MSE News: Lloyds TSB and MBNA worst for fobbing off complaints

Former_MSE_Helen

"Lloyds and MBNA and the worst of the major banks for fobbing off consumers, new data from the Ombudsman shows ..."

Read the full story:

Lloyds TSB and MBNA worst for fobbing off complaints

kar999

Lloyds certainly got my vote for appalling customer service recently. Even a direct complaint to their CEO was treated with contempt..... but then he is the ex-boss of Santander whose customer service track record is equally woeful.

MoneySaverLog

Do you really think your complaint warrants the attention of the CEO? I doubt it would get that far and would be passed onto a Customer Service Rep.

innovate

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Do you really think your complaint warrants the attention of the CEO?

In some cases, it is quite appropriate to write to the person with whom the buck stops. Don't see why people shouldn't write to CEOs if they feel this is their last resort before going to the FOS (or some other Regulator etc for other industries)

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

I doubt it would get that far and would be passed onto a Customer Service Rep.

Each and every CEO in the banks and utilities companies has got an Exec Complaints/Issues Team for whom contact details are rarely if not never published. They would usually be the ones who deal with complaints that land on the CEOs desk.

The Exec Team are usually a bit more knowledgable and business savvy than your normal CS, and certainly a lot more empowered to make decisions. They do also have ways to encourage customers to take their business elsewhere if they think the customer is just taking the p*ss.

Yorkie1

Just hope I never have to complain - banking with LTSB and credit card with MBNA!

opinions4u

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Just hope I never have to complain - banking with LTSB and credit card with MBNA!

If you don't have PPI you'll be fine!

Sparx

Fortunately I have not yet had to experience bad customer service from LTSB. My partner and myself both hold 2 current accounts and a joint account with them for the last 3 odd years and neither of us have had any issues so far.. (touch wood)

Saying that I did have one problem about 2 years ago with an Overdraft fee being applied in error but they refunded it instantly. Can't complain!

Crabman

I have an ongoing complaint with MBNA (not PPI).

They have failed to respond to a single letter sent to them.

They appear to enjoy sending "we are dealing with your request and will respond within 10 business days" letters, followed by "we take your complaint seriously and will respond within 28 days."

What I don't understand is why large financial institutions allow so many easily resolved complaints to progress to the FOS when they have to pay a £500 case fee for each referred complaint. Is it because a proportion of consumers simply give up and thus the financial institution gets away with it?

needtobeheard

After thirty years of banking with Lloyds (private and business account) and being VERY good customers, they suddenly whipped away our business overdraft without any prior warning. A phone call on a Saturday morning from an unknown, stating that the renewal was on that very day. No letter advising us of this! Self employed people rely on overdrafts but we were not allowed to keep ours. Instead they wanted us to take out a loan - my husband refused as he knew he could clear his overdraft within a couple of weeks. Clearing the loan would have cost us a few hundred pounds. So this is how they propose to clear their debts by fleecing people struggling to earn a crust!

Two weeks later the same happened to our son-in-law.

My advice is do NOT use Lloyds for business banking unless you have a turnover of over £150,000 approx. If you have you are on a winner as they will allow you a business banking manager!! Yippee.

So many things wrong with the way we were treated but it is so hard to complain and who DO you write to. By the time this was all resolved with having to change business and personal banking we had lost the will to live!

kar999

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

Do you really think your complaint warrants the attention of the CEO? I doubt it would get that far and would be passed onto a Customer Service Rep.

innovate wrote: »

In some cases, it is quite appropriate to write to the person with whom the buck stops. Don't see why people shouldn't write to CEOs if they feel this is their last resort before going to the FOS (or some other Regulator etc for other industries)

Each and every CEO in the banks and utilities companies has got an Exec Complaints/Issues Team for whom contact details are rarely if not never published. They would usually be the ones who deal with complaints that land on the CEOs desk.

The Exec Team are usually a bit more knowledgable and business savvy than your normal CS, and certainly a lot more empowered to make decisions. They do also have ways to encourage customers to take their business elsewhere if they think the customer is just taking the p*ss.

Absolutely right. It's quite easy to get hold of CEO's actual direct email addresses or even a "P&C/Addresee only" letter will at least reach the PA of the CEO.

Most CS departments only have staff with limited authority. My complaint was passed straight onto the CEO's Executive Complaints Department where it was allocated to an individual senior person with the authority to make decisions, not just read from a script.

It also applied for CEO complaints to Sky, BT and Dixons when I had the need to complain to them and get prompt action rather than hollow words. They all had specific CEO complaints teams who operate at a more effecient and personal level. They will usually promptly call you back with updates rather than you chasing around for answers in an automated telephone system only to speak to endless different reps with the same useless script.

hidip

I complained to the ceo of Lloyds tsb on behalf of my son, who has learning difficulties, and his account had been put into collections due to him being made redundant and after paying ppi for sickness and redundancy, this was not upheld, they said that the policy clearly states that it will pay out for income support and jobseekers, but not for incapacity benefit, however, as he was on a permitted work scheme and was working 16hrs and able to claim incapacity benefit i felt this was misleading, and we were never asked if he was on any benefits at the time.......we got a quick response, and he was compensated 300pounds for our time and upset.....however, we have now found out that the account went into collections again two months ago, in error, and this has effected his credit rating, so he is still unable to get any financial goods or services, he works full time now, and this is really beginning to stress me out, should i write again to the ceo, or just go straight to the fos........this has been a complete nightmare