another totally off topic post

I have Lasting Power of Attorney for my dad. The building society (bank,
really) did that trick where the interest on his ISA dropped to
0.00000000000001%, so I went in to transfer the money to another
account. No problem said the girl. The deed was done. A week later
father got a letter. The account can't be changed because it's a
passbook account. Just call in to the local branch and we'll fix it. I
went to town specially today (for the second time). 'Oh no, we can't do
it. You have to speak to an adviser.'
'I don't need advice.'
'Sorry, but we can't do it. You should have made an appointment.
I tapped my finger on the letter. "Just call in..."
They said the next possible appointment with an adviser was at the
Hillborough branch in late September. That's 25 hard miles away. I said
that was no good. They said, 'Look, you can do it by telephone banking.
Here, use our phone!' (grand gesture)
The person on the phone had a strong Northern Irish accent (if it had
been Pakistani I would have rung off immediately as I won't under any
circumstances talk to Asian call centres and if everyone else did the
same the problem would be solved) and I couldn't properly understand
what he said, but he was a nice lad and we persevered. After some
difficulty it emerged that I couldn't do it over the phone because the
LPA wasn't set up for telephone banking.
I went back to the 'Customer Manager.' 'What do I do now?'
'The only way is to book an appointment. If you don't want to travel to
Hillsborough we can give you an appointment her in early October.'
'Did you ever watch 'Groundhog Day'?'
'What?'
'Oh, never mind. Write me a cheque.'
'What?'
'Write me a cheque for the full amount.'
'Oh you can't close the account Mr Wright. You'll lose all the interest.'
'You mean the 35p?'
In the end they agreed to transfer the money to a 1.25% account instead
of the 2.05% one I'd originally selected. Fair enough. I have four of my
own accounts there, and father has three. I'll gradually take the
money away from that outfit and put it elsewhere, over the next year or so.

Bill

On 24/08/2013 04:13, Bill Wright wrote:
I have Lasting Power of Attorney for my dad. The building society (bank,
really) did that trick where the interest on his ISA dropped to
0.00000000000001%, so I went in to transfer the money to another
account. No problem said the girl. The deed was done. A week later
father got a letter. The account can't be changed because it's a
passbook account. Just call in to the local branch and we'll fix it. I
went to town specially today (for the second time). 'Oh no, we can't do
it. You have to speak to an adviser.'
'I don't need advice.'
'Sorry, but we can't do it. You should have made an appointment.
I tapped my finger on the letter. "Just call in..."
They said the next possible appointment with an adviser was at the
Hillborough branch in late September. That's 25 hard miles away. I said
that was no good. They said, 'Look, you can do it by telephone banking.
Here, use our phone!' (grand gesture)
The person on the phone had a strong Northern Irish accent (if it had
been Pakistani I would have rung off immediately as I won't under any
circumstances talk to Asian call centres and if everyone else did the
same the problem would be solved) and I couldn't properly understand
what he said, but he was a nice lad and we persevered. After some
difficulty it emerged that I couldn't do it over the phone because the
LPA wasn't set up for telephone banking.
I went back to the 'Customer Manager.' 'What do I do now?'
'The only way is to book an appointment. If you don't want to travel to
Hillsborough we can give you an appointment her in early October.'
'Did you ever watch 'Groundhog Day'?'
'What?'
'Oh, never mind. Write me a cheque.'
'What?'
'Write me a cheque for the full amount.'
'Oh you can't close the account Mr Wright. You'll lose all the interest.'
'You mean the 35p?'
In the end they agreed to transfer the money to a 1.25% account instead
of the 2.05% one I'd originally selected. Fair enough. I have four of my
own accounts there, and father has three. I'll gradually take the
money away from that outfit and put it elsewhere, over the next year or so.

Sounds like par for the course. Care to name the institution so we can
avoid it?

