Whistleblower - BBC1 Now

Ladygrim

Theres a second thread about this program here:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=407517&highlight=Whistleblower

LG

jamfadoya

I am studying for the FSA's financial regulations exam at the moment and I was surprised by some of the things they did - they are legally obliged to give their proper job title when they do sales calls and they are not allowed to call people who object.

Having said that, banks are allowed to make a profit from penalty charges (and clearly do) despite what the presenter said. One reason I have heard is for a deterrent - if the charges were set at 38p or whatever it cost the bank then many more people might be happy to go overdrawn. The bank would then risk not meeting their legal financial resources requirements which could get them shut down by the FSA.

Overall it reminded me of when I worked in a call centre for a gas company - lots of "half-truths" needed if you want to meet your (far too high) targets.

stphnstevey

I worked in a call centre for a bit and the be all and end all is SALES. There is horrendous pressure put on you to SELL SELL SELL and if you don't your job is on the line. It's no wonder sales people our feel forced to take the easy route and actually enrol customers for products they haven't asked for.

It is completly wrong, but it's not the sales persons fault really as the pressure is SO intense you either crack and leave or get sacked because your figures aren't good enough or take the easy route. The real culprit is the large bank putting this pressure on them to sell.

These companies spend ten times their customer services budget on sales. So for every one person at the bank that is supposed to be looking after your best interests, there are nine of them desperate to sell you something. Just remember that next time you walk through the branch door - count nine people and hope the tenth is the one that is not going to do you over!

(if you don't believe me, try to remember the last time you spoke to your bank and someone didn't try to sell you something - eg. Do you have home insurance sir?, Have you had a financial review? Have you seen are new credit card offer?)

frugalpam

stphnstevey wrote: »

I worked in a call centre for a bit and the be all and end all is SALES. There is horrendous pressure put on you to SELL SELL SELL and if you don't your job is on the line. It's no wonder sales people our feel forced to take the easy route and actually enrol customers for products they haven't asked for.

It is completly wrong, but it's not the sales persons fault really as the pressure is SO intense you either crack and leave or get sacked because your figures aren't good enough or take the easy route. The real culprit is the large bank putting this pressure on them to sell.

These companies spend ten times their customer services budget on sales. So for every one person at the bank that is supposed to be looking after your best interests, there are nine of them desperate to sell you something. Just remember that next time you walk through the branch door - count nine people and hope the tenth is the one that is not going to do you over!

(if you don't believe me, try to remember the last time you spoke to your bank and someone didn't try to sell you something - eg. Do you have home insurance sir?, Have you had a financial review? Have you seen are new credit card offer?)

My account was upgraded without my permission (Natwest) - I had gone in to ask for info on the advantages of upgrading, and left having told them I'd think about it and let them know. When I next studied my bank statement, I found my account had been upgraded without my permission.
I am currently going through the complaints procedure before I go to the Ombudsman - so far they have tried to fob me off by saying it was a simple misunderstanding! As I pointed out, I know what I said, and was very specific that I didn't want it upgrading. No doubt the hapless Customer Service Adviser thought she'd get away with it and bingo! another target met.
Yes, the bank staff are under pressure to meet targets, but that does not give them the right to con their customers. I intend to take my complaint to the Ombudsman - and they can keep their £10 compensation award - I don't want their 'compensation' - what I want is a formal apology and for Natwest to realise that they cannot get away with dirty tricks such as this.

Pam

PS What with this and reclaiming over £1000 in bank charges, they've probably marked my account with 'this one's trouble'

Sol00

It definitely is the fault of the "big wigs" at HQ who haven't a clue and don't care about Cutomer Service, all they want is to make profits. Unfortunately this pressure is passed onto call centre and branch staff to meet ridiculous targets. I mean how can you target how many people are going to want to pay £14 a month for a bank account when they already have a free current account, it's ridiculous. It should be left to the choice of the customer and not put on the staff at the bottom. :mad:

Paul1sh

Sad thing is customer service has gone out the window and sales pressure taken over.In 2004 I went to the NatWest for a 'customer service adviser' role only to discover it was all about meeting sales targets.I walked away from that job and after seeing the program tonight I'm glad.

spurious_2

Sea78 wrote: »

Indeed - found it interesting when she resigned that the manager said he'd seen a complete change in the last 6 months - the result of claiming back bank charges? Or just a shift in banking on the whole?

There have been quite a few changes at senior management level within Barclays over the last six to twelve months. There's now a strong American influence at that level, and it's a big focus of the bank to increase revenue through sales and reduce stock levels of under-performing accounts. In short, the bank has become wildly self-focused to the extent it has all but lost perspective when it comes to providing a positive customer experience.

Sol00

What they aren't obviously thinking of is the amount of customers that will leave if they receive poor customer service. They can't be that smart at the top. I was really shocked at the advisor trying to sell that pensioner that didn't have a penny to his name contents insurance after knocking him back for a loan! :mad:

CFC

It all seems quite a complex area to me. Doubtless there's too many staff who are chasing large bonuses, but also a lot of pressure to sell, and the PR woman wasn't exactly reassuring - it's easy to stand at the top of pyramid and shout 'Our hands are clean', but if you're giving sales people impossible targets, then they clearly aren't.

The program did also demonstrate a certain lack of understanding - for example, the guy who said that he'd advised someone on a limited income to shop around for insurance - he's actually breaking the FSA regulations, believe it or not! Call centre staff sell 'non advised' products - and by telling someone to shop around, he's implicitly saying that his product is not suitable for them, which is giving advice, which he is not allowed to do. That'll be another reason he got a big telling off, not just because he lost the sale. The FSA regulations are a nightmare, although they are very well meaning.

What is very frightening, and I am positive that it is not uncommon, is the cavalier approach by staff to the data protection act - having a look at your bank details 'just out of curiousity'. Even though they KNOW it's against the law and one of them who is doing it actually says so!

It comes as a timely reminder, with the government planning to collect 200 pieces of data on you for the proposed ID database, that it doesn't matter what the law says on privacy, it WILL be ignored by employees....and the same with the supposed security of the database, if bank staff are committing fraud, how soon will it be before the ID database is used to create a fake ID card or your personal information given to fraudsters????

The fewer bits of information ANY organisation has on you, the better.

chivers1977

Oh dear, my life will be just so great when I go into work tomorrow.