Wasting time on bank appointments

Azari

Pollycat wrote: »

I didn't say they had one member of staff off sick.
I was just putting forward a possible reason for the delay.
It wasn't meant to be an excuse to be shot down.
I have no idea if virgo's experience is the norm, my appointment with Santander for the same reason started less than 5 minutes late.
How do you know that?
You don't know how big (or small) the branch was that virgo visited.
You don't know how many advisors there are in that branch and therefore how big (or small) the impact of a possible missing staff member might be.
You don't know what the previous customers had appointments for and therefore how long their appointments might have overrun.
I will agree with this if someone can offer proof that companies consistently start appointments late.
Why should it be obvious?
I was offered a 12 midday appointment.
It was the only appointment I could get in any of the 3 Santander branches in our town for the whole of last week.
How are the staff to know that someone is on a tight schedule just because of the timing of an appointment?
I'm not championing Santander here, this is the first business I've done with them.
I'm the opposite.
My ISA will be fully subscribed by the end of this week.
They will contact my previous ISA provider and arrange xfer of the money into my new ISA.
I won't have to have dealings with them at all until next May (when the bonus rate expires & I'll be looking for another good rate) unless I want to withdraw some of my money - which I can easily do using the debit card they're sending me.
I can understand people who've had a bad experience with any financial provider voting with their feet for say, credit cards or current accounts but not for an ISA.

Quite honestly, I can't be bothered getting into a detailed argument with someone who seems to want to excuse service so abysmal that it caused the OP to waste a good portion of her lunch hour when a simple 30 second phone call would have avoided the situation.

Pollycat

Azari wrote: »

Quite honestly, I can't be bothered getting into a detailed argument with someone who seems to want to excuse service so abysmal that it caused the OP to waste a good portion of her lunch hour when a simple 30 second phone call would have avoided the situation.

Quite honestly, i'm glad you think like that.
I don't want to get into an argument with somebody who picks out a tiny part of my post (which incidentally was sympathetic to the OP - see below) and takes it as fact.
And then continues to extrapolate all sorts of things from that point.

Pollycat wrote: »

I sympathise with your frustration, especially if you had to be back at work for a specific time.

Maybe they had a member of staff off sick and that was why they were running late?

I had an appointment with Santander last week to open an ISA, I know they try to sell you their other products so maybe that could be a reason.

Taking your business elsewhere is fine if you can get the same (or better) deal elsewhere.

The rates are pretty good and not everywhere allows you to transfer ISA in as Santander currently does.

I wasn't excusing abysmal service.

Pollycat wrote: »

I'm not championing Santander here, this is the first business I've done with them.

I do think that when the OP first arrived, he should have been advised that they were running 10 minutes late (obvioulsy with apologies) and again after that first 10 minutes were up.

Milliebob

Hi virgo149, just making sure when you booked your appointment they actually took a contact number for you in the event they had to reschedule? If they did then you're right there's no excuse if they had needed to rearrange the app for whatever reason!
I work in a high street bank (not Santander thank God!) and always make a point of taking customers in on time, as like you say, they've made the appointment for that specific time for a reason! If I'm busy I will let walk ins wait, but not for longer than 10 mins!
On the flip side, it's annoying when customers turn up late and still expect to be seen immediately. Two penneth over

virgo149

Gosh, I never expected that response!

Yes, they had a phone number and no they didn't call. I was applying in branch as this site gives that as the only method of application on the two year fixed.

I still wanted that rate so checked online after emailing a complaint to them and found you can actually apply online - and it's been approved without any problem. I'm guessing that's because I previously had an ISA with A&L??

I'm not lucky enough to have enough funds for this year already to invest - I have to save mine up. But with over £13K in previous, earning 4% is better than it's current 3%.

As for the customer service, it was shocking. The branch seems to be staffed by teenagers - they only have one small area to see visitors and the chap I was seeing was the one already on an appointment. It will be interesting if I get any response to my complaint. It actually wouldn't have been too bad if someone had just apologised when I arrived - but no one at any time said sorry for the delay.

Yes, I know they will get my dosh for 2 years but it's no time to get sentimental and I'll be moving on as soon as June 2014 hits.

Thanks for your time for replying - it's really interesting to see others perspectives on this.

Elvisia

I too have sat in Santander for ages - in my case my ten minutes added up until it was an hour. By this point I was at that point of do I stay - and waste my day - or go and I've already put in the time? This was to open an ISA as if you want to transfer in you have to do it in branch. I soon found out why it took me so long, one woman was great but was stuck with a customer who didn't seem to understand ANYTHING and the other guy was just selling selling selling and the woman with him had been stuck with him for an hour because with every turn he'd say "we have a product for that...". In the end I did have the joy of watching her tell him to shove all his products up his a*** and storm out.

I think what they could have done is when you arrived is to say "we're running behind today, would you like to come back in twenty minutes" or even just "we're running late, can I get you a cup of tea?".

I went to Chelsea Building Society and they gave me tea! I was impressed. Had they have given me a biscuit I probably would have opened my ISA there instead.

pmduk

Just think yourself lucky you experienced their customer service before you got tied in with them.

Millie_Millsters

fluffnutter wrote: »

My favourite 'Santander are shit' complaint involved a widow trying to close the joint account she held with her recently deceased husband only to be repeatedly told (even by the branch manager fgs) that 'his signature is required to close the account'. !!!!!!?

I think that may have been me, although I wasn't trying to close the account. I was trying to get the mortgage DD transferred from his account to mine, after his accounts had been frozen.

...and I swore NEVER to use Santander again but you can't cut off your nose to spite your face when they are offering good ISA rates (transfered all mine into the 2 yr fixed ISA last month

Evilm

fluffnutter wrote: »

My favourite 'Santander are shit' complaint involved a widow trying to close the joint account she held with her recently deceased husband only to be repeatedly told (even by the branch manager fgs) that 'his signature is required to close the account'. !!!!!!?

I think this one is just as bad: Another Bank Manager refused to take a deceased husband off an account until they saw the original Will! (Which obviously has been sent to probate and isn't available). Eventually had to go up the ladder to corporate before they'd accept the Death Certificate as proof!

danothy

fluffnutter wrote: »

You got to sign something innit. You can only get so far with an online application.

In my experience you can get right to the end, but not cross the line. Opened an online saver with the PO, fine, put money in, fine, took it out when the bonus rate expired, fine, wrote to them asking them to close the account, can't do that as they never had my signature ...

Pollycat

Evilm wrote: »

I think this one is just as bad: Another Bank Manager refused to take a deceased husband off an account until they saw the original Will! (Which obviously has been sent to probate and isn't available). Eventually had to go up the ladder to corporate before they'd accept the Death Certificate as proof!

Confused on this one.

Surely a death certificate is more proof of death than an original will?

And what if there was no will?

Are these stories substantiated or just urban myth?

I have an original will but I'm not dead yet. :rotfl:
My death certificate will prove I'm dead - unless the doctor gets it really, really wrong.

Dealing with my late Dad's affairs, his Bank (Natwest) were happy to have sight of the death certificate to take his name off the current account he held with my mum.