Nationwide

davidlizard

Two vents:

1. Went on holiday. Advised Nationwide I would be using my credit card abroad. Despite telling them this, after a few days, they helpfully block it so I could no longer use it. A couple of weeks later however they allow someone to run up £100+ of mobile phone top ups and £200+ i-Tunes on this card without batting an eyelid.

2. I needed to discuss an issue in the branch. An appointment was made, I take the afternoon off work, drive 12 miles, pay for parking etc and what happens - the person I needed to speak to was ill and no one at Nationwide could be bothered to tell me the meeting would be cancelled.

On your side? Don't make me laugh.

Mindless_Clone

Oh dear.

My nephew had endless problems with using his Nationwide card abroad, ever time he went. Despite telling them he was going every time and despite the fact he was a regular visitor to the country he tried to use it in. There was always some excuse like "he should have put it writing" or something they threw at him to explain it was all his fault and not theirs. he ditched them in the end.

You've probably got good ground to make a fairly stern complaint to HO.

C_Mababejive

I have also had the blocked card when outside the UK issue. It was a nightmare. No use informing them in advance as they have no system for recording it.

Dave_C_2

C_Mababejive wrote: »

I have also had the blocked card when outside the UK issue. It was a nightmare. No use informing them in advance as they have no system for recording it.

Apart from here ? Follow the how to let us know you are going abroad link.

Dave

C_Mababejive

Dave_C wrote: »

Apart from here ? Follow the how to let us know you are going abroad link.

Dave

Brilliant..! It just shows that Nationwide have learned and are turning the corner re customer service.

This must be a newish feature as both myself and my partner have been blighted by the blocked card abroad routine with NW and it has caused major issues and expenses.

I am a long term NW customer and i think they are still one of the best.

Gavin83

I've used my Nationwide card abroad at least 20 times and never encountered any problems. The only time I ran into problems was when I accidently took my old card that had expired!

hartcjhart

Gavin83 wrote: »

I've used my Nationwide card abroad at least 20 times and never encountered any problems. The only time I ran into problems was when I accidently took my old card that had expired!

I agree, I only had one problem with the card being blocked and that was when I was in Spain buying a washing machine/ cooker and aircon units for my house,(Sentinel thought it was strange)
a couple of phone calls and it was sorted

I would rather them block the card rather than get ripped off

somethingcorporate

I've used my NW card abroad loads of times and never had the problem of it being blocked and I've never told them about going abroad (but I do have their travel insurance so maybe they know we go abroad a bit?!).

The second point is completely inexcusable - if someone is off that has a list of clients to see it is just common decency to give them a call!

qetu1357

Last time we re-mortgaged the mortgage advisor at Nationwide tried to sneak in insurance without asking us.

When we challenged her she said "we had to have it".

When we challenged her again she said she meant we should have it when she said we had to have it.

Walked out and organised the mortgage over the phone with them in the end - easier and no sneaky sales practice

Nationwide different? Don't make me laugh

C_Mababejive

As previously stated, both myself and my partner have been blighted at different times by NW card blocking fever. In my case, i was stranded in Northern California with no useable card. I spent two separate nights on the phone at around 0200 in the morning trying to fix it and they totally blanked me. I didnt manage to sort it until i returned to the uk.

Only last year my partner phoned them prior to going away and was then left stranded in a hotel lobby in New York unable to pay the bill because the card was temp blocked !!

We are normal members of society,both fully employed and we do travel so it isnt as if the red flag was raised because we uncharacteristically managed to escape the clutches of Blighty.