Spare Some Change, Guv'nor? (Nationwide Building Society)

Member Name: SpankMarvin

Product:	Nationwide Building Society
Date:	12/07/01 (290 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No charges!, Customer service, Efficiency

Disadvantages: None

Right, I’m just going to start this opinion by saying that I love Nationwide. If it was a lady, it would say “Ooh, I just love the way you scoff that curry and leave me all the washing up,” and would mean it. If it was a lady, I would wine and dine it in Paris with champagne and caviar in the dusky summer twilight, whispering sweet nothings, and –

But it isn’t a lady, it is a building society and so it should be loved as a building society should be loved. But why do I love Nationwide so much? Well, there have certainly been some special moments, but a recent event which almost put me in the financial doghouse so to speak impressed me no end…

Imagine, if you will, a boring day in an office. You are a temp, and have been given all the spare jobs which are neither challenging nor necessary. So lunchtime rolls around and you meet up with a friend. The pub beckons, as does a pint of smoothest ale to ease the sorrows bring on the smiles! But you need money, so you go to the cashpoint. This is what I did, only to find I had a large amount of cash there, but with a big minus sign in front of it. I was very overdrawn, bad news, as I had no overdraft facility. It turned out that a standing order for my rent which I was supposed to cancel at the end of the lease, had taken another month’s rent out of my account, which was already close to £0 anyway. My first impulse was to smash something in a blind rage, but once this subsided, I went into the branch to plead my case and sort out a rather unnecessary mess which was entirely the product of my own forgetfulness.

Thanks to the staff in the Windsor branch, this was far easier than expected. First of all they calmed me down from a panicking wreck and sorted out the standing order. I was then passed over to an extremely earnest woman who suggested I activated an overdraft to cover myself until my landlady reimbursed me. She got on the phone, dialle
d the appropriate number and even pushed the keys and held, until I was talking to a real person, who was also kind and calming.

On the Windsor staff’s advice, I then waited till after work and went to my local branch in Slough, explaining what had happened and enquiring about the charge I would receive for spending money I didn’t have without an overdraft. Remembering my name, the lovely Sarah told me to come back in if, one my next statement, I had been charged. If so, I was told to bring in the statement and they would refund the charge – fantastic!!!

Not a very interesting story, but one which shows the typical high level of customer service which I have always received from Nationwide. I have had all sorts of accounts with them for as long as I can remember, and have never had cause to complain. I don’t regard them as my buddies or anything, but little things like remembering your name and SMILING do mean a lot and create a friendly, approachable atmosphere. You at least feel like more than an account number and signature and this makes it far, far easier to approach someone with a problem or a question. The story above is not the only time I have needed assistance and it has been done quickly, competently and always with a smile. If one person isn’t sure how to do something, you are promptly passed over to another person who does know, which is fine by me if it gets things done. Thanks to this, the bank environment need not be a scary pit of doom, and the bank manager does not turn into a terrifying Lional Blair dancing with your money.

While I’m at it, the other things which make it so great are the charges – or lack of them. Statements and letters which are sent to you (which some banks, unbelievably, charge you for) are always free, as are cash machine withdrawls. This is even true abroad – I went to Hungary a couple of years ago, and I was not charged for any transaction o
n my card, even cashpoints. Being a building society, their focus seems to be on customer service, rather than solely on profits and targets, like most banks. Thanks to this, even in my stupidity, I didn’t go for long at all without my beer money!

N.B. I don’t really scoff curry and leave it for women to clean the dishes, as this is not PC. I leave the washing up for the maid monkeys instead.

Summary: