Virginmoney regular saver - unable to open due to very poor service

aj23_2

roxy28 wrote: »

If i am not getting virgin/lloyds mixed up last time i opened a savings account in branch they wanted to know income, outgoings etc. I wonderd if they got mixed up and thought i was after a mortgage.

Leeds Building Society asked me who I bank with, what product and how much in each account when opening a savings account. I was like, do you want my custom or not!

Whereas Saffron Building Society and Nottingham Building Society didn't asked me anything at all, which is how it should be.

ValiantSon

glider3560 wrote: »

Virgin do ask this question online. There is a list of possible options and you can choose as many/few as you want. I always just tick "general savings" or "saving for a rainy day" or whatever option is most like that.

Thank you, I was unaware that Virgin asked this. I have never applied for an account with them as they have never had one worth bothering with.

"General savings" would be my answer and meets my previously stated criteria of it being none of their business.

aj23_2

ValiantSon wrote: »

I sympathise with your annoyance, but I'm not really sure why you thought, "the Virgin brand put customers first". I haven't seen anything that would suggest their customer service was better than anyone else.

I'm also not really sure why you are bothering with a Virgin Money regular saver. They are only offering 2.25%, which, on the maximum deposit of £250 p/m, will earn you £36.44. You could deposit the same amount into a regular saver with Nationwide, HSBC, or M&S and get 5%, earning you £80.64, or even put £300 p/m into a regular saver with First Direct at 5% (if you have that much to save) and earn £96.77.

But this person would need to have current accounts with those that you list, whereas Virgin Money is open to all.

glider3560

aj23 wrote: »

If you want to do everything from home like a hermit and not get exercise and go outside to go things, then thats great.

Or some of us may live a long distance from banks/buildings societies offering good rates. I'm not going to drive from Hampshire to Scotland to open a Bank of Scotland account, or from Hampshire to Leeds to open a Leeds Building Society account.

aj23 wrote: »

A lot of people don't want to be doing stuff on the computer all the time where it can go wrong.

I'd rather key a transaction myself where I can double check the information entered myself. I've never had an online transaction go wrong, but I've had several errors in branches (payee names wrong on cheque, cheque values keyed incorrectly, e.g. too many zeroes).

aj23 wrote: »

We have a moral duty to use the high street.

Times are changing. If we don't use the high street, we're purchasing from somewhere else. Which is putting people in jobs in warehouses and courier companies.

aj23 wrote: »

You can even do it at the Post Office, and everywhere has those. So it's not that laborious. And walk, and don't drive.

I work from 08:15 to 17:15. My local Post Office opens 09:00 to 17:00. I work 15 miles from home and don't pass any that do banking on my commute. The Post Office nearest to my work is 4 miles away (obviously too far to walk at lunchtime) and only opens 09:00 to 13:00.

aj23 wrote: »

But you'd actually get more from 3, 4 or 5 year bonds or savings accounts as the Virgin Money Regular Saver is 12 months fixed term.

Maybe I want instant access without penalty (which Virgin offers), that the 3, 4 or 5 year bonds don't offer.

I appreciate from this and your other posts that you like doing things the "old fashioned" way. Good for you. But you have to appreciate that times are changing and people are wanting to do things differently nowadays.

EachPenny

ValiantSon wrote: »

I'm also not really sure why you are bothering with a Virgin Money regular saver. They are only offering 2.25%, which, on the maximum deposit of £250 p/m, will earn you £36.44. You could deposit the same amount into a regular saver with Nationwide, HSBC, or M&S and get 5%, earning you £80.64, or even put £300 p/m into a regular saver with First Direct at 5% (if you have that much to save) and earn £96.77.

I'm not sure why you assume the OP doesn't already have all the 5% regular savers as well.

ValiantSon wrote: »

I don't see how; you don't get asked these questions online. The purpose is to try and sell you more stuff.

As glider3560 says, Virgin ask you this if you apply online as well. In fact I'd need to think very hard to name a bank/account where there hasn't been a question about the source of funds and/or purpose of saving.

Ashen

Personally I'd call being able to open all previous 13 accounts without having to make an appointment pretty good service. Unfortunately, that doesn't warrant making posts.

ValiantSon

aj23 wrote: »

Yes but I think Virgin Money is almost exclusive in allowing you both the Online and the Branch Regular Saver as they offer both options. Pretty much all Regular Savers by Building Societies are in branch, passbook based. Banks offer one which can be opened and managed either in store or online. No where else offers two regular savers which you can both of.

That doesn't actualy rebutt the point made.

aj23 wrote: »

If you want to do everything from home like a hermit and not get exercise and go outside to go things, then thats great. A lot of people don't want to be doing stuff on the computer all the time where it can go wrong.

You don't need to bank in branch to take exercise. It is entirely possible to bank online and take exercise separately.

Do you honestly believe that nothing ever goes wrong with in branch transactions? :eek: You do also realise, I hope, that all transactions online use 128-bit encryption.

aj23 wrote: »

Those people at home doing it are doing people out of jobs in branches,

No they aren't. Branch closures have been going on for quite some time, including a period well before the large scale adoption of internet banking. Branch closures are further enabled by the availability of internet banking, but this is not a primary cause. The significant reduction in cash and cheque transactions is just as much to blame as internet banking, but in truth, the real reason is that branches are an expensive part of the business set up and one which can be rationalised without losing any real custom.

