Nationwide bank compensation thank you very much!!!!!

billybigtime

Hi all

As a first time poster to this site i trust i have added my story to the best section.if i haven't then please advise and i will repost in the correct section. It does have a happy ending so read on and hopefully you may be able to benefit from it in someway

I opened a flex account with nationwide around a year ago and have had no problems until recently. Around two to three weeks ago as i suffer from insomnia i decided to go out in the middle of the night well around about 12.30am as it happens and get some fuel for my vehicle. i checked that my account was liquid and in fact i had salary payments in that day which at that time on internet banking showed up as not only a balance on my account but also as a cleared balance. I had also transferred some money from another account to this via online which was also showing in the balance and also as an available balance. Off i go into the night fill up my car and attempt to pay with my debit card only for it to come back as declined. There was no reason why this should have been the case so the guy in the garage tried it again and again and once more it declined. The kind guy at the garage knows me and trusts me so was happy for me to go away and try and solve the issue by leaving my name and address. I went up the road around three miles to the nearest cash point and this showed up the balance but the available balance not as should have been hence why my card was declined. i decided to go back home and check my internet bank again and after arriving home again logged in and it showed a full balance and available balance not like it did on the cashpoints. Puzzled i returned and tried three different cashpoints all not allowing me to take anything out as the cleared balance was different to internet banking

Totally confused i called nationwide on their 24 hour service from outside the cashpoint and was told this was an issue they were aware of and they had a super duper technology team who had been working on the problem for over two years!! At this i asked for an application form for employment with the technology team as they appeared not to have to do a fat lot if they had been working on this issue for over two years:rotfl:

The customer service assistant on the phone explained that the issue should automatically adjust itself within an hour or so and i would be able to use my card and or draw cash after around about 2am. I explained my situation that i had a guy at a petrol station waiting for £70 odd and i was most inconvenienced. As a passing comment before ending the call i said to her i dont suppose any compensation would be forthcoming for the inconvenience? to which her reply was oh well sir if you call back during normal office hours you can maybe speak to our complaints team.

As it happened i was able to use the card just after 2am and return to pay mr fuel so at least he was happy but as i still wasn't i decided to call nationwide the next day to try for compensation in reality not really expecting much apart from a well I'm sorry sir i understand your concerns and whatever type of conversation. All the details as above were taken and they apologised and said someone would call me in few days after an investigation had taken place. Around a week later i eventually got a call back and a letter in then post stating they were offering me £150 yes £150 for my complaint for my inconvenience and distress!!!

Whoopee in reality i expected to get say a tenner at the most but I'm absolutely amazed and ecstatic that they have paid me this amount which today has been paid into my account. Thank you nationwide my faith in good customer service and taking in everything i had complained about has been genuinely listened to and actioned.

I will of course be donating a portion of this good fortune to my favourite charity the RNLI as i feel its only right that someone else should benefit from this as well as myself but one thing i won't be doing any longer is not asking for compensation and i suggest you don't either. It could be your lucky day after all

Best wishes and thanks for a great website

billybigtime!!!!:beer:

NorthernStudent

Woah that was difficult to read!

Congratulations all the same. Nice to hear a good news story for a change...

billybigtime

apologies i didnt think it was such a difficult read but then again I'm not my english teacher lol

jfh7gwa

well i'm not surprised they offered compensation of more than a tenner

• you had the embarassment and hassle of having your card declined, despite checking beforehand for cleared cash
• you went and tested 4 ATMs
• you had to call them (costing you in call fees possibly? would have for me - i'm on PAYG) and try to resolve the situation
• the couldn't help, you had to wait a vague time until 2am in the morning to get the cash

i'm sorry but a £10 token of goodwill probably wouldn't have even covered my mobile phone bill and extra petrol to drive around and test them (to get to four different ATMs would probably have me driving 10 mile roundtrip here... local petrol forecort, local 24hr supermarket, local bank... plus driving to the next town i guess for a 4th ATM to try)

so £10 would have been rejected by me

£150 is generous, but don't think they've done you a favour - it shouldn't have happened in the first place, and you had expenses and the hassle to go alongside it

so it's not £150 profit

well done for getting somewhere though - good to see you had a happy ending!

billybigtime

Overall its made me realise that complaining and asking is worth it

So many people don't and just accept the first thing they are told. Service will improve generally and greatly if this had to be paid regularly