Barclaycard CEO email address - not to be found anywhere?

[Deleted User]

callum9999 said:

Deleted_User said:

Emailing CEOs does nothing, it's the correlation = causation fallacy that people email a CEO and then their complaint is resolved therefore emailing the CEO fixed the issue. The CEO of any firm of that size doesn't read all his emails personally as he will get thousands, he has a PA to do it. The PA will see a customer complaint email and simply forward it onto whatever complaints team they have been told to, the complaints team will then deal with it and the CEO will never know anything about it. 

Perhaps in the case of Barclays, but you absolutely cannot make such a blanket statement...

Numerous companies forward them immediately to a high level complaints or executive team who can do far more than normal customer services can. I've used it several times and yes, the response I got categorically far exceeded the responses I received by doing it the "normal way".

Many CEOs do in fact reply personally as well, though I'd never actually bank on it.

As I said, it's correlation, not causation. "High level complaints teams" at executive level don't pick up some random person's complaint about a £5 credit card charge, they're just a normal complaints team with a fancy name, at the level of a manager in a call centre. Yes they can do more than your average minimum wage student/housewife on the direct number but so can the manager of the call centre. You email the CEO, 100% I guarantee that CEO never reads it, never knows about it and any "personal" reply you get is from their PA.

The "normal" way is to complain to them, then escalate to the FOS if the response is not satisfactory, not waste time (potentially missed the 6 month FOS referral deadline) by emailing some guy who is accountable for running the business because you don't like the colour of the carpet in the branch and the countertop pens ran out of ink.

jbrassy

I can also promise you that emailing the CEO never adds anything over and above what you would get if you just contacted the complaints team and escalated through the usual channels and on to FOS. When I worked for my previous employer, you'd get people contacting members of the Board, ExCo, and random employees having gathered their email addresses from Linkedin expecting that you'd do something about their complaint. All that happened is an email would be sent round the organisation saying "Please do not respond to Mr Smith, it is being dealt with by Complaints" which makes the complainant sound like a complete loony. 

A financial services provider will do their upmost to ensure the complaint doesn't go to the FOS as it costs them £500 every time a complaint is sent to them. 

funkycredit

callum9999 said:

Deleted_User said:

Emailing CEOs does nothing, it's the correlation = causation fallacy that people email a CEO and then their complaint is resolved therefore emailing the CEO fixed the issue. The CEO of any firm of that size doesn't read all his emails personally as he will get thousands, he has a PA to do it. The PA will see a customer complaint email and simply forward it onto whatever complaints team they have been told to, the complaints team will then deal with it and the CEO will never know anything about it. 

Perhaps in the case of Barclays, but you absolutely cannot make such a blanket statement...

Numerous companies forward them immediately to a high level complaints or executive team who can do far more than normal customer services can. I've used it several times and yes, the response I got categorically far exceeded the responses I received by doing it the "normal way".

Many CEOs do in fact reply personally as well, though I'd never actually bank on it.

Agreed. I've had at least 3 chats with Debbie Crosbie (TSB) when I've been forced to email her - she's called me personally. Granted if you email Jes Staley at Barclays then the exec team pick it up but you get a better response than the generic avenues I've found. 

If I've cause you complain I'll always go direct to the CEO. I'm one myself and my time is important so if I've to take time out to complain then I'll complain to the top. Rarely need to but when I do I always get resolution within days, not weeks. 

eskbanker

jbrassy said:

A financial services provider will do their upmost to ensure the complaint doesn't go to the FOS as it costs them £500 every time a complaint is sent to them. 

The FOS case fee (beyond the initial inclusive batch of 25 per year) is now £750, although https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/files/1874/QG1.pdf (admittedly an old document from 2014) states:

Fewer than one in six of the initial complaints and enquiries we receive to our front-line customer helpline become chargeable cases. The other complaints and enquiries usually involve issues that we don’t deal with – or where we can sort things out informally at a very early stage.

Sandtree

jbrassy said:

I can also promise you that emailing the CEO never adds anything over and above what you would get if you just contacted the complaints team and escalated through the usual channels and on to FOS. When I worked for my previous employer, you'd get people contacting members of the Board, ExCo, and random employees having gathered their email addresses from Linkedin expecting that you'd do something about their complaint. All that happened is an email would be sent round the organisation saying "Please do not respond to Mr Smith, it is being dealt with by Complaints" which makes the complainant sound like a complete loony. 

A financial services provider will do their upmost to ensure the complaint doesn't go to the FOS as it costs them £500 every time a complaint is sent to them. 

