Nationwide's 'Fairer Share' £100 payment for eligible members

Albermarle

TheBanker said:

Personally I am planning to glue myself to the cash machine outside my local branch in protest. Who's with me?

Well at least with Nationwide you can still find a branch to glue yourself to !

Section62

TheBanker said:

Personally I am planning to glue myself to the cash machine outside my local branch in protest. Who's with me?

Apparently nobody uses cash any more.... so will anyone notice?

It might be a more effective protest if you ruin the coffee shop vibe by taking in a jar of Nescafe and leaving it by the coffee machine.... the absolute outrage!  (you're also less likely to get arrested for going equipped with a jar of coffee than a tube of glue)

TheBanker

What I might do is pay in £500 cash, then withdraw it as 2x£250. If they ask what I am playing at, I will explain that I am demonstrating the depth of my love for Natuonwide!

zagfles

SonOfPearl said:

I think most people who have some kind of Nationwide product but don't qualify by the set criteria won't be annoyed or complain. They will just shrug their shoulders and forget about it. They might not even be aware that other people are getting the payment.  Outside of these forums most people just won't care.

The number of NW accounts closed by the disgruntled will be negligible. There will be more people excitedly telling their mates about the 100 quid they unexpectedly received. 

I don't know - as per Trustpilot etc people are more likely to do something if they're annoyed than pleased - there were far more people complaining they've not got the bonus than saying how pleased they are they did get it. (even in proportion)

SonOfPearl

Section62 said:

Yet if SonOfPearl's prediction is true, Nationwide's scheme will see an influx of people joining just on the off-chance they can get a "free" £100 next year. 

Just to be clear, I didn't predict anything. I only gave my opinion that most people don't even know about the £100 and even less care. It seems highly unlikely this £100 payment scheme will have any significant effect on NW's membership by itself, good or bad. Most people will carry on regardless. 

zagfles

Exodi said:

SonOfPearl said:

The number of NW accounts closed by the disgruntled will be negligible. There will be more people excitedly telling their mates about the 100 quid they unexpectedly received. 

This isn't just a storm in a teacup SonOfPearl:

boingy said:
according to Facebook and Trustpilot everyone will leave Nationwide, just after voting out their entire board at the next AGM

As for me, I think this could be the end of Nationwide all together. How else will they survive all these members (who admit not really using them), not using them?

Really? How many complainants "don't really use them"? Anyone who doesn't really use them and is complaining NW would probably be glad to see the back of. But perhaps not those with large savings/mortgages who don't have or "don't really use" the current account.

zagfles

SonOfPearl said:

Section62 said:

Yet if SonOfPearl's prediction is true, Nationwide's scheme will see an influx of people joining just on the off-chance they can get a "free" £100 next year. 

Just to be clear, I didn't predict anything. I only gave my opinion that most people don't even know about the £100 and even less care. It seems highly unlikely this £100 payment scheme will have any significant effect on NW's membership by itself, good or bad. Most people will carry on regardless. 

MSE clearly isn't representative and yes most people won't know or care enough to do anything, but even a small minority taking some sort of action could have an effect. Obviously the strawman some are building of this being their end is simply that, a strawman (ie imposing a vastly exaggerated or skewed view on others they can mock or argue against rather than argue against what they are actually saying).

The proof of the pudding will be to see if they do anything like this again, or if they do, will it be more "inclusive".

Exodi

zagfles said:

Exodi said:

SonOfPearl said:

The number of NW accounts closed by the disgruntled will be negligible. There will be more people excitedly telling their mates about the 100 quid they unexpectedly received. 

This isn't just a storm in a teacup SonOfPearl:

boingy said:
according to Facebook and Trustpilot everyone will leave Nationwide, just after voting out their entire board at the next AGM

As for me, I think this could be the end of Nationwide all together. How else will they survive all these members (who admit not really using them), not using them?

Really? How many complainants "don't really use them"? Anyone who doesn't really use them and is complaining NW would probably be glad to see the back of. But perhaps not those with large savings/mortgages who don't have or "don't really use" the current account.

