"New customer only" deal at Lloyds TSB

Binxy

It really bugged me that you had to be brand new to Lloyds TSB to qualify for the £50 for opening a new Classic Plus account. Why didn't I qualify as an existing customer? I decided to find out.

Now I'd love to be able to tell you that I changed their mind, but alas they are determined. :wall:

However, I was so disgusted at this "new customers only" mentality that I decided to make my feelings clear about it.

I emailed customer services, and eventually got a promising email back stating that "under the circumstances" my email had been passed to my manager for him to contact me.

How exciting! I was led to believe the £50 might be forthcoming.

After 2 weeks of no contact, I phoned my branch. They don't have email (eh?!?) so never recieved it, and had no clue what was meant by the "under the circumstances" comment. They managed to contact the guy who write it, who claimed he didn't intend me to think that, and that the £50 is only ever for new customers.

The point is, finally, I was annoyed enough to calmly tell them I would be moving my account to another bank if I didn't feel valued enough as a customer. Cue Lloyds TSB falling over themsleves to ask me "Tell me what we can do, to keep you happy, and we'll do it" (Whilst pointing out that the £50 was not negotiable :mad: ) Anyway, I told them that ages ago they had stuffed up with something else and had sent me a rather lovely (and worth £12) bottle of red as an apology. No problem at all I was told, and would I like the manager to write me a letter of apology, and also ring me personally this afternoon to say sorry?

I said the bottle of wine would suffice, and I would continue to look for a better deal while I made my mind up

So................ if you're an existing customer missing out, kick up a fuss. Don't just sit back and take it. You might get a decent bottle of wine out of it!

Xbigman

Then again, if you wanted to attract new customers you don't really start by giving the special offer to a couple of million existing ones, do you?
Meanwhile the C&G (owned by Lloyds) do give mortgage deals to existing customers, unlike some others.
Regards



X

madfrenchgirl

can you post your original email?

I am too an existing customer with Lloyds, and I think their customer services are appalling: i lost my debit card once, got it replaced, but never received the pin, it turned out to be the basic sh!tty card instead of the visa electron, they kept on sending me back and forth between the branch and the helpline number. it took me 2 weeks before I could resume my normal life again.

Then I wanted my chequebooks to be kept at the branch for collection only, they kept on sending them to my mom's address (with the wrong spelling) in France. 3 times, i ended up having my mom send one of them back to me (quite risky considereing the quality of the royal mail in their previous handlings of french mail) but i had to pay my rent to different people: they charged me for the ffing bankers' draft while my lack of cheques was caused by them. They apologised and waived it.

Sometimes, the clerk would take ages like 45 minutes to complete very simple transactions. my branches at portsmouth were useless and the staff was irrespectful of me and my frenchness (I had a bit of difficulty when I arrived 6 years ago). they did not make any effort to make themselves understood.

I filed a thorough complaint at my branch with one of their supervisors, nothing came from it. So it will be good to get something back at them for once.

Binxy

madfrenchgirl wrote:

can you post your original email?

Sure, here it is:

I have been looking for a better current account deal than the one I currently have with yourselves (a Classic account) I noticed if I changed to a Classic Plus account I would get 4% interest. This compares with an Alliance and Leicester account I found which also offers new customers £50 for opening the account. I thought I would give Lloyds TSB the chance to keep my business by enquiring whether your offer of £50 to new customers could be applied here, but got the answer no. I would like to know if you realise the business you will lose should I decide (and for £50 I think I will) to jump ship from Lloyds and go to A&L. My mortgage and £30K loan come up for renewal in September too, so it would be a shame to lose the possibility of that extra business.

Why do you isist on NOT rewarding your existing customers, thereby forcing us to change our loyalties? Would it not make better sense to apply your rewards to ALL customers?



And if you're interested this is what I got back:

Thank you for the e-mail, which has been passed to this office by the On-line Helpdesk. Apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

I am sorry to learn that you are unhappy that the Bank gives the impression that it rewards new customers at the expense of our existing customer base. I would like to assure you that the Bank regards its existing loyal customers as the basis on which it can expand its products and services to all customers. However, as with any ambitious and pro-active financial organisation, we must always look to attract new customers into the Bank/from our competitors, in a way which is cost effective and attractive.

Under the circumstances, I have today passed your e-mail on to the Manager of your account holding branch in Kendal and have asked that he notes your comments and the issues you have raised and undertakes an account review in the hope that we may be able to assist you as a valued existing customer, to obtain a more beneficial return/type of account with Lloyds TSB.

Regards and thanks again for bringing your thoughts to our attention.


It sounds like they've treated you really badly. I wouldn't stand for it - make your feelings clear and if you don't hear back, and soon, keep on at them. They genuinely want to keep existing customers happy, so they should do something to make you feel better.


Also - don't forget you can find their geographical equivalents to all the 0870 or 0845 number by going to https://www.saynoto0870.com and typing in Lloyds TSB. If you're with Call 18866 (and if you're not - why not?! Almost all calls are 0p per minute and 2p per connection) then it costs a lot less that way.

jonesMUFCforever

Quoted from madfrenchgirl
Under the circumstances, I have today passed your e-mail on to the Manager of your account holding branch in Kendal and have asked that he notes your comments and the issues you have raised and undertakes an account review in the hope that we may be able to assist you as a valued existing customer, to obtain a more beneficial return/type of account with Lloyds TSB.

This account review is a procees whereby you sign up for a added value account for a monthly fee.
Eric

pinkfluffybabe

Not necessarily - i have regular reviews and I have never had to upgrade to a fee based account.

Binxy

ejones999 wrote:

This account review is a procees whereby you sign up for a added value account for a monthly fee.
Eric

Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. I don't want to pay for holiday insurance I don't need and breakdown insurance I already have :rolleyes: