Nationwide slow customer service

dunstonh

After several weeks there is still no action to resolve this.

You may not have heard but there is a pandemic which has shut down call centres and most centralised units across the board.  Staff have been placed into priority areas to deal with the vulnerable and those with financial need.

A number of ISA providers have actually stopped doing transfers.  Those are going through are being delayed with the paper method (electronic ones are still not as delayed).  Then you have the postal issue.   Post is highly erratic.  Some things are taking a month to arrive.

Whilst this can be frustrating, you have to use some common sense.   You started this transfer a week into lockdown.   You must have realised it would be slower than normal.  Be thankful that they are attempting to get it done, even if slow, as they could have easily said they are not doing any full stop.   And be thankful for the staff that worked through lockdown to keep services running whilst you could stay alive at home.

lhsecons

Nonetheless others are coping rather better. I did a transfer into Aldermore from Britannia and it took 3 days. I also did a transfer from the National Bank of the Punjab to Coventry Building society. This took longer because Coventry said the National Bank didn’t do transfers electronically. However they did chase it up for me and paid interest from the 15th day even though it took longer than that to arrive.

epm-84

dunstonh said:

After several weeks there is still no action to resolve this.

You may not have heard but there is a pandemic which has shut down call centres and most centralised units across the board.  Staff have been placed into priority areas to deal with the vulnerable and those with financial need.

A number of ISA providers have actually stopped doing transfers.  Those are going through are being delayed with the paper method (electronic ones are still not as delayed).  Then you have the postal issue.   Post is highly erratic.  Some things are taking a month to arrive.

Whilst this can be frustrating, you have to use some common sense.   You started this transfer a week into lockdown.   You must have realised it would be slower than normal.  Be thankful that they are attempting to get it done, even if slow, as they could have easily said they are not doing any full stop.   And be thankful for the staff that worked through lockdown to keep services running whilst you could stay alive at home.

As mentioned in another thread Nationwide have brought this on themselves by cutting 'exclusive loyalty rates' to just 0.25% at a time when other providers are still offering 1%+ and at a time when Nationwide are short staffed.  Of course there's going to be a mass exodus of customers if they can get 4 times the interest rate elsewhere!

An ISA transfer cannot stop offering transfers out, as that would be a breach of the ISA T&Cs.  Presumably you're referring to transfers in to ISAs - I doubt Nationwide are dealing with those at the moment with their rock bottom interest rates!

masonic

Yes, some receiving ISA managers have stopped accepting transfer instructions. ISA transfers are a laborious and largely paper-based process that firms are being prevented from doing as a result of Government guidelines and a duty of care over their staff. While it is a laudable gesture, more action is needed to protect the industry from frivolous and vexatious customer complaints in this extraordinary time.

uptdale

masonic said:

more action is needed to protect the industry from frivolous and vexatious customer complaints in this extraordinary time.

I'm not sure what action you are referring to.  It is hardly "frivolous" or "vexatious" to be concerned about loss of access to a large part of your liquidity for 6 or 7 weeks, especially in these uncertain times.  I have been a loyal member of Nationwide for many years, and have usually found their customer service good.  But this time they have definitely dropped the ball.  First they decided on market leading cuts in interest rates.  There may have been good reasons for that beyond the good reasons that everyone in the market was facing.  Maybe they misjudged the market, and assumed everyone else would make similar cuts.  We just don't know.  Second, having made the decision and seen other major banks and building societies not making such drastic cuts, and knowing the difficulties that the whole country was facing, it seems they did not gear up for the inevitable consequences.  The result is that they are having to deal with many unhappy customers (not just those who make complaints), creating more work for themselves and others, including the consequences of transferee institutions having to implement the 15 day rule and attempting to seek redress from Nationwide.  Other institutions with far fewer resources than Nationwide seemed to have coped much better.

Everyone has sympathy for those who have to work under the current constraints.  But a lack of transparency about mistakes easily leads to a breakdown of trust.  You do not appease unhappy customers by ignoring them or by obfuscation.

masonic

uptdale said:

masonic said:

more action is needed to protect the industry from frivolous and vexatious customer complaints in this extraordinary time.

I'm not sure what action you are referring to.  It is hardly "frivolous" or "vexatious" to be concerned about loss of access to a large part of your liquidity for 6 or 7 weeks, especially in these uncertain times.  I have been a loyal member of Nationwide for many years, and have usually found their customer service good.  But this time they have definitely dropped the ball.  First they decided on market leading cuts in interest rates.  There may have been good reasons for that beyond the good reasons that everyone in the market was facing.  Maybe they misjudged the market, and assumed everyone else would make similar cuts.  We just don't know.  Second, having made the decision and seen other major banks and building societies not making such drastic cuts, and knowing the difficulties that the whole country was facing, it seems they did not gear up for the inevitable consequences.  The result is that they are having to deal with many unhappy customers (not just those who make complaints), creating more work for themselves and others, including the consequences of transferee institutions having to implement the 15 day rule and attempting to seek redress from Nationwide.  Other institutions with far fewer resources than Nationwide seemed to have coped much better.

Everyone has sympathy for those who have to work under the current constraints.  But a lack of transparency about mistakes easily leads to a breakdown of trust.  You do not appease unhappy customers by ignoring them or by obfuscation.

The action I'd suggest is a relaxing of the 15 working day best practices guidelines in the first instance. The receiving ISA manager should be informing customers of average transfer times experienced from the sending provider at the point the transfer request is submitted (where they have data), and their best estimate of the time range they will need to complete the transfer. Customers should be able to decide whether to proceed or not on that basis. If they choose to go ahead, then both providers could be empowered to defer any complaints made about the transfer completing within that time range.

I made two transfers into one of my ISAs in March and April respectively and both took a lot longer than normal (one was from Nationwide). I was content that they happened at all. My ISA provider has now stopped accepting transfers, perhaps in part as a response to customer dissatisfaction, meaning other reasonable customers will lose out. If more and more providers follow suit, it may soon become even more difficult to transfer an ISA.

uptdale

There's an argument for aligning the transfer period with the notice required to reduce  the interest rate.  Otherwise you give the buildling society an incentive to hold onto your money at an interest rate well below what others are paying.

newatc

I've made 3 ISA transfers from Nationwide during the lockdown and they've gone through with no delay (all within a week I think). I'm assuming Coventry are using a paper-based system. In any event , I think it is sensible for the OP to chase such a delay as they are experiencing including using the complaints procedure. Who knows the transfer may have got lost somewhere and without follow-up, it will stay lost!

masonic

The ISA transfer process is managed by the receiving ISA manager. This will include chasing up the sending ISA manager when things don't happen when they should have happened. There is every indication in this case that the receiving ISA manager is doing all the right things, so there is little to be achieved by intervening at this stage, other than consuming resources that are already in short supply.

epm-84

newatc said:

I've made 3 ISA transfers from Nationwide during the lockdown and they've gone through with no delay (all within a week I think). 

I wonder whether Nationwide are focusing on getting the accounts with smaller deposits through first.  A lot of the complaints about delays seem to be from people who have large deposits meaning they lose the most from a delay to an alternative account with a better interest rate.  From a cashflow prospective for Nationwide it might be easier for them to get the accounts with smaller deposits transferred first and it might also help them meet any targets e.g. transferring 9 accounts with £10,000 each and delaying 1 account with £90,000 means 90% of transfers haven't been delayed, the other way around it would be 10% but with £90,000 still being transferred out of Nationwide.