Lloyds unscruplous sales tactics -is this allowed??

Archi_Bald

Peter333 wrote: »

And they DO spin a load of lies and bullshine to people!

Something people on internet forums would never do.

Peter333 wrote: »

......lying, no-good high street banks..... I went to a bank that had helped my neighbour a lot when he and his wife were struggling financially, and they have been great ever since.

Out of interest, who is the bank that meets with your approval? Just asking since in my experience there generally isn't a cigarette paper between them.

Peter333 wrote: »

Banks are scum IMO

does that include your bank who you said are great?

Money-Saving-King

You write this:

Peter333 wrote: »

I went to a bank that had helped my neighbour a lot when he and his wife were struggling financially, and they have been great ever since. My 3 adult children are with them too, and they have been great and very helpful, assisting them, even when they had little money in the bank.

Then you write this:

Peter333 wrote: »

Banks are scum IMO

Can you make up your mind!

PeacefulWaters

Peter333 wrote: »

This sounds like a massive load of bullshine and propaganda spewed out of the mouth of someone trying to save the reputation of the lying, no-good high street banks.

Well what you think it sounds like and what it really is are two different things.

It sounds like Lloyds brainwashed you!

Highly unlikely, as I haven't had any sort of account with Lloyds in over three decades (I'd put £1 into a teen account to get a free money box) and have never worked in one of their branches. But you will choose to hear what you choose to hear.

Never in my life did they EVER tried to help me when I was down and struggling, and on the breadline.

You appear to have been expecting a commercial organisation to act like a charity.

But when I came into a fair whack of money not so many years back, they were crawling over me like a nasty rash, sucking up to me, offering me 'this account and that account' and trying to tell me what was 'best for me.'

You mean they made you aware of the other options they had available that could benefit you.

This was Lloyds, and with my large sum of money that I had just acquired, I took GREAT pleasure in moving banks! I went to a bank that had helped my neighbour a lot when he and his wife were struggling financially, and they have been great ever since. My 3 adult children are with them too, and they have been great and very helpful, assisting them, even when they had little money in the bank.

This is a beautiful story. I'm a great advocate of individuals taking responsibility for their own financial decisions and seeking out the best balance of value and service for their circumstances.

As for THIS paragraph in your post

The annual customer survey results always has a really annoying quote from a not insignificant minority of customers. "You didn't do enough to tell me about new or better products".


I personally don't believe it for one minute that people were complaining that the banks didn't offer them better deals and products and all that, because the banks are CONSTANTLY trying to peddle their products, so that is a load of old hogwash IMO.

You are more than entitled to a point of view but you step over a line when you insinuate that I'm a liar. Once a year a chap from a market research company used to be sent to my branch for a couple of days and interviewed over a hundred customers. I got the opportunity to skim through the forms before they went away to another place (alas, not the chance to bin or amend the bad ones) and I also got the opportunity to analyse the detailed results a few weeks later. While much of the overall results was excellent the two negatives that were consistent were queues and a failure to make customers aware of new products. Both common responses for other branches too.

What about the tale 'Lily-Rose' told about her bank telling her LIES about how her 3 accounts would be frozen for 2 months if her husband died to try and peddle her some insurance that would have cost her and her husband £60 a month? Insurance they DID NOT NEED. And also 'mum2one' who said that the bank would not issue a replacement debit card unless an account review took place? And all the lies lies lies they told to make people have PPI? And the poster 'RobertCarrick,' who said that the bank called him in on the pretence that they could save him money on his loan repayments, and then overnight, his credit rating changed, and they refused to help him reduce his loan repayments, but tried to peddle him a credit card instead?! And not forgetting of course, the tale by the OP!!!

Have I at any point denied what these posters have said?

Banks are scum IMO, but unfortunately they are a necessary evil, as every blasted thing is paid into them and out of them. If that were not the case, I would not have anything to do with them!

But you previously told us about a beautiful fragrant bank that was lovely to you and your family. Make up your mind.

Now, pretend you have £2,000 in a Lloyds current account earning no interest. That current account is earning no interest. That is all you have in savings. Your £1,700 a month wage hoes in and gets spent.

Most bank customers will leave that money there, oblivious to the alternatives open to them.

The proactive MSE user will open a TSB account, move the £2k across and earn 5% interest on it. Good stuff.

But the vast majority of Lloyds customers will sit on their backsides and do nothing. They will see yet ignore TV and press adverts of their own bank. They will be oblivious to chatter on these pages. They will wait until the cashier makes a comment or the evil branch "adviser" rings to offer a review. But the outcome of that branch contact will almost certainly be a painless switch to an account that pays 4% interest. Are you saying that branch staff shouldn't tell customers that there are better products available?

