Lies, Damned Lies from Halifax

lulabell · 4 January 2005 at 5:22PM

Please can someone advise me on what to do next?
I have just spent the entire morning trying to sort out Halifax's !!!!!!_up!

On Saturday I realised my and my husband's bank card had expired on 12/04 but we hadn't received a replacement. I tried unsuccessfully to get in contact with them on the phone, but after continually being put on hold for about 40 minutes for the sake of my phone bill I had to admit defeat.

Seeds of doubt were beginning to grow in my mind, -what if the cards had been intercepted in the post and were now my bank account was in the hands of someone else? I spent a very worried night thinking the worst and so first thing Sunday morning I phoned them again, after 10 minutes on hold I finally spoke to someone only to be told "There's been a problem with the cards that were due to go out and they had to be reproduced. You should have your card within 7 days. Goodbye" No apology or proper explanation or any advice. Nothing. This meant we were without ANY money at all.

Needless to say I was not happy with the way this had been dealt with so my next step was to complain to customer services (by phone) only to find out that they are only open Monday to Friday.
Yesterday I'm on the phone again but guess what? They're not open. I finally manage to speak to someone at customer relations this morning who puts me on hold again for about 10 minutes just to tell that because my old card was a chip and signature? card and my new card will be a chip and pin, apparantly the system doesn't issue them out until the next working day AFTER they expire!

Isn't that the biggest load of !!!!!! you've heard? He then told me that a new one had indeed been sent out to me today. I told him that simply wasn't good enough why should I go without the use of my card because of a fault by Halifax? When I asked to speak to somebody senior he put me on hold (again!) and I was transferred back to the bank account department I had spoken to on Sunday morning.

So I had to explain again the situation I was in and the chap I spoke to told me that the previous bloke was lying because a new card HADN'T yet been issued and so he would do it for me now!! He then had the audacity to suggest that maybe the reason I hadn't received a new card was because maybe I had an unauthorised overdraft and new cards wouldn't be issued until they were cleared up! I explained that I hadn't, yet still had to be put on hold while he checked this out, he came to the same conclusion as the other op. that the new cards weren't issued out until the old ones had expired, and had no choice but to wait up to 7 days for a new one.
I knew he too was speaking the language of !!!!!! and
by this time I was extremely !!!!!! off in talking to all of these people so he gave me the address for head office complaints.

I've since had to hike into the town with the kids to get some cash out from my local branch. When I explained my situation to the cashier she couldn't apolgise enough and told me that bank cards are issued before the new ones have expired and after she checked on the system that a card hadn't yet been issued to me!!

So both the call centre ops were lying and clueless!!

Has anyone any advice or comments on what I should do next?
I'm usually quite laidback but I can't let them get away with this shoddy behaviour.
Thanks for reading and hope you can help.

A very fed up
Lulabell >:(

Debt_Free_Chick · 4 January 2005 at 5:58PM

You should write and complain - firmly, but politely. I would suggest you do not use the B word and refrain from suggesting that Customer Services were "lying". They may have misunderstood or only have been in possession of some of the facts. It could simply be a misunderstanding.

Be clear about what you want from them. Don't mention "compensation" as it seems you have not lost out financially. Don't mention that you have been without cash as you had the option to go to a Branch for cash.

So .. ask yourself .... "what do I want?". And then be reasonable.

It seems you were inconvenienced and, yes, it would have been better if they had forewarned you. Are you sure that they did not include something on a statement or enclose something that suggested that the cards would not be posted until after expiry of the old one? Are you sure? You need to check this as, if you accuse them of not informing you, you could be embarrassed if it turns out that they added something to your November statement.

Mistakes happen - I'm sure you've made some ;)

By all means complain, but be realistic and reasonable about the redress you expect.

HTH

Walletwatch · 4 January 2005 at 6:20PM

You should write and complain - firmly, but politely. I would suggest you do not use the B word and refrain from suggesting that Customer Services were "lying". They may have misunderstood or only have been in possession of some of the facts. It could simply be a misunderstanding.

Be clear about what you want from them. Don't mention "compensation" as it seems you have not lost out financially. Don't mention that you have been without cash as you had the option to go to a Branch for cash.

So .. ask yourself .... "what do I want?". And then be reasonable.

It seems you were inconvenienced and, yes, it would have been better if they had forewarned you. Are you sure that they did not include something on a statement or enclose something that suggested that the cards would not be posted until after expiry of the old one? Are you sure? You need to check this as, if you accuse them of not informing you, you could be embarrassed if it turns out that they added something to your November statement.

Mistakes happen - I'm sure you've made some ;)

By all means complain, but be realistic and reasonable about the redress you expect.

HTH

I agree with everything that has been said above, except for the 'not asking to be compensated' part.

