Nationwide Nightmare

taliz

I have a Cheshire BS Postal Direct ISA that I want to close and withdraw. I was aware nationwide had taken them over, but with little info available filled in my Cheshire form and sent it off to close the account and transfer the funds into my currant account.

Nationwide phoned me today saying the form doesn't work any more. They say the account was transferred to a nationwide account and a passbook should have been issued (it absolutely wasn't) and I need to go into a branch to get the funds.

My nearest Nationwide branch is 6 miles away, I have no car, I have one child at school, one that does 5 half days at nursery and Saturdays are swimming, ballet and rainbows . We are away at half term so the next opportunity I have to get to a branch is the first Monday of the summer holidays at the end of July!!!!

If I am unable to get to a branch the customer service rep I spoke to says they have no idea how I can get my money out.

It just seems ridiculous that you open a postal account and then cannot get your money out without finding a branch somewhere.

Is there anything I can do (short of taking my child out of nursery for a day)?

MoneyMate

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/support/contact-us/call-us

Eco_Miser

taliz wrote: »

My nearest Nationwide branch is 6 miles away, I have no car, I have one child at school, one that does 5 half days at nursery and Saturdays are swimming, ballet and rainbows . We are away at half term so the next opportunity I have to get to a branch is the first Monday of the summer holidays at the end of July!!!!

I'm sorry, but I don't see how the facts you give here mean you can't get to the branch. You seem to have 5 half-days when you are not encumbered with children, and for me, also carless, a visit to my 6-mile-away bank branch is a round trip of one hour, say 1½-2 hours including transacting business. Inconvenient and annoying, yes, but not impossible.

Mistermeaner

Imagine if you also had to work for a living. However would you find the time

taliz

Eco_Miser wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I don't see how the facts you give here mean you can't get to the branch. You seem to have 5 half-days when you are not encumbered with children, and for me, also carless, a visit to my 6-mile-away bank branch is a round trip of one hour, say 1½-2 hours including transacting business. Inconvenient and annoying, yes, but not impossible.

Your right, I have exactly 2hours 50mins to catch 4 buses, and deal with the bank (which is bound to be far from simple when I get there and get back. Not imposable but very risky !

I have logged a formal complaint, but this seems like an enormous change to the original terms and conditions, can they just do that? (I so know what the answer to that question will be)

taliz

ggb1979 wrote: »

Imagine if you also had to work for a living. However would you find the time

I have two jobs,I also work evenings. That ones far easier..

colsten

taliz wrote: »

Your right, I have exactly 2hours 50mins to catch 4 buses

Take a taxi? They take about 10 minutes for 6 miles. Or ask a friend?

mgdavid

..or borrow a bicycle.

taliz

Why does everyone think I should sit and take the banks nonsense and go running around at their beck and call!
Anyway, problem solved, they have opened me a current account, I can then register for internet banking, transfer the isa into it then transfer the money across to my normal bank and completely forget about nationwide and their antiquated processes. IT'S 2015, I thought everyone was trying to get rid of branches, not forcing you to travel to them.

I managed to speak to someone useful this morning and not the regular call centre drone.

taliz

mgdavid wrote: »

..or borrow a bicycle.

don't be ridiculous :rotfl:

Voyager2002

taliz wrote: »

Why does everyone think I should sit and take the banks nonsense and go running around at their beck and call!
Anyway, problem solved, they have opened me a current account, I can then register for internet banking, transfer the isa into it then transfer the money across to my normal bank and completely forget about nationwide and their antiquated processes. IT'S 2015, I thought everyone was trying to get rid of branches, not forcing you to travel to them.

I managed to speak to someone useful this morning and not the regular call centre drone.

I'm glad that you have found a solution...

In fairness, it is not reasonable to judge Nationwide by the way they deal with a product that was not theirs, and was inherited from a different organisation. I have banked with them for the last fifteen years, and I think that your recent experience -- someone who used their brain and applied some lateral thinking to solve your problem -- is more typical of how they support their own problems than the nonsense they gave you earlier.

And I do agree that it was totally unreasonable to expect you to go to a branch to manage a postal product. For comparison, I encountered this product with a NatWest on-line account and it took me about nine months to withdraw my money! So I think you got off lightly.