And the pointless phonecall of the day award goes to...

birkee

whitewater wrote: »

that was included in number 1 ;-)

its the nature of the business, if you have say a 10k sum due into an account paying 0.1% it is in your interests for the bank to call you and let you know about other products paying more.

It's in there interest (the person calling) as they have a sales target.

In my case, they've not called me.
Why should they, when they've got the money paying 0.1% interest anyway.
I've just upped one account to 10K, but I'm really really really not expecting a phone call. I'll have to go and deal with it myself.
That's if I can get an appointment, and I can find a phone number for my local branch to make one.
Or, as is usually the case, I have to go into the branch to make an appointment, and then again to attend the appointment. (Which they've never kept at the appointed time yet!)

If they want my business, why does their manner indicate they are doing me a favour just talking to me?
Mind you! When they want your other business, like house or car insurance etc, they fall over themselves.

birkee

ses6jwg wrote: »

If you do everything online and never walk into a branch then it probably makes no odds to you, but if you are a regular user of a local branch but do nothing to support that branch then you only have yourself to blame if it is ever closed, very much like a local Post Office.

I really had to laugh at this!
Yes, I can see where you are coming from, and the logic is there, but.....
In my local High St, my bank has two branches within a hundred yards, and in town, it has another two branches within two hundred yards.
Logic says, that they will close the earlier one soon, but it must be 12 months since the second one opened nearby in both cases.

Can't talk to anybody though, you have to make an appointment. Not on-line, not by phone as they don't reveal local branch telephone numbers.

Then as all my income is by electronic transfer in, and all my cash out is via ATM, and direct debits pay all my bills, how is it OUR fault if the staff don't make sales targets, or we don't use the branch?

What do we need it for?
Oh yes, to make phone calls to sell insurance etc.

premierfella

ses6jwg wrote: »

The demeaning and mocking attitude of certain members of this site towards bank staff never fails to amuse me.
....
Yes, bank staff have sales targets. Does this make them evil? Certainly not. Do these targets automatically preclude them from trying to act in your best interests? No.
....
People on here mock and scoff at "the dastardly sales tactics" of bank staff, but what they often to fail to realise is that 95% of the population are financially illiterate.
....
The other one that always gets me is the people who do everything online, not because it is easier or more convenient in some cases which could be seen as a perfectly good reason to bank online, but to purposefully avoid branch staff gaining any commission.
....
The fact of the matter is that when banks assess the viability of branches nowadays it is not based on how many people withdraw from the ATM or how many people pay their cheques in, it is based on the branches SALES.

Some fair points made. I am always polite to the sales calls I receive - I know they have a job to do and targets to meet and I try and keep the calls as brief as possible because I don't want them wasting their time on me.

On the online vs branch points, if it were easier to deal with branch staff I would be happy to open products through branches. However, the reality at the bank branches around my work area is that you have to wait for the privilege of seeing an advisor, even if you have an appointment, and invariably they persist in trying to sell me items that I have clearly indicated at the start that I don't want (e.g. insurance). If you are very unlucky you get the hard sell - which I can brush off but I feel sorry for financially less able customers who end up with products which they don't really need or which are poor value for them (examples include the endless posts we see on here regarding packaged accounts - which based on the information in the posts appear to be very close to having been missold on some occasions, probably due to sales targets).

ses6jwg

Oh no I completely agree that the banks don't help themselves in gaining or retaining customers.

We had a new regional manager a few years ago, and when he came in there were a few vacant adviser positions.

His next course of action was to trawl the local Phones4U and Carephonewarehouse branches in an attempt to recruit new advisers.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but in my honest opinion the type of sales force in a bank branch should not be the same type of sales force you would find in a mobile phone shop.

sparrow_1963

I do agree that when bank branches were manned by members of staff that you got to know well and they were well versed in your requirements life was easier. You could ring up and ask for the particular person if necessary and get your overdraft sorted, a new cheque book sent or order a statement and get a cheque stopped. Those day are gone and you dont even know what country you are ringing and can be passed from pillar to post. The customers didnt change things to online or call centres. Nor did they create sales targets.

ses6jwg

It is likely that the importance of sales in retail banking will only get worse into the future as banks will be forced to shift their emphasis from investment banking to retail banking.

This in short, means more pressure on staff in call centres and branches on low basic incomes, to sell profitable products such as unsecured personal loans, packaged bank accounts, mortgages and insurance.

pinkdalek

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Don't know how much that was aimed at me, ses6jwg, but in my case I wasn't mocking the person who called so much as the bank itself.
If they want to make sales (and I've got no problem with them selling beneficial products to a customer) then they need to do their research beforehand. What is the likely reason for a large amount about to be transfered into a current account? Wouldn't it make more sense to check the account history to see if the same has happened on or around the 25th of each month for the last 7 years?

You see, the financial illiteracy of their customer base is exactly why they _shouldn't_ be phoning people up offering products that won't help.
The phone call wasted my time, but I was never going to agree to anything that wasn't going to benefit me. Other people hearing that "there might be a better account for their money" might be tempted.

I agree with you Jimmy, in your scenario the person calling you maybe should have just digged a big deeper before ringing you and instead of going down the "large balance in your account road" maybe could have just offered some kind of review of your outgoings to see if the bank could save or make you money elsewhere. Please correct me if I am wrong but if you have a large amount going in and then out after a few days that tells me you have got many direct debits e.g. mortgage, insurance, credit cards, loans and also maybe some kind of regular savings scheme which may need checking out. And please if you are up to date with everything then that's good, the bank are only taking an interest in you and not wanting you to go elsewhere.

Her call wasn't pointless but maybe her conversation structure was, seriously though if you have your main account with Halifax you could be missing out on the Rewards scheme they do on savings, mortgages, insurance and credit cards.

JimmyTheWig

As it happens, pinkdalek, most of the money goes out straight away to our First Direct account where we pay all the bills from, so I'm not sure there's much she could have done on that level.

But I agree in principle. If they've got a really good product that would suit me then I'm happy for them to ring.

premierfella

At least with calls you know pretty quickly that they are just trying to sell.

I regularly get letters from Lloyds TSB (one received yesterday in fact). Same format every time - just contact details and something like "we have tried to contact you" (they haven't - I have caller ID on all my contact numbers with them) and "please call". No indication whatsoever, not even a slight clue, what the letter might be about.

I ignored the first few, but eventually responded to one of them given the persistence and just in case there actually WAS some genuine reason for the letters. Placed on hold, then picked up by someone other than the name on the letter and was advised that the letter was just to see if I would be interested in a financial review - so in effect making ME instigate the sales call!

Old_Wrinkly

pinkdalek wrote: »

if you have your main account with Halifax you could be missing out on the Rewards scheme they do on savings, mortgages, insurance and credit cards.

Not any more, they don't ...
(unless you are already in it)