Nationwide - selling ethincs?

money_maker_2

The sales rep doesn't have under the counter rates and will make up quotes based on what they see from the OP's flex account. As stated above, they do not provide the insurance... I think its LV off the top of my head, so would quote using their rates.... nothing to do with nationwide.

Why is the poor sales lad being slagged off for doing his job! No matter what people say, he was trying to make the customer better off, which in turn would also benefit Nationwide from the sale.

OP appears to have budgetting issues if he needs a loan. Why would anyone pay interest and take out a loan if they had the funds in savings? As previously pointed out, he has to pay monthly for car insurance so whats the harm in trying to save him money in other areas of his outgoings?

opinions4u

dalesrider wrote: »

Also you miss the biggest point. BANKS DON'T PROVIDE INSURANCE.

They can do. And often have done.

dalesrider

Hooloovoo wrote: »

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.

From OP...
I was on the phone to one of their people getting a soft-quote for a loan, and he actually said "I can see from your FlexAccount that you pay <Company1> £xx.xx a month for your car insurance and <Company2> £xx.xx a month for your home insurance. Would you like us to try and beat that...."

Where in that is any hint that the OP would not be transferd to LV to get a quote.

Nationwide car insurance is provided by Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company Limited (LV=).

They are acting as a broker... Not as a insurance company. Which is just the same as any of the banks who offer ins do.
No way could that advisor have enough info to be able to generate a quote. From the information they had.... No details of the car or Op's driving history, being the biggest missing info here...

Sadly unlinke a proper ins broker. They only offer you a choice of their prefered partner and not possibly the best deal you could get.

JuicyJesus

Hooloovoo wrote: »

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?

A fairly unlikely scenario, to be fair, especially in a case where Nationwide are contracting out to a third party and where the customer could quite easily get an independent quote themselves (online say) and find out the discrepancy.

Macca83_2

The way in which i understand it would suggest that the chap at nationwide has made an error in discussing the car insurance provider without first confirming the company with the customer. So, 'I see you have your car insurance with admiral' would be a no no. 'Could you tell me who supplies your car insurance' would be acceptable. Im not entirely sure that they can mention a competitor directly.
But having said that if the advisor could save you a few quid a year would that really be such a bad thing?

jonmcclelland

no foul here from the nationwide staff. they're just doing their job. that's the job of a banking general advisor.

JuicyJesus

Macca83 wrote: »

The way in which i understand it would suggest that the chap at nationwide has made an error in discussing the car insurance provider without first confirming the company with the customer. So, 'I see you have your car insurance with admiral' would be a no no. 'Could you tell me who supplies your car insurance' would be acceptable. Im not entirely sure that they can mention a competitor directly.

They would not be able to give advice, or discuss the benefits or demerits of other companies' products, if they had no authorisation to do so from the FSA. However "I see your car insurance is with Bumfluff Insurance, we could save you money, would you like a quote?" is not a comparison nor is it advice. It is a factual statement: we COULD save you money. And it's true - they could.

If on the other hand they said "Your cover with Bumfluff Insurance is really expensive and not very good, ours is better, do you want a quote?" that would not be allowed. That is advice, and financial advice is regulated, and I highly doubt Nationwide have advisers (in the regulatory sense) manning the phones. It would also be discussing the products of other organisations, and assuming that the person on the phone is regulated as an "introducer" (as most frontline bank staff will be) they are only authorised to give factual information about their own organisations' products.

It's the difference between suggesting a product (i.e. introducing it to the customer) and actively telling the customer that they should take something out.

BobQ

Dirk_Gently wrote: »

Cross-selling I'm quite used to and that's par for the course.

What I found reprehensible was this guy looking at my monthly transactions in order to use the information to try and sell me something.

To me that's misuse of the access he had to that information and it stinks.

I agree its appalling. But why are you so amazed it happens? Its how banks have worked for years. Its just that these days they do it more directly. It used to be done mostly by mailshots and cold calling, now they can do it in real time. In fact I suspect that this is primary reason for improving their IT systems. Its not to give you a faster service.

Macca83_2

JuicyJesus wrote: »

They would not be able to give advice, or discuss the benefits or demerits of other companies' products, if they had no authorisation to do so from the FSA. However "I see your car insurance is with Bumfluff Insurance, we could save you money, would you like a quote?" is not a comparison nor is it advice. It is a factual statement: we COULD save you money. And it's true - they could.

If on the other hand they said "Your cover with Bumfluff Insurance is really expensive and not very good, ours is better, do you want a quote?" that would not be allowed. That is advice, and financial advice is regulated, and I highly doubt Nationwide have advisers (in the regulatory sense) manning the phones. It would also be discussing the products of other organisations, and assuming that the person on the phone is regulated as an "introducer" (as most frontline bank staff will be) they are only authorised to give factual information about their own organisations' products.

It's the difference between suggesting a product (i.e. introducing it to the customer) and actively telling the customer that they should take something out.

Naw, my point has got nothing to do with advised/non advised sales. Direct mention of a product without getting the customer to confirm the competitor is usually considered a no no. You can't just launch into a sales pitch based on information you've assumed from a list of direct debts.

MABLE

I get this when I go into NW but a polite not interested normally suffices.

They are just doing their job and like the rest of us trying to earn a crust of bread.