Halifax - A more personal service letter

ratechaser

ultimately it depends on what this 'relationship manager' is empowered to do - I quite liked the Santander Select (and now the Natwest Premier) model where even when they know they have little chance of selling you anything, you've at least got a bit more of a hotline/point of contact for the rare occasions where things go wrong and you need it sorted out quickly. 

Works for me anyway, a good hybrid model when you've got pretty straightforward transaction banking needs...

EssexExile

ratechaser said:

ultimately it depends on what this 'relationship manager' is empowered to do - I quite liked the Santander Select (and now the Natwest Premier) model where even when they know they have little chance of selling you anything, you've at least got a bit more of a hotline/point of contact for the rare occasions where things go wrong and you need it sorted out quickly. 

Works for me anyway, a good hybrid model when you've got pretty straightforward transaction banking needs...

You've still got a Santander relationship manager? Mine disappeared years ago, which was a shame because I could've used him this week.

ratechaser

EssexExile said:

ratechaser said:

ultimately it depends on what this 'relationship manager' is empowered to do - I quite liked the Santander Select (and now the Natwest Premier) model where even when they know they have little chance of selling you anything, you've at least got a bit more of a hotline/point of contact for the rare occasions where things go wrong and you need it sorted out quickly. 

Works for me anyway, a good hybrid model when you've got pretty straightforward transaction banking needs...

You've still got a Santander relationship manager? Mine disappeared years ago, which was a shame because I could've used him this week.

Well in theory yes. Got him 10 years ago when we had about 200k in savings, 3 full 123 accounts, a credit card and a big mortgage - they must have thought we were worth it. Of course if they'd looked closer, they'd have seen the offset mortgage was funding the higher paying savings  

But even now, only having a 123 Lite account and no savings with them any more, we still have the Select banner on the website, and the Select phone line will sort out whatever issues we have, not that there are many. And I've not actually spoken to our own RM for a few years, best not to draw attention to myself...

EssexExile

ratechaser said:

EssexExile said:

ratechaser said:

ultimately it depends on what this 'relationship manager' is empowered to do - I quite liked the Santander Select (and now the Natwest Premier) model where even when they know they have little chance of selling you anything, you've at least got a bit more of a hotline/point of contact for the rare occasions where things go wrong and you need it sorted out quickly. 

Works for me anyway, a good hybrid model when you've got pretty straightforward transaction banking needs...

You've still got a Santander relationship manager? Mine disappeared years ago, which was a shame because I could've used him this week.

Well in theory yes. Got him 10 years ago when we had about 200k in savings, 3 full 123 accounts, a credit card and a big mortgage - they must have thought we were worth it. Of course if they'd looked closer, they'd have seen the offset mortgage was funding the higher paying savings  

But even now, only having a 123 Lite account and no savings with them any more, we still have the Select banner on the website, and the Select phone line will sort out whatever issues we have, not that there are many. And I've not actually spoken to our own RM for a few years, best not to draw attention to myself...

Have you tried the Select phone line lately? You get a long recorded message which ends with (words to effect of) "Unless you've been mugged or lost your debit card, please go away".

ratechaser

EssexExile said:

ratechaser said:

EssexExile said:

ratechaser said:

ultimately it depends on what this 'relationship manager' is empowered to do - I quite liked the Santander Select (and now the Natwest Premier) model where even when they know they have little chance of selling you anything, you've at least got a bit more of a hotline/point of contact for the rare occasions where things go wrong and you need it sorted out quickly. 

Works for me anyway, a good hybrid model when you've got pretty straightforward transaction banking needs...

You've still got a Santander relationship manager? Mine disappeared years ago, which was a shame because I could've used him this week.

Well in theory yes. Got him 10 years ago when we had about 200k in savings, 3 full 123 accounts, a credit card and a big mortgage - they must have thought we were worth it. Of course if they'd looked closer, they'd have seen the offset mortgage was funding the higher paying savings  

But even now, only having a 123 Lite account and no savings with them any more, we still have the Select banner on the website, and the Select phone line will sort out whatever issues we have, not that there are many. And I've not actually spoken to our own RM for a few years, best not to draw attention to myself...

Have you tried the Select phone line lately? You get a long recorded message which ends with (words to effect of) "Unless you've been mugged or lost your debit card, please go away".

Not recently, but then as we've hardly got anything left with them now, there's not much that can go wrong! It's more there as a backup and to max out the cashback that the lite account offers, my 'core' banking is back with Natwest, whose premier service is exactly what I was getting (and using) from Santander many years ago...

Personally I don't think it's too much to ask - I'm low maintenance, will do most of my banking through apps or other self service, but when something goes badly wrong, I want a damn bat-phone that will connect me to someone empowered to sort things out!