In branch customer sales and marketing

Jolly_Roger

I recently asked my branch of RBS to stop sending me marketing and sales material by post, which they did; I now get nothing.
However, trying to stop counter staff doing the same is a nightmare. Every time I go into pay in a cheque, they tell me that the System is offering my this, that or the other, as well as suggesting I come in for a customer review -to help me save money (lol). I keep asking them to stop doing this and suggest they enter this request on to their System, but they say they cannot. In the end, I got so fed up that I moved the majority of my money to another bank, which doesn't try to sell me things every time I walk in the door.
Has anybody else had this problem?
Being a regular visitor to the MSE web site, I know quite well what the best products are out there. And if MSE doesn't know then my IFA will!
(Yes, I know RBS is definitely not a best buy, but is convenient, which in the end also helps me indirectly to save money by saving time....)

Homework

We are repaying debt and have been told that HBOS will not consider upgrading our account or anything until 'a long time after everything has been repaid, if ever'.

I need to go to the counter on occasion and every time the system indicates that they should ask me about upgrading the account or asking me about my mortgage. Every time I had to explain that I was not eligible and it was getting really embarrasing when there were people behind me in the queue and the assistant would persist in why did I only want an Electron Account in a loud voice.

Now I just say No thank you in a firm manner and if they persist I look surprised and say Sorry, I thought I had said no thank you and smile.

Doesn't stop them but makes me feel better. I've asked for it to stop as well and they have even told me that I can't be upgraded but still they would keep asking.

Incidently, on an occasion when I said ok I was sat down and went through the application. The assistant completed it and said that she would go and see what the printer said, came back and said that unfortunately the printer had said no!!!!!!!!!!

Next time I went in they asked again, and still do.

M_Thomson

Homework wrote: »

We are repaying debt and have been told that HBOS will not consider upgrading our account or anything until 'a long time after everything has been repaid, if ever'.

I need to go to the counter on occasion and every time the system indicates that they should ask me about upgrading the account or asking me about my mortgage. Every time I had to explain that I was not eligible and it was getting really embarrasing when there were people behind me in the queue and the assistant would persist in why did I only want an Electron Account in a loud voice.

Now I just say No thank you in a firm manner and if they persist I look surprised and say Sorry, I thought I had said no thank you and smile.

Doesn't stop them but makes me feel better. I've asked for it to stop as well and they have even told me that I can't be upgraded but still they would keep asking.

Incidently, on an occasion when I said ok I was sat down and went through the application. The assistant completed it and said that she would go and see what the printer said, came back and said that unfortunately the printer had said no!!!!!!!!!!

Next time I went in they asked again, and still do.

When you say they will not consider upgrading your account are you behind on Repayments? Do you have CCJ's? or just a lot of debt. If you are managing your repayments ok I am surprised that they say that because most current account holders have debt of some sort. Also, they can stop marketing at the counter. I asked for it to be done and never get asked anything now.

UK007BullDog

Banks do a credit score and if it gets declined then they cannot offer a "better" account. Having said that I do not pay for my bank accounts and I have 3 current accounts with 3 lenders. There is no need to pay and I rather have the money in my pocket than theirs.

I dont get hassled because I asked them in writing not to market me in any way.

silver-birch

I agree it's very annoying. We had our mortgage application refused by Nationwide but 3 weeks later while depositing a cheque at the branch got the "can I interest you in a loan?" We eventually stopped laughing and made a mental note to stop the postal bumph too. They won't even let us have a debit card on the current account and thats our money so I don't think they would lend us theirs!!! Bad credit history n all that, nuff said!!

W

natweststaffmember

Unfortunately we live in what is called a sales environment. If the bank offers you something that you do not want then you can say no thank you. Bank staff are targetted and bank staff may have on screen prompts but if they failed to tell people about products then they are doing a disservice to the customer. You have the right to say no thank you but if you want to avoid any sales talk from a cashier then you deposit your cheques throught rapid deposit machines in the branch, do most of your business online or shout and scream at staff(cos you remember THOSE customers more than any other ones).

PBA

I find it hard to understand why people have this problem specifically with banks, do you get offended when you walk into any other retailer and their shop assistant starts making a conversation about their products? Banks are retailers, our job is to sell products. It's likely that your transaction is going to take a couple minutes at the counter, the cashier is going to fill that time making conversation about their products. If that offends you then you have the choice not to step into the bank in the first place.

Homework

In a shop if you ae offered a shop card the person does not know anything about you and you say no. When you go into the bank they know lots about you and even though the staff have already told you 'no' the computer seems to keep flashing up to try.

We have no ccj but lots of defaults and are paying everything back through Payplan. With a bit of a push we will clear in 2 years and we had more than £1500 going through the account often £2000. We told them when the account was opened the circumstances and have asked a few times about getting a proper account without the overdraft as we don't want it. Once I was querying a card payment that had not come off and they got me to go through the application on the phone and was turned down, the woman explained that as a responsible lender whilst we were repaying debt they would not give us a different account which was repeated by other staff including an assistant manager who was fixing something when my name was accidently removed from the account and my card stopped working. One member of staff convinced us that it was now ok and that is when the printer told us no.

I've opened an account with another bank who I explained the circumstances to and the guy immediately sat the leaflets aside about other products and said they would be there when I was ready, we have had no marketing and the computer does not flash up anything.

The original poster has got the bank to stop marketing him at home which I have done too. It's just irritating when they keep asking when they know you don't want it as you have told them that or they have told you that before.

System

PBA wrote: »

I find it hard to understand why people have this problem specifically with banks, do you get offended when you walk into any other retailer and their shop assistant starts making a conversation about their products? Banks are retailers, our job is to sell products. It's likely that your transaction is going to take a couple minutes at the counter, the cashier is going to fill that time making conversation about their products. If that offends you then you have the choice not to step into the bank in the first place.

I must say I don't have a problem with bank staff trying to offer me products or services because like some have mentioned a bank is just a business and of course they want to sell you things.

The only time it really gets on my nerves is when you are waiting in a queue (and have been for quite some time!) and you hear the cashier trying to sell something or other to the customer being served - then you just pray that the customer says 'no'!! I have been waiting in line in my local NatWest and every cashier has been occupied with new product applications - very irritating.

It would make sense for these sales conversations to only take place when there isn't a queue hanging out of the door!!

Regards
UNDERGROUND

Homework

Especially when the person is just being polite and at the end of it all decides to go away and think about it as you know they didn't want it in the first place.

I left a shop recently when the only 2 assistants succeeded in getting the 2 customers in front to take out shop cards and I was told there was no one else to serve. Hadn't even thought of that in this context.

PBA

UNDERGROUND wrote: »

The only time it really gets on my nerves is when you are waiting in a queue (and have been for quite some time!) and you hear the cashier trying to sell something or other to the customer being served - then you just pray that the customer says 'no'!! I have been waiting in line in my local NatWest and every cashier has been occupied with new product applications - very irritating.

Now that's fair enough, but it's more the fault of the local branch manager not having the right staff in the right place. The cashier should be having a quick conversation while doing a transaction, then referring over to a personal banker.