Those people that still do banking over the phone.

willhub

You check your balances over the phone, speaking to an adviser at a bank, or you have bank problems and you call customer service.

For you to be happy with the service you've received and be happy with the adviser, what do you expect from telephone banking? or how do you find them with your particular bank, I'm with NatWest.

I myself don't do it, I use mobile banking and online banking, and only ring when I change my address, they always get it done quickly and are usually sound, that's enough for me to be happy with them.

team47b

Congrats on new job, mate

markhewitt1978

I'd expect them not to have to make a massive fuss about security questions. Such as the theoretical address of the branch where my account was opened - the branch doesn't even exist any more. Or you made a purchase 6 months ago how much was it?

I also don't want them to try to sell me extra products if all I'm doing is ordering a new card for example.

rick_chasey

One thing I've noticed is as you climb the ladder of current account status (going to a more 'up market' account, based on your incomings & outgoings etc) is you get different service.

I used to get call centres in India. I now get a well spoken English woman who is extremely helpful, and the queues are half as long.

Bit of a shame really. I needed better service when I didn't have much money. Now I do, it's less imperative.

willhub

Rick Chasey wrote:

One thing I've noticed is as you climb the ladder of current account status (going to a more 'up market' account, based on your incomings & outgoings etc) is you get different service.

I used to get call centres in India. I now get a well spoken English woman who is extremely helpful, and the queues are half as long.

Bit of a shame really. I needed better service when I didn't have much money. Now I do, it's less imperative.

Sounds like you're with some sort of "Private Banking" now?

rick_chasey

No no. Not that minted.

ben@31

willhub wrote:

Sounds like you're with some sort of "Private Banking" now?

No no. Not that minted.

Do you now have a deposit box thats located inside some bank vault in Switzerland, that holds a few watches... passports... etc

pinno

Rick Chasey wrote:

One thing I've noticed is as you climb the ladder of current account status (going to a more 'up market' account, based on your incomings & outgoings etc) is you get different service.

I used to get call centres in India. I now get a well spoken English woman who is extremely helpful, and the queues are half as long.

Bit of a shame really. I needed better service when I didn't have much money. Now I do, it's less imperative.

They say that if you owe the bank £100, they have you by the short and curlies but of you owe them £1m, they treat you very well.
I have only known pain in the lower regions.

ben@31

What fcusk me off with HSBC is when I have a problem...

Am I a HSBC customer.... tick
Have I walked into a HSBC branch.... tick
Am I face to face with a HSBC employee.... tick
Do I have my HSBC debt card and maybe some proof of ID with me.... tick
Do they help me.... X. They say you need to phone some call centre located in some remote wild part of India.

Its quite bizarre phoning a call centre thats 1000's of miles away from inside an actual branch. Haven't quite worked out what the branch employees actually do?

ben@31

pinarello001 wrote:

They say that if you owe the bank £100, they have you by the short and curlies but of you owe them £1m, they treat you very well.
I have only known pain in the lower regions.

With certain banks, if you owe them £0. They close your business account without explanation.

pinno

ben@31 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

They say that if you owe the bank £100, they have you by the short and curlies but of you owe them £1m, they treat you very well.
I have only known pain in the lower regions.

With certain banks, if you owe them £0. They close your business account without explanation.

Nat West did that to me after I paid off an overdraft that they turned into a loan. I still had £12 in the account and was told 'I wasn't managing my account properly' ?! Took 4 weeks to get my £12 back.
Once upon a time, Lloyds bank refused an increase to an over draft facility from £250 to £500 knowing I had future outgoings that had to be paid and the upshot was I got hit for stupid bank charges. Now I am getting a PPI refund and better still I was going in and out of hospital at the time with only sporadic Agency work between visits so they would never have paid out on it anyway !
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.....they're fooked now. Banks 2 (OG), Me 1.
Now with Bank of Scotland and very happy.

stoveman

ben@31 wrote:

What fcusk me off with HSBC is when I have a problem...

Am I a HSBC customer.... tick
Have I walked into a HSBC branch.... tick
Am I face to face with a HSBC employee.... tick
Do I have my HSBC debt card and maybe some proof of ID with me.... tick
Do they help me.... X. They say you need to phone some call centre located in some remote wild part of India.

Its quite bizarre phoning a call centre thats 1000's of miles away from inside an actual branch. Haven't quite worked out what the branch employees actually do?

Banked with First Direct for many years over the phone and everything is great, couldn't be better really.
However pay cash into my account via HSBC and lately they seem to have had major staff changes with all but one person still there and sh*t are they miserable
Always speak to call centre in Scotland and always helpful.

meanredspider

Lloyds have fvcked up everything in the last year - I've lost count of the amount of compensation we've had. But, on the phone, the bit that drives me mad is that they suggest "popping into a branch" - Lloyds closed ALL the branches in Scotland a year or so ago (selling them off as TSB) - so, the nearest branch as far as I can find out is Carlisle - about a 450-mile round trip. BoS, part of the same group, can do some of the services but far from all of them - and you get charged more as a Lloyds customer. I will be moving bank as soon as the chaos is sorted out.

bompington

I have done ALL my banking online for years - the only time I ever go into a branch (thankfully not quite so difficult as MRS, we're with RBS who still have a few local branches although we're on our third as the previous two have shut down) is to pay in a cheque (got a nice one from HMRC last week!), and hopefully it won't be too long before everyone catches up with the news that cheques are about as relevant as payment in furs and strings of beads these days.

meanredspider

Yes, Bompington, I'm planning to go to First Direct. I do nearly everything on line and, on the few times I do speak to people at Lloyds, they fvck it up in spectacular style.

napoleond

I've been with first direct for about 16 years. They've always been brill!

slowmart

Interesting to see how the bricks and mortar banks are trying to cut costs at the customer facing point. In fairness to the banks they are facing enormous pressure to cut costs, hold more cash, increased competition from new entrants plus governance and compliance , income growth and rebuilding their reputation. Just look at the share prices of UK banks to see how much bad news is sill priced in.

The world is changing, footfall into branches has dropped off a cliff, as has website visits while mobile transactions has gone through the roof. Barclays Pingit is one platform. Most 18-30 year olds see banking as simply transactional and they would move their banking to a brand which offers these platforms.

The new entrants don't have the bricks and mortar costs, employee, infrastructure and legacy pension costs so expect some radical shakeups in the market which means higher interest payments on your cash and a more flexible range of financial products. Add the 7 day switcher process to change banks should start getting traction with the old demographic of people more likely to get divorced rather than change account should be exactly that.



I can't remember when I actually went into or phoned a bank but then I outsource all that to my wife

Ben6899

I need to pop into my local branch later today, to change my registered address. I have a feeling it will be like pulling teeth. I refuse to use one of those daft phones.

meanredspider

Slowmart wrote:

Most banks see banking as simply transactional

FTFY

I've been with Lloyds since I was around 17 (30+ years at least) (my dad was a Lloyds bank employee his entire working life). But do Lloyds care about this? Not a jot. In fact I can no longer find anybody willing to treat me as one customer but just a series of transactions. As I said above, Lloyds have fvcked up royally at every opportunity in the last year (many of the issues are problems compounded over and over again by incompetence) but no-one wants to look at them all together but each one as an isolated incident. My dad predicted that banks would just become "money shops" and, apart from missing the on-line element, he was right.

pinno

Oh and did I tell you?... I sent a cheque which was from Kenya to Lloyds International clearing house by recorded delivery. It got lost. It was to be deposited into a joint bank account. Every time I ring, I have to repeat the whole story and provide the Recorded delivery number despite telling them that every time I ring I have to repeat the whole story and provide the Recorded delivery number... Even though I demanded a reference to the call/case, they still take me through the whole security bollox and I still have to tell them and repeat the whole story and provide the Recorded delivery number...
The long and short of it is that I was told to get a replacement - what, from a Kenyan company? I told them that the process is so bureaucratic in Kenya and riddled with problems that it is almost as bad as dealing with Lloyds.
£264 (or 42,000 Kenyan Shillings) gone, probably forever,

rick_chasey

ben@31 wrote:

What fcusk me off with HSBC is when I have a problem...

Am I a HSBC customer.... tick
Have I walked into a HSBC branch.... tick
Am I face to face with a HSBC employee.... tick
Do I have my HSBC debt card and maybe some proof of ID with me.... tick
Do they help me.... X. They say you need to phone some call centre located in some remote wild part of India.

Its quite bizarre phoning a call centre thats 1000's of miles away from inside an actual branch. Haven't quite worked out what the branch employees actually do?

Like I said, they reserve the UK staff for 'advance' and 'premier' accounts. Better interest rate too.

tyred&weary

Complain, do it online with all the facts, keeping each issue separated, and retain a local copy of what you said; they will set a deadline for a response to each complaint. If they miss their response time there is usually a compensatory payment, if you are not satisfied with any response you get then there is always the ombudsman.