MSE News: Barclays tops banking complaints league table

Former_MSE_Helen

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"Figures from the FSA show the giant received the most official gripes of any bank during the second half of 2010" ..."

Read the full story:
Barclays tops banking complaints league table

dtsazza

They must have pulled out all the stops to steal this award away from the mighty Santander! :rotfl:

Lokolo_2

This quite surprises me, I've been a Barclays customer for about 16 years and hold several accounts with them, never had a single problem (touchwood!)

jonesMUFCforever

It surprised me too - perhaps Santander have lost more customers than they care to admit.
Less customers = less complaints LOL

opinions4u

Better measure than usual, but still not the clarity to help find the truth.

This is complaints per 1,000 accounts. Current accounts? Or does it include savings accounts, credit card accounts, loan accounts etc as well?

Banking complaints. Does that just mean complaints about current accounts or does that also include other products such as savings?

Assuming it means all of these, then you would expect providers with a bigger current account base to attract more complaints. Afterall, the typical current account has more transactions on it than the typical savings account.

Santander will, I guess, have far fewer current accounts than Barclays (although siginificantly more savings accounts). As such, it is clear that Barclays, Lloyds, Nat West and RBS should all attract more complaints than Santander. But Santander's remarkable talents pushed them up to second in the table. Reading between the lines I'd say this does confirm them as the bank most likely to generate a complaint.

Other questions also leap out. Why are Lloyds TSB, C&G, BOS and Halifax combined as Lloyds Banking Group when RBS and Nat West are treated as individual entities? Is there something standing out in one of the brands that is hidden by this? What about the likes of Co-op, Smile, First Direct etc who are widely believed to have stronger service standards?

Helpful data, but still lacking in clarity as to who is really rubbish and why.

DizzleUK

Personally, I would be more inclined to see a breakdown of the types of complaint received.

Santander are well known for all sorts of messes with account openings, account closures and the suchlike.

If 4 out of the 5.6 complaints to Barclays are about their foreign call centres, then that would be infinitely better than say, 3 out of 5 Santander complaints being about a balls-up on a current account overdraft.

Some complaints are more consequential than others.

Dr_Cuckoo3

opinions4u wrote: »

This is complaints per 1,000 accounts. Current accounts? Or does it include savings accounts, credit card accounts, loan accounts etc as well?

Banking complaints. Does that just mean complaints about current accounts or does that also include other products such as savings?

It must include current accounts , savings and credit cards under "banking" as West Bromwich appear in the tables and only offer savings account banking products
MBNA appear in the tables and only offer credit card banking products

sirmarcus

opinions4u wrote: »

Better measure than usual, but still not the clarity to help find the truth.

This is complaints per 1,000 accounts. Current accounts? Or does it include savings accounts, credit card accounts, loan accounts etc as well?

Looks as though it uncludes everything http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/mar/30/barclays-britains-most-complained-about-bank and I don't buy the guardian.

Dr_Cuckoo3

opinions4u wrote: »

Why are Lloyds TSB, C&G, BOS and Halifax combined as Lloyds Banking Group when RBS and Nat West are treated as individual entities? Is there something standing out in one of the brands that is hidden by this?

The MSE journalist has added those together - The FSA tables list them separately under their respective banking licenses

Old_Git

I phoned Barclay's last week .They told me they couldn't discuss my account with me as I didn't pass there security test .I asked what information they required they wouldn't tell me as I didn't pass the test .
I asked to be put through to the local branch ,they couldn't even spell the name of the Town.

Dr_Cuckoo3

If you add Santander Cards UK Ltd's 16324 banking complaints to Santander UK plc's 165,052 banking complaints you get 181,376

Santander UK Plc's listing includes Santander Cards Ltd , but not Santander Cards UK Ltd or Santander Consumer Credit Services Ltd - these both provide credit card banking products