Do they have no shame? And/or no brains?

innovate

Got this from the Post Office

Thank you for saving with Post Office®. You've been enjoying a 12 month bonus on your Online Saver I5 which is due to expire on 28/05/2013.

As a valued Post Office® savings customer we have a range of offers available to you. These offers are available now for a limited time only. For full details and how to apply simply Sign in to your account and select the 'My Offers' link.

So I log into my account with some anticipation only to find they are offering me their "Online Reserve Issue 4", 1.4% gross, withdrawals possible at any time with the loss of 30 days interest on the amount withdrawn.

Even their publically available "Online Saver" pays 1.5% gross, with no penalties for withdrawals.

It's nigh on impossible to think they have actually thought this through. Alternatively, they must be thinking their customers are completely thick and appreciate to be treated with disdain.

grizzly1911

Thanks.:(I have mine due to "expire" at the start of June.

I have had the previous ISaves and had been happy until the interest reduction fiasco back in January.

Does seem nuts but not much worse than M&S who brought in a headline Esave version, for about a month, then promptly dropped the rate too.

I will let mine run its term but don't have clue what to do with it then. Funds, ITs or if all else fails I have an old Coventry 30 day notice still offering a similar rate to the current PO offering

AlwaysLearnin

Lethargy & laziness are unfortunately prevelant in the personal finance world, hence the apparent huge amounts of money in accounts with 0.1% (or lower) rate. Financial institutions prey on it. As sad as it sounds, people will go (fall?) for it...

atush

And yes, they are hoping you are stupid. Good thing you aren't lol

Gromitt

innovate wrote: »

Got this from the Post Office

Got exactly the same thing, but couldn't be bothered to login to my account to check the offer. Thanks for doing it for me

I remember opening an 2.6% Tesco Savings account last year for the 4% TSB offer. It seems that my money will be going there as nothing else comes close.

typistretired

I got the same email and felt the same as you at the offer and decided to open the online saver paying 1.50% just to keep a Post Office savings account open with them. But when you try to open one logged into your account this account does not come up in the list you can apply for. I had to apply as a new customer, so I had to give all the information they already knew about me, plus they said I needed to send them a form with my signature and they would send me logging in details. Why restrict current customers I know you are allowed only one online saver but we should be allowed to get the account with the highest interest rate especially when your current one is reducing. Hope some Post Office staff look at this thread and sort it out.

redbuzzard

innovate wrote: »

they must be thinking their customers are completely thick and appreciate to be treated with disdain.

"as a valued customer" always means "as someone we can take advantage of". That's not an attempt at wit, it's a fact. They have to fleece people who fall into their arms.

We all know they all do it. Car insurance is the one we all experience, house insurance another.

I don't see how it can change. While ever there are competitors offering cross-subsidised deals to attract new customers, any provider who doesn't will simply see his customer base eroded; and the price of those deals to pull in the new customers is that the existing ones pay more.

What we would like is to be rewarded for loyalty, but any provider who tries to offer consistently fair pricing will go out of business.

For two years on the trot, the RAC sent me a breakdown renewal price of £184. On each occasion when I told them Green Flag's price was £117, they matched it. The second time, I left anyway, for the insult. 57% over the odds is just brazen.

I suppose it would need some sort of legislation to make providers treat new and existing customers the same, or to proscribe cross subsidy in financial products. But that would be anti-competitive I expect, with all sorts of unintended consequences.

innovate

typistretired wrote: »

I got the same email and felt the same as you at the offer and decided to open the online saver paying 1.50% just to keep a Post Office savings account open with them. But when you try to open one logged into your account this account does not come up in the list you can apply for. I had to apply as a new customer, so I had to give all the information they already knew about me, plus they said I needed to send them a form with my signature and they would send me logging in details. Why restrict current customers I know you are allowed only one online saver but we should be allowed to get the account with the highest interest rate especially when your current one is reducing. Hope some Post Office staff look at this thread and sort it out.

This is just adding insult to injury. How much more bizarre can it get with them.

I have been saying quite a lot that I think all the banks and BSs are six in one and half a dozen in the other. But the Post Office/BoI are rapidly moving into a league of their own IMO.

typistretired

Checked my Post Office online account and there is the new online account paying 1.50% along with the online saver I5 losing its bonus on 31/05/2013. In it is the £1 which you had to pay by debit card to open it, but no £1 has left my current account although I know it is pending (available balance) very strange.