Graffiti in Bank

mgdavid

the bank has decided it no longer wants you as a customer, and they have every right to so do.
If by taking up a lot of staff time in investigating reported issues they deem you are not a profitable customer one can hardly blame them.

OceanSound

Perhaps the bank wants you to draw a co#k and ba#ls next to the graffiti. Best one bags (teabags?) 20 quid.:T How's that?

Btw, drawing c &b is a national pastime. Rachel riley did it on 8 out of ten cats does countdown.

mollycat

Outsider_83 wrote: »

Some context to this issue but some months ago a customer within a Halifax branch spotted some racist graffiti in a bank and made a big deal of it, demanding compensation etc, I later found out this graffiti had anti Semitic connotations.

Some months later in the same branch I spotted some anti Semitic graffiti so I had a quiet word with a staff member. I returned to the branch some days later, noticed nothing had been done so I sent an email into Halifax.

I received a call from Halifax some days later demanding to know exactly where the graffiti was to which I advised. Later the same day a staff member called me back to advise that the graffiti was removed but my complaint was not being upheld as nobody remembers talking to me and the area where the graffiti was is checked daily. I advised that I was unhappy with how Halifax had dealt with this. Today they responded to advise they were still not upholding my findings and that I seem to have very high standards that they cannot match, therefore it would be better if I sought a different bank as my account would be terminated within 60 days. They also gave me the right to refer to the Ombudsman but I don't see what good this would do.

I know many will say I shouldn't have got involved but I feel Halifax have went over the top, does anyone else think Halifax were a little extreme?

No, not at all, think that they've got it spot on. Well done Halifax.

They removed the graffiti, you told them you were not happy with how they had dealt with it?

What did you wan't exactly?

Cotta

Surely Halifax cannot do this in these circumstances.

CKhalvashi

Cotta wrote: »

Surely Halifax cannot do this in these circumstances.

Unfortunately they can, as the terms allow it.

It's meant to be a policy to deal with persistent complainers, however I dealt with something a few years back for a vulnerable local person where a complaint had been made within the same group, upheld and the same 'we are closing your accounts' letter. This was the second complaint that the customer had made if memory serves me right (which was some time before and also upheld).

If they don't want OP's business, that's their choice.

KJSmith

Maybe the complaints handler genuinely thought you were submitting a fictitious complaint in order to receive compensation.

Also, what was your tone with the complaint manager?

JuicyJesus

I do wonder what else the OP has complained about.

OceanSound

Well done Op. You had every right to complain. HAlifax cannot single you out for complaining.

YOU can complain to ombudsmen or take them to court if they close your account arbitrarily (based on the graffiti complain). They are not running a corner shop.I.E. They cannot have unscrupulous rules like 'only two schoolchildren at a time'

BooJewels

Without knowing if there is more to this than has been posted, really leading to the closing of the account, it does seem a heavy handed response to a single, perfectly understandable, complaint.

But that aside, I wondered if there was CCTV covering the area of the graffiti - that would perhaps not only show how long it had been there, but maybe also who created it and when - but that would take time to review all those hours of footage, even if they were inclined.

If they had bothered to investigate this matter at all, surely at the very least they would have given the area a cursory viewing on some of the days in question, but also reviewed the counter footage on the day you say that you made the initial complaint - your body language would probably make it obvious you were talking about the graffiti - you'd perhaps be turning towards the offending pen work and maybe pointing etc. and the staff member would look over to the location too. It would look very different from just paying something in.

So had they been minded to look into it, surely the course of events and timeline could very easily be verified.

PeacefulWaters

OceanSound wrote: »

Well done Op. You had every right to complain. HAlifax cannot single you out for complaining.

YOU can complain to ombudsmen or take them to court if they close your account arbitrarily (based on the graffiti complain). They are not running a corner shop.I.E. They cannot have unscrupulous rules like 'only two schoolchildren at a time'

I'm not sure a court would see much further than the quite reasonable term and conditions that allow a bank to terminate a relationship with any customer.

The FOS become caught between making a commercial judgement for the bank (which they can't do) and treating customers fairly (which they can).

I don't have every detail of the two complaints that the OP has made over a similar matter.

As a point of principle asking for offensive material to be removed seems fair. Expecting bank staff to have easy access to sandpaper to quickly remove carvings in wooden furniture doesn't. Seeking £50 in the name of being offended by a third party action also doesn't sit comfortably with me.

If the bank feel they are being extorted by a serial complainer, what action do you think is reasonable?

Grey areas in the story. Difficult to judge from where I sit.