Anyone ever contacted Stephen Hester (CEO of RBS/Natwest)?

baffledsalmon

Oh, and yes, I've spoken to these people directly, as in... on the phone.
I've already followed the ccorrect channels with regards to contacting customer care but no one has resolved any of the problems, problems not mmentioned above, so if it takes Stephen's PA to read my email and ensure someone sorts it out, I don't really care... I just want it sorted one way or another.

Lokolo

baffledsalmon wrote: »

. something I haven't received from my 4 email and 3 calls to customer care. Not one response. Would you be pleased if your bank transferred £3000 out of your account and charged you for the privilege, closed a savings account for no reason and couldn't tell you where the account AND your £12000 was for THREE months and rather than transferring money into your isa, actually sent it tto your ex-wife and refused to return it?

Then perhaps write to your branch using the instructions listed here:

http://www.rbs.co.uk/global/h/contact-us/personal-banking/make-complaint.ashx

And if you do not get an appropriate response within 8 weeks you can forward your complaint onto the FOS.

innovate

Writing to CEOs of big companies, after you have got nowhere with their normal CS and/or complaints team, can do wonders. Of course the CEO will rarely read your email. but their PA will, and you will invariably get a really swift resolution of your issue.

It's quite surprising how many big companies (banks, utilities, telcos) actually have an "executive complaints team", which is not mentioned anywhere on their website or in their complaints procedure, but which is staffed by people who are a lot more capable, and a lot more empowered, than the official CS/complaints team.

You should have really good reason for escalating your issues, and present your case in a factual and unemotional manner.

lolavix

You would be better off following the normal complain channels, he will not read his emails

innovate

lolavix wrote: »

You would be better off following the normal complain channels, he will not read his emails

You are missing the point - - - he might not read his emails, but somebody will! Once the normal complaints channels just don't yield any satisfactory resolution, you have no choice but to escalate the issue. The easiest then is to just start at the top because you do not have information about the company's internal hierarchy - and it should not be the customer's job to understand the internal workings of the company. If the company fails the customer, the boss should hear about it, and (s)he should have the opportunity to make the final decision on the relationships the company wants to have with the dissatisfied customer.

It would take a very strange CEO who wouldn't respond to a complaint that landed on his/her (electronic) desk. Of course they will, in 99.99%% of cases, delegate the resolution to their troups, but their PA will make sure that 100% of these complaints will be resolved. Any half successful CEO fundamentally understands that their company wouldn't exist if it wasn't for customers, therefore they will want to make sure they have no outstanding serious customer complaints (this doesn't mean they always do what any one customer wants, of course).

I am stunned that so many people on here would shy away from taking their grievances right to the top. Perhaps these are posts from CS people who are scared witless by the idea their CEOs will hear directly from real customers? Why should real customers turn in ever-decreasing circles with incompetent CS people when a simple email to the CEO can sort it all? What is the point of having the top Execs shielded from reality, and not using their powers when needed?

To give you one example - not a bank, but a utility. They were unable to produce a gas + electricity bill that had anything to do with the meter readings they had taken. This issue was discovered by myself, and had been dragging on for 2 months. They had tried to fob me off with the bizarre claim that their meter readings were lower than their estimates, and therefore 'their system' couldn't produce a correct bill. Well, even if this were true, it isn't something I should be paying for, is it? After some time, I was no longer willing to discuss the matter on the phone because I wanted them to state their position in writing. Their complaints team then started to ignore not only my emails but also my recorded letters, seems the issue was in the "too 'aaaard" category for them. Once I had complained to the CEO, I got, within a fortnight, a credit of over £300 on my bill, plus a huge apology, and £150 in compensation.

So, nothing wrong with complaining straight to the top, if the people on the shop floor are not doing their job.

withabix

I wrote to Stephen Hester (by post) several times when RBS negligently dated a Default on my account 4 years after it actually happened. (I had paid 100% of the debt back as well!!).

I sent the letters to their Registered Office in Edinburgh (although it probably makes no difference).

I got holding responses from his office, with a proper letter in less than a week each time.

This was much faster than the 4-6 weeks to respond via the 'proper channels'.

Incidentally, I got £2000 from RBS for their incompetence. Their offer started at £200.

There was a specific 'Damage' in this case, as their negligence was preventing me from remortgaging or getting a personal loan to replace my car.

Lokolo

innovate wrote: »

I am stunned that so many people on here would shy away from taking their grievances right to the top. Perhaps these are posts from CS people who are scared witless by the idea their CEOs will hear directly from real customers? Why should real customers turn in ever-decreasing circles with incompetent CS people when a simple email to the CEO can sort it all? What is the point of having the top Execs shielded from reality, and not using their powers when needed?

No I just think its plain rude. They have a job to do, which isn't resolving customer complaints, that's what the CS is for.

I work in a Software Developer and the number of people that think just because I work in IT, I'll come and fix their printer, is ridiculous. I am a Software Developer, not your fixing b****.

mulronie

I personally think it's really cute that you think that is going to be Steven Hester's "real" email address. The one linked to his Blackberry and work email will be totally different, and divulged only to those people who would need to contact him on a day-to-day basis. We as shareholders in RBS are not paying him to sit around all day managing consumer complaints or taking "helpful hints" from random members of the public!

Any email address either in the public domain or following the usual "rules" for email allocation in RBS will be read by some lowly members RBS's public relations team, who will probably dump your complaint into the usual complaints process.

meer53

I frequently deal with complaining customers who ask to speak to my manager, or someone higher up the ladder than me. It's very easy to stop them in their tracks by just passing them on to a Team Leader. They just say more or less what i've said. The customer goes away happy in most cases, in the other cases we recommend they put in a formal complaint as per our procedures.

It's the same with emails, as long as whoever is making the complaint gets a response, it doesn't really matter who it's from or who signs it, as long as they think someone with authority is dealing with it, it could be the cleaner, they will never know.

pmduk

It's even more amusing that the OP believes Stephen Hester has any involvement in retail banking. He'd be better escalating the matter to the FOS as has been suggested already.