Recommended Alliance & Leicester Bank Account - Warning

Ch4rlieB

Don't listen to the horror stories. I succesfully moved to A&L from HSBC. Simple signed up online, got details through post. They moved all direct debits. Only one problem with HSBC loan DD caused by HSBC... and they wonder why I left!!

A&L are about 200 times better than both HSBC and natwest. Every bank has off days. I would suggest not them not matching your overdraft is for a reason. I was given plenty of time to change my mind. I didnt start the move process until I knew what overdraft I was getting.

I'd think that was common sense.

beatsys

Ditto Ch4rlieB. I recently swapped from Smile to A&L and didn't have any probs, all went through smoothly and the account is running nicely, DD's etc transferred across ok.

The user interface for the online banking is somewhat basic and a bit clunky (even more so than Smile's) but otherwise its ok. The only thing that's cheeses me off is the ridiculously small security timeout (5 mins), which I have pleaded with them to raise, as yet to no avail.

cpitman

Just a quick update. I must emphasise that I was not complaining about the security measures just the incompetence and lack of interest of the customer service. Since writing the original thread I have been to my local branch of A & L to unlock my account. This was Friday. The manager stated that she had a lot of complaints lately and when she tried to use the customer service had the same problems as me. Anyway she finally (after 40 mins on the phone) got them to unlock it and they said they had to send me a new pin. Fine. It is now Weds and I have not received it. I still cannot get into the account. I also have had no reply to my complaint letter and my request to close the account and they are still trying to collect the direct debits despite my doing what the nice person told me to do in answer to my first post.

Three_Dancing_Dragons

I've cancelled my transfer to A&L for exactly the same reasons as HaushinkaGreenDay's partner. Having applied online for the overdraft matching Alliance then seemed to add extra terms and conditions - not only do you have to deposit £500 a month they then demanded three deposits each month, a letter from my previous bank to confirm I'd not exceeded my limit and that the account should have been in credit for at least three days of the month immediately preceding your application. I was able to prove all this and hand delivered the letter and documents to my local branch so they could fax it through to the Switching department and send the hard copies in the internal post. They managed to lose everything, which requires a level of incompetence above and beyond mere inefficiency. I'm going back to Natwest where the service is good, call centres are well staffed and I can rely on them to honour their promises.

Renton_2

Speaking of A&L customer service - When I called them regarding my problem with them closing my account (see, 'Help, A&L have closed my a/c without notice' thread) I asked the lady I spoke to how she'd feel if she were in my shoes, having the account closed with no notice, etc. She replied, 'well, I'm not in your shoes am I' !!

WTFUK

A&L customer service are worse than pigs! I'm going to be closing my account with them very soon...

exel1966

All customers will have problems with their bank at some stage as errors are inevitable when dealing with tens of thousands of people, however there are two high street banks who have vastly more than their fair share of complaints directed at them.

Abbey and A&L are both well known and have been for a number of years for their shocking customer service. Since the tie-up with Santander they are in effect the same organisation and things will only get worse for A&L customers. Be warned !

Grade_A_Reject

I'm in the process of switching from A&L to First Direct, the difference in customer service is startling.

A&L's online banking is poor by today's standards, the running balance shown on my current account seldom reconciles to the account balance with no hint as to what constitutes the difference and I can't reconcile the available balance to either of the above figures. Their systems are painfully slow at moving funds around. A "quick" payment sent from my wife's A&L current account to mine wasn't available as cleared funds until after 48 hours. In contrast a transfer sent from my First Direct account to a Lloyds TSB savings account was showing as cleared in under 20 minutes.

I originally switched to A&L for the 12 month fee free overdraft and decent rates on credit balances but their poor systems frankly don't make up for the credit interest they pay.

A&L was good for me while it lasted but I'll be glad to see the back of them.

Moleyfish

:mad: I swapped my work account (I'm self-employed) over to A&L. I'm just doing my accouts for 2007/2008 and logged in to access my online statements for the period. I can only access back to Dec 2007 which is a bit rubbish but need the statements so looked up the 'copy statements' option. Before I knew it I had been charged £5 for a copy of my latest statement (it does say that but I thought there would be more options/confirmation before the charge was applied). I emailed their cust service to ask that the charge and statement be stopped to be told that it was not possible as the process is automated (the email was quite rude). I asked them to justify the £5 charge for 1 piece of A4 paper and a 2nd class stamp (given that I need April 07 to Nov 07) and was told that they don't have to justify the charges; they only have to make them clear to the customer who can either accept them or not take the action. Putting aside the £5 I have already incurred in error, I am now facing £40 in charges for maybe 10 pieces of A4, sent 2nd class and produced automatically. Outrageous. I will be closing my 3 A&L accounts but will simply have to stomach the charge for the copies or I will never get them.

mapleblack

I think it's worth mentioning that most of these banks have their faults (some pretty serious when it comes to customer service) but they are nearly all unhelpful when the customer is of little value to them, hence the wide range of good and bad comments about A&L.

I've been with A&L for 2 years and the service has been fine, the only thing that makes me want to leave is the fact that it takes so long for the account to be updated with debits. You can go a whole month without knowing what your actual balance is and what is causing the difference between available and running balance. In branch they know less than you do and on the phone they are no help either. Bit worrying if you have no idea why there is a £200 difference, you just have to wait and see what it is (normally about a week).

I'm sure some of the bigger banks are a lot quicker at this.


Also agree about the card activation/sales pitch for fraud protection. I always interrupt and say "If you're going to try and sell me something, do you mind calling me as I'm paying for this call!" They're not quite so keen then.