Switching from brand new account with rubbish bank - any restrictions?

Three_Beans

Hi,

My partner and I have being having a nightmare time getting a joint bank account open with Halifax to the point the customer service has been that awful we wouldnt trust them with sitting on a chair the right way round, blow handling my money with any skill :mad: so we want to vote with our feet

They have managed to get my partners half of the account open so we were thinking of switiching that to another bank and then sorting the new account as joint once open

Given the Halifax account is only a month or so old does anyone know if this impacts the ability to switch? Cant find anything that would say so but you are a wise bunch so if anyone knows you guys will!

For anyone who is interested on why we are so annoyed (bit long winded, sorry!).... we opened the account as a joint account online, with my partner being the primary account holder. I completed my details along with hers to open the account.
We both received confirmation and she was later sent an online code to confirm that she wanted me a joint account holder which we activated straight away.
She got her cards etc and I got nothing. A couple of weeks later she gets letter asking us to come to a branch to complete an ID check for both of us (fair enough as understand they need caution on ID but already thinking would have been easyer to then open an account in branch)
Attended the branch without an appointment as instructed by the call center - told we needed an appointment for ID check, after 20 mins wait they told us they would take down my details and copies of ID etc and get the paperwork sent off
Nothing for another 2 weeks - so partner calls the call center, 3 departments and 1hr later someone tells her there is no record of me in their system, even though they have sent letters to us with me on! Promised a call back at a specific time once looked into the issue. Big surprise - no bloody call back.
Spoke to the branch that we did the ID check with today after the 5th phone call and after going through a few people was told that my ID check was rejected as it wasn't done to their correct procedure with an appointment and me present when paperwork completed. We would have to make a new appointment and come in to do the checks again - by the way no more Saturday appointments until well into January
So, going to politely tell them where to stick their account and go else where. If we can switch and get a few quid for our efforst then all the better! (sorry for the rant!)

Cheers

AndyBSG

Had similar issues with Halifax myself, for some reason their joint account set up is archaic as you have to open it with one person then the other gets added onto it.

Ended up switching to Nationwide after a couple of months and everything was so much easier.

Three_Beans

AndyBSG wrote: »

Had similar issues with Halifax myself, for some reason their joint account set up is archaic as you have to open it with one person then the other gets added onto it.

Ended up switching to Nationwide after a couple of months and everything was so much easier.

Thanks for the info - glad its not just me, they seem to have gone out of their way to be difficult for such a simple thing elsewhere

Jakg

Three_Beans wrote: »

Hi,

My partner and I have being having a nightmare time getting a joint bank account open with Halifax to the point the customer service has been that awful we wouldnt trust them with sitting on a chair the right way round, blow handling my money with any skill :mad: so we want to vote with our feet

They have managed to get my partners half of the account open so we were thinking of switiching that to another bank and then sorting the new account as joint once open

Given the Halifax account is only a month or so old does anyone know if this impacts the ability to switch? Cant find anything that would say so but you are a wise bunch so if anyone knows you guys will!

For anyone who is interested on why we are so annoyed (bit long winded, sorry!).... we opened the account as a joint account online, with my partner being the primary account holder. I completed my details along with hers to open the account.
We both received confirmation and she was later sent an online code to confirm that she wanted me a joint account holder which we activated straight away.
She got her cards etc and I got nothing. A couple of weeks later she gets letter asking us to come to a branch to complete an ID check for both of us (fair enough as understand they need caution on ID but already thinking would have been easyer to then open an account in branch)
Attended the branch without an appointment as instructed by the call center - told we needed an appointment for ID check, after 20 mins wait they told us they would take down my details and copies of ID etc and get the paperwork sent off
Nothing for another 2 weeks - so partner calls the call center, 3 departments and 1hr later someone tells her there is no record of me in their system, even though they have sent letters to us with me on! Promised a call back at a specific time once looked into the issue. Big surprise - no bloody call back.
Spoke to the branch that we did the ID check with today after the 5th phone call and after going through a few people was told that my ID check was rejected as it wasn't done to their correct procedure with an appointment and me present when paperwork completed. We would have to make a new appointment and come in to do the checks again - by the way no more Saturday appointments until well into January
So, going to politely tell them where to stick their account and go else where. If we can switch and get a few quid for our efforst then all the better! (sorry for the rant!)

Cheers

I had virtually exactly the same experience.

Somehow I ended up talking to someone high up in their complaints department and the very next weekend the branch manager was personally sorting out the paperwork and from that point onwards it was ok. I think they also gave me a wedge of cash as well?

Sharon87

Wow, it's their loss if they treat new customers that way! You'd think they would try to be more cooperative with new customers.

Paul_1977

Halifax are one of the worst banks going for CS, nothing extra at all, every branch I have been in the staff look like they don't want to be there. Rude and ignorent.

One of the worst banks, avoid at all costs! (apart from the switching fee:D)

realaledrinker

Any account that requires Halifax branch involvement inevitably leads to frustration at their incompetence, in my experience. The upside of this of course is that they are an excellent source of ex gratia payments for inconvenience & stress.

Three_Beans

Am glad its not just been me then!
Cheers

ratechaser

Yep, can add in my own tale of woe re joint accounts. DW and I had equivalent savings bonds maturing on the same day, for simplicity we wanted to set up a new joint one with the matured funds. Easy right? Nope!

Went elsewhere after the second visit to the branch failed to resolve it. Just couldn't be bothered any more, life's too short!