Now, for all that I've posted on this thread, I'm aware that Lloyds has, over the last 20 years or so, been slicker and more aggressive than most when it comes to selling to customers than most. They have been the biggest bad boys in PPI (although they haven't sold it for four years). I've never been a fan of ringing up customers to offer them "reviews".

But far too many customers sit idly by and pay more for financial products than they have to. They let their savings get eaten by inflation. By talking to their bank they can usually put themselves in a better position.

I'd much prefer individuals tarted themselves out to multiple banks and building societies and sorted out best value for themselves. It's just that most can't be bothered.

Lily-Rose_3

Steve_xx wrote: »

Your experience is not untypical of the bare faced lies that these bankers often peddle in order to sell insurance.

Peter333 wrote: »

All 3 of you are clearly bank workers. That is why you're defending them. Most people know that MOST of them are scum, and that is why they have had to pay out multiple BILLIONS in charges, and why they have millions of complaints every year. And they are NOT about "not being advised about what fantastic offers they could get." :rotfl:

They are about poor customer service, long branch and phone queues, excessive charges for premium rate phone calls, excessive bank charges, mis-sold PPI, poor mortgage advice, bullying, intimidating, lying, many other mis-sold insurances, high loan interest, I could go on all day.......

But I won't because I have better things to do.

But you keep defending the banks all week if you want, but the majority of the country knows I am right.

:T:T:T At these 2 posts .

Money-Saving-King

Peter333 wrote: »

All 3 of you are clearly bank workers. That is why you're defending them.

Please read my sig!

colsten

Peter333 wrote: »

MOST banks are scum.

Give us your list of the ones that you don't consider scum.

Peter333 wrote: »

the majority of the country knows I am right

how do you conclude that?

PS. No, I don't work for a bank.

GingerFurball_2

I love how anyone who doesn't join in with the condemnation of all banks automatically works for one.

mgdavid

the argument is won when the protagonist resorts to insults.

PeacefulWaters

Peter333 wrote: »

And as for the third poster, (who ALSO picked that ONE THING out,) the only other thing you did, is regurgitate the same kind of rubbish and spin and propaganda that you did in the post before (the one I quoted.) Which makes your post equally as pathetic as the first two. Just a LOT more long winded and boring.

I am sorry I repeated one or two things. You didn't appear to have understood it first time around.

All 3 of you are clearly bank workers.

That is patently not the case. I've never made a secret that plenty of my past years have been spent working for a bank but you are surely above resorting to dismissing the views of others with such a sweeping statement.

They are about poor customer service

This us one of the few industries in the country where complaint statistics are collated and shared. The industry generates approximately 2 complaints per thousand accounts per year. That's 99.8% of accounts that don't generate a complaint. Show me an industry with a higher level of customer satisfaction.

long branch and phone queues

I don't ring my bank so I can't confirm recent experience. My last two branch visits gave resulted in service within seconds.

excessive charges for premium rate phone calls

I think you mean "lo-call" charges which are typically a few pence a minute. Premium rate is much more expensive. Lloyds, the subject of the thread, had geographical numbers on their web site last time I looked.

excessive bank charges

Over 28 years of having a current account my charges total nil. Pretty good. Not excessive.

mis-sold PPI

Pretty well documented.

poor mortgage advice

Not so well documented. The RBS/Nat West example relates more to poorly documented mortgage advice rather than giving of bad advice.

I think the banks are a million miles from perfect. I think their customers should ask questions, challenge them to justify the value in their products and only buy from them when satisfied that it's the right thing to do.

But it doesn't mean banks shouldn't communicate with their customers. It doesn't mean they shouldn't put their products in front of their customers. Doing so doesn't make them "scum".

colsten

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Doing so doesn't make them "scum".

Agree entriely and would go further. Calling banks, and their employees (which could be the person sitting next to you in a bar or pub or bus etc) "scum", is hardly a positive contribution to sorting out any differences banks and their customers might have.

It's a business relationship you have with a bank, not some sort of a romantic encounter. Clear T&Cs are laid out right at the start of the relationship - you are free to decline if you do not like the terms.

The big boys (banks) are regulated and licensed by the PRA and FCA, and the little guy (you and me) are protected by the FSCS and we can go to the FOS if we feel we were not being treated fairly. Most of us never need the FSCS and the FOS.

There will always be disputes between banks and account holders, but there is little reason for any account holder to blanketly declare banks are scum. Without banks, and without their employees, the western world world as we know it simply wouldn't function.