It may not with your employer (I'm assuming you work in the industry to be able to make such a categoric statement) but can certainly say without doubt the a complaint to the CEO in all of the companies I've worked in for 20 years in financial services gets dealt with by a different group of people.  These teams typically are a lot less KPI driven so can spend more time on each complaint and generally have higher levels of autonomy so can get problems solved rather than just empathize. 

From a personal perspective for several regulated industries I've had the misfortune of needing to escalate a complaint and in each case the service received has been markably different from the escalated team.

If you are just a disgruntled customer who found their complaint didnt get anywhere when it went to the CEO this can just mean your complaint was unfounded... as said, the escalated complaints team doesnt mean they suddenly agree with everything or payout thousands in compensation.

callum9999

Deleted_User said:

callum9999 said:

Deleted_User said:

Emailing CEOs does nothing, it's the correlation = causation fallacy that people email a CEO and then their complaint is resolved therefore emailing the CEO fixed the issue. The CEO of any firm of that size doesn't read all his emails personally as he will get thousands, he has a PA to do it. The PA will see a customer complaint email and simply forward it onto whatever complaints team they have been told to, the complaints team will then deal with it and the CEO will never know anything about it. 

Perhaps in the case of Barclays, but you absolutely cannot make such a blanket statement...

Numerous companies forward them immediately to a high level complaints or executive team who can do far more than normal customer services can. I've used it several times and yes, the response I got categorically far exceeded the responses I received by doing it the "normal way".

Many CEOs do in fact reply personally as well, though I'd never actually bank on it.

As I said, it's correlation, not causation. "High level complaints teams" at executive level don't pick up some random person's complaint about a £5 credit card charge, they're just a normal complaints team with a fancy name, at the level of a manager in a call centre. Yes they can do more than your average minimum wage student/housewife on the direct number but so can the manager of the call centre. You email the CEO, 100% I guarantee that CEO never reads it, never knows about it and any "personal" reply you get is from their PA.

The "normal" way is to complain to them, then escalate to the FOS if the response is not satisfactory, not waste time (potentially missed the 6 month FOS referral deadline) by emailing some guy who is accountable for running the business because you don't like the colour of the carpet in the branch and the countertop pens ran out of ink.

Utter rubbish. You do post a lot of nonsense on here for someone who genuinely seems otherwise well informed!

High level complaint teams absolutely do pick up mundane customer service requests - I've personally had it done many times, as have many others. It can't possibly be "correlation" if a COMPLETELY separate team helps you and provides a COMPLETELY different response - again, something I've personally had. They can absolutely do more than a random call centre manager. This is all public record - numerous CEOs have said this in published articles (though your presumably going to claim they're all lying?).

As I've already stated many times (and I'm sure you've read and are just choosing to deliberately ignore to suit your own argument!), I'm well aware the CEO generally does not read them personally.

born_again

Deleted_User said:

 "High level complaints teams" at executive level don't pick up some random person's complaint about a £5 credit card charge, they're just a normal complaints team with a fancy name, at the level of a manager in a call centre. 

Sadly they do. It is just they are better at doing to role, so get passed the ones that require a bit more finesse as they are a reflection on how the misguided customer thinks the CEO is sorting it for them.
Certainly as far as we go everyone has a responsibility to try and resolve a complaint we receive. If we are unable to, then it goes to our manager, if they can't then to a dedicated complaints team who will deal with it. 

Jumblebumble

jbrassy said:

I can also promise you that emailing the CEO never adds anything over and above what you would get if you just contacted the complaints team and escalated through the usual channels and on to FOS. When I worked for my previous employer, you'd get people contacting members of the Board, ExCo, and random employees having gathered their email addresses from Linkedin expecting that you'd do something about their complaint. All that happened is an email would be sent round the organisation saying "Please do not respond to Mr Smith, it is being dealt with by Complaints" which makes the complainant sound like a complete loony. 

A financial services provider will do their upmost to ensure the complaint doesn't go to the FOS as it costs them £500 every time a complaint is sent to them. 

I can promise you that this is nonsense.
I personally have had the Exec team having been briefed by sending an email to the CEO office  do what the complaints team said could not be done by at least 3 very Large organisations  over the years .including
6 months Free FTTC Business Broadband
Complimentary 1st Class ticket on East Coast Main Line ( not with the current incumbents)
Dealing with forged order from a sales organisation for 5 year telecoms  contract  and removing cancellation penalties
in all cases the complaints team refused to address the issuesd
I agree that in many organisations the scenario you describe is correct as some prefer to fob off their customers
No one in their right minds is going to wait for many months for the FOS to swing into action