But you told me life was complicated enough!? (Abbey National)

Member Name: benniash

Product:	Abbey National
Date:	31/01/04 (429 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good in-branch customer service

Disadvantages: Poor long distance customer service

**Please note before reading this opinion that it is under the 'in general' category and is therefore solely about that their customer services, not any accounts or other financial products they offer. Also, if you think you've read this before, that is because it was lost when the system went down a couple of weeks ago**

I started banking with the Abbey National back in the year 2000 whilst I was a student. Although I?m not sure whether it was legal or not I opened a student account for the sole purpose of using the overdraft facility they offered.

When I graduated from University I went to see the manager about the best way to pay back the overdraft. The service I received was excellent and he helped me arrange a low cost loan which is called an ?overdraft manager?. This has allowed me to pay off the overdraft fairly quickly and for a reasonable amount each month, not eating too much into my well earned wages!

Before this I had had very little interaction from the staff but from the opening of the account to (the few times) I entered the branch to pay money in, the staff seemed knowledgeable, friendly and polite ? all you could ask for really. The one gripe I have was that the branch would nearly always be understaffed and whilst the cashiers dealt with it the best they could, I often felt that the service was slow and could be improved vastly just by manning another cashier point ? especially during lunch hours. On a more positive note the branch has a telephone facility where all the different product areas can be called for free. This is great for customers who have direct queries about certain Abbey National financial products as it means they can speak straight to someone who works within that area ? also taking pressure off the local staff.

Well perhaps now some of you are looking back and noticing I?ve only given it two stars ? bit harsh you might say. Well unfortunately the worst is yet to come, I thought it
would only be fair to give an overview of the whole of the customer service before I start my moans and groans! So here goes?

In the last year Abbey National have let themselves down twice ? although twice isn?t much, it is as a percentage of the few times I?ve had to deal with them.

First conflict between the company and myself came almost a year ago. On moving house I contacted the branch and asked them the best way to change my address details. I was told they would send me an ?address change? form through the post and this would cover all my accounts with them. Excellent I thought, what with moving house everything for the past three months had turned into one big form filling exercise ? as I?m sure those of you who have moved house will recall with glee. When I received the form it couldn?t have been simpler ? it even had boxes to tick to show which accounts or financial products I held. The only problem was that the overdraft manger wasn?t listed, so I called customer services and they told me to tick the loan box ? no problem. The form was completed and sent back within two days.

After a month or so I received my first statement and couldn?t understand why I had been charged £32 for non-payment of a direct debit, especially as the overdraft manager was the only debit that came out of the account. So naturally I called to complain about the charge and apparently I had been contacted with regard to a change in the date of the payment ? something I had agreed a good few months before, but was told I?d be notified. Therefore the payment was late and the first time the direct debit was attempted to be taken there wasn?t sufficient funds to cover it. You?ve probably guessed as quick as I did at the time that they?d managed to change my address details for my account but not my overdraft manager. I explained the situation and after several discussions with various members of staff I was reimbursed the £32, although no apology was offered
.

Over the last few months I have got closer to paying off all the ?loan? and decided to pay more each month in a bid to rid myself of the debt. Last week, almost a year on, I received my statement as usual and was surprised to find another £32 charge. I knew instantly that the fine was for late payment but had put the correct amount into the account on the correct day told by the member of staff upon agreement of the new loan amount. However when I rang up customer service to complain about the charge I was greeted by an arrogant representative that was about as friendly as Saddam Hussein would have been after his Palace was looted.

I explained the situation and was told (yes told, quite matter of factly by the lady) that the date I was told would have been the day before the amount was due to come out of the account and not on the day. I knew that the date stated was the first of the month but was told that the money had to be in the account ON the first. Maybe this was a slight misinterpretation by myself but I had asked several times when the new debit was being set up and the cash wasn?t a problem, I just had to make sure it was in on the day in question. Personally I feel the term BY should have been used ? but interpretation is easy to mess up and it was clearly an honest mistake.

Unfortunately Saddam?s more unreasonable sister was not so understanding and said that (with regard to the first address error) I had already been let off a charge on ?goodwill?. Hold on, they made a mistake with my address and they let me off as a ?goodwill? gesture!?!

You can imagine how annoyed I was, not even with the £32 as on the second occasion my misinterpretation of the date was as much to blame as the incompetent person who wasn?t clear enough, but when a company as large as this doesn?t put its hand up and admit an error then it disappoints me.

I have since been told that the charge is non-returnable and that the rest of my
three years excellent banking will not be taken into account. Personally this is where I feel that running the product accounts from separate bases around the country is not a benefit to the customers. Had I spoken to the same person every time I made a query ? preferably a local branch manger ? they would have remembered me and maybe taken some real goodwill into consideration. As it stood I was treated just like the next customer who happened to query a charge or two. I will be using my local branch of Llyods TSB in future where I have been given my own personal account manager who I can deal with directly. She may not have the indepth knowledge of all the financial products on offer but this is made up with her knowledge of me and my accounts.

The moral of the story is that for these national companies to be successful in customer service they need to realise that a company can go national, or even global, but it must always act local. My last payment is due this month and, although £32 worse off, I will take great pleasure going in to close my account ? as I will when my disgusted mother and Sister do the same.

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