Customer service

[GeoffCapes]

Customer service seems now to be a bonus as opposed to normal practice!
It all began with the Covid where companies all too quickly realised that it was the perfect excuse for doing a half hearted job. Unfortunately that is now beyond wearing a bit thin, so now they just continue with half hearted service as the norm.
in the last week I’ve had a bed and sofa company deliver a new bed without checking it was convenient, and when I complained, they told me they didn’t have room in their warehouse, so it would be better stacked up against the wall in my home. When I explained it wasn’t good enough or acceptable, the person said he didn’t care as he was not being paid by me!
Then I had a problem with my bank, where it took an hour and a half to find out the explanation of a letter they sent to me!! They then said they weren’t obliged to leave a message when they rang - so no knowledge of the problem till the letter arrived, when I complained that wasn’t acceptable, they then decided that they did leave a message, of which there is no evidence. In essence, which was the real lie! Whilst I will never use rude or foul language, when presented with such incompetence I will be condescending and arrogant, which as a customer I feel is fair enough, and as a service provider I feel they must accept that for their failures. Instead I’m told I’m not being respectful. Perhaps try and respect me as the customer, and stop talking garbage might be a better way forward.
Whilst America has its issues, at least they have more interest in the word ‘service’. Over here all we get is woke rubbish, from young people who you can barely understand, between their unintelligible ‘gangsta’ speak!!
Clearly I’m better no politically incorrect in these sensitive times, but rant over!

I completely agree. The standard of customer service in this country is generally p*ss poor. It's almost like you're an inconvenience to them querying why they made a mistake.
Now everyone makes mistakes, it's life, I get that. But when you have to fight tooth and nail to get it rectified, that's where I have a problem.

To me the bottom line is, that no-one wants to take ownership of anything.
You f*ck up - Own it. Then fix it.
You f*ck up and then try and pass the blame, the red mist falls.

 

[MarkMas]

I was in a Barclays branch yesterday, trying to get something sorted out and they said I had to phone the 'business banking team'. I said that the 'wait time message' was always 'over an hour', and they said 'Oh well they are very busy, you know'. I said I would go home, call them, and while I was waiting, open an account online with Starling - if Barclays didn't answer by the time my new account was set up I would move. They said, 'Yes, good idea'.

 

[GeoffCapes]

I was in a Barclays branch yesterday, trying to get something sorted out and they said I had to phone the 'business banking team'. I said that the 'wait time message' was always 'over an hour', and they said 'Oh well they are very busy, you know'. I said I would go home, call them, and while I was waiting, open an account online with Starling - if Barclays didn't answer by the time my new account was set up I would move. They said, 'Yes, good idea'.

Don't even get me started on trying to open another business account. I've banked with Santander for 20+ years, tried to open a second business account on line and was told I needed to see a business manager.
Tried to book on line (this must have been July/August) and was shocked to find the earliest appointment with MY branch was in January!!! FFS!

I didn't bother.

 

[MarkMas]

Don't even get me started on trying to open another business account. I've banked with Santander for 20+ years, tried to open a second business account on line and was told I needed to see a business manager.
Tried to book on line (this must have been July/August) and was shocked to find the earliest appointment with MY branch was in January!!! FFS!

I didn't bother.

When I tried to open a new business account a few years ago, I was told the same thing by both Lloyds and Barclays local branches, with a 6-10 week wait for an appointment. But when I went online and just filled in the forms, my account was provisionally set up in 24 hours and I was given an appointment, in a local branch, the next week.

 

[MarkMas]

Don't even get me started on trying to open another business account. I've banked with Santander for 20+ years, tried to open a second business account on line and was told I needed to see a business manager.
Tried to book on line (this must have been July/August) and was shocked to find the earliest appointment with MY branch was in January!!! FFS!

I didn't bother.

Mrs MM tried to open a new business bank account, and was told it was impossible, as her company was registered in her maiden name, but her ID was in her married name. A marriage certificate was no help. I offered to bring in a copy of Who's Who [bragging] with both her names listed, but apparently that was not 'valid identification'. They suggested she change her name back to her maiden name on all her IDs, to make their process easier.

 

[Felonious Crud]

...becasue all the others are just as bad.

I use HSBC for work and pleasure other stuff. Seems fine. Chase is pretty good also for non-work stuff and has many benefits, such as not taking the absolute pish on foreign transactions.

 

[CatmanV2]

Seems fine.