--
Peter Crosland

"Peter Crosland" wrote in message
o.uk...
On 24/08/2013 04:13, Bill Wright wrote:
I have Lasting Power of Attorney for my dad. The building
society (bank,
really) did that trick where the interest on his ISA dropped
to
0.00000000000001%, so I went in to transfer the money to
another
account. No problem said the girl. The deed was done. A week
later
father got a letter. The account can't be changed because it's
a
passbook account. Just call in to the local branch and we'll
fix it. I
went to town specially today (for the second time). 'Oh no, we
can't do
it. You have to speak to an adviser.'
'I don't need advice.'
'Sorry, but we can't do it. You should have made an
appointment.
I tapped my finger on the letter. "Just call in..."
They said the next possible appointment with an adviser was at
the
Hillborough branch in late September. That's 25 hard miles
away. I said
that was no good. They said, 'Look, you can do it by telephone
banking.
Here, use our phone!' (grand gesture)
The person on the phone had a strong Northern Irish accent (if
it had
been Pakistani I would have rung off immediately as I won't
under any
circumstances talk to Asian call centres and if everyone else
did the
same the problem would be solved) and I couldn't properly
understand
what he said, but he was a nice lad and we persevered. After
some
difficulty it emerged that I couldn't do it over the phone
because the
LPA wasn't set up for telephone banking.
I went back to the 'Customer Manager.' 'What do I do now?'
'The only way is to book an appointment. If you don't want to
travel to
Hillsborough we can give you an appointment her in early
October.'
'Did you ever watch 'Groundhog Day'?'
'What?'
'Oh, never mind. Write me a cheque.'
'What?'
'Write me a cheque for the full amount.'
'Oh you can't close the account Mr Wright. You'll lose all the
interest.'
'You mean the 35p?'
In the end they agreed to transfer the money to a 1.25%
account instead
of the 2.05% one I'd originally selected. Fair enough. I have
four of my
own accounts there, and father has three. I'll gradually
take the
money away from that outfit and put it elsewhere, over the
next year or so.

Sounds like par for the course. Care to name the institution so
we can avoid it?

--



My guess relates to a town in the western part of West Yorkshire
and north of the M62, in joint ownership with a Scottish
organisation?


--
Woody

harrogate three at ntlworld dot com

Old Abbey National by any Chance was it? They are well known for their no
can do approch to customers. Try getting audio statements out of them.

Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
I have Lasting Power of Attorney for my dad. The building society (bank,
really) did that trick where the interest on his ISA dropped to
0.00000000000001%, so I went in to transfer the money to another account.
No problem said the girl. The deed was done. A week later father got a
letter. The account can't be changed because it's a passbook account. Just
call in to the local branch and we'll fix it. I went to town specially
today (for the second time). 'Oh no, we can't do it. You have to speak to
an adviser.'
'I don't need advice.'
'Sorry, but we can't do it. You should have made an appointment.
I tapped my finger on the letter. "Just call in..."
They said the next possible appointment with an adviser was at the
Hillborough branch in late September. That's 25 hard miles away. I said
that was no good. They said, 'Look, you can do it by telephone banking.
Here, use our phone!' (grand gesture)
The person on the phone had a strong Northern Irish accent (if it had been
Pakistani I would have rung off immediately as I won't under any
circumstances talk to Asian call centres and if everyone else did the same
the problem would be solved) and I couldn't properly understand what he
said, but he was a nice lad and we persevered. After some difficulty it
emerged that I couldn't do it over the phone because the LPA wasn't set up
for telephone banking.
I went back to the 'Customer Manager.' 'What do I do now?'
'The only way is to book an appointment. If you don't want to travel to
Hillsborough we can give you an appointment her in early October.'
'Did you ever watch 'Groundhog Day'?'
'What?'
'Oh, never mind. Write me a cheque.'
'What?'
'Write me a cheque for the full amount.'
'Oh you can't close the account Mr Wright. You'll lose all the interest.'
'You mean the 35p?'
In the end they agreed to transfer the money to a 1.25% account instead of
the 2.05% one I'd originally selected. Fair enough. I have four of my own
accounts there, and father has three. I'll gradually take the money away
from that outfit and put it elsewhere, over the next year or so.

