Nationwide - selling ethincs?

Dirk_Gently_2

JacksterD wrote: »

Surely the unethical thing would be to not try and save their customers money?

If he knew Nationwide could do a better deal but didn't bother offering it to you I'd say that would have been pretty unethical.

I'll just answer this one specifically as it's the last one, but the below responses apply to other posts above also.

Firstly, how did he know they could do a better deal? All he had was the amount of payment and the company it was going out to - he had absolutely no idea of what level of cover I have. I'm sure he could have sold me insurance that resulted in a lower monthly payment - but I'm damn sure it wouldn't have been what I wanted.

Secondly, you're suggesting he was doing me a favour? I thought he was trying to sell me something and make money for his organisation and - more significantly - commission for himself.

This was purely and simply an attempt to sell me something - and he was using access to information in my account to try and open the door to this.

opinions4u

Dirk_Gently wrote: »

Thanks. At least someone appreciates the point I'm making, which is that when I'm discussing a loan the salesman should only be looking at the details of my account regarding that loan. he shouldn't be using the detail there for any other reasons, or to gain commercial advantage over any competitors.

Yet the whole regulatory regime requires them to sell to need. Identifying a clear need from information on your account is not unreasonable.

And for those saying I might end up better off and I should be thanking Nationwide for trying to help me ... silly naive me for thinking that he was trying to sell something to make him and the Society more money. I hadn't realised they were an altruistic charity doing things like this as a good turn out of the goodness of their heart! :rolleyes:

If you win and they win I really don't see what the problem is. If you don't want to get a quote, say no. If you don't like the quote when you get it, say no.

To me, there's a big difference between someone saying "Would you like us to quote your for car insurance?" and "I can see from your Flexaccount that you pay £59.99 a month to Admiral for your car insurance, would you like us to try and beat that?"

So your problem is that staff with your current account provider can see what direct debits you have on your account. And then use that information to try and put you in a better position. Well good luck finding a bank where staff are prohibited from seeing the details of your account.

lippy1923

Dirk_Gently wrote: »

To me, there's a big difference between someone saying "Would you like us to quote your for car insurance?" and "I can see from your Flexaccount that you pay £59.99 a month to Admiral for your car insurance, would you like us to try and beat that?"

Clearly you have never had sales experience. Simply asking "would you like a quote for car insurance" is a closed question. This means the customer can just say yes or no answers which is not a good technique when trying to sell.
By using the information infront of him, he can tailor the conversation to you and make it more personal which sounds a lot better than a standard monotone "would you like a quote".

The staff are trained to ask this way. If you don't like it feel free to complain.

You asked for peoples opinions on this. The majority say "get a life and move on, stop over reacting".
If you don't like it, why ask for people to comment?

lippy1923

Dirk_Gently wrote: »

I'll just answer this one specifically as it's the last one, but the below responses apply to other posts above also.

Firstly, how did he know they could do a better deal? All he had was the amount of payment and the company it was going out to - he had absolutely no idea of what level of cover I have. I'm sure he could have sold me insurance that resulted in a lower monthly payment - but I'm damn sure it wouldn't have been what I wanted.

Secondly, you're suggesting he was doing me a favour? I thought he was trying to sell me something and make money for his organisation and - more significantly - commission for himself.

This was purely and simply an attempt to sell me something - and he was using access to information in my account to try and open the door to this.

I almost didn't bother replying to this post, but here goes

Firstly, how did he know they could do a better deal? He didn't and niether did you- hence asking you if you wanted a quote- Part of his job.

All he had was the amount of payment and the company it was going out to - Enough info to show him you may be having difficulty budgeting if you can only afford to pay monthly DD - (Admiral charge you for this). Either that or you could be one of these people, who don't know you are being charged (don't read the T&C'S). Prehaps Nationwide's insurance doesn't charge you if you pay monthly?- Surely this would be a benefit to you?

he had absolutely no idea of what level of cover I have. I'm sure he could have sold me insurance that resulted in a lower monthly payment - but I'm damn sure it wouldn't have been what I wanted. Well this is down to you (the customer) to say what cover you want/need. He's not a mind reader so until he asks, how would he know?

