woolwich to barclays

08700104503_worker

I work (I know, but its only a summer job) - behind the 08700104503 number all you woolwich lot are calling every single day of the week and I am going to list a few facts -

Fact 1 - Woolwich Card Saver users you will now NOT be getting debit cards with this account - it is a SAVINGS I repeat SAVINGS account and therefore you will only be getting a cash card which is like the ones little kids get so that they can only get their money out of a BARCLAYS ATM - the ONLY way to get a debit card is to upgrade the account to a current account - and this HAS to be done in a BRANCH I repeat a BRANCH ONLY so please stop ringing us moaning that you haven't got a electron card anymore because you ain't going to get one with a savings account.

Fact 2 - ALL of your Direct Debits and Standing Orders will change over to the new account - but from now on you should be telling people what your new sortcode and account number is - this is one of the things we at 08700104503 will be able to tell you.

Fact 3 - From your migration date it can take THREE WEEKS for cards to be issued - you will get a 5 digit telephone banking passcode for use with 08007315387 so that you can change your address or transfer money if you need to - you WILL NOT be getting a new pin as these will be the SAME as your old woolwich cards.

Fact 4 - New Barclays connect cards will only allow you to withdraw £300 a day from ATMs and this CANNOT be changed.

Fact 5 - If you live in a LONDON postcode and you are waiting to receive a debit card then because they use a COURIER to deliver cards for security then it is likely that the card is with them - again we can check that.

Sorry to rant and rave but this is fairly simple and it is causing a lot of stress to me and my colleagues who are working under a lot of strain with all you woolwich people.

I would like to point out that in no way am I sticking up for Barclays - in fact I think that the way they have treated all of you former Woolwich customers is disgusting and lets just say I am glad I have nothing to do with either Woolwich or Barclays - and I hope these few facts may help you out and reduce our workload.

hrhdtr

08700104503_worker wrote: »

I work (I know, but its only a summer job) - behind the 08700104503 number all you woolwich lot are calling every single day of the week and I am going to list a few facts -

Fact 1 - Woolwich Card Saver users you will now NOT be getting debit cards with this account - it is a SAVINGS I repeat SAVINGS account and therefore you will only be getting a cash card which is like the ones little kids get so that they can only get their money out of a BARCLAYS ATM - the ONLY way to get a debit card is to upgrade the account to a current account - and this HAS to be done in a BRANCH I repeat a BRANCH ONLY so please stop ringing us moaning that you haven't got a electron card anymore because you ain't going to get one with a savings account.

Fact - This stupid bank through it's own arrogance has seriously disrupted the lives of thousands of financially vulnerable people who are struggling to survive on the breadline.

The fact that we are talking about Woolwich savings accounts is a moot point.

When I got back from Europe because of collasped IT market, your stupid bank wouldn't give me a current account because I had an outstanding unpaid mobile phone bill which I couldn't pay because I was out of work. That's Barclay's right to do and I respect that. At the time, I went to from bank to bank to bank, the ONLY bank that could help me was The Woolwich. It might have been a "Savings" account, but it had a Visa Electron card, that I couldn't get with Nat West, Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds or the Abbey National.

So try telling me that it's a Savings account and that I shouldn't use it for day to day living. At the time, after trying 6 banks, it was the best I could get and it appears by reading other comments, there is many people who are in the same boat.

Fact 2 - ALL of your Direct Debits and Standing Orders will change over to the new account - but from now on you should be telling people what your new sortcode and account number is - this is one of the things we at 08700104503 will be able to tell you.

"Savings" accounts don't have a facility for standing orders and direct debit.

Fact 3 - From your migration date it can take THREE WEEKS for cards to be issued - you will get a 5 digit telephone banking passcode for use with 08007315387 so that you can change your address or transfer money if you need to - you WILL NOT be getting a new pin as these will be the SAME as your old woolwich cards.

Oh dear.

Fact 4 - New Barclays connect cards will only allow you to withdraw £300 a day from ATMs and this CANNOT be changed.

That's very nice for people who Barclays will give connect cards to. Notice how I use the word "will" rather than the word "can".

Fact 5 - If you live in a LONDON postcode and you are waiting to receive a debit card then because they use a COURIER to deliver cards for security then it is likely that the card is with them - again we can check that.

We? You work for Barclays then?

Sorry to rant and rave but this is fairly simple and it is causing a lot of stress to me and my colleagues who are working under a lot of strain with all you woolwich people.

Then blame Barclays management who decided to go and takeover a bank who they knew was looking after the needs of those who are on the bottom rung of the financial ladder. That bank knew what it was doing. They did the maths and knew a certain chunk of customers were not desirable in the long term, so they decided to royally ****ing shaft them by withdrawing their debit cards with only a few days notice, so that they would be left with little choice but to move banks, what with their lives being so badly disrupted.

I would like to point out that in no way am I sticking up for Barclays - in fact I think that the way they have treated all of you former Woolwich customers is disgusting and lets just say I am glad I have nothing to do with either Woolwich or Barclays - and I hope these few facts may help you out and reduce our workload.

If you don't work for the Woolwich or Barclays, who do you work for?

Cheers.

hrhdtr

Joe404 wrote: »

Just an update on my last post here

I received a letter from Barclays yesterday informing me that theres nothing that can be done to send me a new card and all I can do is open a new account with them. They have paid a mere £20 into my account to 'compensate' me for my troubles.

Time to move on I think. I'm going to struggle to open a current account due to bad credit but I desperately need a debit card so I can pay my bills. I heard you can get an Electron with the Co-op with no credit check, can anyone confirm if this is true?

Many thanks

Joe

Do you have outstanding CCJs?

I was in the same position. The Alliance & Leicester saved the day with me. They do a credit check, but it has to be really bad. I said to them "But i have loads of bills I've defaulted on....one going on for 5 years..." - They said "No problem. Everyone owes money you know...you have to have CCJs to get a knockback...."

All they ask for is £500.00 to be going trough each month. They knew what they was doing and they know exactly what type of customers they are getting from the Woolwich/Barclays fiasco.

They even advised me to get my housing benefits paid in directly to bump it up so that the account clears £500.00 a month.

It took one week to get a Visa Debit card through.

Heck, I had to talk them out of giving me an overdraft and a credit card!

:rotfl:

I'm in love with them. Internet banking, telephone banking. Got the lot.

Good on the Alliance and Leicester for looking after EVERYONE.

hrhdtr

Dave_Brooker wrote: »

So that makes it alright for Barclays to offer less services to account holders than they previously had?

How many Woolwich customers must Barclays have lost for ever thanks to their cack-handed change over?

They don't care. Most of the customers they lost, they didn't want in the first place. Giving people (low earning / bad credit rep scum like me) who could only survive on those savings accounts a few days notice, was a deliberate act to insure that we get so angry, we wouldn't dream of keeping an account with Barclays.

08700104503_worker

"Savings" accounts don't have a facility for standing orders and direct debit.

I didn't say that savings accounts could - I am talking about people who have direct debits and standing orders on their CURRENT accounts.

Oh dear.

What do you mean oh dear? - the woolwich card will work until the new barclays card comes in the post - the new cards will automatically be ordered after three weeks from the migration date.

That's very nice for people who Barclays will give connect cards to. Notice how I use the word "will" rather than the word "can".

FINE they CAN be used to withdraw £300 a day - I state this as the woolwich cards had a different daily atm withdrawal limit.

We? You work for Barclays then?

Unfortunately yes.

If you don't work for the Woolwich or Barclays, who do you work for?

I work for an for barclays through an agency - I am only working here over the summer and lets just say I won't be coming back here again next year.

I am only pointing this out to help many customers who have been stuck in the rediculously long queues because of the c*** up of the migration - and totally agree with you that both banks are a pile of rubbish.

BigMummaF

Look guys.....what if we band together & lobby the financial ombudsman or something?

Although I fully understand, it seems a bit petty to start on some of the posters who have been trying to explain the situation from the other side when we all know it is the big bully boys sitting in their plush pads who are to blame.

The confusion must be from the different types of accounts that the two institutions were operating at the time of the merger, but that does not excuse Bl88dy Barking from treating Woolys customers with utter contempt.

Perhaps Martin could help us out with a template letter, or word the petition for us?

loupomm

can anyone tell me if the basic connect card (not cheque guarrantee) will be able to be used on the net? this is what ive been told im getting from barclays, thank you

08700104503_worker

First of all thank you to the person that 'thanked' the two messages as at least one person can see that I am trying to help - nearly cracked this morning at someone who was having a right go because we'd sent them random connect cards - but we worked out it was for a mortgage current account in the end.

The confusion must be from the different types of accounts that the two institutions were operating at the time of the merger

That is correct - what it is, is the woolwich people had Woolwich Card Saver account or very similar card saver variaties - what the 'powers that be' have told us is that they have migrated people over to an account with a similar rate of interest as this is what most people are interested in - they have been migrated to a flexible savings account which only offrs the cash card unfortunately.

Can anyone tell me if the basic connect card (not cheque guarrantee) will be able to be used on the net? this is what ive been told im getting from barclays, thank you.

If I know what you mean - you will be getting a Connect (Electronic) - (that is exactly how it is listed at work) which is exactly the same as a Visa Electron except that it is now Visa so it can be used everywhere including the net - but you will have to go through Verified by Visa now as the bank does use this.

gjchester

A warning heads up..

I have a current account with a savings reserve, (used to be an open plan mortgage but the mortgage bit got paid off a few years ago thanks to the brilliant open plan system)..

If you use online banking to pay a billl and you haven't enough money in the current account it will fail.

Great Eh.

Read that carefully, IN YOUR CURRENT ACCOUNT is the key, doesn't matter what the savings reserve has in it as the system ignores it. Pay the bill by Phone or in a branch and the system can cope and draw it from your reserve, just not online banking. They expect you to transfer the money from the reserve then pay the bill. Completly the wrong way round as the Woolwich was. I had over £2k in the reserve account at the time and it was a £800 bill and it was just ignored. Result will be a fine from the credit card and interest and a possible credit blackmark, which Barclays will be paying any fee's I'm charged. Not decided if I want to charge for my time, is it worth the fight? Certainly a complaint to the FSA is probably forthcoming if they can't get everything sorted out by this weekend.

I'm trying to move my account elsewhere but they can't even get that right, they are refusing to send the information out. I've spent 1 1/4 hours this afternoon in the branch trying to sort it out, I had to leave work early especially. I tried on the phone, they passed me to online help and 45 minutes and my lunch break later they decided I had to go into the branch. Thankfully saynoto0870 meant they were paying for the call.

Amongst the highlights of that time were security details that were wrong, so I couldn't use the online banking helpline (they'd mixed up my town of birth and mothers maiden name, but interestingly they've been accepted on the phone banking line as correct), no details of my employer (who they must have known as a I had a mortgage with the woolwich) or my job (again should be on file), the system had me as having a mortgage (DOH, where do I start with that one) and phone numbers at least 5 years out of date. The woman who was trying patiently to resolve it (she was ex woolwich and she wasn't happy with her account either) couldn't get through to the right department and she was calling internally.

The other highlight was moving my old open plan reserve before sweeping cash back to my account then charging me for being overdrawn as they fubaared up...

Sooner I move from this shambles the better. (I hope!!)

System

I had a Card Saver and closed it when I got the switch over literature earlier in the year. It clearly said that the Card Saver was being migrated to an account with an ATM card that could only be used at Barclays cash machines.
At that point, I closed it.

I don't accept this rubbish about Barclays being unable to keep a Debit card of sometype because it's a savings account. They made a business decision not provide that facility on the migrated account, plain and simple.

Vote with your feet, Co-op and Bank of Scotland/Halifax will issue you an Electron on their basic account.