barclay's take over of woolwich

sinking_2

I's anyone unhappy with the impending take over of woolwich by Barclay's. I like many am a card saver account holder . This account is great, i have a £400 daily withdrawl limit, debit sevice which i can use almost anywhere and i can withdraw cash using the card abroad. However after managing my account for a while now Barclay's want to shut down the woolwich and transfer my account to Barclay's. Great you may think, a like for like account with one of the big boy's. Wishfull thinking, the account now has a 25 % drop in withdrawl facility, no debit facility and i cannot use the card abroad, infact it's possibilly the most basic account on the planet. I'm fighting it though is anyone else up for the challenge?

melancholly

i had my ISA with the woolwich - then when barclays took over it stopped being competitive. best thing to do is shop around and change banks! they won't stop their change for one customer, and you can probably get a better deal elsewhere so i'd let them know you're dissatisfied by going elsewhere.

sinking_2

yes they are converting but not like for like. Why should i accept an inferer service to the one i currently enjoy. All other barclay's accounts require a credit check which i am unlikely to pass. As my woolwich account was given to me with no check and i am happy the barclays should offer same service don't you think

sinking_2

Well's it my life and my crusade i'l give a bash and write to the Ob and Barclay's. Thanks for the chat.

Inactive

sinking wrote: »

Well's it my life and my crusade i'l give a bash and write to the Ob and Barclay's. Thanks for the chat.

Good for you, I am sure they will act upon your request.:rolleyes:

andyrules

Woolwich now Barclays?? When did that happen? I have a small amount of savings in from a very old account, but had no notification of this. Also, does that mean the Woolwich are no longer a BS? I remember seeing notices ages ago about new accounts no longer being eligible for windfalls, but I thought that meant they WERE still a BS.

andyrules

Cheers Almac
still get statements, not moved house, but I guess I'd better go in and ask. So, sorry to ask the seemingly obvious, does that mean they are no longer a BS?

peterbaker

"The Woolwich" and "Woolwich" are trading names of Barclays Bank PLC. No longer a building society, but in typical Barclays fashion, the Woolwich have been trading as an almost separate business all this time. In practice I think, the Woolwich side of the business is more or less just the home loans side of Barclays now. I have had two mortgages with them for about 5 years and in both cases my Barclays branch steered me to a Woolwich branded loan.

As a very long standing Barclays customer, I have to say that I am too often tempted to believe that I am just a number to them thesedays, and I do have a number of minor outstanding issues with them.

However, prompted by your post, sinking, I decided to have one last try at contacting their Head Office top level complaints department.

They used to have such a department in Lombard Street in London, but the number I had for it no longer works.

Barclays Head Office is now at Churchill Place Canary Wharf London E14. If you try to find a number via directory enquiries online then you won't get one because there are too many Barclays numbers registered with BT so their system declines to give you any at all! That must surely be tactical?

All the other Barclays numbers seem to take you into the low level maze where everyone is indeed a number for without one you are highly unlikely to have the patience to wait in their queuing system.

Luckily I have an old paper directory and found the Head Office switchboard number 02071161000. I tried that and they advised me of "Chairman's Office" Customer Relations team and put me through. They immediately picked up on the fact I had called the 0207 number and said in future I could call 0800 282390 to get them. They volunteered a credit to my account to pay for today's 0207 call, and volunteered to call me straight back to continue my initial enquiries today.

This team is actually in Liverpool. Once through, I had recognised the tone of conversation immediately as patient, caring and helpful. "Oh Gosh Mr Baker, I am very sorry about the problems you have had. Let's go through each one.....(which we did) ....your reference number is XXXXX and you will here from us within 5 days."

I told them that I had been prompted to call them after reading your query on MSE, sinking, and they suggested they might be able to help you individually if I gave you the 0800 282390 number! Apparently that number is listed somewhere on the Barclays website but I wouldn't know where...

Anyway, good luck!

donglemouse

i had an offset mortgage with woolwich for 5 years and was transferred to barclays earlier this year - when they moved all woolwich customers across

it is a big change

while barclays used to own woolwich, woolwich had there own various limits for transactions, there own website, own call centre etc etc

all woolwich customers are now under barclays rules

my main gripes are:

i) when they transferred us they gave me a new sort code/account number - this meant I had to change all my credit card details with about 100+ websites [i am active with many bookmakers/casinos]

ii) they shut down the woolwich website without warning issued various new passwords etc

iii) they stopped us being able to use woolwich branches anymore, great when your nearest barclays is suddenly 20 miles from where the woolwich is

iv) barclays phone banking is awaful and takes them forever to answer

basically it's been as much trouble as switching bank with all my details changing, it's been a total nightmare and to be honest i am so peed off I will move to another bank

i have found barclays complaints depts at all levels to be useless

dm

webfred

Hi

I'm having all sorts of problems too. Asside from the initial cockups of loss of internet banking and no working bank cards when it first transferred the main problems are these.

1 )Internet transaction limit of £1000, but my Barclaycard is never less than that!

2) Indian call center not open when it should be ( in advertised times), lack of knowledge of indian staff. Unless it is a straight forwad question they cannot answer.

3) Internet site

i) does not hold enough transaction history, it should have at least the whole months transaction, at present it only appears to hold the last 7 days.

ii) very cumbersom to use, if you want to create a cash flow forecast it takes about 6 screens to do where as on the old site you could see the upcomming transactions at the bottom of the accounts page.


I used the 0207 number above to let them know just how inferior the new site is and that I felt that the change was a step back. I now want to move my offset and savings pots to another provider, and have been told that to add insult to injury its going to cost me £275. Thats tough when I only need to change provider as they have broken their side of the bargain and are no longer giving me the same level of service.

I looked at the Newcastle BS Offset, but the current account is not within the product so it will take 3 to 5 days for transferrs to take place.

Does anybody know of a product that is as good as the woolwich's was?

I need 7 pots + Current A/c and as low a setup fee as possible?