Complaining

I hope you aren’t driven to these lengths nonnie.
This happened just round the corner from my local butcher’s, as it was at the time.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1370620/NatWest-pays-dung-protest-farmer-300000.html

Make sure your complaint is recorded as an official one. Tell them you are counting the days until you can go to the ombudsman (though I think it was about 53 for the energy companies!) It often gets a quick response anyway

I have always used the CeeO route when I found myself banging my head against a brick wall. It has never let me down and I have always had a quick response, Talk Talk for example email to CE Saturday received a response Sunday, fixed Monday. My daughters carers had been nearly 2 weeks trying to get a problem fixed. Job done. Just google the CE of any company.

The whole complaints process is ridiculously complicated? as others have said you have to go through the (usually cumbersome) internal complaints route first then get either a deadlock letter or have had no response after 6 weeks!! Before you can go to ombudsman. I am not convinced either that the ombudsman service is fair minded always as I have seen some shocking decisions! That said complaints to the Ombudsman have shot up in the last year (according to their own website) and no wonder! Big companies treat customers very often as cash cows and behave with contempt? the worst offenders are Banks, utility companies and Telecom providers!

I agree with the advice to go to the Ombudsman. A few years ago I went into a local branch of my bank to withdraw some money. The teller told me that there was no money in my account (humiliating in front of a queue of customers). I told her there must be some mistake as there were plenty of funds in the account. She was adamant. I was in a real panic and rang my bank. They said 'something has happened to your account but we are not allowed to tell you what'. I was frantic. I spent a fortune on phone calls, missed time from work trying to sort it out. The stress was horrendous. In the end, they said it had been 'sorted' and offered me £50 compensation for my 'inconvenience' My DD worked in a bank at the time and told me that I should tell them I was going to the Ombudsman and they offered me a bit more compensation which I accepted. There was never much of an apology.

Couldn't agree more with all the dissatisfaction here but I don't actually have a 'general' solution. Think it ultimately lies with the government (any party) to clip their wings hugely and that's never going to happen. I had a horrendous time with Barclays. Small error which I went into the branch to point out in decidedly affable mood. Four months later, after the consequences had snowballed and were dire, I had it sorted. There is no financial compensation of any size that compensates for the stress involved. If I could I would use under the mattress but it's my emergency roof or funeral cash so I daren't risk even the pittance.

I've been with First Direct for 20+ years. Excellent customer service and have had absolutely no problems.

Last night I had another Facebook message from them asking for the sort code. I sent it (again) and said that I was surprised they needed it and asked just how many Nonnie's they had who had complained to Marcus in Savings last Friday! Still waiting for a response but I think they close over the weekend.

A few years back NatWest, who at the time were advertising 'Helpful Banking' changed the type of account we had with them and asked us for proof of identity. We had been banking with them for 48 years! DS was staying with us and had his passport so we went into the local branch and the poor chap on the counter couldn't find out what it was all about so called his senior colleague. We were taken into an office and I asked the woman to take a copy of DS's passport for identity purposes. She refused as they 'don't do that'. I asked her how else he could identify himself as he was only in the UK for a couple of days. Every time I spoke to her she answered DH and I got progressively more annoyed. She didn't have any answers and offered no solutions. DS said to just take him off the account as he doesn't use it but, by this time, I was on a mission! I stood up to leave and said I was going to Tweet and Facebook about NatWest Unhelpful banking and she took a copy of his passport. Later that day they rang and spoke to DH and said that it was all sorted! Interestingly they have now dropped the 'Helpful Banking'!

We added our DSs to our bank account when they were student and have kept them on as apparently it makes like a lot easier for them when we die.

I have had problems getting my own money out of Natwest. A couple of years ago I was in France buying a house and I had my money in Natwest. I rang Natwest and asked for £ X to be moved across to my French account. They said it was too much money to move in one go, so I had to phone 9 days in a row moving £X each day. I was very annoyed as I had to pay 9 lots of transfer fees. They were very loath to let the money go and I had to remind them on several days that it was my money and I was at liberty to spend it how I wished. They made me speak to a security team to explain why I wanted it. I was fuming. It is just like they don't want you to take your money out and spend it. No wonder you are angry Nonnie. Make a written complaint.

A couple of years ago my husband was checking our Yorkshire bank account which only had the small mortgage interest charged to it each month - we didn't use the account for anything else. He couldn't understand why there was a large direct debit taken 2 months in a row totalling something like £!500. Panicked I rang the bank and was told it was mortgage payments to a Halifax mortgage account but she could tell me no more than that and I would need to speak to the Halifax. When I did I was told there seemed to be an error and they would investigate and call me back. To be fair they rang an hour later and admitted it was their error - they had put the wrong account number on a new mortgage and it was coming out of our account!! They refunded it the same day and also gave us £100 compensation and the phone call costs but to this day we've no idea how they could have set a direct debit up on our account without our signatures.

I left nationwide some years ago after they twice paid the wrong CC account (it was their CC company) from my account bit left me to contact the cc company to get my £school back. I got charged as my payment to cc was late and they refused to pay the charges for their errorespective. I went in one day and asked them to cancel dd and so from my current account, then asked them to close my current account, then the 3 other accounts I held wits them. The lady got very flustered asking if there was anything she could do to change my mind. Now with lloyds and they really are a pile of poo as well I'm considering the mattress bank even though I don't have much money!

newnany yes I wrote to their CEO. I think an old fashioned letter sometimes has more impact than an email.