Put simply, society has changed dramatically over the last 20 years and the old-style branch based model simply doesn't meet the needs of the modern world. If you were able to roll back the last twenty to thirty years, and then stop all societal development, then you might be able to keep all those branches open. You can't, however, do this, so criticising people who predominantly bank on line and blaming them for people losing jobs due to branch closures and business rationalisation is just silly.

aj23 wrote: »

which means less income and spend productivity and less taxation collected, and lower level quality services which you then use and receive. We have a moral duty to use the high street. It's usually the people that do everything online who complain about it ironically.

We do not have a moral duty to, "use the high street". What nonsense. It makes no sense to try and prop up unproductive industries. Banks are not like specialist retailers or public libraries. There are still plenty of branches around, but people may have to travel a little to access one.

aj23 wrote: »

Nearly every bank has a branch in a town, and all building societies do postal. You can even do it at the Post Office, and everywhere has those. So it's not that laborious.

Thanks for further proving my point and exposing additional logical flaws in your own!

aj23 wrote: »

If you have every other regular saver (which I doubt, as a lot of current account linked now), then yeah, use it. But you'd actually get more from 3, 4 or 5 year bonds or savings accounts as the Virgin Money Regular Saver is 12 months fixed term.

I agree the Virgin Money regular saver is not a particularly attractive proposition, but those using it (and other regular savers) may well want access to the money sooner than in three, four, or five years. The products just aren't comparable. Furthermore, putting money into fixed rate savings bonds over that time period significantly increases the chances of earning interest at below the easy access market rate in only a short timeframe. Interest rates are likely to rise further in that period and this would make those products uncompetitive well before the date at which the money could be accessed.

ValiantSon

aj23 wrote: »

But this person would need to have current accounts with those that you list, whereas Virgin Money is open to all.

Yes, they would, but it isn't impossible to open a current account. I know that it is entirely possible because I have done it myself on many occasions.

aj23_2

glider3560 wrote: »

Or some of us may live a long distance from banks/buildings societies offering good rates. I'm not going to drive from Hampshire to Scotland to open a Bank of Scotland account, or from Hampshire to Leeds to open a Leeds Building Society account.

I'd rather key a transaction myself where I can double check the information entered myself. I've never had an online transaction go wrong, but I've had several errors in branches (payee names wrong on cheque, cheque values keyed incorrectly, e.g. too many zeroes).

Times are changing. If we don't use the high street, we're purchasing from somewhere else. Which is putting people in jobs in warehouses and courier companies.

I work from 08:15 to 17:15. My local Post Office opens 09:00 to 17:00. I work 15 miles from home and don't pass any that do banking on my commute. The Post Office nearest to my work is 4 miles away (obviously too far to walk at lunchtime) and only opens 09:00 to 13:00.

Maybe I want instant access without penalty (which Virgin offers), that the 3, 4 or 5 year bonds don't offer.

I appreciate from this and your other posts that you like doing things the "old fashioned" way. Good for you. But you have to appreciate that times are changing and people are wanting to do things differently nowadays.

To be honest, pretty much all building societies up and down the country are offering decent regular savers. Even if you don't live near one, some allow postal application, like Yorkshire Building Society, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, Saffron Building Society. Others do online as someone else mentioned. So everyone does have access to accounts with good rates. If you're with HSBC, First Direct etc., they have really good linked regular savers, so there's no need to drive to Scotland or Leeds.

You can't blame payee typos on cheques on the branch, it's the person who gave it to you who's at fault, and that's not something you can key yourself anyway. You'd have to do it over the counter at at the ATM. The branch is only doing their job and they'd be right to reject it if it's not formatted correctly.

High street shops do have warehouses which they keep their stock in, nothing new there. They've always been there. Only difference is buying online, it goes direct from the warehouse do your house. That decreases employment because those shops are closing down. And not everyone lives near the warehouse 200 miles away, but lives within 10 miles to commute to a shop for work.

Couldn't you go to the post office on a Saturday. They are all usually open until at least 12 or 1, even later. But again, everyone has worked Mon-Fri, 9-5 for decades. People have always gone in lunch break or on a Saturday. We are becoming lazy now, and everyone seems to think they're more time poor than the person before them.

I don't do things the "old fashioned". It is merely 'a way'. How I do things work for me, like any other. I use the internet to buy goods, only if there isn't a shop I can't buy it from. I keep things simple, I don't want a load of usernames, passwords, memorable data, OTP, apps etc. Times always change, I never said I don't appreciate that. It's people using new methods, not that they are wanting to do it differently. If Barclays hadn't introduced a Barclaycard in the 1970s, who's to say we'd have credit cards. We wouldn't know about it so wouldn't miss it or want it. No one would miss or desire Contactless if it hadn't been introduced. It's okay saying how bad it is that shops are struggling, but those same people probably buy everything online and causing the problem.

aj23_2

ValiantSon wrote: »

Yes, they would, but it isn't impossible to open a current account. I know that it is entirely possible because I have done it myself on many occasions.

I know, so have I. But if that person above doesn't want to switch or is happy, then those regular savers aren't an option. Plus, they'd have to meet the minimum pay ins and direct debit requirements on each of them too, which is impossible for 99% of people.