Is Virgin Money at risk of operational failure?

Exodi

subjecttocontract said:

Richard  Branson must be furious......I would be if I were him !
They are not the only organisation benefiting from using the Virgin name who have worse than awful customer service...... Virgin Media are equally atrocious.

I was about to say this, at this point I just naturally associate Virgin with appaling customer service:

Virgin Money - 1.2/5
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.virginmoney.com

Virgin Broadband - 1.2/5
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/store.virginmedia.com

Virgin Holidays - 1.4/5
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.virginholidays.co.uk

Virgin Mobile - 1.2/5
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/virginmobile.co.uk

WillPS

Exodi said:

subjecttocontract said:

Richard  Branson must be furious......I would be if I were him !
They are not the only organisation benefiting from using the Virgin name who have worse than awful customer service...... Virgin Media are equally atrocious.

I was about to say this, at this point I just naturally associate Virgin with appaling customer service:

Virgin Money - 1.2/5
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/uk.virginmoney.com

Virgin Broadband - 1.2/5
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/store.virginmedia.com

Virgin Holidays - 1.4/5
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.virginholidays.co.uk

Virgin Mobile - 1.2/5
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/virginmobile.co.uk

Agreed, unfortunately. I was really hopeful when ntl:Telewest rebranded as Virgin Media that their customer service would have to be enhanced to meet brand standards, but if anything it got worse and even infected Virgin Mobile which previously offered some of the best customer service I've ever had.

Daliah

Neither Virgin Broadband, Holidays or Mobile have anything to do with Virgin Money.

Whilst VM have a hotchpotch of systems, I have only got praise for them. Their Regular Savers were ace for quite some time (though are now falling behind in terms of AER), and they have enabled instant access savings in their current accounts at 2% for over 2 years whilst the rest of the industry was in sub-1% doldrums. It's only today that a 'proper' 2% instant access savings account has now become available at Gatehouse, so I have now moved my money from VM to Gatehouse as this reduces my monthly admin needs. As and if Virgin offer a market leading product, I will be very happy to go back to them.

WillPS

Daliah said:

Neither Virgin Broadband, Holidays or Mobile have anything to do with Virgin Money.

Whilst VM have a hotchpotch of systems, I have only got praise for them. Their Regular Savers were ace for quite some time (though are now falling behind in terms of AER), and they have enabled instant access savings in their current accounts at 2% for over 2 years whilst the rest of the industry was in sub-1% doldrums. It's only today that a 'proper' 2% instant access savings account has now become available at Gatehouse, so I have now moved my money from VM to Gatehouse as this reduces my monthly admin needs. As and if Virgin offer a market leading product, I will be very happy to go back to them.

It does in so far as people have expectations of the Virgin brand in terms of customer service, which is what this thread is about rather than how good any of their actual products or offers are.

Molehusband

Daliah said:

Neither Virgin Broadband, Holidays or Mobile have anything to do with Virgin Money.

Thanks for clarifying the Virgin brands.

Daliah said:

Whilst VM have a hotchpotch of systems, I have only got praise for them. Their Regular Savers were ace for quite some time (though are now falling behind in terms of AER), and they have enabled instant access savings in their current accounts at 2% for over 2 years whilst the rest of the industry was in sub-1% doldrums. It's only today that a 'proper' 2% instant access savings account has now become available at Gatehouse, so I have now moved my money from VM to Gatehouse as this reduces my monthly admin needs. As and if Virgin offer a market leading product, I will be very happy to go back to them.

I've had Virgin Money accounts for a little while and have experienced no particular problems with them. It's unfortunate that they limit the savings account to £25,000 for the full interest rate, but that's a decision they're entitled to take. VM's interest rate is now lagging behind others including Gatehouse. But I won't be rushing to move my money to Gatehouse as I haven't yet found a spider available to train to use the microscopic keyboards of a mobile App for me. I'm hoping that Virgin and others offering normal online facilities will catch up their rates in due course.

Exodi

WillPS said:

Daliah said:

Neither Virgin Broadband, Holidays or Mobile have anything to do with Virgin Money.

Whilst VM have a hotchpotch of systems, I have only got praise for them. Their Regular Savers were ace for quite some time (though are now falling behind in terms of AER), and they have enabled instant access savings in their current accounts at 2% for over 2 years whilst the rest of the industry was in sub-1% doldrums. It's only today that a 'proper' 2% instant access savings account has now become available at Gatehouse, so I have now moved my money from VM to Gatehouse as this reduces my monthly admin needs. As and if Virgin offer a market leading product, I will be very happy to go back to them.

It does in so far as people have expectations of the Virgin brand in terms of customer service, which is what this thread is about rather than how good any of their actual products or offers are.

Indeed and while everyone understands that Virgin Broadband, Holidays, Mobile, etc are different entities, they are similar in their product vs customer service.

The Daliah and  the OP are perfect examples of this. Daliah mentions that their products are good - and being fortunate enough not to need to involve customer service for anything has had a positive experience. The OP did need to consult their customer service team and... did not have a positive experience.

Now compare it to Virgin Broadband - they have some of the fastest speeds in the country on their own lines, their product offering is undoubtedly fantastic. The problem is if you have a problem. I almost signed up to Virgin Broadband, I cancelled during their cooling off period after spending 8 hours waiting on the phone to them before being put to an Indian call centre who clearly had no access to customer records.

Despite the various Virgin ventures being different entities, they seem to share a common trait of absolutely horrendous customer service.

Molehusband

Exodi said:

WillPS said:

Daliah said:

Neither Virgin Broadband, Holidays or Mobile have anything to do with Virgin Money.

