Appalling service from Alliance & Leicester

bowf

Good grief...
I asked the A+L to set up one Standing order for me.
One.
They can't even get that right.
They have completely reversed the first three digits of the destination account.
I.E.,instead of reading 123 it reads 321....
How on earth did they manage that ???!!!!
If I hadn't noticed now god knows how late some payments would have been as a result of insufficient funds.... >:(

hkw1

I wrote to A&L last week to complain about how terrible their transfer service was. My final sentence said something about looking forward to hearing from them within 21 days or my account would be closed and they needn't think I was paying their charges. One week later my account has been credited with all the charges (£75 for their mistakes, plus additional ones still pending!) and someone rang me on Wednesday afternoon and apologised for the service and grovelled like never before. I've checked my account today and my salary has finally made it to the right account and all my SOs and DDs have been set up, so hopefully, all should now be ok. <keeps fingers crossed>

sergeant121

Good grief...
I asked the A+L to set up one Standing order for me.
One.
They can't even get that right.
They have completely reversed the first three digits of the destination account.
I.E.,instead of reading 123 it reads 321....
How on earth did they manage that ???!!!!
If I hadn't noticed now god knows how late some payments would have been as a result of insufficient funds.... >:(

When the good lady and I opened Halifax Regular Saver accounts, we both completed Standing Order forms so money would be transferred from our joint A&L Current A/C each month.

Luckily, I decided to 'watch' the transactions online in the first month and noticed mine had gone through correctly but hers had not - and had been returned 'failed'.

It transpired they had entered their own Sort Code as the destination bank's Sort Code!

Doh! ::)

MarkyMarkD

I don't know if you all realise this, but if you have an A&L account and have registered for Internet Banking, you can see the full details of all your SOs and DDs on the website. So if you check them before the payments are due, you can tell (a) that they have been set up at all and (b) that the amounts and account details are correct.

Hope this helps!

MMD

PeterPauper

Having read everyone else's experience of the long drawnout process of changing my current account to A&Ls Premier Plus. Here is my two-penny worth:

1. Applied at beginning of August, account opened on the 18th...and still its not completed, due in the main to the switching service.

2. Do not use the switching service, its hopeless. Do it all yourself....its far far quicker and you KNOW its been done. Got the letter confirming the transfers had been completed but, out of curiosity phoned each of companies/utilities I had DD/SOs with. Not one of them had known of this or been informed!!

3. Have had First Direct current account for over 10 years and has been excellent, no trouble at all, but couldnt compare the 5.37% to my 'orrible 0.1%!! Now have had 2 current accounts open for nearly 3 months.

4. Last month got advance notification of charges when I logged on the net but turned out to be an error.

5. I have put all these problems down to the overwhelming demand for the account so I'll bear with it for the time being. But theres no excuse for the rudeness that some people have experienced in their telephone dealings. Luckily I have had only good experiences....so far!!

6. May see new leaves on the trees when everything has settled down!! Gawd, hope I'm joking!!!

Jane.tweedynn

My account opening took about 2 weeks during August and yes they were a little bit slow returning paperwork but 2 weeks isn't bad.

Got to admit it was a bit of a culture shock moving from Barclays to A&L with regard to their website but I have now got used to it. It is a bit annoying not seeing inter-account transfers as being immediate and not being able to change or delete payees and not having such a extensive list of pre-programmed payees like Barclays does.

As for their automated service, which does appear to be the problem on these threads, I chose against using it, infact I didn't even consider it.

Why anyone choose to use it I have no idea, I changed all my direct debits (seven in total) in about 20 minutes and they had all been completed within a week as I saw the entries appear on the A&L account, Egg and Powergen appeared within a couple of days. All but one could be changed on-line, the other I had to phone an helpdesk. Compare!

stormCat99

Sadly I can only echo all the negative comments I can see here. My partner and I both applied to switch our current accounts from LloydsTSB, as our current 0% OD period ends soon.