I would have agreed 12 months ago but they have made some fabulous fuckups including locking me out of all my accounts and then completely failing to know WTAF they were about in terms of LPAs and control of my mother in law's account. I have had a couple of cases of wine. And they were ****

C

 

[mowlas]

Part of the problem with Financial Services organisations is how the've responded to growing and tightening financial regulations (such as KYC - know your customer). Basic compliance nowadays can cost up to 5% of turnover and the penalties of non-compliance have skyrocketed. These costs can be even higher for firms who have not taken a customer oriented way of integrating compliance duties with their day to day operations. In the worst cases this not only p1sses off the customer, costs them more but also loses business through practices described in the dire examples above.

 

[bigbob]

I offered to bring in a copy of Who's Who [bragging] with both her names listed, but apparently that was not 'valid identification'.

I suspect that happens at least weekly in Cheltenham so they were probably unimpressed.

 

[Phil the Brit]

I was in a Barclays branch yesterday, trying to get something sorted out and they said I had to phone the 'business banking team'. I said that the 'wait time message' was always 'over an hour', and they said 'Oh well they are very busy, you know'. I said I would go home, call them, and while I was waiting, open an account online with Starling - if Barclays didn't answer by the time my new account was set up I would move. They said, 'Yes, good idea'.

Unbelieveable, what a response!

 

[Felonious Crud]

I would have agreed 12 months ago but they have made some fabulous fuckups including locking me out of all my accounts and then completely failing to know WTAF they were about in terms of LPAs and control of my mother in law's account. I have had a couple of cases of wine. And they were ****

C

A bad case of whine? You've come to the right thread!

 

[Scaf]

I had a recent spat with BA, looking to book an international holiday for 8 adults and their website was messing me about.

Local travel agent couldn’t get close to the price as BA were including upgraded seats, so back to BA.
Only number I could find to speak with them, would charge me for calling them (to spend over £20k) so I used the online the and asked them to get someone to call me. Complete waste of time and effort and we ended up with a different holiday using the local agent.

If I behaved like that, I would be out of business.

 

[MarkMas]

Part of the problem with Financial Services organisations is how the've responded to growing and tightening financial regulations (such as KYC - know your customer). Basic compliance nowadays can cost up to 5% of turnover and the penalties of non-compliance have skyrocketed. These costs can be even higher for firms who have not taken a customer oriented way of integrating compliance duties with their day to day operations. In the worst cases this not only p1sses off the customer, costs them more but also loses business through practices described in the dire examples above.

They seem to have no capacity to negotiate with regulators.
I get a statement every month that says "We are about to charge you £8.50 in fees this month." and then three days later an actual bank statement with these fees on it. Presumably the regulators decided that you can't charge a fee without letting the customer know in advance that you are going to do so. But nobody else who provides a monthly service has to do that. Spotify just bills me; EE just bills me. They should have been able to say "This will cost a fortune and waste paper; what about excluding business accounts, or having a threshold of £25, or something?'

 

[Wattie]

...becasue all the others are just as bad.

Not First Direct as had been suggested b4.

 

[Zep]

I’ve had some pretty poor experiences, but also some excellent ones. In the few times I have had issues, I find the person I speak to is quite good, but the system is poor.

There is an argument that consumers bear some responsibility for the direction of the market, as we often buy at the lowest possible price, that means suppliers reduce costs through automation, headcount and location of support services. Then we complain about it. Some suppliers get it right, some don’t.

You get what you pay for in most cases. Where there are reasonable margins, you tend to get better service.

 

[allandwf]

I've banked with Santander for 20+ years, was shocked to find the earliest appointment with MY branch was in January!!! FFS!

I didn't bother.

You have a local branch?!!!!! Ours are well gone.

 

[lifes2short]

i think we could all write chapter and verse regarding customer care in the UK, frankly nothing shocks me anymore and it's all par for course now especially with staff still working from home now, used to see the red mist but not anymore, i just make a diplomatic complaint and move on, no point stressing, must be old age mellowing me out

 

[CatmanV2]

There is an argument that consumers bear some responsibility for the direction of the market, as we often buy at the lowest possible price

This is absolutely the truth. It grates when you actually pay extra, and still get a **** service though.

C

 

[Gazcw]

On the other hand, I dealt with Amazon customer services this morning and was delighted with the outcome. My friendly local Fiat dealer is also very good, and the local tyres guys nothing short of brilliant.

Same experience with Amazon today. No excuses or messing around.

 

[Phil H]

Poor customer service is one of my pet hates, especially when it comes to banks.

Credit where it's due though, I ordered a vacuum cleaner from Shark (a Ninja subsidiary) at 7.45pm on Friday, and it was delivered bang on time by an excellent DPD driver at 11.45 this morning. Made in China (of course), it is well finished and nicely packed, with a 5 year guarantee - so all in all an excellent example of customer service.

Sadly it doesn't have MSP, abs, or adaptive headlights, but I'm sure I'll cope.