Hmmmm... unimpressed (Bank of Scotland)

Member Name: annaloveswork

Product:	Bank of Scotland
Date:	15/01/04 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Could benefit the Cats Protection League

Disadvantages: Apalling customer service, Slow to refund their mistakes

Last year I took out a Bank of Scotland affinity credit card to benefit the Cats Protection League and set up a fixed monthly payment through Direct Debit.

On 4th December 2003 I telephoned Bank of Scotland to change this instruction to the minimum payment. On 12th December, I received a statement dated 5th December. The statement advised that next payment for the fixed amount would be taken on 30th December. I immediately telephoned Bank of Scotland to find out why the change of instruction had not been processed.

The Telephone Advisor confirmed that her notes recorded the conversation from 4th December, and that she could not understand why the change to my payment had not been made. She put me on hold while she spoke to the Direct Debit team, and came back to confirm that the change had now been made.

I did not feel confident that the changes had been made, and it was important to me that the money remained in my bank account (it was Christmas!). So, later that same day, I paid off the total amount owing, by transferring the whole balance to a different credit card.

Yet on 30th December Bank of Scotland still debited my account. I telephoned Bank of Scotland straight away and asked to speak to a Supervisor. I was advised that all Supervisors were in a meeting and that one would call me back within the hour.
After 2 ½ hours I had not received a call from Bank of Scotland, and had to telephone again.

The Advisor that took my call put me on hold while she found a Supervisor to take my call. She then came back to me and took some outline details of the situation and advised that she would put me on hold again while she sees ?if the Supervisor will take my call?. After being on hold for over ten minutes a Supervisor finally took my call. We discussed the situation as outlined above, and he put me on hold for a further ten minutes while he spoke to the Direct Debit team.

At first the Supervisor told m
e that I had not given enough notice to change my payment to a minimum payment and that I had been advised of this when I made my call on 12th December. This is not true: I had been advised of no such thing. The Advisor I spoke to on 12th December confirmed that the changes HAD been made. This also over looks the fact that I had first telephoned on 4th December to make the request, and that I had subsequently paid off the amount in full and owed Bank of Scotland no money whatsoever on 30th December.

I believe 2 ½ weeks is ample time for Bank of Scotland to make the simple changes to my payment plan as I requested. If it isn?t, then I suggest Bank of Scotland look at alternative working practices to bring it in line with its competitors. Banking with First Direct, as I do, I am used to a high standard of customer service, where regular payments can be set up or cancelled in a matter of minutes.

The debit taken by Bank of Scotland resulted in my account going overdrawn and more importantly Bank of Scotland now has my money as a credit on my account, leaving me short, while I wait for a further one to two weeks to receive a cheque for the amount owing to me. By the time my money is refunded, they will have had my money for four weeks!

I took out the Bank of Scotland credit card to show my support for the Cats Protection League. I think that the service provided by Bank of Scotland seriously lets down the Cats Protection League. If it hadn?t been for this experience the Cats Protection League could still be benefiting from my using the Bank of Scotland card.

Summary: