Is it really worth it?

I got a call last night from Abbey Complaints. As you may recall (and don’t feel you’ve failed if you don’t) I have had numerous problems these last two months with Abbey messing up my account. Anyway, I complained and received a letter last week with an apology and an admission that I had been let down on several occasions. They also said they were crediting my account with £45 which I thought initially was compensation but it actually turned out to be charges that I had incurred through their mishandling of my account. So at 7.30pm last night, I was quite surprised when my partner handed me the phone and said it was the Abbey.

The woman I spoke to was wonderful! She said that she had been investigating my complaints and “was speechless” at how badly Abbey had handled my account and that it was “incredible” that I was still an Abbey customer. She apologised on behalf of all her colleagues that had let me down and offered me quite a large and unexpected sum of money as compensation. It was then my turn to be speechless. I explained to her that whilst the compensation was very welcome (and it was!) it was the phone call that made me think that staying with Abbey was worthwhile. This woman was brilliant at her job, simply because she was honest and seemed to really emphasis with how stressed and frustrated I had become. So as I have slated Abbey previously, I felt it only fair to tell you when they did something right. They are on notice now – if the next 6 months are trouble free then I will stay with them and we might even consider transferring our savings and getting our mortgage through them… However, if there are any more problems I will switch banks and send a final letter saying why, and that will be the end of it.

So yes, it’s frustrating having to complain and keep on top of things because big organisations seem to have so many departments and you never speak to the same person twice but it’s the principle. Never complain in the hope you’ll get something in return, my advice is only ever complain when you really feel that there really has been a problem. The big companies often have compensation policies and so yes, you might get something in return but the aim should be to change the service for the better and make sure you don’t suffer those problems again…

I have a singing lesson tomorrow! Now let me just say right from the beginning, you won’t be seeing me on some trashy Idol show, I don’t want to be in a band, I don’t want to a professional singer and I don’t even want to be in a choir. I’m doing this for me and seeing as the only place I ever sing is on the way to and from work, for my car as well! I’ve always loved singing and used to be very good and thought it might be quite fun to give it a bash again – with the added bonus that singing is great for asthmatics. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to it and I shall blog about the experience on Friday…