Abbey's bad Customer Service-rudeness and lack of call login AND lack of security on data protection (Abbey National)

Member Name: Reviewer244

Product:	Abbey National
Date:	07/11/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: none at the moment

Disadvantages: Customer service is virtually no existence, lack of security on and data protection

Hi all,
You have to forgive me if i come across really angry and rambling on about Abbey's unbelievably horrific service, but you need to hear the whole story for you to understand this.
I cannot put on to words how angry i am with Abbey, and the insult to their customers, the carelessness, rudeness and the lying.

I have received one of those automated call, urging me to call their fraud helpline number. Once i did, the person who picked up the first call after sometime in the queue, did not know where i should be diverted to?!! Finally i was put to another queue, once again i had to repeat myself all over again, this time the person said that he is checking my details and come to conclusion that someone has recently been withdrawing online in small funds with different names. I was shocked as i have not used that particular card online for a while, in fact for almost ½ year, and funny enough, similar thing happened about a year ago, but back then i called them once i have noticed the repaet funds.
I asked the abbey fraud staff member what i need to do to correct this, am i going to be without my account like the last time (the last time this happened, it took over 4 months to sort this out as the money stolen pushed me in the red and i get charged, and because of those charges, i get charges more charges!?) He told me that they cannot stop the new money going out, but he offered me two choices,
1-that I call the internet fraudsters after he gives me their details (can you belief it?)
2-temproraly block my card until Abbey investigates the issue and we can lift the blockage at any time. (This was very important for me, as i have bills and other payment were due)
Of course my choice was the 2nd option. So, the gentlemen said that he is going to put me in the Abbey Visa fraud department, i was put on hold for more than 20 minutes and finally a girl answered the phone, she was obviously having a difficult time. The guy before her did not explain anything to her, so i had to start all over again, she was very short and plain rude, she treated me like i was the one who did something wrong. She contradicted her previous colleague.All what the guy before her said, was not true and she keep telling me that i authorised this transaction. Then she started to contradict herself by quoting different times of the transaction of the money. She even tried to link my regular payment to that of the fraudster, then changed her mind, she then said that by blocking the card, it will not stop the fraudster to carry on taking money from my account, so i asked her to unblock my card in that case so that it would not interrupt my payments. She refused and said that this account is been requested to be blocked by me and but we cannot reverse it and instead we will issue a new card and it will affect my payments for up to at least two working weeks. I asked for her manager.
They put me through to what i can simply call a moron supervisor who told me that he is the abbey visa supervisor and goes by the name of Mr. Kelleher or Gallagher. He would not even talk to you, his first word was "if i want to complain, i can put you through to our complaint department" and "just so that you know, we won't be able to refund the money taken away from your account by the fraudster" as you can imagine, i was furious and demanded to be put to "complaint department". What they did not know was, that i was calling from my office and i start recoding the conversation straight away when she dismissed her colleague.
Again, i was put on to another queue for really long 30 minutes, of course i had to repeat all over again to this "Mike" (somehow they only have just names to give you when you ask for reference number like any other call centre they do not have one.)
Mike although he was all over the place when he answered the call, he seems polite at first, but then he start to ask me questions and not giving a chance to answer them, when he repeated this about 10 times and become defensive as soon as i mentioned the Abbey Visa department, and remember he does not have any personal details to even check my account information, which give me the feeling that he was at least briefed about my case. i had to tell him to give me a chance to answer all of these questions and asked if he is aware of my case, he said no and he then only asked me my account information. He put me on hold for about 10 minutes to speak to the Abbey Visa department's Supervisor. He come back and told me that he did speak to the individuals i have mentioned and as far as that department concerned, i never called and there is no problem with my account and my cards are not blocked, i asked him to test my account and see who did block my account and see who else left note on my account logs, as he already said that they keep all records of calls and other communications. He told me if i do not know what the disputed money is, he cannot help me and start to shout at me and wouldn't let me speak and keep calling my surname while i was talking. I asked for the manager of his department, apparently they all are busy and was given a false email address and name. I asked for a reference number or prove for my current conversation with him, or is this also going to be denied?i asked.
He said there is no reference he can give me and the notes he is typing are not going to be anywhere near my accounts. I told him that i have been recording my conversation all along and i have evidence for all my records while on the phone, it is a shame that he who supposed to be recording and login for complaint purposes did not do that. I also told him that i am taking this further and i am closing all of my account and 12 other family members will also be just doing that, i have terminated the call as he was now silent as he realised what has happened. I have opened other bank since and i have diverted all my outgoings and incomings to my new bank. I was not joking when i said other 12 family members will also be closing their accounts with them some already moved and the others are in the process, ooh yes, it is actually now 18 family members who are moving from Abbey and i will always share my horror story with others to make sure that no one suffers in the same way as i did at Abbey. Even though the complaint department was quick to defend their fellow colleague and denied that they ever talked to me and even blocked my account, i just received three weeks of blocked cards later, a new pin and card, even though my old card was latterly two months old when the incident happened. How would Abbey explain this?

People aware of Abbey bad service and do never beg for you own money!!

Abbey, get yourself sorted, or you will lose your clients, especially in today's market!

Summary: Abbey- get your staff SDI qualified and practice Current Customer Service Helpdesk