Willow I think direct debits can be set up by phone but in your case it looks like someone set it up correctly but someone in the bank keyed it in incorrectly.

Just had a message from them saying they can find no record of my complaint! Presumably the Marcus I spoke to realised that if he actually registered the complaint which he told me he would, it would be clear that it was all his error. I do now have my money but still want to make the complaint about the way it was all handled in the (possibly vain) hope that someone will learn from what happened to me.

Nonnie and all who have recommended Twitter -
1. Set up a Twitter account.
2. "Follow" BBC, local news stations, etc., as well as the Bank itself, and any other large public institutions you can think of, like your City Council, Better Business Bureau.
Then 3. Make a short tweet with no personal info, just on the lines of " Lack of Service at "..........." Bank and Branch is driving me CRAZY. What is going on with them?"
That should do it.
Then sit back

Thanks Nanna not sure I want to receive tweets from all of those organisations but it could be an idea in the short term.

Finally been told no complaint has been raised and given a link to where to start again!

Time to name and shame - Ulster Bank, part of RBS.

Submitted complaint form and confirmation says they have sent an email to me. Must be stuck somewhere then!

Hi Nonnie you may not want to receive tweets from all of them, but the point is that they will receive your tweets!
The public media forum is now incredibly powerful. Look at the kids in Florida, USA, who because of social media have managed to arrange millions in funding, and are having nation wide marches this month in favour of anti-gun laws.
Ulster Bank will NOT like the fact that you have gone to a public forum to express your frustration. But you are telling the truth. They behaved badly!
You never know, you may start a thread when you start seeing responses to your tweet from others who have also had the same bad treatment. Good Luck

I didn't know until two days ago that the paper ten pounds notes are no longer useable. I saw it on the news. I have several of them which I saved for bills. I phoned my bank and firstly the girl said she knew nothing about it. Then she said I would have to bring them into the bank but as it's eight miles sway I can't. She said I.couldn't use a different bank as it would have to be transferred into my current account. So I don't know what to do now. Can anyone advise, please?

The new polymer tenner launched in September last year and you can't spend the old tenners in shops anymore

THE Bank of England unveiled and launched its new state-of-the-art £10 polymer note in autumn last year.
The old cotton paper notes have now expired and will no longer be accepted as legal tender – here’s what that means, and all you need to know about the changeover…

The old £10 note went out of circulation officially at 11.59pm on March 1, 2018.

However, old notes can still be exchanged at the Bank now that this point has passed.

Although the new tenners came in last year, until the deadline the paper money continued to be legal tender so could be spent freely.

The old paper fivers went out of circulation on May 5 last year.

The Bank of England released a new tenner last year to replace the old one
What happens if you haven’t spent your old £10 note?

Now that the deadline has passed you won’t be able to spend your notes in shops or restaurants.

If you want to swap the old notes over for new tender you will have to make the trip to a bank, building society or Post Office.

You will need to be an account holder with the bank for them to exchange the note.

You can use your local Post Office to deposit the old tenners into your bank account too.

It is possible that a high street bank will stop exchanging them after the cut-off date but The Bank of England is legally obliged to.

You can either do this in person or via post. Although if you post it to The Bank of England, you do so at the “sender’s risk”.

If you are exchanging large amounts of old £10 notes, you may be asked to provide identification, such as a passport or driving licence.

Thank you, jenpax, I 'll be able to get to a post office. I suppose I should take my bbank paying n book with me and ID can't believe how I missed the information about the tenners. Nuisance them mucking about with it all!

Interesting thread here, but a common theme of Gransnetters sounding REALLY CROSS. Many of the procedures complained about are put in place for customer protection and compulsory money laundering regulations. Of course, there often seems to be a lack of common sense applied, but bank staff are not allowed to ‘make it up as they go along’ and find some required processes very frustrating themselves. It’s easy for First Direct to be good at customer service, they have no branches or visible staff for anyone to complain about....

wot you should be able to pay into your account at the Post Office just using your own Bank paying in book, I have done this when NatWest closed our local Branch. Just complete your paying in slip as you would in a Branch. Post Office give you a receipt to keep with your paying in book.

We had trouble some years ago with Halifax. DS travelling and we were trying to get money into his account urgently. DH took cash from our own bank, walked up the road to Halifax with it and they said it would take 3 days to reach DS's account! Needless we have had nothing to do with Halifax since.
We are very happy with our bank but DD had trouble when buying a house - they insisted she sent proof of her address - she had a mortgage with them at the time!!!

NanaandGrampy
You can certainly ring the FO but they won't do anything unless 8 weeks have passed since a formal complaint (to the company/bank) is lodged in writing or by e-mail and they have failed to resolve it. The complainant then needs to ask for a 'deadlock' letter whuch enables the FO to take up the cause. It takes a looooong time.

which

Nonnie
All banks record their calls therefore 'Marcus' can't deny having spoken to you. You will have a record (of the date and time on which you spoke to him) in your phone lists and can cite that in your complaint.