Contacting Mansfield BS

thrifty_pete

They do seem to have launched some very competitive products without much planning of how to respond to the requests for account openings.
They don't support Confirmation of Payee - anyone know why this would be - is there a restriction set by UK Finance on using holding accounts as they do? Otherwise the CoP could be made to work based on the sort code / account number and 'Mansfield Building Society' as the account holder name. 
I would be looking for the fairly unambitious functionality of just verifying that the Barclays account is indeed in their name.

happybagger

thrifty_pete said:

They don't support Confirmation of Payee - anyone know why this would be 

I would assume it's something to do with the fact that the payment goes to a Barclays Bank account in the name of Mansfield Building Society and then the society manually credits to the customer's account using the Reference provided (roll number). Barclays would therefore be unaware of the name on the customer's account, as this would only be held by Mansfield BS.

ForumUser7

@happybagger I think @thrifty_pete is saying it'd be helpful if Mansfield's holding account was enrolled in confirmation of payee. That way, when you put in their sort code and account number and Mansfield Building Society as the account holder name, it'd confirm that that sort code and account number did indeed link to Mansfield Building Society.

I've not tried a transfer yet (as my account is still unopened), but I can see where @thrifty_pete is coming from - it is worrying when the app gives all those messages saying funds may be lost and not reimbursed etc.

happybagger

I may be wrong but I thought it did, as long you ticked that it was a business account, not personal. I might cancel and restart one later.

thrifty_pete

Yes @ForumUser7 as I said, the functionality would just be to show that the Barclays account belonged to them. So unless there is a rule which prevents them from implementing that, there is no reason not to. 
I don't mind if they don't have CoP but they should tell customers, just as DF Capital do. 

Bridlington1

Still no sign of the activation code yet, however I did receive the passbook for their tracker 90 account, for which I sent an application form off on Friday. There's living proof in my mind that post/branch accounts are their top priority.

Patrington

In my experience Mansfield has some semi decent products but they're let down by their systems and some poor staff.

Take an example of a change of address.  Their competitors (of which I dealt with scores of) were far easier. It took close to two months for them to state that the change had been made.

They refused to accept anything apart from a hugely restrictive list of documentation as proof, hung onto other documentation when it was requested to be returned and then returned it back to an address they refused to accept I'd moved to!

Then a year on from them finally accepting this change and as part of the application for their eSaver to find they still have me living at my old address on their system.

I've used their Message system when logged in (previously and now) to contact them but they don't always seem to read the messages properly and act upon them.

They wouldn't even raise a complaint when requested.

I'd stay clear if i were you.

Better products and service out there that don't require contacting the FCA for trivial tasks.

ForumUser7

Patrington said:

In my experience Mansfield has some semi decent products but they're let down by their systems and some poor staff.

Take an example of a change of address.  Their competitors (of which I dealt with scores of) were far easier. It took close to two months for them to state that the change had been made.

They refused to accept anything apart from a hugely restrictive list of documentation as proof, hung onto other documentation when it was requested to be returned and then returned it back to an address they refused to accept I'd moved to!

Then a year on from them finally accepting this change and as part of the application for their eSaver to find they still have me living at my old address on their system.

I've used their Message system when logged in (previously and now) to contact them but they don't always seem to read the messages properly and act upon them.

They wouldn't even raise a complaint when requested.

I'd stay clear if i were you.

Better products and service out there that don't require contacting the FCA for trivial tasks.

Sorry to hear that - sounds like they've given you a very difficult time. I emailed them recently with email subject like Letter of Complaint and I've got a letter in the post recently saying they are looking into it, and with the complaints procedure enclosed. Alternatively, if they refused to take the complaint, perhaps it is now a matter for the FOS - I don't know to be honest. Hopefully you can get the address updated on the system now!

Bridlington1

I think the moral of the story is to get postal redirection for 12 months when you move, especially if you have accounts with Mansfield.

Patrington

Bridlington1 said:

I think the moral of the story is to get postal redirection for 12 months when you move, especially if you have accounts with Mansfield.

Which we did.

It's actually 15 months since they were first contacted about this.

Different moral of story...