Bill

Peter Crosland wrote:
On 24/08/2013 04:13, Bill Wright wrote:
I have Lasting Power of Attorney for my dad. The building society
(bank, really) did that trick where the interest on his ISA dropped
to 0.00000000000001%, so I went in to transfer the money to another
account. No problem said the girl. The deed was done. A week later
father got a letter. The account can't be changed because it's a
passbook account. Just call in to the local branch and we'll fix it.
I went to town specially today (for the second time). 'Oh no, we
can't do it. You have to speak to an adviser.'
'I don't need advice.'
'Sorry, but we can't do it. You should have made an appointment.
I tapped my finger on the letter. "Just call in..."
They said the next possible appointment with an adviser was at the
Hillborough branch in late September. That's 25 hard miles away. I
said that was no good. They said, 'Look, you can do it by telephone
banking. Here, use our phone!' (grand gesture)
The person on the phone had a strong Northern Irish accent (if it had
been Pakistani I would have rung off immediately as I won't under any
circumstances talk to Asian call centres and if everyone else did the
same the problem would be solved) and I couldn't properly understand
what he said, but he was a nice lad and we persevered. After some
difficulty it emerged that I couldn't do it over the phone because
the LPA wasn't set up for telephone banking.
I went back to the 'Customer Manager.' 'What do I do now?'
'The only way is to book an appointment. If you don't want to travel
to Hillsborough we can give you an appointment her in early October.'
'Did you ever watch 'Groundhog Day'?'
'What?'
'Oh, never mind. Write me a cheque.'
'What?'
'Write me a cheque for the full amount.'
'Oh you can't close the account Mr Wright. You'll lose all the
interest.' 'You mean the 35p?'
In the end they agreed to transfer the money to a 1.25% account
instead of the 2.05% one I'd originally selected. Fair enough. I have
four
of my own accounts there, and father has three. I'll gradually
take the money away from that outfit and put it elsewhere, over the
next year
or so.

Sounds like par for the course. Care to name the institution so we can
avoid it?

This sounds so familiar to me, it must be the Halifax.

All I wanted to do was open an ISA last year. Tried to do it online.
Entered three pages of information then an infuriating 'Sorry, we are
unable to process your request at the moment, please try later'. Try
later, exactly the same. Call in at branch with chequebook in hand.
I'd like to open an ISA. You'll have to do than online Sir. Been
there, can't, that's why I'm here, can you give me the forms please?
Sorry, we don't have them. What? Why not? You have to do it online.
We're not authorised to do it here. But you're a bank, you offer ISAs,
I'd like one please. Would you like to see the manager? Yes. Hello,
I'm the manager. I want to open an ISA please. Sorry, I'm not
authorised to do that. But you're the manager, why can't you open me an
ISA in your own branch? I'm not allowed, you have to see an adviser.
Alright, wheel him out. No, sorry, he's not here, you have to make an
appointment. What time then? Ah, not this afternoon, he's booked for 3
weeks. Do you think this is good service? I can only do what I'm
allowed, but you can speak to another advisor on the phone over there,
who'll be happy to help. The phone is in branch next to the queue with
hideous mothers and screaming kids. Ten minutes hanging on, 45 minutes
of terms, conditions, you do understand this and that later, and I've
opened an ISA. Hooray!

Hang on, I've got my wife here who wants one too ....

