Barclays Bank- Faliures of comunication. (Barclays Bank)

Member Name: Lorietta

Product:	Barclays Bank
Date:	24/10/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: State of the art new branches, helpful staff (sometimes)

Disadvantages: Lied to when opening an account, couldn't use the card in ATMs.

I had a savings account from April of this year to September of this year with Barclays. At the time it offered one of the best rates of interest available, and it was very easy to open the account and pay in my money. When I opened the account I explained in September I would be going off to university, and would like to use the account for my student loan, but would possibly need to set up a standing order and direct debit from this account the woman assured me this would be fine, and this was a feature of the account.

However, when I went back in September, the person on the cash desk said I could not set up direct debit from the account, which I needed to do to pay my rent. I asked to speak to an "advisor" as it was one of these who had told me I could do this. I had to wait for an appointment, even though the woman was just sitting in her office doing nothing. I spoke to her, and she told me I had been incorrectly advised. I said I wanted to close the account, but she wouldn't let me go and do that until she had tried to sell me several other accounts I did not want.

These were not the only problems I had with Barclays. Firstly, when I was setting up my account, I explained as I was not earning enough to pay tax, could I make the interest tax free. She filled out the form, no problem, however, when I got my first statement, tax had been deducted. I was then able to sort it out, and really it was only a matter of pennies, but this annoyed me.

Also, at the start of the summer, they changed my cash card to work with the new technology of a state of the art branch they were building. I thought this would be fine, however, the letter did not state that these cards would now not work in most ATMs. I tried ones from other banks and ones displaying the "link" symbol but no luck, they just did not recognise my card. This made withdrawing money very inconvenient, and I wish they had told me this in the letter I received, so I did not have to try and be embarrassed everywhere.

Overall this bank has some good features, a wide range of accounts, but often you have to have a specific account to do things like online banking. They have also been updating their branches to make them very modern and state of the art. Most of the staff are friendly and helpful. Despite this, I wouldn't trust everything they say, especially when they are trying to sell you a product.

Summary: Alright as a place to store money, but some major issues.