Abbey is shit!

I hate Abbey. They have the worst customer service bar none. Loyal readers will recall previous problems with Abbey that resulted in them sending me a letter and giving me £160 as an apology. Well you would think that was the end of the sorry story but no, they seek new and innovative ways to piss customers off and they always manage to succeed!

There was a dodgy transaction on my card (no not porn, how dare you!) and Abbey called and said, do you recognise this, which I didn’t. So at least we know the fraud dept earn their pay cheque. They immediately cancelled my card and are sending me a new one. But what, said I, if I need money in the meantime? Go into a branch with your card or cheque book and one other form of ID and you can withdraw money said they.

So I did that today and they said, no you can’t!

The Sydenham branch of Abbey is the worst. There’s a woman in there that practically sucks her teeth at me every time I walk in because I had the audacity to be annoyed and say the service was appalling*. I queued up today, gave a bright and breezy hello, handed over my card and driving licence and asked to withdraw some money. The cashier told me I would need my cheque book, not my card because the card is cancelled. My response was, yes I know it’s cancelled, I just told you that! I pointed out that Abbey had told me that this would be ok, that I had valid ID – I also had other ID if they wanted to see that too – and previously when my card had been hit by fraud I had gone into a branch with the card and my driving licence and had had no problems withdrawing money...

But no, this time the rules had changed and no one could help. I would have to go all the way back home to get my cheque book.

The thing with Abbey is that I genuinely believe they don’t care. They are one of the biggest banks in the world and with banks and building societies going under left, right and centre, they know people will stay with them in the belief that customers, if faced with a choice, would opt for financial security rather than a decent service...

I can’t even change the account yet because of the mortgage being processed.

You know when you thought old people were a bit nuts for keeping their savings under the bed? Well actually they’re proving to be smarter than all of us put together!

*We tried to make an appointment, they told us they didn't make appointments, you just had to walk in. We walked in and they told us on two different occasions they couldn't see us they were (a) too busy (b) didn't have enough staff to serve us! We got so fed up with this that we called Abbey two months ago frustrated that we couldn't get an appointment at the local branch, and expplained we wanted to open up a joint account. They were delighted and said they would call us right back with appointment details. We're still waiting...

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…

Abbey: we care a lot less than you would think

Further to my previous postings about bad service, Abbey continue to underwhlem me with their customer care or lack thereof. Yes, they've messed up again but they really don't give a shit and for that they should be applauded because let's be honest, there's something refreshingly honest about an attitude that says: we're just in it for the money and our shareholders and fancy adverts with Lewis Hamilton - customers are just there to be let down, irritated and if necessary, crushed!

Agree, disagree? Let me know your horror stories...