RBS 'Customer Service' Review Warning

ShoesAreDamnExpensive

Since I became a reformed money saver my bank - Royal Bank of Scotland - have been throwing 'deals' at me to entice me back into my bad old ways. :rolleyes2

Their customer service review however was quite astounding. After being hounded to have one I finally agreed. The young guy I spoke to (he sounded about 12 years of age but hey - I'm getting to the stage now where the police look too young to be in uniform!) was basically trying to convince me to consolidate 3 personal loans I have with them into one.

Now I know this can be a good idea as it can get you a better overall rate but my car loan is only six months old and I looked at the time of taking out that loan whether I should consolidate - and although my monthly payments ended up lower - the total interest over the life of the loans was waaaaaay higher as my old loans have really good rates on them. (I was very tempted by the lower monthly payments but I knew I would only end up spending the saving per month on shoes:D and as a good money saver paying more interest is bad bad bad)

The bit that really got me though was when I questioned why he thought it might be a good idea to consolidate he obviously didn't have a clue and started telling me I was 'tripling' my interest payment by having 3 separate loans. :shocked: I asked how on earth could I be tripling my interest payments just by having 3 separate loans and he assured me I was and that not only would my monthly payments be lower but the interest would be less. I told him if he could back up that statement with figures showing a real interest saving to get back to me.

Funnily enough he hasn't.:rolleyes:

what annoyed me is that if I was not a clued up money saver I may well have bought into the rubbish he was saying. It's not just mis-selling it's blatantly conning their customers. :mad:

There are many reasons for consolidating but come on RBS - at least be truthful about what they are!!

Debt_Free_Chick

ShoesAreDamnExpensive wrote: »

There are many reasons for consolidating but come on RBS - at least be truthful about what they are!!

I would love them to be truthful, but they actually don't know. The simple truth is that they get a commission on any new products sell you :mad: They are paid to sell - not to advise :mad:

amandathepanda

I would disagree about the commission. They actually get a quarterly bonus based on what they have sold although most of the time the targets aren't achievable so they don't get one.
They should have better training, to tell a customer that they are paying three times as much interest is misleading.

[Deleted User]

You have money, they know you have money, they want that money, they need that money, theyll hound and pursuade you "but what about your family if you die theyll be in the gutter" blah blah blah.

Switch to Bank of scotland they are doing £100 switching bonus and 6.2% on the current account and when doing this make sure they are aware that you do not want to be contacted by phone and you do not want to be contacted by mail and you do not want to be contacted by email.

Happy days

Paul_Herring

what annoyed me is that if I was not a clued up money saver I may well have bought into the rubbish he was saying.

Ah - but look on the bright side; you were well aware of your current financial state, and now you know what sort of things they (or any future bank,) will ask at such a review.

You can use this to your advantage next time. I made my bank manager quite uncomfortable at my last review (last week incidentally.)

I took a small piece of paper with me to remind me what I had, and where, and it turned out (as I suspected) that he couldn't offer me anything.

'Premium current account'? No ta - I'll source the stuff I need separately and cheaper elsewhere.

Overdraft? Current little used limit more than enough. I know I can increase it online if I need to (as I did last year for 6 months.)

Savings? I'm with an account paying more than 1.5% better than his savings account.

ISA? Ditto with cash one, no advantage in changing investment one.[1]

Insurance? Yes, tried them last time it came up - they weren't even in the top 5.

Credit card? No ta. I've got a cashback card and a 0% on purchases for 12 months; he couldn't beat, or even come close to, either. (Last review I got £10K 0% 6month BT, which repeated on trying to cancel - another £400 in stoozed interest TYVM)

Loans? Not applicable in my current situation, but at the last review, they were well under control and didn't need consolodating.

In the end, it was a bit of a waste of 45 minutes, but all I'd be doing is spending money in the pub at the time otherwise, and it forced him to be there after hours (appt was at 5pm.)


[1] I was even able to educate him on certain aspects of investment ISAs of which he was unaware - this is the bank *manager* remember. (Granted he's not an FA.)

pinkfluffybabe

Lloyds TSB are the same - tried to convince me to consolidate my 3.9% cc's onto a 6.9% loan. Waste of my time and theirs.

[Deleted User]

I cant understand why you didnt go for that pinkfluffybabe, surely by making your debts unflexible, increasing the interest rate and then maybe adding on payment protection and identity theft assistance insurance you would have improved your situation PMSL

regularsaver1

They are not bank managers that you are seeing

why do do many people say that

pinkfluffybabe

regularsaver1 wrote: »

They are not bank managers that you are seeing

why do do many people say that

No its usually a new graduate type person I get at Lloyds

regularsaver1

bank managers do not do the reviews

they are usually the supervisors - ie do observation on insurance sales ect

jonesMUFCforever

Most customers see a PAM.
If a PAM is busy then the BM usually takes over.
BM will normally do his best to stall and advise you to come back to see PAM.
You are not happy about this so complain to SBM.
SBM will refer back to BM who asks PAM to sort it out!

Oh what a jolly life we lead!!











For the uninitiated PAM = Personal account manager (or salesperson),
BM = Branch manager,
SBM= Senior Branch manager.