World's biggest Barclays fan (Barclays Bank)

Member Name: cloudcover

Product:	Barclays Bank
Date:	12/09/01 (333 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Helpful, friendly staff

Disadvantages: one that I've found yet

I have been with Barclays since completely losing patience with my previous bank, Nat West, in about 1992. What happened then was that, after years of offering a service ranging from middling to teeth-grindingly awful, Nat West refused to reinstate my student account when I returned to college for my MSc.
I toured the local major bank branches. My impressions were these:
The Lloyds branch still had the old fashioned layout where the bank staff glare at you from behind toughened glass. They also had a tendency to look blank when I asked about their services.
The Midland branch had a modernised version of the same layout but with an addition. There, the bank staff were further protected from customers by a dragon at the gate, in the form of a receptionist whose main job seemed to be to try to get rid of you by a clever combination of scowling at you and ignoring you.
The Barclays branch had an open plan layout, with personal bankers sitting at tables in the main room, where they couldn't get away from anyone wanting to plonk themselves down in front of them and try to get help. Help, in fact, was what they seemed to want to provide, in marked contrast to my experiences in the other banks. I went with Barclays.
Since then, there has been one single mistake on my statement, which was corrected without question as soon as I pointed it out - a payment for a loan I had taken out and then managed to cancel just in time when a client actually paid me on time. That mistake didn't bother me as, if you're sensible and check your accounts and so long as they fix it straight away, it doesn't matter in the long run.
My next major dealing with the bank was when I decided to move house. I'd been pretty unhappy with my old mortgage provider but was tied in to them following a cut rate deal. However, when they made life difficult on account of my having been self employed for fewer than three years I had to see what else was on offer - 11 y
ears of paying them the mortgage didn't seem to make any odds with them.
I didn't hold out much hope with Barclays but I asked anyway. The mortgage advisor was brilliant. She gave me a mortgage offer on the spot, based on the money passing through my current account, so I didn't need to bother with my tax accounts. I still didn't expect to take up the offer but it was nice to have it. In the event, because I was buying an unusual property, my old provider turned me down flat even after I'd sorted them out with all the guarantees they'd demanded.
Barclays, on the other hand, said yes - they looked at each case on its merits. Not only that but, having phoned round and heard a rumour that Barclays were about to introduce a base rate tracker mortgage, I got a better deal than I'd expected from a high street bank - the brilliant mortgage advisor even fought my corner with her head office and arranged for me to get the deal when I wasn't actually borrowing as much as I was supposed to to qualify.
Meanwhile every other part of my house sale and purchase was going horribly wrong. My solicitor turned out to be incompetent and managed to delay the purchase so that I had to move out of my old house with nowhere to go for three weeks because I didn't want to risk losing the sale. My mortgage advisor was wonderful - she and the morgage head office people were really supportive and gave me help on issues that I really should have been going to my solicitor for. When Barclays were telling me that the mortgage money could be transfered to my account as soon as my solicitor requested it and my solicitor told me that Barclays had told him it would take another week I knew exactly who to believe. Right enough, I was in the house several days before my solicitor had planned to get around to exchanging contracts.
The online banking service is easy to use and easily customisable to your own needs. Being a bit of a miser, I appreciat
e the chance to keep track of my finances on a day to day basis and set bill payments to go out of my account on the last possible day. So far, everything's worked as promised.
The only part of Barclays I haven't had excellent service from is Barclaycard - I don't know how closely the two are connected. The only problems I've had there were that trying to exchange my reward points online didn't work properly and that some forms for me to fill out to get card protection either weren't sent out or got lost in the post.
On the whole, especially since my mortgage dealings, I've been a real fan of Barclays. The main points are:
Staff in the branches are friendly, easily accessible and generally pretty bright, as far as I've found.
If you phone the branch (well, the South Wales Valleys Group of Branches, anyway), the phone is answered straight away and you are not unnecessarily put on hold.
If you phone to talk to someone in particular and they're not available, then your phone number is taken for them to call you back and, stunningly, they DO.
These last two points also apply, in my experience, to the mortgage call centre in Leeds.
Barclays have also recently scrapped overdraft charges and made some other changes which, I believe, is in keeping with what the other banks are up to at the moment - presumably they follow each other fairly closely on these things.
Over all, Barclays have built up such a big stock of goodwill with me that they'd have to do something pretty foul to me before I'd think of moving my current account.

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