No customer service, It's all about making as much money as they can (Natwest Bank)

Member Name: Donalola

Product:	Natwest Bank
Date:	14/05/09 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ..To me? None!

Disadvantages: Plenty

I was with Nat West in The Drapery, Northampton and have recently closed my account with them. I had the account for about 20 years but around 15 years ago I decided to ask for a loan to buy a car. I was working in Leicester at the time and living in Northampton and the old banger I had kept breaking down. Anyway, Nat West agreed the loan in principle and told me to go find a car. When I found the car I wanted they declined the loan. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my credit status as I went to RBS and they gave me a loan of £2,000 within a couple of days, once they'd seen Nat West's statements. Anyway, I kept the account open with Nat West and had an overdraft I was always using. Something went a bit wrong and I ended up going over the overdraft - still don't know what happened there, and with the charges going on the amount started to rise. I managed to sort it out and being a lazy banker (with Nat West anyway) I didn't check my statements for a few months. When I did I was about £200 over my overdraft limit. What had happened was when I'd phoned them to find out what I needed to pay to get the account back in order, they didn't inform me that charges were due to come out so when I paid money in, it wasn't enough to cover those charges. Each month they'd charge me more and of course I stupidly hadn't realised. They weren't very approachable about it and although they are there to make money, I was annoyed at the extent of how much they made. I know I was at fault too, but that makes it harder to take. Anyway, over the years they've sent other people's statements to me, I had a debit card and pin no sent to my previous address - even though I'd changed my address with them. Had to get the police involved on that one, and basically their customer service stinks. They leave you standing in queues because there aren't enough staff on the front - pretty shoddy I think.
So, about 8 weeks ago I closed the account and even that, they said, would take a few weeks. I made a stand at the branch, saying I wanted the account closed immediately and it took almost an hour. Crazy!

Summary: I've been with RBS for years and they know how to treat customers. Nat West don't!