Misseling banks .... How about unfair customers?

ses6jwg

Azrael_1701 wrote: »

Some do get money actually.....

yeah... building society staff rather bizarrely.

Azrael_1701

ses6jwg wrote: »

yeah... building society staff rather bizarrely.

Not just building society staff... and sorry, I dont see what difference that makes.

ses6jwg

usually bank staff get points for sales rather than hard cash.. the points add up to cash.

building society staff usually get hard cash per sale for things like credit suisse guaranteed equity bonds.

"i love my cuddly wuddly local society"

G_M

What this shows is that there is a need for customer service officers like the OP to

1) be far better trained
2) be far more honest
3) be driven by the customer's need, not commission or the bank's interests
4) have far better communication skills (if the spoken skills are as poor as the written skills I'd have walked out)

Azrael_1701

ses6jwg wrote: »

usually bank staff get points for sales rather than hard cash.. the points add up to cash.

building society staff usually get hard cash per sale for things like credit suisse guaranteed equity bonds.

"i love my cuddly wuddly local society"

Cant speak for 'usually' but at the one bank where i have experience, it is a varying cash amount depending on product and other factors.

chambta

G_M wrote: »

What this shows is that there is a need for customer service officers like the OP to

1) be far better trained
2) be far more honest
3) be driven by the customer's need, not commission or the bank's interests
4) have far better communication skills (if the spoken skills are as poor as the written skills I'd have walked out)

In general I absolutely agree but how, from the OP's post, have you come to the conclusion that he or she is not 'driven by the customer's need'?

hcb42

I think people cry mis-sold more and more, because there is more publicity...how many threads have there been on these sites over mis selling on endowments, you would have to be living in a cave not to know the market can underperform or overperform. And "being an FTB" is another classic excuse.

I expect the customer has selective memory - Or their family has said what the heck are you paying that fee for.

OP should probably have just given the facts of accounts available. Leave it for customer to deduce they can be £250 bettr off a year

puddle96

Based on my experiences of helping my 81 year old mother re invest her life savings yesterday I have no reason to doubt that the OP did what she said ( I spoke to the same advisors from 3 different institutions as Mum did at her request and with her permission) both by phone and face to face. They spoke softly (mum is hard of hearing), quickly (she needs time to process the information) and to script - I understood the information given but had to explain it to my mum in simpler terms and reiterate it again today. They were very friendly but this distracted her.
Perhaps the problem was not the message given but the means of delivery - a one size fits all approach doesn't always work.Yesterday I sadly watched consecutive dealings with 3 different financial institutions reduce my mum from a reasonably capable and confident older lady, assured of what she was doing into a very stressed old dear incapable of even writing a cheque out. Happily she's more her usual normal irritating self today.
Puddle

Loughton_Monkey

I found the OP's perception of this case underlines very strongly why we don't trust banks.

What we have, here, is a couple wanting to be 'advised'. Let me rule out any concept that this Fixed Rate ISA was 'market leading' to the extent of £100's. No. It was almost certainly a reasonably good rate - available elsewhere without conditions.

So what he was saying is "Yes, we can do better on your ISA. But we have our own 'rules' in the bank which prohibit you, as a customer, from partaking with us. However, if you pay £150 extra, for a service you don't need; for a service that doesn't give you much benefit because you don't qualify for most of the 'freebies'; then we will allow you to have this product." [That they could have bought elsewhere].

How would the OP like the situation of he had an aging deaf and blind mother. She needs a very large top of the range fridge freezer. Everything in one place - easy to get to. It costs £2,000. "But if you buy this TV set for £150, we will give you a 20% discount on the fridge, saving you £400." On the way out, at the shop next door, there's that fridge freezer, on special offer for £1,599?

At least this lady might be able to sell the TV for £75. But his poor customer can hardly sell her £150 of 'benefits' on the fee-paying account.

None of this is probably illegal. But shabby value and advice for sure.

IrishGypsy

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

..... None of this is probably illegal. But shabby value and advice for sure.

If people want true impartial 'advice' then they should see an unbiased IFA (which they'll then have to pay for), it's as simple as that. A Bank is a business (not a charity) and bank-staff advising customers to go elsewhere will get an individual fired in super-quick time! And last time I checked, said banking staff STILL have their own bills to pay like the rest of us (more so with the combination of high inflation and a general lack of jobs on offer).

Nobody pops into the branch where I work and expect to be provided with unbiased advice. They realise that I'm here to offer Santander products, my job is to offer them the best ones - from Santander's range - that suit their needs (whilst giving them as much interest as possible if I can). THAT is what I'm paid to do.

EG: Customer came in with £70k in her current account paying very little. A quick conversation later, she was earning around £1k per year more interest in an instant access savings account with us. She went away really happy that time was spent with her, assessing her circumstances (whilst also making her 'better off' - compared to what she was previously earning on the money) and I done my job by keeping the funds with Santander.

And as has been said before, you won't find Tesco's staff telling customers that morrisons has X product cheaper than them, when the customer has alerady decided to shop at Tesco's. It'd be commercial suicide!