NatWest Bank complaints department - Appalling service

worldtraveller

I've been a customer of NatWest Bank for over 30 years now and had reason to make a formal complaint around the middle of March.

I've just telephoned their customer service centre to ask what the current status is, as all I've received so far is a letter of acknowledgement which was sent over 3 weeks ago now.

I've been told that (after around a month) nobody has even been assigned to the case yet. I was told "...we are allowed up to 8 weeks". !!!!!!?

I'm amazed that when someone has a complaint they have to wait longer than a month before anyone even bothers takes a look at the issue.

To then be told that they had a bit of a backlog, I can probably understand why!:idea:

Quite frankly, this is appalling service IMHO.

Anna_Glypta

Hi WT

The best thing you can do is write to them again and copy in the financial ombudsman - you WILL get an immediate response. I had a similar problem a few years ago and it was amazing how quickly they responded once it was an official complaint and they had to include it in their official stats.

Pretty sure it will work for you. Good luck.
AG.

flashg67

The Ombudsman won't do anything until the bank's processes have been exhausted (which they haven't yet).

I deal with complaints for a part of a different bank, and we have to acknowledge within 5 days, but make initial contact within 24hrs, even if resolving the complaint takes longer - at least the customer knows they've not been forgotten about.

However, officially, by 8 weeks, you do need to have had a final response, or a reason explaining why more time is needed. As long as Nat West comply with this, and Nat West can satisy the Ombudsman that they have done so, there's not much else you can do but wait.

Agree - very poor service though - 30 years loyalty down the drain I guess!

MothballsWallet

I've been waiting 5 months now for someone to be assigned to my case, and I was told on the phone last week that they've only now got to the November 2011 complaints.

Each month they've sent a letter implying that they need more time to investigate, but they're doing nowt yet. Even the man I spoke to admitted that the staff feel the letters are misleading.

somalt

MothballsWallet wrote: »

I've been waiting 5 months now for someone to be assigned to my case, and I was told on the phone last week that they've only now got to the November 2011 complaints.

Each month they've sent a letter implying that they need more time to investigate, but they're doing nowt yet. Even the man I spoke to admitted that the staff feel the letters are misleading.

Have they sent you a letter saying you have the right to refer to the Ombudsman yet? If not, they should have after 8 weeks as previously mentioned. If they have you can refer it straight to the Ombudsman, not that it'll necessarily be any quicker, but at least they have to pay £500 for the privilege.

somalt

worldtraveller wrote: »

I've been told that (after around a month) nobody has even been assigned to the case yet. I was told "...we are allowed up to 8 weeks". !!!!!!?

To then be told that they had a bit of a backlog, I can probably understand why!:idea:

.

The FSA do say if they haven't given you a response within 8 weeks, then you can refer to the Ombudsman regardless.

But the backlog is probably PPI complaints which are also causing a backlog at the Ombudsman.

johnbarleycorn

My complaint re poor service is with RBS,of which N West is part, and have experienced most of the problems cited.Yesterday I was told the cause was an ever increasing backlog of complaints with insufficiently trained staff to handle them because a decision had been taken to investigate cases more thoroughly.On the very few occasions over 40! years when I did raise an issue it was dealt with quickly and fairly by the branch manager but now centralisation driven by efficiency has caused inefficiency eg call centres replace branch contact,staff turnover means constant repetition causing delay and frustration.
Advice:persevere,keep records(personal branch contact, phone and letters as they are vital if you go to the ombudsman),seek compensation for your time,hassle and frustration and be assertive without being impolite.

worldtraveller

Thanks for all the input guys, much appreciated. John, I couldn't agree more with the effect of centralisation. Not like the "old" days! I'm also pretty much resigned to expecting someone to write to me (eventually!) and tell me that it's all been resolved, without even calling me to discuss the matter. I also expect that they will therefore not resolve it to my satisfaction and are bound to leave something out (I could explain better if I gave all the information, but prefer not to for confidentiality reasons). Cynic, moi?

PMRStead

I made a complaint to NatWest last year on behalf of my employer and received a resolution letter which didn't expressly state the terms of hwat they were offering as a resolution. I rang the person and asked them to clarify exactly what was being offered, and got the answer I wanted. Subsequently i had a call form our Business Account Manager to say that they'd got it wrong and what was actually being offered was something different (and ultimately much more expensive for us o fcourse). I wrote to the complaints department witha freedom of information request for a transcript of the phone call and got a reply top say that, although they do now record calls, at the time I phoned them they weren't recording calls. I can't beleive taht a major bank has only started recording phone calls this year. IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN FIND OUT WHEN THEY STARTED RECORDING CALLS?

coldhandoff

Who is the person that you said you rang that you need the transcript for? Businessline? Complaints team? All calls are recorded and archived.

wary

PMRStead wrote: »

I wrote to the complaints department witha freedom of information request for a transcript of the phone call and got a reply top say that, although they do now record calls, at the time I phoned them they weren't recording calls. I can't beleive taht a major bank has only started recording phone calls this year. IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN FIND OUT WHEN THEY STARTED RECORDING CALLS?

Had something with Scottish Power - whilst they acknowledged that all such calls were ordinarily recorded, the machine just happened to be non-operational at the time of the call in question ... yeah, right!

Re Nat West, I had reason to complain many years ago, but it was to the manager of the local branch with which I'd just set up my business account (also had a personal account at another branch for many a year), about the extreme over-zealousness of his deputy. He clearly felt very awkward on the phone, trying to find a way to justify the actions of his colleague when he knew that he couldn't. Eventually he came up with an explanation along the lines that at weekends, the deputy manager suddenly loses most of the authorisation power that he has during the week ... something that was so clearly !!!! & bull.

I'll never bank with Nat West again!