Halifax Credit Card Helpline NOT 24/7

opinions4u

organic_choc wrote: »

But many times I have landed at foreign airports and I saw HBOS (or it could be RBS) advertisements plastered all over so at the back of my mind I expected services 24/7 around the year.

Most likely RBS. A completely different company. HBOS didn't do much overseas, at least not beyond Dublin.

I'd also expect any bank call centre offering on Christmas Day to be skeleton staff only.

Getting transactions authorised, discussing fraud and the like would be non-standard stuff.

It's unlikely you'd have resolved what you wanted to resolve with any bank.

sfax

AdamJK wrote: »

Maybe I'm missing something but it sounds like you're not happy that a bank is closed on a bank holiday.

I'd have thought that one would have been pretty much self-explanatory myself.

The 24/7 means that the bank lines are open 24/7. There's the emergency Lost & Stolen line that is staffed and also full automated customer services available plus internet banking.

Certain services such as Fraud Investigation, specialist payment teams etc wouldn't be available due to the bank holiday. I suspect that the reason you didn't get too far on the automated service is that the system was transferring you to a fraud line and they weren't working. I'd say that rather than it being misleading advertising of 24/7 customer service, it's actually a problem with the phone lines as maybe it should have apologised and asked you to call back at a later date.

Check the contact us page on Halifax for credit cards. Lost stolen and customer services both say 24/7. No differentiation and yet clearly one is open and one isn't. This is the OP's point and it's valid. They should explicitly list exceptions for days when customer services is closed. Barclaycard also have no distinction and no exceptions but I don't know if they are open over Christmas

organic_choc

sfax wrote: »

It's annoying but it's better to get the odd transaction blocked than to get your statement and see £1,000 has been taken fraudulently. Yes you'll get it all back normally but it's a major hassle and has knock on effects sometimes like credit rating impact

My card was blocked in New York and I'd specifically told them I was taking it there to go shopping on specific dates. Took 30 mins in the phone to get it unblocked. Annoying when you've taken the time to call them first

Cashback average is about 1.3%. You can't get the same card anymore and it's still as good as most new cashback cards (after intro) for my level of spending

30 minutes on the phone - I hope it didn't cost you too much.

organic_choc

opinions4u wrote: »

Most likely RBS. A completely different company. HBOS didn't do much overseas, at least not beyond Dublin.

I'd also expect any bank call centre offering on Christmas Day to be skeleton staff only.

Getting transactions authorised, discussing fraud and the like would be non-standard stuff.

It's unlikely you'd have resolved what you wanted to resolve with any bank.

Don't most operators just follow the instructions on the screen in order to minimize human faults? So even if non standard it shouldn't be difficult to do as long as they follow instructions. You might want someone reasonably trustworthy to do that, but that should be all.

sfax

organic_choc wrote: »

30 minutes on the phone - I hope it didn't cost you too much.

It cost Bloomingdales as I was sat in the manager's office in the store making the call. I even got a coffee but I think this is because I was buying a suit and they didn't want to lose the sale

organic_choc

AdamJK wrote: »

Certain services such as Fraud Investigation, specialist payment teams etc wouldn't be available due to the bank holiday. I suspect that the reason you didn't get too far on the automated service is that the system was transferring you to a fraud line and they weren't working. I'd say that rather than it being misleading advertising of 24/7 customer service, it's actually a problem with the phone lines as maybe it should have apologised and asked you to call back at a later date.

I did point out that one of my issues was that they didn't say when they will open again. Both Halifax and Asda just say they are closed on bank holidays. Today is also bank holiday but they are open today.

Seriously I was the one paying for the phone call and it's not going to cost them that much more to tell me that the phone line will be reopening at 9am on Boxing Day is it?

stclair

sfax wrote: »

Check the contact us page on Halifax for credit cards. Lost stolen and customer services both say 24/7. No differentiation and yet clearly one is open and one isn't. This is the OP's point and it's valid. They should explicitly list exceptions for days when customer services is closed. Barclaycard also have no distinction and no exceptions but I don't know if they are open over Christmas

Even if "customer services" was available the "fraud department" more than likely would not been anyway being a specialist department. So either way the OP still would have not been able to resolve their issue regardless of whether customer services was open or not.

I do not see any mention of their fraud department being open "24/7".

stclair

organic_choc wrote: »

I did point out that one of my issues was that they didn't say when they will open again. Both Halifax and Asda just say they are closed on bank holidays. Today is also bank holiday but they are open today.

Seriously I was the one paying for the phone call and it's not going to cost them that much more to tell me that the phone line will be reopening at 9am on Boxing Day is it?

In future call the geographic number of 0113 242 2229 least the call will be free from your landline or included in your mobile minutes.

However having said that most 0845 numbers are included in your calling packages now adays.

organic_choc

sfax wrote: »

It cost Bloomingdales as I was sat in the manager's office in the store making the call. I even got a coffee but I think this is because I was buying a suit and they didn't want to lose the sale

That is pretty amazing customer services! If you had to make that call on your mobile that would be real yikes!

sfax

stclair wrote: »

Even if "customer services" was available the "fraud department" more than likely would not been anyway being a specialist department. So either way the OP still would have not been able to resolve their issue regardless of whether customer services was open or not.

I do not see any mention of their fraud department being open "24/7".

??? Irrelevant to the point I am making. Two numbers, both described as 24/7 with no listed exceptions, one open, one not

Good news for the fraudsters if no-one is there on bank holidays