I sent off the DD/SO form with the signed authority to open the account (in same envelope), and a few days later received confirmation that they'd had the signed authority BUT they enclosed another DD/SO form and asked me to sent it in. So somehow, they had received the one form, but not the other which was in the same envelope ???

This is where problems began. Called Cust. Services to see what was happening, and was told that the signed authority to open the account, and the SO/DD form should go to different addresses and perhaps the 'letter I received could have been clearer' - insinuating that I was at fault. The letter couldn't have been clearer, as it states that you should send both back in the provided envelope.

Anyway, I shan't bore you all with the gory details, but almost every day for the last 3 weeks I have had to call either Cust. Services or Account Transfer (who only work limited hours so I have to call when at work), and on each occasion the quickest that anyone has answered my call is about 40 mins. Longest is 1hr. They've supposedly sent me the SO/DD form another 3 times now, but I've still not received it. As well as the original form I've sent them another one - recorded delivery, which they STILL haven't received apparently.

On one occasion, had a ridiculous conversation with Account Transfer where she told me that they didn't know if they'd received my transfer form or not. I'd been asking if there was not some way to check, and after about 15 mins of arguing she mentioned that she couldn't check because the pile of unprocessed forms was 'round the corner'!! I asked if she could not 'go around the corner' to have a look then, to which she replied that she 'supposed so'! Well I didn't know what to say >:( Another person openly admitted that as they receive a lot of mail, things are often routed to the wrong department.

Every time I call I am promised that the relevant people will call me the following day, but until a couple of days ago NO ONE had EVER called me.

Giving up the will to live with this now. Wouldn't be worth the hassle if it wasn't for the interest free OD, and the only thing keeping me going is that once I finally DO get the account up and running, I will NEVER have to call A&L again as I bank fully online.

My partner received his second duplicate SO/DD form the other day, so I fear that the same story is starting with his attempt to switch too... >:(

Luckily have kept record from begnning of who I spoke to and when, and how long I was on hold for etc. They will be receiving a very lengthy complaint letter sometime soon - if indeed they can manage to route it t the correct department.

robnye

boots_babe,

someone mentioned on another post about finding out the CEO's name and address and sending the complaint by recorded/special delivery to them

stormCat99

Thanks robnye, I will do a search and see if I can find it.

raydarman

I've never been insenced enough to post messages on chat forums, howeve A&L just make my blood boil >:( !!!
I opened my Premier Account on the 12th September with all the promises of an easy transfer, got all the forms filled them in sent back, and yes admitidly i did get my debit cards promptly and only waited about 5 mins on the phone for an answer. It's the DD transfer process that has really got under my skin. i quote
" it's so easy to transfer your account to alliance & leicester, our two step process takes out all the hassle.
1. fill in the forms
2. let Allicance & leicester take care of the rest. "

Well i filled in the forms on the 15th and sent them back, and heard nothing. Like most people remembering things like a bank is supposed to contact me is not always in the forfront of my mind so it got to the 2nd Nov before i got round to contacting them. So on the 3rd i got my second welcome pack with the second letter telling me how easy it is going to be, funny how in the phone this 2 step process has now turned into a 3 step process where they will confirm the transfers in writing before comencing with them. Dutifully sent the forms back on the 4th and waited until the 12th Nov and called again, actually spoke to a lady in the switching dept (only because i took an afternoon off work!!) she told me they had not recieved anything but they were working through a back log and that i should call back in a weeks time to see how things had developed!!

Well here we are a week later and guess what no letter from A&L and after speaking to the customer service dept (only a 5 min wait) they tell me that there has been no activity on my acount and that i should call the switching dept open 9-4.30.
MAJOR FRUSTRATION. >:(

I am currently with barclays who although rip off mercants are excellent when it come to customer service and i always get things actioned when i ask them. I've always thought of A&L and a prim and proper bank but they acting like a bunch of monkeys over this and if i don't get an answers soon i'l vote with my feet and go elsewhere.

Also has anyone noticed how keen all of the call center operatives are to tell you that you are speaking to 'so and so' in liverpool, as if mupperty based in liverpool is better than muppety based in dehli!!! (not directed at liverpudlians just A&L)