Natwest / RBS IT Failures

Agricolae

rb10 wrote: »

Hence why it's good to keep a handful of unimportant accounts ticking over at Natwest, so that when they inevitably make mistakes, you collect the compensation from it.

I hope you're joking.

opinions4u

Agricolae wrote: »

I hope you're joking.

I know a couple of people who see Nat West as a nice little earner!

rb10

Agricolae wrote: »

I hope you're joking.

In all seriousness, I am not joking.

Natwest's errors come up frequently. And when you complain, they are excellent at paying out. My last one was £75 in January (only changed my address on one of my accounts, not the other). Another complaint is in train now (missed an interest payment on my savings account).

Provided you're happy to make the (minimal) effort to complain each time, I'd recommend it. Just don't trust them with anything important!

stclair

rb10 wrote: »

Hence why it's good to keep a handful of unimportant accounts ticking over at Natwest, so that when they inevitably make mistakes, you collect the compensation from it.

I always think they should go back to old rule of three compensation payout outs and they close your account.

chicken_licken_3

I have had numerous errors made on my personal account, addresses not being changed, DD's not being cancelled, wrong name on account, I've mostly been fairly compensated. However, it is the lack of, empathy, for want of a better word, that I have encountered from some staff when an error is made which has added to my reasons to leave Natwest.

Last error was a change of address, they changed my AG account but not my First Reserve and a new card was sent out to my old address. I was then told I must've asked the branch NOT to change my address. It wasn't easy to resolve at branch level, so did require a letter to customer services but would've preferred to deal at branch level.

Sadly, they are also closing my local, 3 day a week branch in June, another reason we have left them.

opinions4u

stclair wrote: »

I always think they should go back to old rule of three compensation payout outs and they close your account.

I would turn that on its head.

If they have to make a third compensation payout, due to their own error, to the same customer within a 12 month period they should donate £1,000 to the charity of that customer's choice - in addition to the compensation payments.

Additionally, a director should be put in the stocks outside the head office for 24 hours and the public invited to act accordingly.

The_pc_tech

As someone that works in IT (but not for a bank I add) there is no such thing as a fault free system.

Things can and do go wrong which is why:

a) You plan maintenance or upgrades for a time when the least number of your customers/end users are likely to be affected.
b) You thoroughly plan what you are going to do and how you can back out of it in the event unforseen problems occur in order to restore at the very least the previous service level/features.

Maybe RBS didn't do the latter?

Agricolae

rb10 wrote: »

In all seriousness, I am not joking.

Natwest's errors come up frequently. And when you complain, they are excellent at paying out. My last one was £75 in January (only changed my address on one of my accounts, not the other). Another complaint is in train now (missed an interest payment on my savings account).

Provided you're happy to make the (minimal) effort to complain each time, I'd recommend it. Just don't trust them with anything important!

Having worked for them, I know you're right. I wonder if eventually they will go down the "bunch of flowers and an apology card" route though, rather than pay out. Do you ask for monetary compensation or do they just offer it up?

My opinion is that banks shouldn't be expected to pay compensation for minor administrative errors - an apology should suffice. Compensation should reflect the real financial loss to a customer caused by the error, plus the inconvenience and time spent having to raise the complaint if the bank fails to deal with the problem promptly and efficiently.

If Natwest fluffed up your address change but that actually had no impact other than you having to call them up and tell them to sort it out, then I don't really think that warrants compensation.

But hey, if they offer it then go for it!

JuicyJesus

stclair wrote: »

I always think they should go back to old rule of three compensation payout outs and they close your account.

Sorry, but that is an utterly mental idea. "We've made too many mistakes which you believe we can justifiably compensate you for, an assertion which we obviously agreed with each time as we compensated you, so we're closing your account and causing you even more inconvenience." That's plainly idiotic. If NatWest wished to pursue a policy of effectively punishing their customers for having cause to complain about them and for them to have agreed with those complaints then they would deserve every last speck of bad press and reputational damage that would inevitably result. It would be like asking Tesco for a refund after some of their food gave you food poisoning, and then them giving you a refund, apologising and then having you banned from the store.

I've heard of banks closing accounts of people who make frequent unjustified, frivolous complaints, but what you are proposing is frankly the stupidest idea I've ever heard.

Agricolae

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Sorry, but that is an utterly mental idea. "We've made too many mistakes which you believe we can justifiably compensate you for, an assertion which we obviously agreed with each time as we compensated you, so we're closing your account and causing you even more inconvenience." That's plainly idiotic. If NatWest wished to pursue a policy of effectively punishing their customers for having cause to complain about them and for them to have agreed with those complaints then they would deserve every last speck of bad press and reputational damage that would inevitably result. It would be like asking Tesco for a refund after some of their food gave you food poisoning, and then them giving you a refund, apologising and then having you banned from the store.

I've heard of banks closing accounts of people who make frequent unjustified, frivolous complaints, but what you are proposing is frankly the stupidest idea I've ever heard.

I think they may be referring to a slightly different policy. Banks sometimes give compensation as a gesture of goodwill, which is, let's face it, often used just to shut a difficult customer up. Sometimes the bank will technically admit liability, giving the customer the benefit of the doubt.

Eventually the worst "offenders" may be identified as abusing the complaints system and get the boot with a letter explaining that the bank feels the relationship has broken down or "we do not think we can offer you the level of service you seem to expect from us".

To be honest I think this is a symptom of some banks running over-lenient complaints systems. Obviously that is not the customer's fault.