Whilst VM have a hotchpotch of systems, I have only got praise for them. Their Regular Savers were ace for quite some time (though are now falling behind in terms of AER), and they have enabled instant access savings in their current accounts at 2% for over 2 years whilst the rest of the industry was in sub-1% doldrums. It's only today that a 'proper' 2% instant access savings account has now become available at Gatehouse, so I have now moved my money from VM to Gatehouse as this reduces my monthly admin needs. As and if Virgin offer a market leading product, I will be very happy to go back to them.

It does in so far as people have expectations of the Virgin brand in terms of customer service, which is what this thread is about rather than how good any of their actual products or offers are.

Despite the various Virgin ventures being different entities, they seem to share a common trait of absolutely horrendous customer service.

With all due respect, as had been stated already, this thread is about Virgin Money and has nothing to do with Virgin Broadband, Virgin Holidays or Virgin Mobile. So what Trustpilot ratings these unrelated entities may have is irrelevant to this thread. For one thing I could tell you there's also an unrelated company called Virgin Wines with an excellent rating on Trustpilot, but please let this thread stick to discussion about Virgin Money.

[Deleted User]

pafpcg said:

Deleted_User said:

p00hsticks said:

pafpcg said:

Molehusband said:

........
One of the complications with Virgin Money is, as their website says:
"We're not like other banks. Discover what makes us different."
One of the differences is ownership and who exactly is running it. Some years ago they took over Northern Rock and I assumed their staff was then running my account on behalf of Virgin. Then, more recently, Virgin entered some form of partnership with Clydesdale Bank and I get the impression that many Virgin Money accounts are run by them. I'm never quite sure exactly who is actually operating my Virgin Money account.

Virgin Money is now owned entirely by Clydesdale Bank PLC - it was taken over several years ago.  For marketing reasons Clydesdale then decided to re-brand itself as Virgin Money (and paid Branson a considerable fee to continue to use the "Virgin" name).  Like many organisations which have grown by mergers and acquisitions, the products & services are supported at various sites making it difficult to get consistency - unless you regard ALL Virgin Money's services to be universally poor!  Originally, the savings products were operated by the 'old' Virgin Money (aka Northern Rock) based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the banking products by Clydesdale based in Clydebank.  Nowadays, I share your uncertainty about where and who is running my Virgin Money accounts.

Yorkshire Bank also got added into the mix and rebranded  a few years back....

Yorkshire Bank was dissolved years ago.
It's been Clydesdale Bank trading name since 2001. 

No it wasn't!  Yorkshire Bank has indeed been a subsidiary of Clydesdale Bank PLC for quite some time but it's still trading - doesn't it still have YB-branded branches in Leeds and elsewhere in its Yorkshire heartland?  If you take a look at the "small print" at the foot of the current Virgin Money letterhead, you'll see the following: "Clydesdale Bank PLC (which also trades as Yorkshire Bank, B and Virgin Money) is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and ....."

PS: I didn't include a reference to Yorkshire Bank in my earlier post, which p00hsticks rightly picked me up on, because it just added another layer of confusion to an already complicated situation...

I guess you don't know that a subsidiary isn't a trading name.

The NAG Europe Act dissolved Yorkshire Bank and transferred it's business to Clydesdale Bank plc. It's just a trading name (brand) now along with Virgin Money. 

[Deleted User]

eskbanker said:

anotheruser said:

subjecttocontract said:

Richard  Branson must be furious......I would be if I were him !
They are not the only organisation benefiting from using the Virgin name who have worse than awful customer service...... Virgin Media are equally atrocious.

Having said that I am currently transferring an ISA to Virgin Money.

Why?
He's built his brand and sold it and continues to do so.
Once it leaves his hands, he doesn't need to care.

There's a distinction between his brand, i.e. the Virgin name, and businesses that are licensed to use it, so, even though Branson may not own stakes in companies like Virgin Money and Virgin Media, he (or rather Virgin Enterprises) will continue to receive royalty revenue from these businesses for use of the name, and therefore if such companies suffer reputational issues, that will reflect badly on the overall Virgin brand name, and he's unlikely to be thrilled about that....

There was speculation that CYBG were considering ditching the brand transition when Virgin Airlines was looking a Pandemic bailout as they were worried about the value of the brand. 

Exodi

Molehusband said:

Exodi said:

WillPS said:

Daliah said:

Neither Virgin Broadband, Holidays or Mobile have anything to do with Virgin Money.

Whilst VM have a hotchpotch of systems, I have only got praise for them. Their Regular Savers were ace for quite some time (though are now falling behind in terms of AER), and they have enabled instant access savings in their current accounts at 2% for over 2 years whilst the rest of the industry was in sub-1% doldrums. It's only today that a 'proper' 2% instant access savings account has now become available at Gatehouse, so I have now moved my money from VM to Gatehouse as this reduces my monthly admin needs. As and if Virgin offer a market leading product, I will be very happy to go back to them.

It does in so far as people have expectations of the Virgin brand in terms of customer service, which is what this thread is about rather than how good any of their actual products or offers are.

Despite the various Virgin ventures being different entities, they seem to share a common trait of absolutely horrendous customer service.

With all due respect, as had been stated already, this thread is about Virgin Money and has nothing to do with Virgin Broadband, Virgin Holidays or Virgin Mobile. So what Trustpilot ratings these unrelated entities may have is irrelevant to this thread. For one thing I could tell you there's also an unrelated company called Virgin Wines with an excellent rating on Trustpilot, but please let this thread stick to discussion about Virgin Money.

Please accept my sincerest apologies for touching upon something that wasn't strictly vetted by you beforehand.

As others have said - Virgin Money has had good products but their customer service is bad, it always has been, but is unlikely to be an indicator of operational risk. If you don't need to consult their customer service team, you'll have a good time.

Hope this was OK.