abbey national

vicki_b

grrr they do my head in. i recently moved address and needed to change my details. in was informed that i wouldnt be able to change my details unless i had a passport or a drivers licence!!i hunted a round the house and found 25+ pieces of alternative I.d such as gas and electric statements, nhs card, rent book, council tax bill,catalogue statements etc and they wouldnt take it!!!!they said i had to apply for a passport or a drivers licence then go back in to change my details

this isnt the actual bit that does my head in! i went in two days later to draw £300 pounds out of my saving account and they didnt ask for a single shred of i.d!!!!!madness!

Lady_E

I do agree with you !! I had been going into my branch for about 10 years or so , I was on first name terms with one of the cashiers and some of them knew me by sight. I got married and needed to change my name on the account. They wanted my original wedding certificate and another form of ID !!! SO I kept the account in my maiden name and I am currently going through the court re; bank charges etc. The account itself has been pared down to the mimimum and as soon as the OFT sort their act out I will be closing it. We have also changed our mortgage from them . I would not reccomend Abbey for anything . I appreciate that there are banking codes to comply with , however discretion must surely play its part in good customer service , and sadly that is where Abbey lets itself down on .

Thats off my chest now .

suman_das

I too have had very poor experience with Abbey customer services.
Recently moved my mortgage to them. Found that they do not want you to overpay even if it is permitted under terms. Was told at various times: can/cannot pay by cheque/standing order/direct debit and can/cannot make regular/lumpsome overpayment. They accepted £5000 by direct debit, to be told 2 months later it should have not been done and the amount has not been used to reduce capital repayment.
They provide statements only once a year, trying to keep you under dark what is happening to your account! The staff are mostly rude and uninformed. Now regretting badly moving away from Alliance Leicester.

IvanOpinion

I am guessing that thy are looking for some kind of photographic id ... otherwise anybody could walk in with a few bits of paper carelessly discarded and change an address. In July this year (I think) the rules related to identification were greatly tightened .. ultimately it is in our interests however they are a pain in the butt.

Ivan

Anthillmob

and watch out for charges on your bill.

wont bore you with the long story but i went o/d £1.26 for the first time ever, my fault, and i dont have an o/d. they agreed after a lengthy call to not charge me the £50 they would normally as a one off gesture of goodwill.

got my statement the other week and it showed they were going to take the charge out of my account on the 17th. in tiny writing on the front of the statement.

its been sorted out now though.

LittleVoice

Lady_E wrote: »

. . . The account itself has been pared down to the mimimum and as soon as the OFT sort their act out I will be closing it.

And if you really want to close the account rather than just cease using it, they will ask you to produce ID! (At least that is what A&L are saying for closing their accounts - and suggest that that has always been the case!)

Sagaris

LittleVoice wrote: »

And if you really want to close the account rather than just cease using it, they will ask you to produce ID! (At least that is what A&L are saying for closing their accounts - and suggest that that has always been the case!)

That's unfortunate - I was hoping to be able to write to the complaints department to close all my accounts with them once we've paid off the o'd - I'm pretty sure I'm banned from the local branch after my outburst there a few months ago, and have no desire to step into a branch of Abbey again!
My complaint is still ongoing with them since July - I have contacted the Financial Ombudsman after the 8 week wait and am now waiting on their response.

mrbnewc1

Hi

Don't know if this will work for you, but whenever I've changed address I've just sent a letter to a branch asking them to amend it.

Never had any problems and no-one has ever questioned it.

Mrbnewc1

golddustmedia

So if someone cannot drive and for some legal reason is not permitted a passport (e.g. Refugee, parole etc) then what would they do? I'm sure there are other ID that must be accepted by law.

*Louise*

golddustmedia wrote: »

So if someone cannot drive and for some legal reason is not permitted a passport (e.g. Refugee, parole etc) then what would they do? I'm sure there are other ID that must be accepted by law.

Exactly - I don't have a driving license or passport, I have always just used my birth cert and council tax/utility bills as proof of address.

IvanOpinion

I think the alternative is an election card (which is suspiciously like a predecessor to the id card) .. it is free though

ivan