On 24/08/2013 04:13, Bill Wright wrote:
I have Lasting Power of Attorney for my dad. The building society (bank,
really) did that trick where the interest on his ISA dropped to
0.00000000000001%, so I went in to transfer the money to another
account. No problem said the girl. The deed was done. A week later
father got a letter. The account can't be changed because it's a
passbook account. Just call in to the local branch and we'll fix it. I
went to town specially today (for the second time). 'Oh no, we can't do
it. You have to speak to an adviser.'
'I don't need advice.'
'Sorry, but we can't do it. You should have made an appointment.
I tapped my finger on the letter. "Just call in..."
They said the next possible appointment with an adviser was at the
Hillborough branch in late September. That's 25 hard miles away. I said
that was no good. They said, 'Look, you can do it by telephone banking.
Here, use our phone!' (grand gesture)
The person on the phone had a strong Northern Irish accent (if it had
been Pakistani I would have rung off immediately as I won't under any
circumstances talk to Asian call centres and if everyone else did the
same the problem would be solved) and I couldn't properly understand
what he said, but he was a nice lad and we persevered. After some
difficulty it emerged that I couldn't do it over the phone because the
LPA wasn't set up for telephone banking.
I went back to the 'Customer Manager.' 'What do I do now?'
'The only way is to book an appointment. If you don't want to travel to
Hillsborough we can give you an appointment her in early October.'
'Did you ever watch 'Groundhog Day'?'
'What?'
'Oh, never mind. Write me a cheque.'
'What?'
'Write me a cheque for the full amount.'
'Oh you can't close the account Mr Wright. You'll lose all the interest.'
'You mean the 35p?'
In the end they agreed to transfer the money to a 1.25% account instead
of the 2.05% one I'd originally selected. Fair enough. I have four of my
own accounts there, and father has three. I'll gradually take the
money away from that outfit and put it elsewhere, over the next year or so.

Bill


I have a particular issue with banks and their "improved" security measures.

I am deaf so I use internet banking and cannot use telephone banking.

When I first applied for the current bank accounts, I had to put in the
home phone number or the application would not be accepted. (what if the
customer does not have a landline????) and also had to put in a work
phone number (what if the customer is retired???) and a mobile phone
number (Not everyone has a mobile number). There was nowhere on the form
to state that that voice calls should not be made due to my deafness or
anywhere for me to say send text messages only.

Anyway, I got the account up.

Setting up utility bill direct debits, mortgage standing order etc was
easy, faster payments to credit card etc.

Apparently if its a company you're paying, very little security applies.

However, if you want to do a faster payments to an individual, if its
not been set up before, it kicks in extra security checks. So you put in
all the payee details on the webpage such as sort code, a/c no and the
amount. As soon as you click confirm, you get a message saying that the
bank will be phoning you and you have to use the phone keypad to respond
to the voice messages, and also type into the webpage the one time
passcode you're given over the phone. How the hell does a deaf person do
that?

Its bad enough with their security routines. e.g. how much was your last
credit card bill? How much did you spend at XXXX shop last Tuesday? What
were the last 3 direct debits for the accounts and their respective
amounts... They expect us to have perfect photographic memories?

So I end up ringing the bank over the phone via Typetalk. After doing
the security checks, I ask about doing this faster payment to the
individual concerned. Oh sorry sir, you're not set up for telephone
banking, we need to send you a telephone banking PIN which will take 5
working days..... Why do they or I need a telephone banking PIN when
I've passed all their telephone security checks????

Oh and a word of 2 warnings for another bank.... if you have One Time
Passcodes set up for a mobile phone and get these as SMS messages....

Firstly, If you have a joint account, you can only put one mobile phone
number in which is fine for one half of the couple, but no good for the
other half of the couple.

Secondly, If you wish to change the mobile phone number for OTP SMS's,
you must have both the old and the new mobiles in front of you as
messages are sent to both with a code which you need for the webpage for
changing the mobile phone no that OTP sms'es are sent to.

"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
I have Lasting Power of Attorney for my dad. The building society (bank,
really) did that trick where the interest on his ISA dropped to
0.00000000000001%, so I went in to transfer the money to another account.
No problem said the girl. The deed was done. A week later father got a
letter. The account can't be changed because it's a passbook account. Just
call in to the local branch and we'll fix it. I went to town specially
today (for the second time). 'Oh no, we can't do it. You have to speak to
an adviser.'
'I don't need advice.'
'Sorry, but we can't do it. You should have made an appointment.
I tapped my finger on the letter. "Just call in..."
They said the next possible appointment with an adviser was at the
Hillborough branch in late September. That's 25 hard miles away. I said
that was no good. They said, 'Look, you can do it by telephone banking.


I had the the same trouble with a "we've got no shareholders so we treat our
customers better" Banks. I'm moving my accs,back to a proper Bank.

