Who is the second worst?

Bloomberg

The general concensus on this forum seems to be that Santander are the worst bank by a country mile. Although I have no first hand experience of their service it seems reasonable to assume that so many people cannot be wrong. It would be interesting to know which bank the readers think is second worst. My money is on the Nationwide, they are an absolute shower and have continually been withdrawing perks. The in branch service is dire and the staff seem almost disorientated. I would be surprised if I was the only one who thought the Nationwide are second worst.

opinions4u

Barclays match Santander for complaints per 1000 accounts.

Annisele

I'd also go with Barclays as second worst, but my experience with them is out-of-date.

I tend to switch current accounts every few years - once the bank has annoyed me enough, I move on. So far I've been through Lloyds, Barclays, NatWest, and Santander, but I've never had an account with Nationwide.

I'm now with First Direct, and I actually recommend them to other people - it's the account I've had the longest, and I think there's a good chance I'll keep it.

pauljoecoe

I rang First Direct yesterday. One easy to find number. No menus. The phone was answered within one ring and the lady who answered dealt with my query immediatly. She also spoke good English (albeit with a northern twang) Wish more companies were like this. Phone/internet companies could learn a thing or two.

alanq

Which? survey.
http://www.which.co.uk/money/bank-accounts/reviews-ns/bank-accounts/best-banks-for-customer-satisfaction/

One needs to know what each set of data reflects. The major banks may have lots of complaints re misselling of PPI etc. Some may be rated highly because they give good interest rates others because of better web sites still others because of better customer service in branch and on telephone.

rb10

I expect that you'll be unusual to think Nationwide is the second worst. Maybe you had a bad experience, but they consistently come out at or near the top of surveys.

To compare everyone, the complaints per 1000 banking products is a reasonable measure to use -

Natwest - 4
Barclays - 4
Santander - 4
HSBC - 2.8*
Lloyds TSB - 2
Halifax - 1.2
Nationwide - 0.88

I reckon that Natwest and Barclays can fight out between them for the title of 'second worst bank'.

As an aside - Natwest's customer satisfaction scores increase significantly each time they have a press campaign on their 'promises' ... and then drop to their previous (low) level straight afterwards!

* - HSBC's figures include both HSBC and First Direct, so it is fair to assume that the HSBC brand actually has a much higher number of complaints than this.

pmduk

I agree that Nationwide are approaching Santander in direness. They tend to lose complaints once they've been made which may explain the low reported number.

adindas

Having Banking with most of UK high street Bank, I will say
First one is Barclays. Past ... Present and possibly still in the future ....

Santander used to be one of the worst, But now they have changed a lot, I would not even include them as one of the worst ...

ses6jwg

Barclays take the double whammy of providing poor customer service and a p!ss poor product range IMHO

jen245

I've just opened a new Santander account, after ditching them about 18 months ago after the !!!! up they made of taking over A&L, and I can honestly say that they have come on leaps and bounds since then. My account was opened the same day I applied, and they added it to my old A&L online banking log in, so I didn't even need to re-register for online banking. Had all my documents, and my debit card within 7 days, they even gave me an overdraft, and I didn't ask for one. My "switch" from Halifax (1 dd and 2 so) has gone without a hitch, and are set up on my new account. Overall, I'm very impressed, they were quicker than Natwest, plus the bonus of £100 and £75 from Quidco, and 5% on my balance. The only one issue I've had, is my quidco cashback not tracking, but I've raised a claim so we'll see. I still don't think is use them as my main bank again, but I do think they have seriously got their act together.

borkid

pmduk wrote: »

I agree that Nationwide are approaching Santander in direness. They tend to lose complaints once they've been made which may explain the low reported number.

I've banked with nationwide for 20 +years and only had a couple of problems which have been remedied with in an hour or so. We've also had a couple of mortgages with them, again no problems.

I haven't had much contact via the branches as I do most of my banking online now.