Halifax Appointment System

BMN

innovate wrote: »

Did you read the OP's posts? At least 3 times now they said they would have been able to make an informed decision if they had been told on the Halifax website they need to book an appointment. For the avoidance of doubt: the website did not tell the OP that they needed to book an appointment. And just in case: no, it is not reasonable at all that customers should only to find out about the need for an appointment once they have made the trip to the Branch.

Yes I did read them. I even didn't comment on whether it's reasonable - you didn't need to tell me that.
I didn't make it clear in my post but not every branch will require you to make an appointment - they have different policies because they are managed by different people.
It won't be listed on the website because it isn't a company wide policy to only open Young Saver accounts via an appointment.

innovate

BMN wrote: »

Most appointments won't last this long. They just say allow up to 40 mins because in some cases it might take that

exactly why might it take 40 minutes to open a kids savings account? FORTY minutes! Not even if somebody read out every word of the T&Cs several times would it take that long. Assuming, of course, the reader had a basic level of literacy, which you would take as a given with a bank clerk. However, they don't read out T&Cs, they try to quiz the parent about the parents' financial affairs, so they can upsell to whatever they have on offer at the time.

BMN

innovate wrote: »

exactly why might it take 40 minutes to open a kids savings account? FORTY minutes! Not even if somebody read out every word of the T&Cs several times would it take that long. Assuming, of course, the reader had a basic level of literacy, which you would take as a given with a bank clerk. However, they don't read out T&Cs, they try to quiz the parent about the parents' financial affairs, so they can upsell to whatever they have on offer at the time.

The are formalities that the bank will go through with every customer but ultimately it's that individual customer who will dictate how long it takes.

opinions4u

BMN wrote: »

The are formalities that the bank will go through with every customer but ultimately it's that individual customer who will dictate how long it takes.

I think the bank's staff member has the most control over time.

I prefer the 20 seconds it takes to open an Online Saver on my phone. Not much use to the OP though.

jimjames

BMN wrote: »

It's because it's not general policy. Different branches will operate in different ways. If they've told you that you need to book an appointment to open a young saver then that's what you have to do.

If that really is the case then it is even more ridiculous.

How can a UK wide company offering the same account nationwide have different policies at each branch. It truly is crazy if that is the case. Even if the website said that an appointment MAY be needed and to check locally the OP would have been alerted

innovate

BMN wrote: »

Yes I did read them. I even didn't comment on whether it's reasonable - you didn't need to tell me that.
I didn't make it clear in my post but not every branch will require you to make an appointment - they have different policies because they are managed by different people.
It won't be listed on the website because it isn't a company wide policy to only open Young Saver accounts via an appointment.

OK, whether or not different branches operate different policies, Halifax do know which Branch requires appointments for what and which one doesn't for what. Why is this not listed on the website? Even if it changed dynamically, this sort of info could be published dynamically with today's technology. To expect a customer to figure out whether their branch operates an appointment system for opening a kids savings account or not is, frankly, completely ludicrous.

Halifax quite obviously have a massive problem, at least with the kids savings accounts. They seem to want to accommodate their own needs as a priority over and above their customers' needs. Good luck to them is all I can say. Not many people will be stupid enough to be lured into banking with Halifax because their kids' savings can get the industry best interest at Halifax. In fact, I think an increasing number of people will be disgusted and vote with their feet once they find out why Halifax offer such great interest rates for kids.

innovate

BMN wrote: »

The are formalities that the bank will go through with every customer but ultimately it's that individual customer who will dictate how long it takes.

I rarely join the "you must be working for the xyz bank" brigade, but on this occasion, it is obvious that you are a Halifaxer. Not least because you seem to have zero regard for the customer's needs, and just constantly try to justify your own / Halifax's needs. You'll eventually learn to appreciate that the old adage 'the customers is always right even if the customer is wrong' still holds true, and more than ever these days, as consumers get increasingly savvy.

Ifts

BMN wrote: »

It's because it's not general policy. Different branches will operate in different ways. If they've told you that you need to book an appointment to open a young saver then that's what you have to do.

The OP kept on getting told it was the banks policy -

Murison wrote: »

I did inform the branch assistant and the 2 people I spoke to on the phone about taking my money elsewhere and the poor reputation of banks but all I got back from them all was it was the banks policy.

BMN

innovate wrote: »

I rarely join the "you must be working for the xyz bank" brigade, but on this occasion, it is obvious that you are a Halifaxer. Not least because you seem to have zero regard for the customer's needs, and just constantly try to justify your own / Halifax's needs. You'll eventually learn to appreciate that the old adage 'the customers is always right even if the customer is wrong' still holds true, and more than ever these days, as consumers get increasingly savvy.

I don't work for Halifax.
I'm not on this forum to regard customer needs or justify the decisions made by any bank. People come to this forum for help and explanations and I try to be as useful as I can.

Why are being so condescending and telling me irrelevant things?

opinions4u

Unless something dramatic has changed, all branches operate an appointment diary. Walk-ups, even if seen straight away, will be recorded in that diary.

A branch can be run on a "diary is king" basis and I completely get the need to prioritise those customers who have pre-booked.

Accommodating the walk-ups will be a case of judgement. When I managed a Halifax branch I took an approach of bend over backwards to see the customer within a few minutes of them turning up. If you do, you get their business. If you don't, and offer an appointment, they may or may not turn up. Overall you will write less business if you pack people off to come back another day - my analysis over a decade of doing the job. Different personalities preferred a more rigid approach though.

But bending over backwards comes with other risks. The customer may be treated to a rushed experience and the communication of key account information could be missed. You create tomorrow's mis-selling complaint. You may have to re-jig diaries and a customer due in later may see a different staff member to who they were expecting to see. You might knock the rest of the day out of sync for staff and other customers.

Whatever decisions you take, you don't have an endless supply of staff. You don't have an endless supply of qualified staff. What staff you do have are entitled to breaks. While they may be flexible to the core, it isn't good for anybody to work from 8.30am to 5.30pm without a break.

So I still feel that the customer who turns up without an appointment, for any sort of service, has to accept that they are in a queue behind those who have booked an appointment. While web site direction may be unhelpful, what is the branch to do if they genuinely don't have anybody free for the remainder of the day? Last time I worked for a bank the requirements of the "informed choice" product purchase that the FCA expect, combined with Money Laundering requirement, genuinely don't make accepting forms, cheques and documents to process later that day a realistic option for a big bank. They'll end up with a fine sooner or later.

God help the branch manager deemed to have messed up leading to that fine. The kicking will be more severe than missing out on getting £300 paid in to some spotty Herbert's new account.