Barclays Service

KTM990SM

I recently inherited some cash and planned to put it into a Barclays Flexible Cash ISA at 4% interest as I had seen on Martins tv programme. As I am not an existing Barclays customer there rule is I must make an appointment. I called Barclays today.... it took 55 mins for them to answer the phone and when I did speak to someone there english was difficult to understand. I explained I wanted to invest in the Flexible Cash ISA and was then asked for my home address so an appointment could be arranged. I was told they were busy especially with people looking for this product having featured on Martin Lewis's show so it might be a month before I could get an appointment?!  Then I was told as of tomorrow the Flexible Cash Isa rate will drop to 3.2% !!

So I wasted an hour of my time applying for something that is effectively not on offer and it was not until i had given my address to the Barclays person who answered the phone that they then told me that? Fair to say this is a good reason why i should not and will not Bank or do business with Barclays since there customer care/service is obviously poor 

eskbanker

KTM990SM said:

I explained I wanted to invest in the Flexible Cash ISA and was then asked for my home address so an appointment could be arranged. I was told they were busy especially with people looking for this product having featured on Martin Lewis's show so it might be a month before I could get an appointment?! 

Yes, there has been a steady stream of similar threads about difficulties opening this account since it reached the top of the pile late last year, such as:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6412546/barclays-4-isa-if-youre-not-already-a-customer-i-wouldnt-bother

refluxer

For balance, I've been a Barclays customer for nearly 30 years and never had a problem with their accounts or customer service. I was able to open their Flexible ISA and arrange a transfer in about 5 minutes via the app so this ISA is definitely a lot more straight-forward for existing customers to open and I don't blame you for being frustrated.

Sadly, the issue with the big delays in making branch appointments is just a sign of the times and not exclusive to Barclays - banks are closing more and more branches on a regular basis and employing less and less staff, plus many are still working from home. Add to that an increase in popularity with certain accounts caused by a mention on TV and that only makes things worse.

There are quite a few other ISA providers around the same rate at the moment, so I would just go with one of those instead. Shawbrook are reputable and actually a little higher, at 4.06% for 1 year. You can open and manage the account online and, if you pass their online ID checks, you could have an ISA open and funded pretty quickly. If you fail their checks, then you may need to post off a few documents first but this would still be quicker than waiting for a branch appointment with Barclays !