Fantastic, I am in total agreement with you on this!

Exodi said:

It's not that I don't understand the views people are putting across, most of them are perfectly valid and I sympathise with a lot of them (e.g. those with large mortgage/savings accounts but no current account, or those that met the monthly deposit criteria, just not in the monthly amounts laid out).

There are also views I don't agree with (e.g. those that did a lot with Nationwide in the distant past, or those who hold very little (or nothing) arguing as a 'member bonus', it should be shared across all members).

zagfles

Albermarle said:

zagfles said:

boingy said:

spider42 said:

The way Skipton distributed theirs...  <snip> 

About two thirds of their members received a payment.

I think that is where Nationwide have gone wrong. They are rewarding only about a fifth of their members when they should really have been aiming to reward well over half of them. Anyway, according to Facebook and Trustpilot everyone will leave Nationwide, just after voting out their entire board at the next AGM.... 

Yes, annoying the majority of your customers is never a good idea in any business. In reality, most people will just complain and not do anything, I doubt anyone would eg move their mortgage or close a long term savings account with penalties. But some who have money in easy access accounts with low/average rates of interest eg ex RS savings etc, or current accounts, may transfer out and if this becomes a significant percentage, even single digits, it could affect their capital ratios etc. They may have to offer better rates to get more money in!

NW are well behind the competition in the RS type accounts (limited monthly payments, high rates), other banks are offering higher rates and amounts than NW's trivial £50 a month at 5.25%. But they do seem to want to encourage almost a "gambling" approach, prize draws and now random bonuses based on unspecified criteria. Ironic for a bank which tries to portray itself as "responsible".

Although generally I try and take a positive view of Nationwide, I thought this 'prize draw' gambit was a bit pathetic, no doubt dreamt up by some marketing 'genius'.

Try more common/useful products, for instance no-strings easy access savings. NW rate is 2.5%, I have a Santander one at 3.25%. Post Office have one at 3.47% and I'm fairly sure they have more infrastructure to maintain than NW.

Just for the record if you have a 'Loyalty easy access ' account with Nationwide it pays 3.2%. I think you have to be a member for 15 years and you can not open a new one, although existing ones are OK. 
Considering the always very negative comments about PO savings customer service on this forum, I think we can ditch them in any comparisons.

I said "no strings", comparing Loyalty type accounts is different. Santander is 3.25% on the account I have. They're a bank with branches that makes a profit. But maybe someone will come up with some reason that's not a valid comparison? 

Exodi

zagfles said:

SonOfPearl said:

Section62 said:

Yet if SonOfPearl's prediction is true, Nationwide's scheme will see an influx of people joining just on the off-chance they can get a "free" £100 next year. 

Just to be clear, I didn't predict anything. I only gave my opinion that most people don't even know about the £100 and even less care. It seems highly unlikely this £100 payment scheme will have any significant effect on NW's membership by itself, good or bad. Most people will carry on regardless. 

MSE clearly isn't representative and yes most people won't know or care enough to do anything, but even a small minority taking some sort of action could have an effect. Obviously the strawman some are building of this being their end is simply that, a strawman (ie imposing a vastly exaggerated or skewed view on others they can mock or argue against rather than argue against what they are actually saying).

Oh just as I thought we were becoming a team I see this dig at me

Obviously the suggestion that this is the end of Nationwide was clearly framed as sarcasm... I think you probably need to take a breath and relax a bit on this topic. I think given that we are 23 pages in, and you've posted 4 different comments in the last 15 minutes, it's clearly not working throwing paragraphs of text at each other (and I'm happy to to find middle ground, see my previous above). Plus I'm increasingly getting 'thread fatigue'.

If it bothers you this much, I implore you to write letters to the CEO, or join the connect forum, and all the other things suggested in this thread, where it may (possibly) enact some change.

Unfortunately, whatever the eligibility criteria, someone will not be happy.

Exodi said:

As for me, I think this could be the end of Nationwide all together. How else will they survive all these members (who admit not really using them), not using them?