Woolwich delays - for brokers

MBM

Is everyone having the same 45+ minute wait to get through to Woolwich? What do you think the situation would be if you billed them for the wasted time on their 0845 number?

Rick62

Loads of comments on this (the delay) on Cherry.

If we got paid for the time lenders waste we could probably double our income!

apk1

A client was referred over to me as they went with Woolwich (on a very good deal) through a branch, they have received their offer, but solicitor had not, the solicitor tried phoning but they were number 98 in the queue, solicitor refused to wait, as he would have to invoice the client for time on the phone, branch/advisor refused to help as they were too busy!

Another good reason to use a broker! broker would avoid Woolwich like the plague, but if they did would be responsible for chasing these things.

MortgageMamma

the 45 minute wait is just about bearable, it the bit where you have gone from 80 to number 2 in the queue and then got cut off by some frustrated phone person that really does my nut in. consequently i do not recommend woolwich all that often, when I explain their administrative situation to a clietn they are usually happy to accept the next best deal

MBM

I have just had this reply from their Regional Intermediary Business Director
"I can only apologise for our drop in recent Service Standards, but as an experience Mortgage Broker you'll know excellent Rates and good Service do not go "hand in hand" and then
"can only suggest you do not use us again until we have stabilised our proposition."

Nice to know that customer service goes right to the top!!!!!

MortgageMamma

great - but how long is it going to take them to stablise their services - as far as I'm concerned woolwich has been a shambles for at least 2 years. so you've had it from the top, if you want to complete this decade not to use woolwich - says it all really, but from my point of view why don't they lose the competitive edge, play catch up and recruit some dedicated and knowledgeable staff and then remarket. Royal Bank of Scotland had the sense to do this when they were swamped last summer, but not until they'd had their fill of course

Conrad

Sometimes I feel like I'm on another planet to other brokers.

The Woolowich have been like this for a decade yet still brokers fall for the old 'sorry for current delays due to unsually high demand'!!!!!!!!!!!

The worst service offenders over a consistenly long period are;

Woolwich
TMB (The queueing system has been spouting the 'due to high levels of demand' for over 8 years and still youll use them, what a joke)

Abbey - my service centre changed every few months over years so in the end I stopped being patient, plus 10 years ago they put cases to the bottom if they were doing the insurance, and sure enough I read recently this is still going on

Platform - occasional really good, but usually find a reason to decline a case
Chelsea - consistent bad service for 15 years and still they have'nt learned

MortgageMamma

got to say, the service for Abbey in the north has been pretty good, but I have just moved to the south and am reliably informed the service centre here is rubbish, I think the biggest culprit of all the lenders is future mortgages, its taken me 15 weeks to complete a chain free straightforward case with them, I hate them with a passion!

MBM

Just progressed it to another level of management. If you want to complain about the servce try [EMAIL="david.finlay@barclays.com"]david.finlay@barclays.com[/EMAIL]. Its no good getting annoyed with the call centre staff, it's not their fault. Lets let him know how we feel

MortgageMamma

who is he?

MBM

He is one up from the Regional Intermediary Business Director.