Counter staff in banks are now salesmen???

RoseG

Hi there, just a mini rant

I went into my bank on Saturday morning (Halifax) to pay the measly sum of £6 cash in to cover a dd on Monday. Massive queues as you'd expect. Went to the counter where they'd put the obligatory miserable member of staff, said hi and got no reply whatsoever - tried again (loud enough for her colleagues to look over) and finally got a reply. Paid my money in (to my Cardcash account) and was about to leave when Miss Misery decided to quiz me on whether I had a mortgage. Since she'd been an ignorant little cow so far, I curtly told her that I'd only come in to pay into my account and I carried on my way - god knows why she thought I'd help her out with her monthly quota of hard selling when she was so unfriendly....plus not the best time to do so, with people waiting in a long queue. Maybe it;s just me, but I hate it when they are so pushy and all you want to do is a simple transaction. Wish I'd had the nerve to just say "None of your business" but I never think of a smart reply at the time!

IvanOpinion

Nothing new there ... I must look very affluent because they always seem to tbe trying to sell me mortgages, insurance etc. The one time I did take them up was on the Abbey Nationals 'we will beat your current mortgage or pay you £50' deal - despite filling in the form 3 times, knowing they could not even come close to the deal I was on, they refused to acknowledge receipt of my form (guess that is how they get out of paying £50) :rotfl:

Ivan

Mark7799

Counter staff in banks and building societies have been salesmen and women for about the last 15 years - nothing new here at all. So glad I got the chance to get out

trisontana

Mark7799 wrote:

Counter staff in banks and building societies have been salesmen and women for about the last 15 years - nothing new here at all. So glad I got the chance to get out

Do they get commission on these sales , or do they have to meet "targets" which could determine the level of their pay and bonuses ?

Pennywise

I agree - the Halifax counter staff are really terrible. Every single time I've gone in, they've tried to flog something. At first I refused politely, but now I can't be bothered anymore. It wouldn't be so bad if they were friendly and polite throughout the transaction, but all you get is the grunts until their sales pitch starts when they start smiling and pretending to be pleasant.

Bossyboots

Its not just Halifax. We bank with TSB at work and I have complained more than once about having to wait while they try to coerce someone into a mortgage, credit card whatever that weeks product is.

Same with abbey. I had a rant in there a few weeks ago for exactly the same reason and other people actually responded with nods of agreement that time. I doubt it will make any difference though. Abbey don't want you to use their counters anyway so this will just have proved to them that this is a good way of driving their customers to the ATM. Unfortunately I couldn't use it that day as I was paying cash into my MIL's account.

Stonk

Avoid this by dressing like you've just woken up in the gutter when visiting your bank.

Ironically, the day I did wake up in the gutter I was in the market to switch my mortgage, and they didn't ask.

Maisie

trisontana wrote:

Do they get commission on these sales , or do they have to meet "targets" which could determine the level of their pay and bonuses ?

I worked in a bank until recently and had to 'push' pension sales, mortgages, credit cards etc etc.

We did not get commission or bonuses.
It was to boost the manager's sales for the month so that he could meet his targets.
If we did not push the counter sales we were in trouble and charts were kept to see how many sales and appointments we got.

Come appraisal time impossibly high sales targets had to be met and any annual pay awards were based on that. Often no one got a pay rise due to
targets not being reached.

Sometimes you couldn't do right. If you were heard or seen not pushing pensions etc you were in trouble and if you did and spent time talking to a customer and the queue built up you were in more trouble.

The bank where I worked cut down the number of counter staff in the hope that customers would use the ATM's as much as possible.

It's not an easy life in banks and please don't blame the cashiers they are only doing their job. Any complaints about sales pressure and long queues should go to the manager. He makes the rules.

HugoRune_2

I set up my internet access for the bank as I was sick to the back teeth of them trying to sell me every single time I went in, this was natwest by the way, I'm sure they are all the same

jonesMUFCforever

Agree with all posters on all sides of the divide (sigh;only mamimum of 15 years to go until I can retire!)

dastephens

I have had the same problem with my local Lloydstsb Bank over the years, but to be fair they know me so well now they know not to ask as my reply is 'I will ask you if I want details on any insurance/mortgage etc'.

I do have a friend who is currently off sick mainly due to the stress her job has caused her at her Bank she has worked at for the last 30 years. Over the last couple of years she has been expected to reach targets by selling Insurance and credit cards etc. She has been in touch with her Union (as have other staff members) to state to them when she was employed to do the job they were not expected to be Sales persons only cashiers and that effectively the Job has changed - It is something that is causing stress to a lot of her collegues at her branch and with it has seen an increase in sickness.

and I always thought Bank work looked so easy!!!!