The story of the OP evidences a great deal of inconvenience she had to go through, not to mention the time and effort wasted in having to go to a branch for services that should have been made available by issuing the card well on time.

Every bank account I have had has issued a card well in advance of the expiry (so much so that if the old card was valid 02/03 to 02/04, the new one would be valid 01/04 to 01/05, as it would reach one month prior to expiry) The OP must check the T&C, which I am sure will mention the fact that on expiry, a replacement card will be issued well in advance of the expiry date of the previous card. If there is such a stipulation, one shouldn't flinch in demanding compensation IMO.

dunstonh · 4 January 2005 at 6:54PM

It is possible that the cards was issued around the usual time but were not received.

My experience with the call centre staff is that they are not usually aware things in depth, like when the cards are printed and posted. It would be daft to assume that the card is dated one day after expiry but that does sound like the sort of response you would get from some of these telephone clerks.

You can't complain about not being able to get hold of the bank on a bank holiday. Sort of defeats the purpose of a bank holiday if the banks are open.

Complain yes, but make sure you complain about the right things and in the manner already suggested. The main things seem to be no card received and misinformation from the call centre.

sunflower_2 · 4 January 2005 at 7:46PM

the same happened with my new halifax card - except i wasnt even offered an explanation.

of all the years i have held accounts with halifax (including mortgages, credit card, loans and bank accs) i have found the customer service just awful unless they are selling you something

as soon as i got into a bit of financial difficulty they completely turned their backs on me

if i were you i would open an account elsewhere - i know i would given half the chance :-[

Debt_Free_Chick · 4 January 2005 at 8:11PM

I agree with everything that has been said above, except for the 'not asking to be compensated' part.

Hello Walletwatch

Generally, compensation is the term used to address "financial loss" or admittance of some liability so using this term might not get a sympathetic response.

I don't disagree that there was inconvenience, but for a trip to the local branch "compensation" should reflect the cost of doing that.

On the other hand, an "ex-gratia" payment in recognition of the distress & inconvenience might elicit a better response, although I would suggest it would be in the range of £25-£50 or might be a bunch of flowers!

It's all semantics, but seems to be the way of the corporate world these days!

Regards

Nick99 · 4 January 2005 at 8:48PM

My inclination would be to go for compensation; after all, if you ever make a mistake on your account with them it always costs you money so why shouldnt the reverse hold too?

You may well take the view that corporate arrogance like this should be punished. Organisations that take our money should, in my humble judgement at least, stop acting as though they are doing us a favour.

Of course, if you are really feeling feisty, you could try issuing a County Court Summons against them for some set sum as compensation.

You can do it on line https://www.courtservice.gov (I think), paying the Court Fees with your Halifax card, which slightly sweetens the situation.

I would demand some upper range but not cheap amount - in effect charging your time for correcting their negligence. Maybe about 4 hours total time (or maybe more depending on how long you actually spent hanging on the phone at, say £20 per hour.

You will of course have to pay the County Court fees to start the action going, but the Halifax will have to pay those back to settle your claim.

The downside is that you are unlikely to be on their favourite customer list, but the way they are treating you already it doesnt sound as though you are there now.

At the very least, you will have the comfort of knowing that your activities will cost them far more in management time and effort than they have cost you in screwing you around.

Probably more effort than its worth, but remember: "Don't get mad, get even!"

1jim · 4 January 2005 at 11:54PM

I would write to the chief exec of halifax, I would also ask for compensation, its usually cheaper to pay you then for you to complain to the financial services ombudsman (i heard that it costs them about £200 just to have a complaint delt with this way) so i would say that unless you are satisfied with their responce this is the action you will take
hope this helps

1jim

deemy2004 · 5 January 2005 at 1:58AM

My card expires at the end of this month also, hmmm, me thinks a chance is brewing for a quick £50

MarkyMarkD · 5 January 2005 at 3:14AM

You can't complain about not being able to get hold of the bank on a bank holiday. Sort of defeats the purpose of a bank holiday if the banks are open.

Of course you can!

If your telephone banking call centre is supposed to be open 24/7/365, then you are entitled to expect to be answered, not left on hold for 40 minutes.

Incidentally, the other day I called Nationwide's general inquiries number out of hours. For some reason the IVR choices didn't include "speak to an operator". (Actually because they were closed but were scared to admit it).

When I rang the "lost and stolen" number (as there was no other option available to me), the member of staff there sorted me out very nicely indeed.

lulabell · 5 January 2005 at 5:21PM

Thanks for all your replies everyone.
I've written a letter of complaint to head office simply stating the inconvenience I've been through in trying to chase up my missing card, and the appalling standard of their customer services.
I'n not after "compensation", just a decent apology and explanation would be nice.
Although if they were to throw any money my way then I would donate it to the Tsunami appeal, as there are far more people worse off than me.
Louise

Lies, Damned Lies from Halifax

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