and our systems. All information travelling to and from our website is safe against interception by third parties.

Regarding our colleagues, we’re very sorry you feel this way. We can assure you that all our colleagues undertake continual training to ensure they give the very best service to customers. If you have any specific examples then please do send them to [EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL] so that we can look into them in more detail.


Many thanks

Metro_Bank_Representative

alanq wrote: »

I have sent an email as requested.

Many thanks for getting in touch. Could you please email the same address ([EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL]) with your name, customer number and contact details so that we can give you a call?

Thank you

alanq

Metro_Bank_Representative wrote: »

Many thanks for getting in touch. Could you please email the same address ([EMAIL="feedback@metrobank.plc.uk"]feedback@metrobank.plc.uk[/EMAIL]) with your name, customer number and contact details so that we can give you a call?

Thank you

That is not information that I am prepared to entrust to an email. I am willing to send a secure message if that is acceptable.

Dr_Cuckoo3

Metro_Bank_Representative wrote: »

Of course. We hope this provides some clarity but please do let us know if you have any further questions.

Faster payments from all banks can take up to 24 hours. All banks that are part of the Faster Payments scheme confirm on their websites that the payment will usually arrive on the same day, and that some payments will be available more quickly than others.

Highlighting this post to show that Metro Bank have clarified that they are content with the time they take to send faster payments and credit faster payments to accounts (it is within their control).

Anyone hoping for faster payments within seconds is wasting their time - talk to the hand.

Barclays , Natwest , HSBC , RBS , Lloyds TSB , Halifax , Bank of Scotland , M&S , First Direct , Santander ,Nationwide,Tesco , Citibank and COOP Bank all send and receive faster payments instantly (within a few seconds ,CO-OP may take up to 5 minutes to receive).

Metro Bank are happy to take an hour or more