Wasting time on bank appointments

maninthestreet

So, to open a Cash ISA with Santander you need to have a pre-arranged meeting with them??

Milliebob

maninthestreet wrote: »

So, to open a Cash ISA with Santander you need to have a pre-arranged meeting with them??

I'd imagine it would be advisable to make an appointment before turning up, purely because only some members of staff are authorised to go through the compliance, mostly only one staff member per branch, so if you walk in hoping to be seen then and there and they're already with a customer it would be inconvenient for you having to wait. If they're free I'm sure they'd see you immediately

Gothicfairy

Nothing to do with banks as I haven't set foot in one for years but I made an eye appointment in my lunch break and even made sure they understood the time issue and that I had to leave on time etc, I was promised it would be no problem.

I arrived for my appointment to be told that they were "running a bit late but would still be able to fit me in " very kind of them.
15 minutes later and they are still about 10 minutes or so from seeing me so I left.

What really annoyed me was the waste of time, I could have done other more interesting things in my lunch break, one more interesting thing would have been to work through it and leave early lol

Pollycat

maninthestreet wrote: »

So, to open a Cash ISA with Santander you need to have a pre-arranged meeting with them??

I'm not sure if that's their policy nationally or if they're happy to accept 'walk-ins' if they're not busy and have a spare advisor who can handle i,t taking pre-arranged appointments into account.

As I said in an earlier post, I tried all 3 Santander branches in our town and only one could offer me an appointment for last week, it was the only appoitment they had left - I was flexible on time and day.

As it's not far in from the beginning of the new tax year, maybe all their branches are busy right now.
Also, they are allowing transfers in from previous ISAs which not every bank/BS do so maybe they are particularly busy.

Evilm

Pollycat wrote: »

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.

Real in this case. Happened to a relative of mine last month. And it was the same bank as you had no problem with. The manager was being a complete !!!.

fluffnutter

Pollycat wrote: »

Are these stories substantiated or just urban myth?

My example will have come from either Jessica Investigates in The Telegraph or The Guardian Money section in the Saturday edition. I read both and can't remember where this particular letter was featured.

Just google 'Santander complaints'. There'll be plenty of credible, substantiated ones.

Pennywise

Pollycat wrote: »

Are these stories substantiated or just urban myth?

This kind of thing has happened to me twice recently, once with my MIL and again with my father. The bank staff, right up to so-called branch manager are truly appalling and havn't the faintest clue as to dealing with deceased account holders.

In the Halifax, I was sat with the so-called bereavement specialist who, right in front of my eyes, got on the internet and started searching for info about deceaseds' estates - and it was a very simple, small, joint account!

Even when I finally escaped the local branch and managed to go directly with the Halifax bereavement specialist department in Leeds (I think), they persisted in asking for irrelevant and non existent documents - I got one letter which clearly showed the writer didn't know the difference between probate and letters of administration!

All in all, a very shocking experience as to just how poorly trained and ignorant are the typical bank staff.

Pollycat

Evilm wrote: »

Real in this case. Happened to a relative of mine last month. And it was the same bank as you had no problem with. The manager was being a complete !!!.

I'd have made a formal complaint on the grounds that the Bank Manager was an !!!!!! and was unable to think logically.

Are you 100% sure that the manager wouldn't accept the Death Certificate as proof?
What do you mean by 'having to go up the ladder to corporate'?

Natwest has a Bereavement team:
http://www.natwest.com/global/bereavement-guide.ashx

That part of their website says this:

You can notify us by visiting your local branchIt does not need to be the account holding branch. During your visit, the branch will phone the Customer Estates Helpline on your behalf.



If possible, please take the following information, however, if you haven’t got this to hand at the time of notification, please still visit us and do not worry, we will be able to guide you through the next steps in relation to the deceased’s bank accounts and banking arrangements with us:

• The original Death Certificate or the Coroner’s Interim Certificate (England and Wales only) or Abbreviated Extract (Scotland only) – One of these documents will have been provided by the Registrar when the death was registered. The branch will take a copy which they will certify and the original document will be given back to you immediately.
• If you are aware that the deceased left a valid will and you have been able to locate a copy, please take it to the branch, together with up to date addresses for the executor(s). If the deceased was party to joint accounts only, please note it is not necessary to provide a copy of the will unless NatWest is the executor.
• If the deceased held a sole account with NatWest and no will is held, please have the full addresses of the next of kin.

Are you sure they were asking for the original will?

Are you sure they weren't asking your relative for a copy of the will as in bullet point 2, not as proof of death (which it isn't)?

They don't even mention the original will.

If it was a joint account, Natwest say they don't even need to see a copy of the will (unless Natwest are the executors).

Your relative either had an incredibly incompetant manager (my Mum didn't see the manager, just an advisor) or you're not getting the complete story.

Pollycat

fluffnutter wrote: »

My example will have come from either Jessica Investigates in The Telegraph or The Guardian Money section in the Saturday edition. I read both and can't remember where this particular letter was featured.

Just google 'Santander complaints'. There'll be plenty of credible, substantiated ones.

When mentioning urban myths I was actually referring to the experience mentioned by Evilm.

I'm aware that there'll be lots of complaints about Santander, just as I'm sure there'll be lots of complaints about most other financial institutions.

I just tend to go with my own experiences and don't do business with companies that hack me (as in me personally) off (which Santander hasn't done so far).

I'm personally finding it hard to believe that anyone could be so stupid (as in the Natwest bank manager) as to think that an original will is proof of death.
Please note - I'm not saying he didn't think that.

From Pennywise's post, it seems that not just Natwest are appalling at customer service during what must be the most distressing time of anyone's life (loss of a loved one).

fluffnutter

I think what surprises me about the inability of banks to deal with widows or widowers isn't just their shameful lack of sensitivity at a distressing time, it's also that it can't be uncommon surely??

Most people have a bank account. Everyone dies. Stands to reason that a fair bit of bank administration will be the processing of a deceased person's account. Why then can't they have procedures in place that are well-designed, well-oiled and well-known?

It's not like we're talking about an unexpected and rare occurrence is it??