'Accused of fraud by the Halifax…' blog discussion 22 May 2008 at 12:43PM in Martin's blogs & appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the news 21 replies 4.4K views

Former_MSE_Lawrence

This is the discussion to link on the back of Martin's 'Accused of fraud by the Halifax…' blog. Please read the blog first, as this discussion follows it.

Read Martin's 'Accused of fraud by the Halifax…' Blog.

Click reply to discuss below.

Markyt

This is what you get when banks treat call centres as entry level positions, assuming they even run them in house at all.

It isn't that long ago that you called your bank, and it was bank employee you spoke to who knew the rules and how things worked. Now, outsourcing and cost cutting means you get through to people with no industry experience, no knowledge of the parent companys procedures, and a desire to get through their day as easily as possible. Mistakes happen, but if a fraud team can make mistakes as easily as this you have to wonder what else is being mismanaged.

icefall

That is unbelieveable stuff.

If the person can google something like that and then give details of MSE forum purely based on the company being mentioned in a discussion, what must he be telling everyone else, on other matters and other calls when googling??

Proper thorough training is needed and quick for that person, because investigating fraud should a lot more indepth than that as a matter of course I would have thought.

Well I would have thought before hearing this tale :eek:

Petmidget

I would like to bet i know who the company was as they stung me also and had a fight wiht my bank to get money back, they have also been widely discussed on the forums.

I wont say their name in case i am wrong but a dutch based printing company who do "free" business cards with a nice little scam attached.

peter999

Love it.
Google takes over in solving crime.

Replace the Police by Google.

peter999

Badger_Lady

I'm amazed they were allowed access to Google! :eek: No-one in our contact centre is :rolleyes:.

lectricderic

It isn't just the Halifax, or just the banks - it is now endemic within the country as a whole and in all industries..
If you flood with "cheap labour" you will pay for it in the long run. There used to be a saying, which was;" When you pays peanuts you gets monkeys!" Seems like some have just forgotten that one.....
Lectricderic

pickle

I totally agree lectricderic. What can you say these days to such a story? It is now at the point that I would fall over with shock if a customer actually got accurate and expedient service. The only point I would disagree about is that it doesn't seem to matter how much you pay someone you still get monkeys! A certain airport fiasco springs to mind.

muddyfox470

It just shows the sort of monkeys that are employed. It gives people like me great hopes [for the job market]

Even the apology letter seems like it was written by an infinite amount of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters, but they gave up waiting...

when an On-Line search has been performed a link to your company has merely appeared in the search resulted.

PS. I am amazed that the Halifax didn't comment the advisor in question is being disciplined and given the relevant (re)training, which they should be imo.

Blacksheep1979

It's also the muppet that is/was Halifax's customer that contacted this site/Martin and started shooting off his mouth without doing any research himself that is largely to blame. Obviously both sides aren't going to tell it 100% as it is but it probably went down along the lines of

Irate customer: "What the F**K is this charge on my account I've been scammed and know my rights and demand compensation"

Indian Call centre muppet: "Good evening sir can I have your first borns shoe size"

Irate Customer: "I don't remember that but I have my account details and want the compensation paid in there straight away"

ICCM: "I'm sorry sir can I put you on hold whilst I transfer you to a totally unrelated department"

15 mins later

ICCM2:"Good evening sir can I take the engine size of your car?"

IC: "I want my compensation for being frauded (sic) and demand more compensation as my dinner has now gone cold"

ICCM2: " I am understanding this sir, let me transfer you to the correct department"

ICCM3:"Good evening sir, can you tell me which of your legs is the longest?"

IC:"The one I'm about to shove up your !!!!! - where's my compensation and what's this company xxxx all about?"

ICCM3:"One moment sir I will try get some details about this company..... Oh they seem to be mentioned on MoneySavingExpert.com"

IC:"Well what about my compensation?"

ICCM3:"You'd best speak to MSE.com - they have loads of people on there demanding compensation for things like burnt toast etc"

IC:"Hello - MSE? Yes I demand compensation, apparently you're behind some scam...."

or something like that - doubt that Halifax went out and said that MSE was involved in fraud but they probably didn't make it clear to and irate customer who was looking for someone to blame (and quite possibly compensation )

Mips

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

It's also the muppet that is/was Halifax's customer that contacted this site/Martin and started shooting off his mouth without doing any research himself that is largely to blame. Obviously both sides aren't going to tell it 100% as it is but it probably went down along the lines of

Irate customer: "What the F**K is this charge on my account I've been scammed and know my rights and demand compensation"

Indian Call centre muppet: "Good evening sir can I have your first borns shoe size"

Irate Customer: "I don't remember that but I have my account details and want the compensation paid in there straight away"

ICCM: "I'm sorry sir can I put you on hold whilst I transfer you to a totally unrelated department"

15 mins later

ICCM2:"Good evening sir can I take the engine size of your car?"

IC: "I want my compensation for being frauded (sic) and demand more compensation as my dinner has now gone cold"

ICCM2: " I am understanding this sir, let me transfer you to the correct department"

ICCM3:"Good evening sir, can you tell me which of your legs is the longest?"

IC:"The one I'm about to shove up your !!!!! - where's my compensation and what's this company xxxx all about?"

ICCM3:"One moment sir I will try get some details about this company..... Oh they seem to be mentioned on MoneySavingExpert.com"

IC:"Well what about my compensation?"

ICCM3:"You'd best speak to MSE.com - they have loads of people on there demanding compensation for things like burnt toast etc"

IC:"Hello - MSE? Yes I demand compensation, apparently you're behind some scam...."

or something like that - doubt that Halifax went out and said that MSE was involved in fraud but they probably didn't make it clear to and irate customer who was looking for someone to blame (and quite possibly compensation )

:rotfl:


Brilliant... I wonder if HSBC and Halifax use the same agency to answer calls...

... because I have conversations like that often!