J

On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 10:30:51 +0100, "Norman Wells"
wrote:

All I wanted to do was open an ISA last year. Tried to do it online.
Entered three pages of information then an infuriating 'Sorry, we are
unable to process your request at the moment, please try later'. Try
later, exactly the same. Call in at branch with chequebook in hand.
I'd like to open an ISA. You'll have to do than online Sir. Been
there, can't, that's why I'm here, can you give me the forms please?
Sorry, we don't have them. What? Why not? You have to do it online.
We're not authorised to do it here. But you're a bank, you offer ISAs,
I'd like one please. Would you like to see the manager? Yes. Hello,
I'm the manager. I want to open an ISA please. Sorry, I'm not
authorised to do that. But you're the manager, why can't you open me an
ISA in your own branch? I'm not allowed, you have to see an adviser.
Alright, wheel him out. No, sorry, he's not here, you have to make an
appointment. What time then? Ah, not this afternoon, he's booked for 3
weeks. Do you think this is good service? I can only do what I'm
allowed, but you can speak to another advisor on the phone over there,
who'll be happy to help. The phone is in branch next to the queue with
hideous mothers and screaming kids. Ten minutes hanging on, 45 minutes
of terms, conditions, you do understand this and that later, and I've
opened an ISA. Hooray!

You deserve a prize for persistence. I'd have given up and gone
somewhere else on the grounds that any establishment that treated me
with such disregard for my custom didn't deserve it.

Rod.

Roderick Stewart wrote:
On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 10:30:51 +0100, "Norman Wells"
wrote:

All I wanted to do was open an ISA last year. Tried to do it online.
Entered three pages of information then an infuriating 'Sorry, we are
unable to process your request at the moment, please try later'. Try
later, exactly the same. Call in at branch with chequebook in hand.
I'd like to open an ISA. You'll have to do than online Sir. Been
there, can't, that's why I'm here, can you give me the forms please?
Sorry, we don't have them. What? Why not? You have to do it
online. We're not authorised to do it here. But you're a bank, you
offer ISAs, I'd like one please. Would you like to see the manager?
Yes. Hello, I'm the manager. I want to open an ISA please. Sorry,
I'm not authorised to do that. But you're the manager, why can't
you open me an ISA in your own branch? I'm not allowed, you have to
see an adviser. Alright, wheel him out. No, sorry, he's not here,
you have to make an appointment. What time then? Ah, not this
afternoon, he's booked for 3 weeks. Do you think this is good
service? I can only do what I'm allowed, but you can speak to
another advisor on the phone over there, who'll be happy to help.
The phone is in branch next to the queue with hideous mothers and
screaming kids. Ten minutes hanging on, 45 minutes of terms,
conditions, you do understand this and that later, and I've opened
an ISA. Hooray!

You deserve a prize for persistence. I'd have given up and gone
somewhere else on the grounds that any establishment that treated me
with such disregard for my custom didn't deserve it.

They offered 0.5% more interest.

And they gave us each £25 compensation.

On 24/08/2013 04:13, Bill Wright wrote:
I'll gradually take the
money away from that outfit and put it elsewhere, over the next year or so.


While the Bank of England is printing money and just giving it to the
banks free of charge you may find that they just don't want your money.

In the past couple of years I've closed accounts where a "reasonable
(but low)" rate of interest has been reduced to deter investors. ING
(uk) is the latest to go this way. Recently taken over by Barclays they
are transferring money from maturing accounts into the pay f*** all
interest accounts. They are not openning new accounts.

I recommend (NOT) Britannia Building Society as being efficient,
customer service orientated and understanding modern paperless and
secure money transfer. On-line opening of an account with them involves
a cheque for the full amount sent via the postal system which they then
take weeks to process followed by weeks to notify of an account being
opened. I suspect that they already know that their customer service is
crap as a covering letter included an apology for delays. The letter was
dated 12 days prior to my receiving it. Strangely, the form they sent me
to open the account arrived the day after I applied on-line.



--
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