Banks refusing/ignoring/sidestepping clear requests to register complaints via chat

dealyboy

Hi Will (OP) ... I have also had some poor experiences with Barclays Bank recently and raised three complaints as a non-customer, however I do have a Barclaycard and was allowed to raise my complaints via their phone Customer Service.

The relevant complaint for this topic was the first of these, regarding open a bank account via the app and providing confidential documents in branch and was raised on 10th July. I received a reference number and was advised I would receive an outcome letter in about a week (GDPR matter). I phoned again about an hour later to add to the complaint.

I raised the second complaint on 11th July and phoned again on 12th July to either add to one of these complaints or make a new one. I was astonished to learn that my first 'complaint' had been closed after 24 hours as it was not a complaint but a 'concern', I added that to my second complaint. I phoned the FOS and advised them of this practice, the advisor had not heard of this concept before but they would definitely be concerned if Barclays did not respond to my complaint.

Barclays have now responded to my complaints (including a third regarding their mode of confirming appointments). I received £50 compensation specifically for this complaint/concern issue. (I received two other £50s).

Although my impression of Barclays is not good, indeed I think MSE have made a typo in giving them 30% (ie accidentally hitting the '3' key ... haha), their complaints process is formal and good, with a dedicated complaints team for second level complaints with the assignment of a case manager who will discuss a complaint objectively and sympathetically.

Three months ago I raised a complaint with Santander regarding an inappropriate action by Customer Service and it was handled swiftly being awarded £50 compensation whilst I was on the phone.

I think organisations in general vary considerably in how they handle complaints and this year I've had good and bad experiences E.ON Next good, Kwik Fit good, Tesco Mobile bad. 

Nasqueron

I did a complaint with M&S fine over the in app chat, case was created and a case handler called later to go over it

born_again

HillStreetBlues said:

born_again said:

Complaints are logged on customers accounts FCA regs.

Can a CS op see any previous complaints on the system?

Yes. part of the process, as you need to check if they have complained about the same thing before, as it may mean re opening old complaint.

rallycurve

Olinda99 said:

can't speak for the other banks but if you want to open a complaint via the app for Barclays then you need to send them a secure message, not chat

This is clearly spelled out in their 'how to make a complaint' web page

I'm trying to raise a complaint with Barclays and found this information in their FAQs but can't seem to find the messaging option on the app. I've updated it to the latest version in case that was it but still nothing. If I go to Help I can see a "contact us" section but there is only the option to call, not to message?
What am I doing wrong? Can anybody advise where to find the message functionality on the Barclays app?
Many thanks

WillPS

When you login, under all youir accounts and a couple of banners there should be 4 options ('Your cards', 'Your rewards', 'Spending' and 'Mobile PINsentry'). Below that should be another box marked 'Contact us' which for me has 'Message us' and 'Direct cal' options.

Alternatively if you press 'Help', scroll to the bottom you should see 'Send us a message' (second from last for me).

If you can't see either I presume the option has been disabled for your account.

rallycurve

Thanks a lot for your answer. I'm glad to know I am not going crazy/blind. Those options don't appear to be on my app for some reason!
Any ideas why this would be? I have been with them for nearly a month now and my switch will complete this week. Not a good start, is it?

WillPS

rallycurve said:

Thanks a lot for your answer. I'm glad to know I am not going crazy/blind. Those options don't appear to be on my app for some reason!
Any ideas why this would be? I have been with them for nearly a month now and my switch will complete this week. Not a good start, is it?

No idea I'm afraid. Might be one you'd need to phone or go in to branch to resolve.

Yorkshire_Pud

I’m another customer that’s suffered from Barclays complaint ‘handling’ which was to do with a credit card aka Barclaycard application. After online chat and speaking to a CS person I was told I had to write to a specific freepost address to make a complaint and to chivvy up my lost in space referred application.
I did this and it did stimulate progress for my application but my clearly labelled complaint has never been acknowledged or responded to.

It’s like wading through treacle on most levels to deal with Barclays if there’s any kind of glitch or problem they make it as hard as possible to make progress. To the point I won’t carry on with my complaint because all the different modes of communication I had to use and flim flam advice have left me with a ragbag of bits of info which might be hard to draw together in any comprehensible way.

masonic

Yorkshire_Pud said:

I’m another customer that’s suffered from Barclays complaint ‘handling’ which was to do with a credit card aka Barclaycard application. After online chat and speaking to a CS person I was told I had to write to a specific freepost address to make a complaint and to chivvy up my lost in space referred application.
I did this and it did stimulate progress for my application but my clearly labelled complaint has never been acknowledged or responded to.

It’s like wading through treacle on most levels to deal with Barclays if there’s any kind of glitch or problem they make it as hard as possible to make progress. To the point I won’t carry on with my complaint because all the different modes of communication I had to use and flim flam advice have left me with a ragbag of bits of info which might be hard to draw together in any comprehensible way.

Just give it 8 weeks and then refer to FOS. If more people did this, they'd soon work out it is cheaper to resolve the complaints internally.

ForumUser7

Yorkshire_Pud said:

I’m another customer that’s suffered from Barclays complaint ‘handling’ which was to do with a credit card aka Barclaycard application. After online chat and speaking to a CS person I was told I had to write to a specific freepost address to make a complaint and to chivvy up my lost in space referred application.
I did this and it did stimulate progress for my application but my clearly labelled complaint has never been acknowledged or responded to.

It’s like wading through treacle on most levels to deal with Barclays if there’s any kind of glitch or problem they make it as hard as possible to make progress. To the point I won’t carry on with my complaint because all the different modes of communication I had to use and flim flam advice have left me with a ragbag of bits of info which might be hard to draw together in any comprehensible way.

Barclays favourite ‘trick’ seems to be labelling complaints as feedback when raised on the chat. And then you never hear back. It’s a very trying process trying to get things sorted with them, so I would agree with @masonic probably to just refer to the FOS after 8 weeks.