Best customer service?

tom188

dixie06 wrote:

I was with HSBC who had overseas call centres and I agree they never fully understand and you're never quite sure if you are getting the right info out of them. I changed to Natwest whoose customer service I found excellent and also they will put you throught to your local branch if required. Also Yorkshire Bank I think are UK based (Scotland I think as they are part of Clydesdale) and I have also found their customer service excellent. Both have easy to use online access as well.

Yorkshire Bank along with Clydesdale Bank is part of Clydesdale Bank PLC, whose parent company is National Australia Bank Group.

techno_geek

NatWest are OK, but their call centres often give conflicting information if you have a specific inquiry.

Nationwide and First Direct are, in my experience, the best out there! Quality, friendly service every time I've had to deal with them.

Halifax's call centres: while they are in the UK, all the operators sound grumpy and p***ed off all the time!

s1h

To be honest this isnt really a great issue for me as I don't really find that I have to call them. Who does these days?

I do most of my banking online, pay my bills online, transfer money online. If I want to check my balance or transactions I just use the telephone banking system where you just have to type in your details etc on the phone.

In fact the only time I really find that I have to phone them is when I have lost my card/damaged it and need to order a new one.

CopperPlate_2

first direct every time. Probably would've said smile a year ago, but have found their standard of customer service has slipped recently.

Halifax - dreadful. Might as well phone the Speaking Clock and ask her/him to do something for you.

Clydesdale Bank - As bad as Halifax, but probably worse in their branches than any online/phone operation.

RBS - decent, but again it irritates me that they make such HUGE profits yet pay derisory interest rates on their products, and give okay standards of service.

CopperPlate_2

What I only ever want is for what I've asked to be done, to be done. It's not difficult, really. If a company can do that, they get my business long-term and as long as they carry on keeping me happy by fulfilling their promises and not letting me down. Do that, and it's off to someone else. High standards? Yep, you bet.

rainbow12

Thanks everyone, not sure who Im going to go with yet but definitely not staying with Abbey

RadoJo

I havebanked with Abbey, Nationwide, Alliance and Leicester, Woolwich and the Co-op in my time and have found them all to be equally incapable when you ask a question that deviates from the norm - Natwest claimed they COULD NOT provide me with a letter confirming my overdraft, A and L closed my account by accident, Abbey call centre staff didn't know the difference between 'in advance' and 'in arrears' and Woolwich failed to contact me even though they suspected that my account was being used fraudulently.

So I prefer the Co-op, because at least when they are answering a question you didn't ask, or finding it impossible to comprehend why you might be narked, you at least have a warm and fuzzy feeling that it is (hopefully!!) only your day they are ruining and generally their approach is ethically sound (again - I hope this is true, but you can never be sure. Unfortunately my sanity rests on it!).

James&Shell

weve been with the co-op now for a while and they are the best by far.

The telephone and internet banking are fab to

CopperPlate_2

Yes, as I said earlier smile (obviously part of the Co-Op Bank) are very good, but just in the last 6 months or so I've noticed the 'cahoot syndrome' creeping in to their replies in the secure messages. Never getting a straight answer to a simple question and a degree of intransigience in their dealings that I've never noticed in the years I was with them. So it was off to first direct and I can tell you that in the whole 5 months I've been with them I've had to call a few times to arrange my mortgage and set up various things, not once has anyone mispronounced my name, been in the slightest bit off-hand, narky, sighed at all when I've asked anything as if it's 5 minutes before they're due to finish and this "really inconvenient thing called a customer phoned and will make them get off at 2 minutes past their finish time" routine. Absolutely first class service, so much so that you put the phone down feeling as if you've been speaking to someone who has had making you feel happy and content with the result of your call the prime reason for them being there. Dealing with them only makes you realise what utterly dreadful service you receive from utility companies, supermarkets, and a host of other 'service providers' who couldn't care less whether you deal with them or not. A breath of fresh air.

CopperPlate_2

And, no, I don't work for them