A&L Premier Plus Switching/Interest Rate Annoyance (merged threads)

julesbrook

Applied to Switch from First Direct to A&L on 16th March.

Received more Pin Nos. than my tiny brain can memorise!

Was told switch took place on 16th May.

As of 1st June, 4 Direct Debits are still being collected from First Direct.

But worst of all - I have a Fixed Rate Regular Saver, £500 Standing Order each month to Abbey paying 7% interest. A&L failed to ask for a payment on 20th May and set up the first Standing Order payment to go on 20th June. I have missed a months payment and lost £20.65 in interest. (Abbey were great and reinstated my 7% account for June even though I had missed a payment). I had to do all the legwork to sort this out because Abbey could not give customer details to A&L due to confidentiallity.

I am complaining bitterly but A&L are 'looking into it' and have not accepted liability YET!

And if the girl on the end of the non 0870 no. tells me one more time that I can't use the no. unless I'm ringing from abroad - I might say something I'll regret. (I now just lie). I'm not paying 4p per min. to sort out their mess!

We will see if they compensate me or not.

I feel better now. :eek:

julesbrook

Do A&L not have an obligation to tell their customers when interest rates change?

Their/my On Line Saver interest rate is about to be cut from 5.35% to 5%. Yet I have not been informed and there is nothing on their website about it, just 'This account is no longer availabe'.

I only know this because I have just read it here. Thanks MSE.

MarkyMarkD

I'm not seeking to defend A&L, but it might not be their fault.

If they ask all of your DD suppliers/whatever to change the details to the new account, they might have their own (inefficient) timescales and keep collecting from the old account. In the case of credit cards (for example) many companies set up the DD run on the day they issue the statement - around 20 days before they collect the funds - and they wouldn't necessarily change the DD bank account details for such pending DDs.

The standing order is a different matter, and I can't see why the 20 June payment to Abbey wouldn't have happened if you were told all transactions were transferred at 16 June.

I'm sure you know this, but you can see details of all standing orders and DDs on the A&L Internet Banking site and you could have checked for yourself if the Abbey STO was in place prior to 20 May. IIRC the payments for monthly savings accounts only have to arrive in the right month - what kept you from noticing between 20 May and 25 May (still plenty of time to make the payment manually) that the payment hadn't been made?

IIRC also Martin has posted a non-0870 direct number for the account transfer service - try a search!

MarkyMarkD

It took me 3 clicks from the A&L homepage to get to the Online saver current rates.

The terms and conditions of the account state that you will be notified within 30 days of any change. That 30 days isn't up for ages. The current rate is shown on the website as the Ts & Cs state.

A&L are complying with the account Ts & Cs. You signed up to the Ts & Cs when you opened the account.

aliasojo

***Note from Board Guide: Sorry you're having issues with A&L just now, it's annoying when things don't go well. Can I ask you to please keep posts about the same company within one thread though, thanks. ***

fluffymuffin

I have also had problems hanging from HSBC current account to A&L - same thing with direct debits - granted some of this was the fault of the companies - O2 were a right pain BUT A&L did "overlook" one transfer which was my mortgage - marvellous! which they admitted to and sorted post hast!

It took a fair amount of sorting out in the end and you are right - have never had quite so many pin numbers for the same account in my life.

Still now its set up all appears to be going smoothly - wouldahve expected some kind of hicups when so many companies are involved. Have to say though when I did have a problem they were very helpful - just could have done without the hassle.

raeble

Alliance & Leicester irritated me with their unhelpful customer service among other things that I switched Smile. I wouldn't recommend A&L to anyone.

SuiDreams

I've never had any problems with A&L, the account switching didn't go very well but that was due to Natwest not sending them my DD details, in the end I had to ring Natwest 10 time to get a copy sent direct to me and then they sent me the details for the wrong account. Once I took my complaint further withing Natwest the DD list was faxed to me that day and I forwarded on to A&L who actioned them imeadiatley.