Secondly, you're suggesting he was doing me a favour? I thought he was trying to sell me something and make money for his organisation and - more significantly - commission for himself. Obviously he is trying to make Nationwide money- They are not a charity, they are a business. This is what they do, along with so many other financial organisations. He was trying to do you a favour as well as himself. If you both win, then whats the harm?

Shame on Nationwide for trying to help their customers and making themselves a sucessful company at the same time!

Chrisblue1962

This is the same Nationwide Building Society that despite me being on a DMP which I was paying as agreed, went for and got a CCJ and a Charging Order on the house I live in so in the unlikely event of me selling said house they'd get their debt first (circa £3,000) ahead of my other four creditors, some of whom are owed much more than the Nationwide.

Nationwide ethical? Nah ...Just a bunch of greedy overpaid low-life bankers masquerading behind the "nice" facade of the words "Building Society"

JuicyJesus

Chrisblue1962 wrote: »

This is the same Nationwide Building Society that despite me being on a DMP which I was paying as agreed, went for and got a CCJ and a Charging Order on the house I live in so in the unlikely event of me selling said house they'd get their debt first (circa £3,000) ahead of my other four creditors, some of whom are owed much more than the Nationwide.

Nationwide ethical? Nah ...Just a bunch of greedy overpaid low-life bankers masquerading behind the "nice" facade of the words "Building Society"

They're a building society, so owned by and operated for the benefit of their members. Unsurprisingly their members would be best served by the organisation having fewer bad debts.

Ethical, perhaps not. But it makes business sense.

le_loup

Chrisblue1962 wrote: »

they'd get their debt first (circa £3,000) ahead of my other four creditors, some of whom are owed much more than the Nationwide.

Nationwide ethical? Nah ...Just a bunch of greedy overpaid low-life bankers

I don't want to know how you got into such a mess ... but kettle, black, pot, calling (rearrange how you wish) may be appropriate.
Nationwide appear to run their business a bit better than you run your life.
Me? Judgmental? Nah.

Hooloovoo

Dirk_Gently wrote: »

Is that legal, because in my book it's certainly utterly unethical. We were talking about a loan so he was authorised to look at figures with regard to that and that only - but he was using privileged access to my bank account for other purposes, trying to sell-on additional products I hadn't expressed any interest in. That rings really loud alarm bells ring for me.

I'm with the OP on this one.

Trying to cross-sell during a call to customer services is one thing and to be expected, but they should not be allowed to use inside information when attempting to make those sales.

It's common knowledge that you do not disclose the value of your existing quotes when contacting a new supplier. You wait for them to make their best offer, and then tell them what your other quotes are. If you do it the other way around, what's to stop a supplier quoting £10 lower than your lowest quote, when if they didn't have prior knowledge they may well have quoted £100 lower?

Other insurance companies do not know how much you currently pay for your insurance unless you choose to tell them. Why should a bank or building society be allowed to use their privileged position to look at your accounts and work out how much you currently pay, before calculating their own insurance quote?

I agree OP - completely unethical.

dalesrider

Hooloovoo wrote: »

I'm with the OP on this one.

Other insurance companies do not know how much you currently pay for your insurance unless you choose to tell them. Why should a bank or building society be allowed to use their privileged position to look at your accounts and work out how much you currently pay, before calculating their own insurance quote?

I agree OP - completely unethical.

Well unless it was a one off payment, then they have NO IDEA how much the policy cost. As some co's will charge interest, some only run DD's over less than 12 months.

Also you miss the biggest point. BANKS DON'T PROVIDE INSURANCE.
They pass you to their prefered insurance partner. Who will have no idea how much you are paying. As they cannot see you bank account.

Hooloovoo

dalesrider wrote: »

Well unless it was a one off payment, then they have NO IDEA how much the policy cost. As some co's will charge interest, some only run DD's over less than 12 months.

All the more reason not to bother looking.

Also you miss the biggest point. BANKS DON'T PROVIDE INSURANCE.
They pass you to their prefered insurance partner. Who will have no idea how much you are paying. As they cannot see you bank account.

And you miss the big picture by focussing on the smallest of irrelevant points.

It's not just insurance, the same can be said regarding cross-selling any product.

And in the OPs case, the building society certainly do sell insurance. The customer service advisor was capable of quoting for him there and then, not after passing him to an external department.