Barclays Cash ISA Hell

jyp

:mad:

I have applied for a Barclays Tax Haven cash ISA some time in April (around the 12th). By May 9, 2008 Barclays had still not opened my ISA and since the agent on the phone was unable to even tell me how long it would take for the account to be opened I got fed up and requested the immediate cancellation of my application. I spoke to two agents and explicitly requested that they log my request on their system. I followed this up with a letter sent by special delivery on the same day. To be on the safe side this was also followed up with an email I sent to [EMAIL="customer.relations@barclays.co.uk"]customer.relations@barclays.co.uk[/EMAIL] and for which I received an acknowledgement of receipt.

The level of incompetence I witnessed since then is beyond belief and it was therefore not a surprise when yesterday I received a letter from Barclays confirming the opening of my account and welcoming me as a new ISA customer!

After a lengthy conversation with Joanne Benson from customer relations earlier today (and lengthy but useless apologies) I was told that since the account is now open it can take up to a few weeks to close it down. I am now using my 14 days right to cancellation by sending another recorded letter to Barclays requesting the immediate closure of my account (in fact I just sent two letters today (1 recorded+ 1 special delivery) in case whoever gets the first one cannot read or write).

Meanwhile I cannot open another ISA with another bank until Barclays sorts this out. I lost one months interest on £3600 already, due to Barclays delays, I will probably lose another months interest until someone at Barclays shuts my account down, it costed me £10 to put a stop on the cheque I gave when I originally applied for the ISA and another £15 in postage fees to try to sort this thing out.

I sincerely started having doubts about the legality of Barclays actions. Besides their incompetence they put people in a position where they cannot take advantage of offers from other financial institutions. It's fine to advertise a product that is competitive but when you cannot deliver that product properly and within reasonable time limits this means that you have diverted customers from other banks on very shaky grounds.

Any advice or comments welcome!

JYP

lomond125

I have had problems with this bank in the past its impossible to cantact the branch you always end up at a call centre and the service is dismal the best thing is not to deal with them .
As your situation has left you out of pocket ask to be reimbursed for your loss with an additional amount for your time and if they dont make an offer file a small claims suit ,I think it cost £35 to be added to the claim you can do this on line.
What have you got to loose?